Transforming Your Kitchen

Or How to Save Money and Time and Eat Really Well Without Getting Bored in the Kitchen

So you’re time-challenged. You think you don’t have enough time to cook. You are not alone.

But analyze this. You get in the kitchen and you cook. You save time and money and you get the added benefit of relaxing. This is a big secret.

Cooking can be fun. I like to be in the kitchen with music, and if the time is right, a glass of wine. I dance in the kitchen. If I am going to consume calories, I dance them off.

A good cook is never lonely. You have family and friends dying to be with you, sample your wares, admire you, befriend you.

And you save on gas money going to crowded markets, freezing in the air conditioning, and lugging groceries.

You don’t have to get in lane at a drive-through, advertising to the entire world that you have succumbed to the fast food junk food disease.  

Here are five tips for cooking in the dysphagia kitchen: It need not be a chore. It’s all in the attitude.

1. Plan ahead. Decide what you are cooking and have the ingredients on hand. On a cooking day, I would cook two entrees, or an entrée and a sauce, or an entrée and a veggie, or a carb and a green veggie, or a dessert and a sauce.
2. Keep it simple. When you are just starting out, cook the things you like to cook. Or cook the things you or the loved one or the loved one and family most enjoy. Every time you master a dish, you will be proud. So go for it.
3. Shop the day before or two days before. Check the pantry and the fridge to make sure you have all the ingredients. Pantry items may be bought in advance. Buy the fresh items last. Buy protein or veggies or anything you need to make a dessert, such as milk or ricotta cheese, fresh. The fresher the better.
4. Allow room for mistakes. Especially when the recipe is new to you. You can always save a dish. Don’t strive for perfection. Besides, some of the best things I ever created in the kitchen came about because of a mistake. This can be something you forgot to buy at the grocery store, so you made a substitution. Use what you have on hand. Something a clerk in the natural food store recommended but you never tried before. Or you have this urge to add an ingredient. Go ahead, take the dive. Trust your palate. Cook on the fly. Adjust. Don’t be afraid to improvise, and by that I mean, make a substitution. This has to be within reason, especially for baking. Baking is all about rules. It is chemistry. It is food science. In the world of the savory, anything goes. If you don’t have cilantro, go with the parsley. How bad can it be? If you don’t have shallots, use onions. If you don’t have fresh, try using canned or frozen.
5. Allow enough time. This is important. Have your storage vessels assembled. The System recommendsbatch cooking, four to six servings, two in the fridge for serving within 48 hours. The rest in the freezer, properly labelled. Notated on your white board. You will have a stocked freezer of delicious food that only has to be reheated and served. A backup caregiver can serve a meal.
   You never have to run to the store at the last minute, or order in from the takeout joint or pick up something less than fabulous from the deli counter.
6. If anything can be made ahead, make it ahead. This is where the making of the sauces comes in, or the stock. With The System, if you don’t have homemade on hand, you have it in the pantry.
7. If you need help, get someone to help. Let them peel the carrots or chop the onions, in a food processor, if necessary. Once the people in my mom’s house started smelling what I was cooking, I had volunteers. Everyone wanted to learn how to do it at home and everyone wanted a taste.

Swirl Away!