When the 5PM Spiral Hits.here's what I make when I have zero ideas. plus my tips on learning to love to cook. (hint: you probably won't like them).
This week I didn’t feel like cooking at all. I had some long work days, allergies are off the charts and it was rainy and gross and it got cold again - I could go on and on. Thankfully I had food prepped for some meals and that definitely included a few items I could grab and eat for breakfast and lunch. Nothing big happened, but I ended up feeling behind on so much. We have a biiiiig weekend and I spent a lot of time prepping for that too. You know when nothing sounds good?! I don’t feel that way often, but when I do, it’s annoying. My oldest child feels like that often but that’s because he survives on about six foods. So he doesn’t count. But when food is my job, and I’m physically able to make just about anything in a matter of minutes? It’s tricky. I often get the comment that I make cooking look easy. Or I’m asked the question of how someone can learn to cook, or make cooking more enjoyable, or learn to love to make dinner, etc. And the answer is a plain and boring one: you just need to do it. See also: make things you like. It’s that easy. That’s the only way I’ve become better at cooking and have found it so much more enjoyable. This isn’t something I was trained in and it’s not something that automatically came easy to me. I wanted to start making the dishes my mom and grandma made when I was younger, so I just… started. Starting from nowhere is the best thing to do. It’s what I do all the time. I started my blog from nothing almost two decades ago, and the early posts horrify me. But if I had waited until I was ready, I never would have done it. So - just start cooking some meals you like to eat. Do it over and over again. Even if you make the exact.same.meal every single week for three months, until you know it like the back of your hand. This is how you learn to season your food, chop vegetables easily, throw things together that sound good and begin to enjoy the process. It’s relaxing. The reason I mention this is because it makes weeks like this - like the week I just had - so much easier. Sure, I still don’t want to be in the kitchen. Nothing sounds great. But I also don’t have to think too hard about putting a legit meal together. It doesn’t take as much brain power... Continue reading this post for free in the Substack app
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Sunday, May 3, 2026
When the 5PM Spiral Hits.
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