Getting out of a cooking funk

[The Late Night Gourmet]

Guacamole is what made me excited about cooking. I was at a Super Bowl party, and there was this excellent guacamole. A woman noticed I was enjoying it, and wanted to know if I wanted the recipe. I’ve never thought about such a thing before, but I said “yes”. That wasn’t even 10 years ago.

I’ve enjoyed cooking so much these last several years. But, my work schedule, and stresses around the household, have disrupted my creative flow. I’ve talked myself out of making things, because I’m simply drained by life. When I cook things, I go with a simplest approach that still tastes good.

But, I didn’t consider the value that cooking was adding to my life. I didn’t appreciate it until it was gone.

But, it was guacamole that brought me back. Kroger has overly ripe vegetables in a bag for a dollar. I always look out for the avocados. There were four slightly over ripe avocados, and I grabbed a bag. I also had some ridiculously tasty tomatoes straight from the farm at home. I had to do these ingredients justice.

I scooped and smashed the avocado, then added red onion, cilantro, those beautiful tomatoes, jalapeño peppers, lime juice, and my “secret” ingredient: tajin. It was sensational.

I was suddenly inspired to make saffron couscous for the recipe challenge. I felt that familiar feeling of wanting to talk myself out of it. But, I pushed on. It was after midnight, but I was elated. I love the feeling of savoring those intricately woven spices. Simple can be good, but complex can be great.

I feel like my Mojo is back. But, I have to be on guard. It’s like trying to stay physically fit. It’s easy to fall into bad habits, but if you’ve succeeded before, you know you can succeed again.

 

[SandwichShortOfAPicnic]

Guacamole is what made me excited about cooking. I was at a Super Bowl party, and there was this excellent guacamole. A woman noticed I was enjoying it, and wanted to know if I wanted the recipe. I’ve never thought about such a thing before, but I said “yes”. That wasn’t even 10 years ago.

I’ve enjoyed cooking so much these last several years. But, my work schedule, and stresses around the household, have disrupted my creative flow. I’ve talked myself out of making things, because I’m simply drained by life. When I cook things, I go with a simplest approach that still tastes good.

But, I didn’t consider the value that cooking was adding to my life. I didn’t appreciate it until it was gone.

But, it was guacamole that brought me back. Kroger has overly ripe vegetables in a bag for a dollar. I always look out for the avocados. There were four slightly over ripe avocados, and I grabbed a bag. I also had some ridiculously tasty tomatoes straight from the farm at home. I had to do these ingredients justice.

I scooped and smashed the avocado, then added red onion, cilantro, those beautiful tomatoes, jalapeño peppers, lime juice, and my “secret” ingredient: tajin. It was sensational.

I was suddenly inspired to make saffron couscous for the recipe challenge. I felt that familiar feeling of wanting to talk myself out of it. But, I pushed on. It was after midnight, but I was elated. I love the feeling of savoring those intricately woven spices. Simple can be good, but complex can be great.

I feel like my Mojo is back. But, I have to be on guard. It’s like trying to stay physically fit. It’s easy to fall into bad habits, but if you’ve succeeded before, you know you can succeed again.

A lovely share, thankyou.

I hadn’t heard of Tajin, it’s sold here as ‘Mexican spice mix’ so due to having a dislike of spice mixes (pay spice money for salt and sugar? Absolutely not) I’ve skipped over it but this looks different, sounds like it would be great in guacamole

 

[Timenspace]

feel like my Mojo is back.

Would be fantastic to have you back on the forum, at times when you can, more often.
We could all use your wit, humor and great food!

 

[TastyReuben]

Excellent post - I can relate somewhat because I do a lot less cooking now than I used to, and I do miss it quite a bit, so those days when I am cooking feel like holidays or special occasions.

I hadn’t heard of Tajin, it’s sold here as ‘Mexican spice mix’

The in-store advertising here always pushes for sprinkling it on fresh fruit - apparently, that’s a thing - so much so that the fruit section also has a large display of tajin set up.

Must work though, because I bought some that I’ve used maybe twice.

I think it’d be great to rim a cocktail glass with it.

 

[SandwichShortOfAPicnic]

Excellent post - I can relate somewhat because I do a lot less cooking now than I used to, and I do miss it quite a bit, so those days when I am cooking feel like holidays or special occasions.

Reckon you cook more than you think because there’s always multiple recipe challenge entries from you.

 

[TastyReuben]

Reckon you cook more than you think because there’s always multiple recipe challenge entries from you.

That’s the gist of my cooking these days, mainly the challenges…and weekend breakfasts.

It’s a lot of salads now, and just the fridge-clearing kind, so nothing that requires much thought or skill.

 

[medtran49]

I think it’d be great to rim a cocktail glass with it.

That's one of the uses I've seen quite often in restaurants here, especially with traditional margaritas.

 

[medtran49]

I can definitely relate. The only things that inspire me to really cook are the challenges, cravings, or something I see on TV that looks really good.

 

[JAS_OH1]

A lovely share, thankyou.

I hadn’t heard of Tajin, it’s sold here as ‘Mexican spice mix’ so due to having a dislike of spice mixes (pay spice money for salt and sugar? Absolutely not) I’ve skipped over it but this looks different, sounds like it would be great in guacamole

I have some in my cabinet. I like it.

 

[badjak]

I've just been away for 5 or 6 days and I am appreciating my own cooking a lot more than I already did

 

[karadekoolaid]

But, I didn’t consider the value that cooking was adding to my life. I didn’t appreciate it until it was gone.

I'm so happy that you've got back to cooking! I personally consider it very therapeutic. There's something very special about preparing something, from the most elementary to the most complicated dish, and then sitting down to enjoy it, knowing that it tastes wonderful and that you made it from scratch.
Having been brought up in a considerably conservative food environment (olive oil was only for ears, spaghetti and ravioli came out of a tin, vegetables were always boiled and we had exactly the same meal every Sunday) it was a wonderful surprise when I was introduced to new dishes and new cuisines once I left home.
These days, undoubtedly helped by easy internet access to new and exciting recipes, I'll open the fridge and find an ingredient, wonder what to do with it, get on the laptop and find something new. You never stop learning.

 

[TastyReuben]

The in-store advertising here always pushes for sprinkling it on fresh fruit - apparently, that’s a thing - so much so that the fruit section also has a large display of tajin set up.

Speak of the tajin:

See, it’s all over that fruit (and some vegetables, too)!

 

[karadekoolaid]

The in-store advertising here always pushes for sprinkling it on fresh fruit - apparently, that’s a thing.

In Mexico tajín goes on everything. It's lime juice (or sodium citrate) and chile powder - and Mexicans eat chiles with everything too. Kid's sweets have chile in them; desserts have chile in them; I'd not be surprised if they've got breakfast cereal with chiles.
And that's one reason why I love Mexico. Bring on the chiles!

 

[TastyReuben]

In Mexico tajín goes on everything.

I tried some on an apple…just made it taste sort of sour.

 

[SandwichShortOfAPicnic]

I don’t enjoy having the same flavouring on everything, quite the opposite.
I went to a ski holiday once somewhere in Austria (can’t remember where) and everything was flavoured with paprika.
I like paprika but everything?

My friend and I were sick of it and went to the resorts fairly decent sized supermarket hoping to find a snack without paprika, we went through every pack of crisps, nuts and bars we could find and there wasn’t a single thing without paprika.

My friend and I joked about how much we were looking forward to going home and not having any paprika.
I get back in time for the food delivery and they had mistakenly delivered me a large bag of.. yep paprika