Cooking Can Be Fast and Easy!
About a year ago, I sent all my clients a pressure cooker recipe for chicken. I imagine the response was something like, "why is my financial adviser sending me bland recipes???" Yet, here we are again, me giving you cooking advice and you likely thinking the same thing as last year!
So why am I sending you this, again? It's because you're fantastic at what you do. You work hard. You run a crazy busy household. You are juggling so many plates that take-out seems like a necessity not a choice. You want to put healthy and reasonably priced food on the table. Yet, it seems completely out of reach.
And normally, I would agree with you - except that we only dine-out and do take out about 2-3 times per month and also run an incredibly busy household. I tell you this, not so you feel shame. I tell you this because it's encouragement. If I can do it, you can do it too!
Enter: "food assembly". It's not gourmet, it's not getting 5 stars on Yelp, but it's still tasty with the right spices. Plus - it only takes about 10-20 minutes to assemble. The more often you assemble food, the more efficient you will become.
The trick is pressure cooking or precooking your meat, poultry and fish on the weekends, (or whenever you have free time). Then, freeze them in portions for the family and become an expert defroster.
Here's what some food assembly looks like in our home:
Pre-cooked pressure cooked turkey, riced cauliflower, black beans, shredded cheese and fajita spices rolled into a tortilla, fruit of choice and/or extra veggies on the side (total time 15 minutes after turkey is cooked)
Skillet ground beef + meatloaf spice, steamed broccoli, pasta with favorite sauce, sliced apples
Pressure cooked chicken + spices, romaine lettuce with oil/vinegar/lemon juice + pomegranates, 2 minute brown rice
Skillet shrimp, add to pasta (Italian style, takes longer) or tortillas (Shrimp Tacos, in 10 minutes), edamame with sea salt, blueberries for desset
It can be done! You just have to plan. We typically have 3 repeat meals every week and switch up the other 1-2. We do leftovers for the remaining meals + one takeout or dining out. When we do go out, we really enjoy ourselves.
I challenge you to try this for 10 days and see if it's just as easy as ordering. Once you get the hang of it, it's faster, cheaper and healthier.
