Believe Manifesto

Over the last three months or so…I have been in a serious food rut. This is an issue for me and my family because I LOVE to cook and prepare meals for them. Cooking has always been something that has brought me joy, but I have been so worn out from making the same thing, trying new Pinterest recipes that are a disaster and ordering pizza and over all just being burned out.

This brought on lots of (unhealthy) take out and fast dinners that haven’t exactly been very healthy or exciting. We have never been big on eating out, ordering take out or unhealthy meals that are quick. Last Sunday when I was sitting in the KFC drive through with my mom (My mom was moving, or we were moving her rather and so she was feeding us all KFC and I ate my first potato wedge in almost a decade–it happens.) and I told her how sad it made me that so many people were at KFC having Sunday dinner instead of eating fresh cooked meals at home. Mom responded that she thought many families eat out on Sunday so they get a break from cooking. I agreed with this idea, but went on to tell her the number of people I have come across who only cook a few times a month at home…the rest of the time they eat out or order in.

I love what Jen Hatmaker says in For the Love:

This same industry believes real life is also too hard for us, but they are here to help. Most notably, the food business. I mean, apparently we cannot possibly cook like every generation before us in history. Advertisers suggest a good breakfast is utterly beyond us. Crack an egg? How could we possibly? We can’t manage real food in the morning! Help us, Marketing People! Give us something fast! Help us through this difficult conundrum of breakfast with food-things you concocted in your labs! Meanwhile, it takes three minutes to fry an egg and serve it over toast. We should stop listening to this nonsense. Women have nurtured their families with good, real food since creation. It simply isn’t true that cooking is beyond our capacity.

Amen. I completely agree with every word of this! Now, don’t get me wrong….there are fond amazing places in our lives for Chick-fil-a, sushi and ordering a pizza. I am not trying to beat us poor mothers and wives, husbands and fathers into oblivion who already have a million things on our plates. But, I do truly think that meaningful amazing things happen when women and men are in the kitchen cooking. And there is something absolutely sacred about sitting around that table in YOUR HOME and sharing a meal, breaking bread.

So, what am I going to do about my food rut? I am going to pull a Julia Child and (sort of) cook my way through The Gourmet Cookbook during the month of November. I have selected 17 recipes that range from salads and starters to dinners and desserts. Some of these ingredients scare me you all! These spices sound like they are from another world! But here is the deal…it cannot be that hard. I will be experiencing new flavors, dishes and cooking techniques. It will take some extra time, but I have a very good feeling that this will take me out of my food rut All the while maybe you all will find a few new recipes to add to your arsenal.

Please join me Monday November 2nd, as I begin on this no-rut November food journey.