The kitchen has never been my strength. Organizing it, yes, feel pretty good about that. But going all the way back to my 1st year in 4-H at the age of 10 and winning a blue ribbon for my chocolate chip cookies...I've long been drawn to making the kinds of foods you aren't supposed to eat in excess. You know, desserts, ice creams, mixed drinks, etc. Making the foods that make up the bulk of a meal...never been a thing I excel at or enjoy much. I firmly believe in family meals, when possible, and we do all sit around the table together almost every night.
However, while our meals are largely homemade, none of them are elaborate and I really prioritize easy meals that my kids will actually eat (that last one isn't a given, what they eat one night they might hate the next night. I have a 4 year old who is especially picky right now.). I can't say I enjoy my time in the kitchen making meals most of the time, even though I know we all need to eat, 3 TIMES A DAY! (Or more, if you have kids who seem to be constantly snacking...says the person who just finished a bag of something at my desk...).
Kendra Adachi is a Lazy Genius - the tag line from her podcast that I've been listening to for many years is "Be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't" which is pretty much exactly what I am trying to achieve in my life right now. Or for always. I wrote about her first book, in the summer of 2020 and really appreciated and use her Lazy Genius principles probably every day (My particular favorites are "start small" and "what can I do now to make _____ easier later.").
The Lazy Genius Kitchen: Have What You Need, Use What You Have, and Enjoy It Like Never Before by Kendra Adachi already has me making changes in how we use our kitchen. Besides for the obvious cooking and eating. It made me look at so many little things that we could be doing better in order to ease the tension points of our eventual eating. It's been a bit spotty implementing changes with summer adventures but something I really hope to keep working on over the course of the summer.
Cookbooks are fun to read (especially dessert and/or pastry focused ones) but this book is not that. It actually only has 2 recipes. AND YET, I feel much more competent in the kitchen, or at least on my way to being more competent in the kitchen, after reading it. And I initially didn't think this book would be relevant to me!
This book made me realize the two big problem points in our making and eating supper rhythms. One is the menu planning of it. I still follow this same basic system I wrote about 9 years ago (except I've long planned just 2 weeks at a time instead of a whole month). However, I really, really, dislike menu planning. I see the importance. I hate going to the grocery without a list. I have a good habit of checking for what we are out of before buying, say, a new box of pasta. And we typically add things to the list when something runs out. The making of the grocery list or over stocking up on things isn't the problem. It's the picking the meals to go into the menu plan that is the problem and causes me more work than I would like.
I haven't finished revising this system but it's hopefully going to happen in June still and then I will blog about it. But it was reading this book that finally helped me put a new plan in motion.
The other big sticking point to our eating is that I usually need to be making supper about the same time Luke also needs help with homework. That is currently not a problem but will be again in a few months. I haven't figured out a solution to this one yet (other than living off of leftovers which we already do at least 4 days a week...I rarely will make meals that only last for one day). BUT I have some ideas or some ways to ease this pain point.
Kendra (she feels like a friend I am on a first name basis with at this point) doesn't give you instructions for how to make your kitchen life easier. There is no one solution that is going to work for everyone! However, she helps you figure out what YOU prioritize in this season of life and figure out, with her 5 step system, how to make it happen. It's a bit more interactive than a "this is how you fix all your time in the kitchen" book but the genius is that you are figuring out what really matters to you. What matters to me (ease, that my kids will (usually) eat it, and relatively healthy) might not be the same things that matter to you. And everything can't matter. There have to be priorities. And Kendra will help you figure out what those are for you.
Besides all the prioritizing and essentializing that Kendra helps you figure out, she also goes through a lot of basic kitchen things. What different terms mean (which I knew most of but not all!). She goes through the liquid index which, honestly, blew my mind a little even though we had used elements of it for years without knowing it. There are chapters about actually enjoying your meal and personalizing the whole experience for you and whoever you eat with. Really, it's amazing all the tips and hints and genius she packed into this 200 page book. And it's a really pretty book too!
I'm still not a genius in the kitchen but I've also accepted that I don't need to be. I know what matters to me and I have some ideas for how to make it all easier to me while still feeding my family. This is definitely a book I will return to again and again as I fine tune our kitchen routine and as seasons change in our lives. It was a very worthwhile read.
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