It occurred to me the other day—as ate a bowl of oatmeal topped with fruit and nuts, along with some coffee made in a French press—that my meals have taken me more time to make. And as someone who feels perpetually busy, I’m annoyed.
I want healthy food that is super easy to prepare, or better yet, grab as I am running out the door. Is that too much to ask for?
Recently, I made steak for the first time. Grilling steak. It’s always been one of those tasks that terrifies me, like reading a manual on how to hook up an electronic, or killing a large bug. I just assumed I would destroy a steak by not seasoning it properly or overcooking it. Plus, I had uncles growing up that not only killed their own meat, but cooked it up so unbelievably that Bobby Flay would surely issue a Throwdown.
Clearly I am a poor feminist if I am always relegating certain would-be man jobs to the men-folk and then refusing to touch them with a 10-foot pole. But I am trying to break that habit. Truly.
Not only did I cook a finely seasoned and almost rare steak the other night; I put together the grill to boot while mostly reading the manual (there were six washers and two screws left over, must have been over-packaged).
My epiphany was this: My meals shouldn’t be cheap, fast or easy. If I can get my entire dinner for six dollars through a drive-through window, chances are there will be a distinct lack of nutrients, an over-abundance of sodium and grease, and my stomach will be begging me for mercy later. This is entirely due to the food being: cheap, fast and easy. But what, if anything, worthwhile is attained in life with those three words stamped on it?
Of course, I am not made of money and even though I love to cook, some days I absolutely do want something relatively fast and easy to prepare, but truthfully if I planned a smidgen more, I could have the healthy meals I crave (like mushroom turnip soup) instead of the standard four I am constantly rotating out of sheer laziness.
If I have no qualms about jumping out of a plane, I should maybe get over my fears of preparing steak? And maybe do something else with sweet potatoes besides cut them up in tiny circles and crisp them up in the oven?
Cheap, fast and easy will no longer be my food M.O. This girl is gettin’ classy.
-Cassandra
*Details on the mushroom turnip soup to follow.