Cooking

I like to complain that I don't like to cook for just me.  I prefer to have someone to cook for and I suppose that has to do with validation.  I want someone to tell me my cooking is good.  My roommate once told me that I don't like to cook, but that I want to like to cook.  She is more of a baker.  But then my friend Wesley said something that make it all clear to me.  He said "I like to cook, because I like to eat."

Hmm, what a concept.  My friend Ro cooks for herself (and others like me) all the time.  She likes to cook. But she also likes to eat and I think she likes to eat what she cooks.  I know I do.  All of this reminds me of when I was a child.  It seemed I was cooking as soon as I could reach the stove top.  But what I was cooking was what I wanted to eat.  I was born with a sweet tooth and Mother was not really into making deserts so much.  So my sister and I would bake cakes and cookies and make puddings.  I don't know how many times I scotched the pan and ruined the pudding because I was in too much of a hurry to eat the pudding.  It didn't hurt that my father had a sweet tooth as well and enjoyed and encouraged our undertakings.

Later in life, however, when I became more mobile, I discovered I could get my fixes with out cooking. Plenty of candy and store bought treats.  Hostess Snow Balls were always a favorite.  And then there is fast food.  Is it coincidental that McDonald's, starting out in California in the 40's began franchising in 1952 the year after I was born?  By the time I was in high school we probably had several in Kansas City and one not too far from my house.

I also grew up on convenience  foods.  I wasn't baking cakes or making pudding from scratch.  Box mixes were just fine with me. We ate frozen dinners from time to time when my parents went out and we begged for them.  There was something about having a whole meal come out of the oven on one little tray.  Although my mother make most of her meals from scratch, I used many more packaged foods.  Mother made goulash, I made Hamburger Helper.  Mother made oven friend chicken, I made Shake and Bake.  I never saw instant potatoes growing up, but used a lot of them in my early marriage days.  I fed my children Spaghetti Os's, and tater tots and canned chili and soups.  I was a busy mother after all.  Real cooking was something I did when company was coming.

Now that I am eating mostly unprocessed foods, cooking has become a necessity.  I like to eat.  As much as I love fruit, sometimes I want something more.  I had an amazing experience just the other day but I need to back up just a bit. Even before starting this 100 pound journey, I have been experimenting with different diets: Paleo, Vegan, Slow Carb, Eat to Live.  All have influenced me in one way or the other.  And even before all of this experimentation, I have been trying to be gluten free.  The Paleo diet suggest grain free and I think I feel better not eating grains.  Grains also tend to be highly processed.  So because of this I have accumulated various grain free flours, potato starch, tapioca starch, almond flour and coconut flour.  I also use coconut oil and butter exclusively for my fats.  So the other day I had a craving for of all things, a muffin. I don't eat muffins much.  I have a few recipes I really like but they all include wheat flour.  I did an Internet search for paleo muffins and found a recipe for blueberry muffins.  And here is the amazing part.  I actually had all the ingredients I needed to bake the things.  Almond flour, coconut flour, coconut oil, eggs, maple syrup (real maple syrup), and blueberries.   I made them and they turned out really good.  A little butter...perfect.  All the ingredients very minimally processed.  I ate two.  And although they made me a little sleepy for some reason, I wasn't hungry again until dinner time.  I figured out the calorie count (just for curiosity sake) and they came in around 350 calories a piece.  Very satisfying and very yummy.

My favorite thing to cook at the moment is breakfast.  Perhaps it is because I have more time in the morning and more energy.  And my favorite breakfast is a skillet of boiled potatoes, onions, garlic, red bell peppers, mushrooms and Cheddar cheese.  Some times I put eggs on the top.  Sometimes I cook a little ham or uncured Bacon.  Sometimes I throw in some tomatoes. I do like eating and now I like to cook.