As with any new year, people make resolutions. Gyms fill up, healthy foods in the grocery store are advertised more and this idea of “new year, new me” is pushed.
Usually, I don’t make resolutions. I find myself breaking them within the first month and have never been disciplined enough to follow through with them.
However, this year will be different.
2024 will be the year I learn how to cook.
Cooking has never been my strong suit and was always a part of my day that I dreaded. After a long day of classes and meetings, the last thing I want to do when I go home is make myself dinner.
I thought I would come to like cooking once I moved into my own apartment, but frozen meals from Trader Joe’s have been my best friend for the last three years.
My roommates all seem well-versed in the kitchen; they smell a dish and know which spices it needs or glance at something and know it needs more time in the oven.
I think my distaste for cooking is the fact that it is not precise. Things can be added in a willy-nilly fashion. Some recipes are made up as you go or interpreted differently for everyone.
My brain does not work like that. I need things to be an exact measurement, like baking.
I really enjoy baking because it reads more like a science to me. I know that adding too much baking soda or not enough will impact the outcome.
Another part of my life contributing to my lack of knowledge in the kitchen is that I have never had to cook.
I was fortunate enough to have parents at home to cook for me. My mom worked part-time and could be home whenever my sister and I were.
I would go downstairs in the morning to a fresh breakfast laid out on the counter. My lunches were packed for me, a snack was waiting when I got off the bus after school and my mom made dinner while I did my homework.
Cooking was never something I had to do, so I didn’t.
To this day, when I’m home for break or the weekend, my mom cooks dinner at night. She even wakes me up by leaving hot coffee on my nightstand in the morning.
I am very thankful for these meals and these gestures that are her way of saying she loves me. But I realized it was time for me to learn cooking skills.
I won’t become a master chef, but cooking is an important skill. No matter what, people need to eat.
So, my 2024 New Year’s resolution has been to cook myself dinner every night.
I can cook a quick breakfast of eggs and toast. I can make a sandwich or wrap and blend a smoothie.
I’m not completely helpless, but cooking a full, balanced dinner was my biggest challenge.
I went to the grocery store, bought my favorite meals my mom makes and started my journey.
I typically stick to quick meals since I am busy. My family follows a Mediterranean diet and I have carried that into my life at school.
I typically make Mediterranean chicken bowls with rice, hummus, tzatziki, onions, peppers, cucumbers, Lebanese tabbouleh, chickpeas and feta. This is probably my favorite meal and it can be interpreted in a lot of different ways.
You can have a bowl or a wrap, roast the peppers and onions or switch up the spices on the chicken and toppings.
I’ve also made honey garlic salmon with rice and broccoli and teriyaki shrimp stir fry with homemade cauliflower rice.
I am definitely not an expert. It takes me a while to figure out certain recipes and meat temperatures, but this has been a good start to the year.
I haven’t eaten out yet this year and hope to continue my cooking streak.