The Burn Out Is Real.
Cooking every day can be exhausting. From the prep to the cooking to the cleanup, day in and day out can easily make the kitchen become our worst enemy. I am guilty of opening the fridge a million times hoping that something will magically appear for me to eat. I’m sure others are guilty of this too and sure, we can order takeout but sometimes even that doesn’t quite cut the guilt of feeding ourselves.
Breakfast For Dinner
Growing up I ate cereal as if my life depended on it. Sometimes I would eat 2-3 bowls in a day when I didn’t want to eat what was on the table for dinner. Luckily I don’t rely on a diet of cereal anymore (because voilà I’m all grown up!). Although I will admit I do sneak a bowl here + there (what can I say? It’s my comfort food!). When I do eat cereal it’s healthier + less sugary.
Cereal takes the stress out of making an entire meal. It’s milk, cereal, + a bowl. Very satisfying when you’re not super hungry and just want something quick. Now if you’re in the mood for cereal, but want to cave in and still cook I recommend one of my favorite personal recipes for homemade cereal.
Ingredients
1 bag of puffed rice (6 oz.)
½ Chopped dried cranberries
⅓ Unsweetened coconut flakes
⅓ Sliced almonds
½ cup of coconut oil
3 tablespoons of honey
3 tablespoons of maple syrup
Directions
Preheat oven to 300°. In a large bowl combine all ingredients. Mix thoroughly until all ingredients are somewhat sticky and wet. Pour cereal onto parchment-lined cookie sheet. Spread uniformly in a thin layer. Bake for 20 minutes and then stir around and bake for another 20 minutes. Let cool on the sheets. Store for up to 2 weeks–unless stale cereal is your thing.
A Case For Buttered Noodles
Picky kids are on to something. Kids LOVE buttered pasta and I can see why. It’s predictable, reliable, and will get you full pretty quickly. There are no crazy flavors in there. Just the richness of butter and the starchiness of the noodles. For adults, it’s an easy, peasy dish to put together. Boil pasta and throw in some pats of butter. But what if you elevated your buttered noodles so that they were up to snuff for your grown-up tastebuds?
I love making a quick bowl of buttered noodles, but with several pats of roasted garlic compound butter. Compound butter is super easy to make ahead to have in your fridge so that you can use it anytime. Here is a quick tutorial I made a while ago on making roasted garlic compound butter.
Tuna Melt/Grilled Cheese
The tuna melt is my go-to dish for when I want to have some animal protein, but don’t want to cook said protein. A simple can of tuna can be made into an umami bomb of flavor situated between two pieces of bread. You can get fancy with your tuna by adding in chives, scallions, and other herbs. Or you can jazz up it with really good olive oil or fancy dressing which I like to do. I like to add a couple tablespoons of caesar dressing to mine.
If you’re not a carnivore a grilled cheese can work too. I like to heat up a few teaspoons of tomato paste with salt/pepper and a bit of olive oil in a pan for a whole minute then spread it on the inside part of the sandwich + add cheese then grill. I’m telling you that you’ll never want to have a plain grilled cheese again.
I’d love to hear what you like to eat you’re not inspired to cook. Comment or send me a message!
Cook. Eat. Repeat.
Natalie