KISS-able Meals to Cook at Home

Everywhere I’ve been this week, people have been abuzz with talk of resolutions. I wrote earlier about how important it is to take it one step (or one bite!) at a time when it comes to tackling those long lists of commitments designed to build the “new you”. Taking on too much at once is a recipe for failure. So, we’ll tackle just one change at a time.
Even then, if we over-complicate the plan to change that one behavior, we’re doomed to fall short.  And when we fall short, we often just abandon the whole idea and go back to our old ways. So, to help you stay on track, I offer you one very important piece of advice.  
KISS – keep it simple, sweetheart.

Let’s look at an example. Imagine you’ve resolved to cook at home more often. Many MANY of my clients begin coaching programs with this goal in mind, and it’s one I wholeheartedly support. But here’s the thing. Cooking at home does not have to mean Gourmet Tuesday! In fact, I often tell people who are just beginning to cook at home that if it requires a recipe it’s probably too complicated for a weeknight! Seriously! K-I-S-S.

Here’s what I mean. Let’s say you’re on Day 2 of your New Year’s Resolution and to find inspiration, you’re flipping through the January issue of your favorite cooking magazine.  You see a meal that looks terrific. You decide to make it tonight, to begin your first week of “more cooking at home.” With side dishes, it involves three recipes, 24 ingredients (18 of which you don’t already have on hand), and several hours of prep time. Are you going to do this every night? Are you going to do this even ONCE?


So, how do we KISS this dinner? Like this:


Grilled salmon           (topped with chopped fresh herbs)
Baked sweet potato  (topped with a dollop of  Greek Yogurt)
Steamed broccoli      (drizzled with lemon juice and olive oil)


Now that’s a healthy meal you can prepare in about 15 minutes – and by doing the little things in parenthesis, which don’t even require a recipe, you can take the whole meal from good to great. You can cook this way routinely and save those delicious but complicated recipes for those days when you have more time to devote to playing in the kitchen.


Try it. Test me. See if you can cook at home more often without even getting out a cookbook. Discover for yourself that simple is better. And when you do? You might just want to kiss me.

 

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