Benefits of Cooking – Page 2

Chili When It’s Chilly

During the holidays, serve chili when it’s chilly! Part of my family has already arrived for Christmas. I wanted to spend time enjoying them, so I cleaned and cooked in advance. That doesn’t mean I don’t have to clean the kitchen every morning, but it does mean I have a lot more time to play. When they arrived, my kitchen was filled with a variety of fruit and my refrigerator with chili.

I know that sounds like a lot of chili, but there wasn’t just one kind. That’s one of the things I love about the dish – there are many delicious versions that can be tailored to the preferences and food tolerances of a varied family.

Histamine intolerance means traditional tomato-based chili is problematic for me. Chicken chili or white chili eliminates that issue. I used great northern beans that I precooked in water and chicken broth seasoned with salt, pepper, fresh garlic, onion, dried chiles, chili powder, and cumin. Once the beans were done, I used the broth to boil a peeled, cubed potato until it was soft.

The broth formed the base for my chicken chili. I added water, more spices, cubed chicken breasts, and the cooked beans. I also added some cream and then let it cook 20 – 25 minutes until the chicken was done. This can easily become chowder with a more substantial cream base and the addition of corn.

Was it exactly traditional white chili? Not really. But the flavors are there. The texture was pleasant and the chicken delicious. This white chili is perfect paired with gluten-free crackers, garlic toast, Brazilian cheese rolls, or rice. And not only does it address my histamine issue, it means my grandson who won’t eat ground meat has a chili option.

I also made tomato-based chili using ground turkey. We love red meat, but often opt for poultry when using ground meat. Again veering from the traditional, I added black beans that I had precooked when preparing the great northern beans. I like black beans, and my system tolerates them better so I could use the leftovers with rice as a side dish.

While I also have a casserole ready, we’ve gotten multiple meals out of the chili. It’s easy to grab and heat when someone gets hungry. Given that we live in different time zones, meal times are always weird for a few days.

And every meal doesn’t have to be the same. Served over Fritos® and topped with cheese, you have Frito chili pie. Add to pasta for a three-way (watch yourself). Top a hot dog, smother a tamale, or make a taco salad and chili serves as a supporting actor.

Chili gets better as it cooks so reheating doesn’t detract. Given this, and the versatility, it’s hard to find a better make-ahead food, especially when it’s chilly.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Slow Cooking

My version of slow cooking isn’t using a slow cooker, it’s not rushing the process. If you’re a fan of cooking shows, or any reality TV, you’ve probably seen many shows that feature challenges that race the clock. The time challenge is a device used to build tension and keep us tuned to a particular program through yet another pharmaceutical ad.

I realized years ago that I found clock racing especially distasteful in cooking shows. It gives the impression that you can’t be a great cook or make delicious food unless you’re also a fast. But that’s simply not true. In fact, you’ll get a lot more out of the sensory experience of cooking when you take your time to savor the tastes and aromas. Presenting food preparation as a constant race feels less than inviting to me.

When we began developing recipes at Cooking2Thrive, we considered inclusion of overall preparation time with each recipe. After comparing the prep time listed on other people’s recipes to the time it took us to prepare them, we recognized how widely this varied depending on the chef. And we found the time listed on most recipes was not a realistic representation of what you can expect in a home kitchen.

Makes you wonder whether the developers believe no one will prepare the recipe if they know how long it really takes or whether they are just retroactively recording how long they thought it took instead of making meticulous notes.

Time can be deceptive. We often have to add a fourth recipe test because the timing turns out to be very different than what we thought it was. And while we don’t list overall prep time on our recipes, we do include some specific cooking times that we want to make sure are as accurate as possible.

I made a salad from someone else’s recipe today that listed the prep time as five minutes. It took me thirty. Am I just slow or was that unrealistic to begin with?

I had to locate the bowls, utensils, measuring devices, and vegetables. I had to pick some herbs. That took 3-4 minutes, and I still needed to clean, peel, chop, and measure six ingredients. Keeping prep time to five minutes would leave me 20 seconds to complete each item. And I’d still have no dressing.

It could be that I’m just a slow cook, but five minutes doesn’t seem realistic to me unless most of the prep has already been done and you begin timing when everything has already been gathered, cleaned, and peeled. Listing prep time that leaves out half the prep isn’t particularly helpful.

I don’t mind being efficient with my efforts, but I’d rather fully enjoy being in the kitchen than rush through the tasks as quickly as possible. I mean, if you don’t take time to lick whipped cream off the beater, you can’t be fully enjoying the process. And if you’re cooking with someone you enjoy, there’s even more reason to linger.

I tasted and adjusted the dressing several times. Fresh lemons, limes, and ginger may taste slightly different on different days even when the measurements are the same. Then I tasted the salad ingredients as a combo bite with the dressing and adjusted again. In between, I got a drink and ate a palette cleanser. Did all of that add time? Of course. But it was pleasant. And it will elevate the flavor of the salad.

I won’t say that savoring time in the kitchen means I jump up and down to get started on each and every meal of each and every day. But it does give me positive motivation to cook fresh food that takes more prep. Whenever I dread getting started on a meal, I come back to all the wonderful sensory memories I’ve made taking my time with slow cooking.

It doesn’t get any better than that!

Trickledown Effects

I’m not here to argue trickledown economics, but I will say there are sometimes trickledown effects from events, policies, and decisions. Sometimes they are unanticipated and unintended. Sometimes they are from something as simple as drinking water.

We’ve lived under excessive heat warnings here most days in the past two weeks. I never leave my home without a bottle of water. After almost burning my hand on one I left in the car for two hours, I have vowed to also carry an ice chest at all times.

You’re probably thinking, just get an insulated water bottle. Believe me, I’ve been through my share of double-walled tumblers. One tumbles right out of my cup holder each and every time I try to use it. One doesn’t fit my cup holder at all. Another one has an annoying top. The only one I currently like, I use to keep French press coffee hot every morning. I’m not going to use it in the car.

All of this makes me more likely to carry commercially bottled water by default. Perfect, bottled water. Easy to carry. Easy to drink. Popular enough for over 15.9 billion gallons of it to be sold in the US in 2022. Why is this even worth mentioning?

Most of us drink bottled water with the intent of staying hydrated during our busy on-the-go lives. Increasingly, we seek out water that is alkaline, electrolyte-rich, caffeinated, or fortified with additional hydrogen or oxygen. I assume these preferences are an effort to be healthy.

It’s great to want to be healthy, but you may be overlooking one simple thing that is missing from bottled water, fluoride. Some people may think that’s a good thing since there’s an ongoing controversy about it. But the retired Army colonel I spoke with yesterday told a different story that went something like this…

Prior to 9/11/2001, kids were more likely to play outside with less supervision. When they needed a drink, they grabbed some water from the tap or garden hose. That changed on a dime with a terrorist attack.

Mothers became more cautious. Kids came inside where they didn’t lift their own body weight or run around as much. As more screens became available, they spent more time on them. They drank more bottled water without fluoride.

Kids still grew. They looked normal. But when recruits showed up at training camp, they were fragile. Not snowflake fragile (although possibly that too), but bone break fragile.

What the Army discovered was that if they built muscle too swiftly during training, bones would simply snap. They didn’t have the density and strength of previous generations of soldiers. According to the colonel, drinking non-fluoridated water while their bones were developing was a contributing factor to this change.

And if that unintended consequence isn’t enough, we now know the plastic bottles leach microplastics that can end up in our bloodstream and contribute to the seriousness of heart disease. The most prominent plastic found in blood by researchers was polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a common type of plastic used in making drink bottles, food packaging and fabrics, as well as lip gloss.

It seems the trickledown effects of added efforts to protect our children turned out to endanger them in unanticipated ways. This kind of unintended consequences occur frequently and often in spite of our best efforts. Once they recognized the problem, the Army learned to train recruits for 100 days in a manner that would balance bone and muscle strength.

The rest of us may only be fighting everyday wars, but we can follow the Army’s example and put new knowledge to good use whenever we discover a trickledown effect that is detrimental to our health.

Getting Comfortable with Discomfort

Making any sort of lasting change requires getting comfortable with discomfort. I know, sounds oxymoronic, but bear with me. Doing the familiar is more comfortable than doing something new. But doing the familiar means little to no change. That’s what keeps it familiar.

Change requires doing something you may not feel comfortable with. Making lasting change takes time, commitment, and repetition. If you can’t settle into some discomfort, you’ll likely be ineffective in achieving significant difference.

We often seek to avoid discomfort. Avoidance comes in so many forms we may not recognize it. Denial is a form of avoidance. Busyness can be a form of avoidance. Drugs or alcohol can be used to avoid. Video games, social media, binge watching, excessive volunteering, and sleeping can all be used to keep discomfort at bay.

But when we restrict each day to our comfort zone, we miss out on the many layers that define a full life. We miss the entertainment of friends who think differently. We miss disruptors that can deepen our understanding. We miss soreness that means we’re gaining strength or flexibility. We may miss our best health, deep connection, awe inspiring views, innovative ideas, or flavorful food. It’s worth considering that we could be missing out on life’s best moments in order to hang onto comfortable ones.

Ever cry when you smash your finger only to have your dad say, “My dad would have said stop crying or he’d give you something to cry about.” It’s not a bad thing that pain and injury often meet more compassion now. But not all injury or pain is catastrophic, and expectation of immediate and complete relief from all levels of discomfort is unrealistic. Reassessment of your perspective may be necessary if you believe all discomfort is bad.

As you begin to build tolerance for discomfort, it can be helpful to dig deeper. Underneath a general feeling of nervous energy you may find a specific emotion or group of emotions related to the change you’re hoping to make. Identifying fear, sadness, embarrassment, sorrow, longing or whatever feeling(s) applies will help you develop an appropriate plan for handling whatever bubbles up.

We often avoid making change because we don’t want to feel emotions we deem bad or negative. Emotions are not inherently good or bad and our relationship with them can change. We can view pain as a punishment or a helpful signal that there’s something we need to address. When you find a sticking point, imagine how you might feel if it were opposite day. You can approach this as a game. Play with it and see what happens. You’re learning to reframe. Reframing is a powerful tool at everyone’s disposal.

A lot of us watch elite athletes overcome injury and think, they can do it because they have amazing doctors, and facilities, and support. It’s true, they do. But they still experience pain and discomfort. A good takeaway may be that discomfort is easier to tolerate with support.

Once you have a framework and support, it’s just a matter of practice. Let yourself stay in discomfort for a minute longer today than you did yesterday. Slowly, but surely, you’ll get comfortable with discomfort.