Oops

I can tell that getting myself to do my cooking is going to be a real challenge, not to mention blogging about it! Getting in the habit of writing as a daily activity is going to take some time. I was reading an article on Slate recently about how the author had to start treating cooking as a daily chore rather than as something that you do for fun.  I do like to cook when I have a lot of time and energy and people to entertain.  When it comes to the daily duty of cooking (and then dishes that accompany it), I have a hard time forcing myself to do it.

Part of the problem is that my family rarely wants to eat and is available at the same time. In the past I have often worked late or had classes and my husband fences a couple times a week in addition to working later than the time that I want to eat.  My son doesn't eat the same things we do, so he doesn't count.  Many days we just eat what happens to be around- fruit, cheese, crackers, maybe some carrot sticks - convenience food.  We eat pizza way more often than we should and eat out a lot on weekends.  It's overall not very healthy (as anyone can see by looking at my round shape) and not great for the family, either.

This year, I hope that circumstances will permit a greater emphasis on cooking real, healthy, tasty food. For one thing, I am only teaching part time this year.  In actuality, I will be at school from 9:30 to 2:30.  I plan to go do my workouts and errands and get home by 4. That gives me enough time to spend with my son on homework and not feel rushed because I'm starving. Then I can have easy to prepare meals that we can all eat at about 6:30.

That takes care of the time problem, but doesn't solve the motivation problem.  Often, I just don't want to cook. As the writer of the Slate article put it, suck it up, Buttercup. Just do it. I need one more chore like I need a hole in the head, but that's the way it has to be. I hope that once the habit is developed and I see the rewards of being healthier and more connected to my family that it will be easier.  I think I should put together a playlist of  "making dinner music", which will get me turned on enough to do it. Also, I should not sit down in front of the TV until it's done, because once I'm there I have a hard time getting anything else done.

Planning will also be critical.  I have tons of recipies that are good and easy to make, but I have to plan ahead well enough so that we have fresh groceries available.

Finally, this is my opportunity to finally get my son to eat real, adult food.  He has sensory issues and doesn't like most foods that are cooked or mixed.  He eats raw carrots, but not cooked ones. He will also eat celery, but that is the limit on vegetables (other than potatoes in the form of french fries, but those don't count). He likes meat, as long at there is no sauce on it. He likes plain pasta and rice.  He eats apples, strawberries and sometimes bananas. It's a very limited diet considering he's 12!  We always joke about him being on the "pop" diet: popsicles, popcorn and poptarts.  It's long past time to educate his taste buds a bit.  It just hasn't been worth the battle before, but now if our last opportunity to do something about his nutritional deficits.

So... School starts Tuesday.  I have this long weekend to do some planning and get groceries, then away we go!