have I mentioned that I find cooking incredibly tedious and annoying? because I do

[edenfalling]

Tonight's cooking experiment: two chicken thighs (bone-in, because Mom values cheapness more than the annoyance of deboning them), one onion, a bunch of baby carrots, about 3/4 cup of unsweetened applesauce, some white wine (half a glass? ish?), 3/4 tsp salt, some thyme, some ginger, and a pinch of rosemary. Cut up vegetables, cut fat off chicken, dump everything into a crockpot and cook on low for however long seems reasonable, which will probably be seven or eight hours since I do mean to be in bed by 2am.

I actually intended to be doing this experiment with pork, since that's what Mom said she was giving me when she emptied some of her freezer on me before she and Dad left for vacation in August, but hey, whatever, I am adaptable. I have no idea how the end product will taste, but four hours into the slow-cooking process, I can report that it at least smells delicious. :D

...

Tomorrow's cooking experiment will be bean-and-ham soup, slightly tweaked from the recipe on a bag of assorted dried beans Mom gave me a year and a half ago as a 'hey, why not cook this!' accompaniment to my crockpot. I have the carrots, I have the onion, I have bay leaves, I have an actual piece of ham I've been wondering what to do with (more of Mom's August freezer discards), and I am soaking the beans overnight as instructed, so I think it will work out all right.

I will also be making either cheesy potato hotdish or catfish and broccoli, whichever seems less brain-killing as dinnertime approaches. The one I don't make tomorrow will happen on Monday, because I am both Organized and Determined. I'll probably do another batch of veggie sidedish while I'm at it, so I can stick the finished product safely in the freezer rather than having the raw ingredients go funny in my fridge. And then I won't have to cook for two whole weeks, except maybe Laddie's hotdish and that hardly counts.

*nods firmly* Yes. That is the plan.

Comments

[transposable_element]

I have a couple of recipes for easy dishes that keep well and that you can easily build a meal around. My favorite is a savory bread pudding (which is a great way to use up stale bread). I can send them to you if you're interested.

I normally enjoy cooking a lot, but for the last few months I've been in a bit of a funk that includes an uncharacteristic lack of interest in food. If somebody puts food in front of me I will happily eat it, but otherwise it takes tremendous effort for me to do any cooking. There have been a couple of days when I've gone most of the day without eating, despite feeling physically hungry, because I just couldn't get up enough enthusiasm to put food on a plate. This is resulting in some very bad nutrition, because eventually I will get so hungry that I will do something like devour a whole box of crackers or eat peanut butter out of the jar. I used to enjoy going to the farmer's market every weekend, but now it feels like a chore and I mostly try to get Maritus to do it. This whole thing is weird and I don't like it.

[edenfalling]

Sure, I would love the recipes! I may not end up using them -- I am never sure what is going to strike my brain as "nope, too much work" -- but it's always good to know one's options. :-)

Your description of your funk sounds like mild clinical depression to me. Lack of interest in previously enjoyable activities, and an inability to get from "I need to do Thing X" to actually getting up and doing Thing X, are both characteristic symptoms. I'm not sure what you can do about that beyond maybe finding a mental health professional of some sort and saying, "Hey, I am experiencing [list of stuff] that is interfering with my quality of life; do you have any advice?" and working from there, but I sympathize and hope you get through this.

[transposable_element]

I just remembered about the recipes and sent them to you in a message. Sorry for taking so long with it. Also, I forgot to mention in the message that the spoon bread is good with salsa.

Yes, it's definitely depression. I've been depressed before, worse than I am now, but the food stuff is new. Sigh. I do really need to talk to my doctor about it, but as you may know, when you're depressed it's very hard to do anything. Massive catch-22....

[edenfalling]

Thanks for the recipes! And good luck making an appointment. (Inertia is, I think, one of the more insidious aspects of depression.)

food

[joyeuce01.livejournal.com]

My mother hates to cook so her frequent, easy casserole involves
Whatever meat
Whatever vegies
a jar of pasta sauce OR a tin of soup OR a packet of soup and a cup of water

cooked in a casserole dish for 2-3 hours.
Salt, pepper, herbs etc optional.

It usually tastes ok to delicious, depending on what you put in it. It freezes really well. And its easy.

Re: food

[edenfalling]

That is the basis of most hotdish recipes, and they are indeed a good way to get decent food fairly quickly with minimal effort! Laddie's hotdish is a case in point. My cheesy potato hotdish is slightly more complicated -- it involves both soup AND sour cream -- but I am trying to pare its complexity back via small experiments over time. (Mostly this involves ways to simplify the topping.)

Also one does get faster at chopping vegetables with practice, and since that's currently my main time investment when it comes to cooking, presumably I will continue to get more efficient on that front. *wry*