I don’t know about you, but when it comes to eating – I am a creature of habit. I just find it easier on so many levels.
For one, I don’t have to put much thought into meal planning. I know what I like and I can make it quickly. I suppose this goes along with my quick meal rule [no more than 30 minutes on dinner, etc.]
Two, I can navigate the grocery store and Costco aisles in record time. Granted, I enjoy meandering the aisles of these same stores when I have time. But that usually involves looking for new snack foods and fun gadgets rather than ingredients for meals.
Three, I don’t have to worry about recipe flops or kitchen disasters. It would be pretty hard to mess up something that I’ve made dozens of times – especially when such simple cooking methods are involved.
Speaking of kitchen flops, yesterday I made fresh veggie juice – beet, carrot, cucumber, kale, and green apple.
I love fresh juice, but I hate wasting all the leftover juice pulp. I also really dislike cleaning the juicer but I supposed that’s just me being spoiled by the dishwasher. In search of a way to use my veggie pulp, I turned to Google. Remind me – what did people do before the internet?
As usual, Google came through and I was on my way to making a batch of simple veggie pulp crackers.
They smelled delicious. Heck, they even looked delicious. But when I took them out, they were completely plastered to the the parchment paper I had spread them out on. So, the juice pulp ended up being trashed anyway. Well, I suppose you could say it was recycled since I threw it outside. I guess it’s time to invest in a non-stick baking mat.
Okay, how did I get so off-topic? Back to the original topic – being a creature of habit in the kitchen.
When I stick to the same old foods, I miss out on trying new recipes. Not only that, but while I truly enjoy my favorite meals – they could definitely be more interesting. Consequently, I miss out on finding new foods that may actually stay in my meal rotations.
Of course, when I see a problem – I try to find a solution. So, I’m forcing myself to try new recipes by giving myself a challenge. Interestingly, I did something similar last January. The lunchbox challenge. Guess I enjoy challenges at the beginning of the year?
This time around, I am challenging myself to try 3 new recipes per week. The recipe can be for any meal – breakfast, lunch, or dinner. To be clear, I’m not saying that I have to go all crazy and make 50 ingredient, 3 hour meals. I’m still going to keep things simple and quick because that’s how I roll.
The meals can be recipes I’ve been wanting to make, new twists on old favorites, or random things that I put together. The overall goal is to force myself out of my comfort zone that I’ve unintentionally carved out for myself.
So here we go!
Sam and I went to the grocery store yesterday and picked up a few new meal items. First up? A veggie stir fry with soba buckwheat noodles, fresh baby bok choy, water chestnuts, and bell peppers.
It sounds delicious, so here’s to hoping it turns out the same.
By no means am I going to phase out my favorites, but hopefully I’ll find a few new meal loves!
Are you adventurous in the kitchen or do you tend to make the same meals over and over again?
Feel free to join this challenge with me – we can share ideas!
<3 Stefanie
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