Going with this whole 'self improvement' kick I've been on I decided to start meal planning, and cooking meals ahead of time. Well, except for rice and other things that I don't think reheat nicely. This way I could spend that half hour to an hour a night I usually spend cooking, working out or at least playing on the kinect. What ended up happening was me making a GIANT mess, burning myself twice, only cooking 2 dinners, and spending 4 hours doing it.
First off, I'm trying to remind myself that this was not 'ideal' conditions by any means. We haven't been eating meat for the past few weeks because we've wont buy it from a grocery store any more and with all this fantastic weather we haven't been able to find our way to a good butcher. We want to start buying animals from farms we can see with our own eyes, and who we know are being treated well and fed organic, good food, ie. no corn for cows. That being said, my recipe choices have become limited. So, I decided in all my gemini-inspired wisdom, that I was just going to pick 3 brand new recipes that I've never tried before, and cook them all at the same time. Feel free to roll your eyes at me, I did it to myself.
I also decided that since my husband was home for the day, it was the perfect time for me to strip ALL of DD's cloth diapers, wipes, and wet bags. My logic was that with him home to distract her I could get more done. You can feel the crescendo approaching can't you?
Immediately I laid out all of my ingredients, pans, and necessary utensils on the kitchen table and quickly filled it up and became over whelmed. So I went over the easiest recipe with DH, a burrito casserole, and asked if he would be able to make it without bothering me too much later in the week (he has volunteered to learn to cook, much to my delight!) Everything for that recipe was removed and I felt slightly less stressed.
I gave DH directions on what to do with the washing that needed to be done, which ended up taking nearly as long as if I had just done it myself, and then began chopping and preparing all of the veggies. I was beginning to feel confidence trickle in just as I turned around to find my daughter finger painting the floor with a box of baking soda (see shampoo post.) My temper flared momentarily when I saw my husband on the computer and quickly turned to laughter when my daughter began rubbing the baking soda all over herself like it was body paint. He retriever our little albino and swept the floor while I continued chopping. Just as I began to warm up the leeks and fry the first batch of eggplant I heard "Do you have the baby?" I flung my head back and looked at the ceiling, knowing full well I did not want to turn around. The 'oh shit...' from behind me was not confirmed my fears. Sure enough there she was chewing through a third of my eggplant and spitting it back onto the floor or mushing it under her knee. The rest of the four hours was still a learning experience, but blissfully free of disruption.
Another big mistake turned out to be trying to use 1 pan to cook a pretty involved moussaka recipe. Cooking the eggplant, zucchini, and potatoes all separately, having to fill the pan 3 times each for the eggplant and potatoes was definitely my downfall in the time department. At least now I know. I also realized that as my husbands comfort level in the kitchen increases, my apprehension about trusting him to make things that are more complex will ease and allow me to not do so much preparing. My lessons learned are going to be only 1 new recipe at a time, and to be more prepared.
On a side note day two with my baking soda and vinegar washed hair went well. It styled easily the next day and even seemed to frizz less. I only shower every other day, so I was also happy to see my hair looking fresher on day 2 than usual. I am slightly concerned that it feels a little dry however, so I will begin spraying some
Monoi de Tahiti oil in my hair after my shower to see if that helps.
