Cooking - Chore or Joy

Up to very recently I didn't really enjoy cooking. It's not that I hated it, but cutting up vegetables and doing all the preparations prior to actually starting to cook always felt like a big chore. I was always on the lookout for easy to prepare recipes that didn't take up too much precious time and were still tasty and healthy. So I was delighted when a friend recommended the Minimalist Baker food blog. The recipes are amazing and opened a new world of flavours that I had never tried before. And the best thing is that a lot of the recipes are not only easy but only require 30 minutes or less to make. (Alright, it usually takes me longer because I'm very slow, but it's still quicker than most other recipes.) One of the reasons I instantly loved this food blog is the fact that Dana, who creates the recipes, seems to have an obsession with peanut butter that equals my own. I just have to love a food blog that puts peanut butter in such a prominent position and manages to keep even the most indulgent sweets reasonably healthy! Most of the recipes are also vegan and gluten free. I'm not even a vegetarian, let alone vegan, nor is my husband, and yet three quarters of the meals I've made since are from Minimalist Baker or at least inspired therefrom. It made sense to get the newly published book when it came out and I haven't regretted it.

Sometimes I keep the meals vegan, sometimes I change them and add meat. And sometime last year I discovered that I actually really enjoy preparing a meal. I suppose it also has a lot to do with becoming a stay at home mum. Not that there is a lot of time for developing new hobbies when you have a little child, but I suppose cooking is something you have to do anyway, if you want to provide healthy food for your family. And I think a meal that's lovingly prepared tastes much better than something that's hastily thrown together.
It would be lie to say that cooking is pure joy for me every day of the week. There are those days when I drag myself into the kitchen and make an uninspired meal or just resort to a bland sandwich. But thankfully those days don't happen as often as they used to.

I meant to write about cooking meals for babies and toddlers and I actually wanted to post my first recipe but I think I'll better keep this for the next posts.