I adore you, I really do. You're cute and bubbly and love dogs but here's my issue... you have too many ingredients in almost every single recipe. I wish I loved to cook, I watch cooking shows for fun and write down recipes like I'm actual going to use them, but I don't. To be super honest if it has more than about five ingredients it's never going to happen, if it's more than about 5 steps also never going to happen. Searing meat before putting it in the crockpot? Are you kidding? That's so much work! Ok in reality it's not a ton of work but in my incredibly lazy, cooking-hating mind it is.
On top of my lack of enthusiasm for making dinners I also have the constraints of food allergies (dairy, egg, peanut, and shellfish) to keep me from the truly easy and yummy recipes. I love my children and I obviously do not mind searching for meals that won't kill them, but if we could just have dairy back, that's all I would ask for. We would have casseroles galore and cheese on everything. So.... now that I think about it... maybe the dairy allergy actually helps us all to not be excessively overweight.
Have you ever read an allergen free cook book? It's a lazy, cooking- hating persons worst nightmare. You can't find a recipe without at least 15 ingredients. I appreciate the people that have taken the time and energy to write these books (and also to you, Rachel Ray, for your recipes) and I do use them every-so-often (when I can find the ingredients that you can't find at your local Walmart), but how did you have the time to come up with these recipes? When I try to make one it takes me about two hours, is it just that I'm incredibly slow? Maybe that's my real problem with cooking, I'm just slow so everything takes twice as long as it does most other people. I'm also a stickler to instructions so i read and re-read the recipe at least 10 times to make sure I've completed all the steps. Nothing makes me angrier than a vague ingredient or step, for example: "a dash of salt" what is this? A "dash" is not an exact measurement! What if my "dash" isn't the same amount as the recipe creator's "dash"? People tell me that cooking isn't an exact science that you have to taste while you go, be creative with what kind of spices you add in. Creative? Do I seem like a creative person? I get mad about "a dash of salt" what do you think the possibilities are of me grabbing random spices out of the cabinet and pouring unmeasured amounts into what I'm cooking? The answer, my friend, is zero.
My poor family. My husband is a trooper and tries to find at least something to compliment at dinner every night like "This chicken isn't as dry as last night's, you did a really great job!" Bless his heart. My kids are a little more honestly blunt (they get that from me), "Mom, please don't make me eat any more of this." When anyone comes to visit I stick to the staples, tacos and spaghetti, the two things I don't often fail at (mostly because everything comes in a box or jar or spice packet).
I truly hope that some day a desire ignites inside of me and I get over the whole "that's too much work" mentality. I'm trying to take steps, little by little. I try at least one new recipe every week (much to my kids' dismay), my crockpot use has gone down to about only twice a week instead of four, and I'm trying to not let ingredient list length sway me from trying a new recipe. Until this magical igniting desire occurs could you change the name of your whole "30 Minute Meals" theme because I feel like it just mocks me "30 minutes for Rachel, 5 hours for you, sucka!" And if we could also do away with the non measurements of dash, pinch, etc. my little direction following heart would be so happy. Thank you so much! ~ The lazy, cooking-hating mom
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