I personally don't enjoy cooking. I cook out of necessity, not joy! I hate the planning what to cook part, doing groceries part, chopping part,the cleaning up the mess from chopping/peeling, doing dishes and cleaning the kitchen afterwards grrr. In my previous life as a student, I barely cooked, used to eat out all the time, my excuse being I did not have enough time to cook a decent meal and still study for my exams.Yeah, right!
Well, now I'm married and eating out every day is just not an option. We still do eat out at least once a week but I try to make decent meals from time to time. I'm lucky that hubby doesn't mind cooking himself. He can also eat anything even a tuna sandwich will satisfy him for dinner. The only thing he doesn't do is red meat.Most of the times, we eat seafood and salmon is our favorite. I'm always on the lookout for easy recipes that don't take more than an hour/hour and a half to do. Seriously after working 8 hours, I just don't feel like slaving another 4 hours in the kitchen. So, if you have any easy recipes to share, please do. Oh I forgot to mention I don't really understand recipes either. I mean, do not write “If the sauce is too thick add a little bit of water." What does "too thick" mean? How do you know it is too thick? lol. So most times, I don't follow recipes but just make my own.Yesterday it took me about an hour to make this salmon + rice dish. Pretty easy. Just marinate the salmon, put it in the oven for 30 minutes.
As for the rice, I use a rice cooker, then marinate vegetables and mix it with the rice once it's done.
For the tomato sauce, pretty easy too. First, marinate the onions, add some garlic, tomato paste, vinegar, pepper, spices,water, potatoes and it's done in about 30 minutes as well.
Cooking + preparation time takes about 1h-1h:30, and this is what you get:
So, there you have it! I love eating but I hate cooking! I need to learn to love it since it's a necessity. How can I do that?
39 comments:
oooo noooooo!!! I lOVE COOKING... I gonna look on my "cooking book" to find you a easy recipe ;D
I love cooking as well... Ive found this site is great for fast ideas, even have a place where you enter the foods you have on hand and it gives you a dinner recipe
http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/Dinner/DinnerLandingPage.aspx
Malizea,
That would be great. I think it's more the little thing that I hate like peeling, chopping...I used to cook more this summer when my lil'sister was staying with me coz she used to peel, chop, clean everything.All I had to do was cook.
Aalia,
Thanks a lot. I will check it out :)
AHH! I LOVE cooking! I want to make my own cookbook full of my favorite recipes!:D
Oh yum looks delicious...
I too hate cooking but love to see the joy on everyones's faces when they are eating the food I make:)
Guess you have to take the good with the bad!!!
I too make my lil sis chop, peel and clean but my mum makes me do that as well when she's cooking:P
Thanks for your comment. Your dish looks great too. I think when following recipes, a lot of it (whether sauce is too thick etc.) is down to personal taste. I use recipes as a guide but "wing it" quite a bit.
Halal Honey,
you should share some easy recipes :) How did you learn to love cooking?
Mina,
You know I forgot to tell you I made the watermelon salad you blogged about. It was yummy! And you're right it's a joy to see people devouring your food lool.
Sarah,
Thanks for stopping by! I will stop by your site more often. You have great recipes there, I will try to follow some even if it's hard for me to stick to the recipe, I always want to add extra spices or something else lol.
I always bake meat in the oven, so healthy - like chicken for example, you can marinate it (different things - like lemon and peppor or dried bread crumbs with a mix spice or those flavour packets for chicken) also I bake beef with worchester and soya sauces in the oven, and fish fillets as well with lemon and garlic.
how about potatoes? theres a million ways to make that too. my hubb likes shepherds pie - it is ground beef and veggies (peas carrots corn) with garlic, onions, worchester, soya and pepper sauce with garlic mashed potatoes on top, then put in the oven for 10 min to make top of potatoes hard.
um... i dont know... i hate cooking too. i try to make everything simple... and these days make a lot of salads (different ones) rather than cooking veggies. oh ya, and soup is so simple too, if u like to make soup and salad, plus one meat and one carb its easy. sometimes i make a pot of soup for 3 or 4 days, then the rest of the cooking is easy
uhhh... i could think of more if u like LOL
I looove cooking but my problem i don't know how to cook for one person but for a family of 6..lol..
then i only cook my favorite meals. Le resultat, je grossis...
I'll email you a few easy recipes. I smiled when I saw the rice cooker. See my mom was so strict with me growing up, i had to learn how to do everything from scratch. with my sisters, it's another story. They don't know their way around the kitchen.
so my sister usually spends the christmas holidays with me. I was stressed out with finals and told her that there was some stew in the fridge and she can make some rice.
Ou est le rice cooker?
comment ca?c'est quoi un rice cooker?
ben t'as pas de rice cooker?
non
je peux pas cuisiner de riz sans rice cooker
i was speechless...lol
ok, here's a short recipe..spanish tortilla.
chop 1 onion (more if you're cooking for more people)
peel and cut into small pieces 2-3 potatoes..(adjust if you're cooking for more people)
in a pan, heat some vegetable oil or olive oil
add the potatoes
once they're almost cooked, add the onions
once the onions are cooked, remove the oil
and on the side beat 3 eggs for an omelette..
then add the egg batter to the potatoes and eggs.
take a plate, slide the omelette and reverse so that the other side can be brown
and of course add salt or some garlic to taste
voila!
to feel less guilty, you can eat it with a salad on the side...
have fun :)
Umm Travis,
Me too, I almost bake everything. It is healthier and easier lol. The shepherd pie sounds yummy but hubby only eat chiken when it comes to meat ( I know weird), will it work if i use chiken instead of beef? Thanks for reminding me about soups, there is this asian soup I made few weeks ago and loved it. Just boil water, put asian noodles, little marinated peices of chiken, all kind of vegetables that you want, all spices that you want, lots of lemon. It's really good and easy lol. Salads are good too. Maybe you should blog about easy recipes sometimes lol.
Amina,
I know your cooking must be great. I still think about the Hershey things you put on your blog not too long ago. Hey, Im like your sister lol. I'm so used to the rice cooker that I don't know if I can cook white rice without it lool. The spanish tortilla sounds yummy. I will try it and let you know :)
Wow, me I love to cook .
It relieves all my stress. I'll send you a few easy recipes. I love 30 min meals (rachael ray's show).
My hubby loves meat though, he calls himself a meateranian hahaha. He will marinate meat and grill or bake, but he won't make side dishes.
Diali,
It releives your stress? lol, it adds more stress to my life, when I'm cooking I just wanna get done lol. I love meat myself,had to cut down because of the hubby lol but noone can take my lamb from me. I will be waiting for your easy recipes :)
Me? I love to cook!
Lol i dont even know how to hold a knife properly while chopping/cutting....actually i dont even know how to cut :| its okaaayyyyyyyy i still have loads of time until i get married so ill worry about it later.
PS- you cant blame me, my mum spoiled me :D
I love to cook! My mom cooked when I was little but when I got older she stopped. I remember thinking frozen lasagna was a home-cooked meal! lol!! So I'm not really sure why I love it. I'm not good at giving out recipes. I'm a "little bit of that, little bit of this and oooo this too!" kind of girl. :)
Cecilia,
That's great :)
Habayeb,
I was spoiled like you,didn't even chop or peel lol now I wish I'd learn more when I was younger:)
Muslimahh,
The best cooks don't follow recipes, they make up their own :)
you're welcome. Like you i don't cook with precise measures. Next time I make a spanish tortilla, I'll take pictures. Same thing with the bars..I am making banana cake tomorrow so I'll take pictures for you and email them..bisous
Oh yaaay, you did...glad you liked it sis:)
The food looks soo yummy. Im coming to your house for dinner lol. I like to cook, especially something a bit different. Im always looking up recipes online. When Im in the mood, I go all out complete with desert. The only thing I hate is that my ex-hubby is so damn picky and he has High Blood Pressure so I have to tweak the recipes just a bit. But Im starting to see how cooking without salt is best. I swear Ive lost 5 pounds since Ive been married by laying low on the salt.
Oh yea and when I cook, I cook enough to last a few days because I dont like cooking every single day. So I go all out and the food will last. Simple.
Amina,
Don't tease me with pictures of food I can't taste :)
Mina,
Yeh it was good, quick and easy . Loved it :)
Yasmin,
The food was yummy. I myself don't use salt, I use Maggie and I love spicy food so I use tons of spices hehe. The only desert I ever tried was a strawberry pie, besides that I never baked anything lol.
Yasmin,
I cook for a few days too. Cooking every day is such a pain
Your dinner looks good. I can be in the cooking mood once in a while but I get really sick of the What to make for dinner? question everyday. It would great if we could cook like they do on tv. Everything's prepped and someone else cleans up!
Mona,
That would be fantastic! I think that's the part I despise the most.
I used to hate cooking too! Now I love it. I love everything from the planning to the plating. I don't like recipes with too many ingredients though.
Okay, if you want yummy recipes from easy to oh-so difficult, check out these 2 sites
http://www.foodnetwork.com/
http://www.rachaelray.com/
Wonderful recipes that I use myself especially on the food network!
HIjabi Apprentice,
You gotta tell me how you transitionned from hating it to loving it lol.
Empress Anisa,
Thanks for the links. I will check them out. I love Rachael Ray too
Actually looks jummy...(except im alergic to onions lol) Weird or what! I loveee salmon too mi fav fish :D
Let's see have you ever made pizza bread? Easiest thing ever... lol (Hint hint... I am still a student with easy ways out)...
basically if your craving pizza but can't make the dough and all that fun stuff - take slices of bread you can use any spread you like, some pople love garlic spread, put some salami on top and sprincle cheeze bake in oven until cheeze is all melted and wooalaa. you have lazy pizza I call it :D!
LOL! To be honest I found a recipe, perfected it and everyone liked it! I think the positive reinforcement from friends and family and the happiness that my dishes brought them helped me transition!
omg!! i hate cooking too but i know how to make Yummy Falafel!!!*enas smiles with pride*
Masha Allah nice blog and nice recipie tooo ..... me toooooo hates cooking or rather kitchen work ........ Lol u sound like me want be out from kitchen sooon and easy recipes ....... But Alhamdulillah I do know how to cut and the rest of the stuff too ..... but it's boring to cook ..... haha ;) ......
Nida,
Thanks lol :) the pizza idea is fun, I will try it one of these days. U're very creative lol :)
Hijabi Apprentice,
Lucky you lol. i will try that :)
Ms. Unique,
Welcome to my blog! Ur blogs are very nice and informative as well mashallah. And yes cooking is boring lol
I need to thank the inventor of the rice cooker! As far as simple recipes go, like you I like to marinade almost everything (especially fish).
My sister cooks some easy Chinese dishes like it's nobody's business-lol- I'll ask her for some recipes!
ok sis! u have inspired me, i have made a blog in your honour, here's some of my recipes. i will add some more when i get time inshallah!
hungryhungryhusband.blogspot.com
Elom,
woow chinese dishes. Can't wait for the recipes :)
Abaya Chic,
Oh that is so cool. I'm gonna go and check it out. Thanks a lot
BTW I think you can ground chicken instead and make a chicken gravy and mix with corn and peas and top with potatoes ??? why not???
in shaa Allah I was thinking of blogging about it at some point... in shaa Allah! LOL
Yummy, I will try that :) Will wait for the post inshaaAllah lol
Ha,ha,ha...I had fun reading this post of yours :)!You see..I looooove cooking!To the point where it gets almost annoying to the others,because I always want my family and friends to taste something new or exotic ;)!Anyways,I really have to say that this recipe you showed us here looks delicious.When I'll have a new digital camera (the present one doesn't work that good) I'll post an easy recipe for you and I'm sure you'll enjoy cooking it...it's a promise :)!Bye for now and have a good time...cooking or eating out :)!
Jasmina,
well I can't wait to read your recipes :) I'm sure I can learn a lot from you :)
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