Is cooking enjoyable for you? You may feel as though “cooking is a chore” or “cooking is stressful”. Your comfort level in the kitchen has to do with your beliefs about cooking, your preparation skills and also how you approach the activity.
The good news is…
You can find zen in the kitchen.
Cooking for yourself is a special part of mindful eating. The act of preparing a home cooked meal, mixing ingredients, pairing spices and herbs that can bring a connection and appreciation to meal time.
You can turn “I don’t enjoy cooking” or “I can’t cook” into “I am capable of learning how to cook for myself”, on I’ve witnessed this shift happen in many of my clients over the years.
5 ways to fall in love with cooking…
- Show up to the kitchen with compassion. If cooking is new to you, like anything else, there will be a learning curve. Be patient, remember cooking isn’t about perfection. You have a good amount of wiggle room with cooking you don’t have to be precise. When you “mess up”, add too much wine, not enough seasoning or burn the onions, it happens, yeah its annoying but it happens instead of saying “i can never cook anything write” you can say oops know this for next time I’ll lower the flame. Bonus tip, the more involved and present you are in the process of creating a meal the less likely you are to make those types of errors. Keep telling yourself, I am learning and growing into an amazing chef. 😉
- Follow a simple recipe. When you have a recipe as a guide it will give you direction. Pick out a simple dish, with just a few steps and less than 10 ingredients or at least make sure the ingredient list isn’t too long and overwhelming. Recipes are awesome for new and seasoned cooks, they are the guiding light for your fabulous dish. Even if you pick a simple recipe that doesn’t mean your finished won’t be 5 stars, The most delicious recipes may be the absolute easiest to prepare, hello tacos, I see you.
- Set the scene. Turn on music, light a candle, wear something comfortable and if your hungry have a snack, no one wants to cook when you’re hangry. Sidebar: Eating while preparing your meal is ‘ok’ , especially when your body is telling you, “please feed me now”. Hummus, crackers and veggies or kim chi is a great pre-meal nosh.
- Setup your cook space. Having your kitchenware in reach so it flows easier. You can scan through the entire recipe to see what bowls, spoons and appliances you may need, this way they are ready to go when you need them most.
- Be open minded. If you keep telling yourself “I’m not good at cooking”, you’re going to continue to find reasons not to. But if you replace the “I’m not a good cook” story line with “I can cook and it might be fun” you will see a massive shift in how you show up in the kitchen, it might just be your new love.
These are a few recipes you may want to start off with if you are new to the kitchen…Butternut Squash & Lentil Daal, 15-minute Chili Lime Black Bean Tacos, Sage and Pea Cashew Cream Pasta, Smokey Tempeh Fajitas, Beetroot Black Bean Burger, Cirtus-y Guacamole.
Would love to see you in the kitchen!
Ready to step into you power to test out a recipe in the kitchen? take a picture and tag @sidebarnutrition. I would love to see the wonderful (or even not-so- wonderful) creations. Either way keep at it my friends, I believe in you can begin to love cooking if you’re ready to.
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