How does this stove thingy work again?

[eurydicebound]

I've realized today that I'm going through one of my "cook? You want me to cook? I don't know how to do that!" phases again. I get like this every so often, usually when I'm stressed or having to concentrate elsewhere or whatever. I can cook and I'm not bad at it, but I don't think I'll ever really love doing it... and during times like this, the part of my brain that has a grudging appreciation/skill for it just shuts off entirely.

I'm sitting here making a grocery list, and damn if I can't think of anything more than bread, milk, and drinks to put on it. I've realized that I could make soup, but then when I try to pin down ingredients and a process, the brain refuses to cooperate and I can't figure out for the life of me how to make actual soup. (yes, I could go get a recipe, but it doesn't do any good if none of them sound appealing.)

I think I'm just busy and annoyed at my weight and unable to concentrate on this stuff, which sucks. I don't want to buy frozen or preprocessed thing X for no better reason than I can't put together how to cook... well, anything right now, really. And yet I need to be cooking, cause eating out or eating crap is expensive in the long run.

Edit: Cooking quandry solved. Recipes found. Texas-style chili made using beef, onion, red wine, spices, and beer. Definitely the most adult chili I've ever made. My point still stands.

Comments

[iamnikchick.livejournal.com]

I've considered offering my services to cook for my single/busy/stressed/food-phobic friends. I love cooking, just the process of it... I don't even need to eat what I produce in the end though I do like to eat, too).

[anaka.livejournal.com]

I never fail to be impressed by that about you, too. I love good food and I have a huge admiration for people who feel that love for cooking. I just... can't seem to be that person myself. When I was a stay-at-home mom, I came a lot closer to being that person... I still never made anything that could be considered high art, but I had more fun doing it.

And I would TOTALLY sign up for that service, I kid you not.

[iamnikchick.livejournal.com]

Chica, we should totally meet for dinner sometime and go over our options. I might be able to help you out.

[anaka.livejournal.com]

Sounds good to me. I'd more than once pondered doing the "dinner's ready" sort of service. It might take me a little while to get the remainder of the unemployment debt squared away, but I'd be more than interested once that's done.

[mysticalforest.livejournal.com]

If we can afford you, we'll use you, I kid you not. And by "kid you not" I mean: "strongly of a mind to speak to the spousal unit about the matter." We're fucking retards and need assistance.

Aeons ago we did the Lucky Palate thing but it got too expensive what with the house we were building at the time and the difficulty of them not delivering to us and all. That was years ago. Methinks it might be time to think of just such a thing. We need to eat more healtherer but chances of us being able to take care of ourselves in this manner = zero. Zero. It has been scientifically proven.

[iamnikchick.livejournal.com]

Well shoot, I'd be happy to cook for you guys. I just need to know your preferences / goals. I've got 20 years of collected recipe books and several tried and true recipes from which to start.

Hmmmm.

[themoocow.livejournal.com]

For all your recipe needs - www.epicurious.com

Has a /fabulous/ search engine that lets you search by main ingredients plus things like "Healthy" or "Quick and Easy". There are some really fabulous recipes I've found that are super simple. Like these:

Cider Braised Chicken - http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/240596

Tenderloins in Crenberry-Port Sauce -http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/102864

Pork Chops in Hard Cider - http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/107591

Simple, easy recipes that are the /bomb/. It even has a "recipe box" where you can save all your favorite recipes.

[greyjoy.livejournal.com]

Trader Joe's is your friend. Delicious, nutritious, and amazingly inexpensive ready-to-eat meals in packaged, canned and frozen formats. Many of them are organic as well. For years I avoided Trader Joe's because I had the mistaken impression that it was an expensive food mart, and now I am a devoted TJ's shopper. Give it a try if you haven't already!

[anaka.livejournal.com]

I do adore Trader Joe's. It's just hard to make a special trip for it, and the closest ones to me are either Burien or Madison Valley -- both pretty much a hike from my house. I've been intending to go do that for something like 6 months now, and yet I am no closer to my goal. :)

[anaka.livejournal.com]

I've been using the Cooking Light website and its new sibling, myrecipes.com -- with the odd excursion to epicurious or some such place when I can't find what I'm looking for at the former location. I have cookbooks and such like, and I know how to use them. It's just totally a mental block that I get from time to time. I get stressed, food stops looking appealing, my brain totally disavows any cooking knowledge. Lather, rinse, repeat.