Eating Clean, Even When You Don't like to Cook

The very first thing I learned how to cook when I was a kid was brownies. And I am not talking about box brownies; I mean real homemade brownies with Hershey’s cocoa powder, sugar, flour, baking soda, eggs, vanilla, butter, and a dash of salt. Yes, I still remember the recipe to this day. After I mastered my brownies, I started making pound cakes, chocolate chip cookies, red velvet cupcakes, and the list continues. I am not sure if I loved baking, or if I just loved sweets, but either way I become one of those people who “liked to bake, but not to cook.” This whole not liking to cook thing is a big problem when you are trying to eat healthy. For starters, there isn’t much that I can “bake” that is good for me. I tried to make some vegan chocolate chip cookies one time, and they were not good. They were actually disgusting. I tried to pretend that I liked them, I even made them for my family, but they weren’t good. And I knew it. I had to make a paradigm shift. I had to figure out how to enjoy cooking, or at least tolerate it enough to get it done. Here are the five things I did to make cooking work for me:

There is no way that I will ever cook every single day. Like no way. I simply don’t like cooking enough. So I have to be realistic with myself. I know that I am going to have to plan if I want to have a home cooked meal. Period. The best day for me to cook is Sunday’s, that is generally the day of the week that I am least busy. My usual Sunday routine is grocery store (and or farmers market depending on the time of the year), cook for the week, and then yoga. I cant eat the same meal for lunch and dinner everyday, but I can double up a few days before I get bored. So I will usually cook 2 meats and 4 vegetables, and split them between lunch and dinner. For breakfast, 75% of the time I will make a smoothie or a juice, and the other 25% of the time I will eat an egg vegetable scramble or banana and blueberry oatmeal.

So yesterday, this is what I cooked:

• Grilled Chicken Breast – this is to top salads or to just eat with vegetables
• Roasted broccoli and cauliflower – to have available as a lunch or dinner side
• Greens – I love greens, I can eat them like all the time. I make a super simple recipe with chicken stock, onions, seasoning, and the prewashed mixed greens from Trader Joe’s
• Ground Turkey Meatballs – These are great for lunch. I can just add some tomatoes sauce and Zucchini zoodles.
• Cucumber and Tomato Salad – This is great for a quick snack. I also add olives and chopped purple onion.

In addition to the above items, I also have apples, bananas, grapes, blueberries, mixed nuts and popcorn for snacks.

Let me know if you have any questions or if you want me to share my weekly shopping lists in more detail.