I have a confession: I don't enjoy cooking, I rarely do it, and all those gorgeous food photos on
Pinterest and my favorite blogs usually leave me feeling pretty guilty and domestically challenged.
It's not that I don't enjoy food; au contraire, I love food, haute cuisine, and dining out. But when it comes to whipping up a meal around the house, it feels like a chore that I dread (rather than the exciting adventure many bloggers make it out to be). Truth is, I envy people who like to cook -- and I so wish I enjoyed it too!
Ever since becoming a Mrs., I've tried putting a little more effort into home cooked meals. I still don't enjoy it, but I'm hoping the repetition will eventually make it more tolerable. To those of you who enjoy cooking: Have you always liked it? Any tips on how I can make myself like it too? Or am I just pre-programmed to be kitchen-challenged?
Anyway, as part of my effort to cook more, I whipped up a little Mac n Cheese mid-day snack for John and me this afternoon. In typical Chinese tradition, I have no real recipe or ingredient measurements (haha - if you are Chinese, you will understand!), but it came out really well and I thought I would share it with you. Keep in mind, this is not your fancy lobster or porchetta-infused Mac n Cheese. This is a classic Mac n Cheese to satisfy the best of your childhood cravings!
Mac n Cheese (Bettina Style... aka "sort of" a recipe!)
Ingredients:
- Pasta of choice (I am using penne)
- Yellow american cheese
- Sharp cheddar cheese
- Black pepper flakes
- Salt
- Mashed roasted garlic or garlic powder
- Parmigiano Reggiano flakes
Instructions:
- Bring water to a boil and fully cook pasta.
- Drain most of the water from your pot, leaving approximately 2 cups of water in your pasta.
- Turn burner to low and place pot of pasta and water back on your stove.
- Slowly stir american and cheddar cheese into the pot, until a thick sauce forms.
- Add salt pepper, and garlic to taste.
- Plate mac n cheese and top with a few parmigiano flakes.
And now to announce the winner of my embellished sweatshirt giveaway:
Congratulations Edda, you are the lucky winner! Enjoy! :)
hmmmm I don't really enjoy cooking as much as baking but we received a few cooking related wedding gifts ( e.g. CROCK POT) so I tried using that once in a while. It's not really cooking, More putting everything in a pot until 8 hours later its voila all done! lol
ReplyDeleteA crock pot is a great idea. I tried mine for the first time a few weeks ago and found it wasn't as fool proof as I thought.. but I'll give it a try again!
DeleteYay I'm so excited! Thank you for your generosity, Bettina - I can't wait to wear this!!
ReplyDeleteLove Mac n Cheese - it's such great comfort food - especially when it's so cold outside!
ReplyDeleteCooking is such a chore - can't say I love it (at all!!!) but I get tired of take-out & eating out...so I guess the thought of healthy & yummy food motivates me to cook :-)
Agree - it's such great comfort food! I've been getting pretty tired of take out too. Especially in Wellesley, where there aren't as many options as there were in Boston!
Deletethis looks really yummy! it sounds like you did a great job on the fly without a recipe.
ReplyDeletewww.insparisian.com
Thanks Brooke!
DeleteOMG that looks absolutely delicious and so suitable for your weather right now too :) Personally, I love to cook but I find that for busy couples, you have to differentiate between 'weeknight' dinners and 'weekend' dinners/lunches. On Friday nights and weekends, I am a little Nigella, roasts, pies, soups, braises, baking cakes/tarts, full cooked breakfasts, the works. During the week though, food is mostly about nutrition and time-saving, so it's quite basic - steamed chicken tenderloins with fresh asparagus, spinach and pine nuts (for example). Takes 25 minutes. Another night, we might do poached eggs on spinach with pine nuts. In all honesty, I'm very practical and I'm not about to try cooking during the week like someone who has had several hours to prepare the meal. I think modern cooking culture sometimes makes us feel that we have to be able to feed a 3 course dinner to a party of 10 at the drop of a hat with whatever we have in the pantry!
ReplyDeleteWow, that is so impressive. Your time-saving dishes are something I would be very proud to make! Perhaps I should look at some soup recipes. That sounds like it would be easier to make - and a good weekend activity to save for weekday meals! Thanks for the tips.
DeleteFor someone who claims to hate it, I'd say, pretty adventurous working from scratch here! As someone from the loves to cook camp, I think it is the process I find calming. It was a meditation after work on a busy day and now that I have more time, it is a main event of sorts, a challenge to try new things. I whipped up some wings for the game (sound simple, but I have never made them, and confess rarely eat them), but husband asked and I delivered. They were actually DELICIOUS. Tasty reward for the effort and adventure.
ReplyDeleteSounds so yummy! What kind of wings did you make? You are so lucky that cooking is a calming process for you. For some reason, cooking stresses me out!
DeleteHi there. The current Food on Friday on Carole's Chatter is all about favourite foods from childhood. I do hope you link this lovely one in. This is the link . Please do pop back to check out some of the other links. Have a great week.
ReplyDeleteI used to hate to cook too. I could barely boil water and when I did make something it was NOT edible haha! I can laugh about it now but I used to be really embarrassed about it so I decided I would study up on it! I started watching cooking shows, reading cooking blogs and kind of started to understand the basics and now everyone that I cook for says I should open my own restaurant! I don't mean to brag but I'm sooo proud. I thought for sure my husband and kids were doomed for a life of healthy choice and lean cuisine or something :) Now I love it of course but I still feel some anxiety when I am trying a new recipe.
ReplyDeleteI am for sure trying your macaroni! I agree with Noelani, that is very impressive you put those flavors together! I definitely don't think you're pre-programmed to be kitchen challenged! I somehow just really wanted to learn more than anything because we were having a family and wanted my kids to grow up with an adventurous palate and healthy balanced meals.
You - before learning to cook - sound like me now! That sounds like such an incredible turn around -- to go from hating to cook to loving it the way you do! Having kids is definitely great incentive to learn cooking sooner rather than later. I would hate to feed my kids as much delivery and pasta as I eat now! Thanks for the insight... and encouragement!
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