It's So Easy! (Not)

This came across my Facebook feed this morning, and I thought it was worth sharing. This is a topic that I try to keep in mind when I am planning sabbat menus, developing recipes for my own projects, or just thinking about what to make for dinner during the week. My kitchen is currently being packed into a U-Haul by my poor, sweet Aussie, along with everything else that is on its way to NC from WV.

The Myth of 'Easy' Cooking

This article, posted in The Atlantic by author Elizabeth G. Dunn in November 2015, discusses the promise of restaurant-quality, gourmet meals at home, in a snap! Except...not. Now, I don't have children, but I do have a full-time job, pretty shitty clinical depression, and chronic pain. These things combine to make me feel like absolute crap at the end of many days, with no motivation to even chop an onion, much less slap together a "simple" quiche or "instant" pasta carbonara.

Nah, fuck that. I'm almost ashamed to say we actually did a lot of takeaways. Obviously not ashamed enough to omit that information from my blog, however. And you know what? We'll probably do it here sometimes, too because even though I love cooking, the cleaning up process takes forever. We don't always have the energy to do a thorough job of it, and this place is...considerably buggier than WV. I'm not willing to deal with that. At least we have a dishwasher again. That's incredibly helpful, but I know that there are still evenings when I simply hurt too much to stand and move enough to prepare a proper meal. And I know I'm not alone in that.

Once I have a proper work surface again, I plan to go back into my notes and evaluate what I have planned so far. Is is truly simple? Does it take too much time? Too much effort? Can a busy kitchen witch, perhaps one with children and/or another full-time job prepare these dishes for their sabbat celebration? It's a valid point, I believe, and one I fully intend to address in some way.

Dreaming of October...

Don't I always wish it were fall? It's not that I'm not enjoying the summer. It's just that I long for the season of the witch, all year long.

We're almost ready for Midsummer! Well, y'all might be, but it's crept up on me again and I don't know if I'm going to have the time and energy to get prepared. I don't even have a menu planned. Can you believe that??

What I DO have, however, is a menu plan for every other sabbat through Yule. Yeah, yeah, I know...Priorities.

As usual, I will share the menus now and promise recipes later. I truly am terrible, aren't I? I will even attempt to get some decent photos. I'm just so ashamed to let anyone see how cluttered this tiny space is!

Anyhell, here are some sabbat menus:

LAMMAS

·         Pork chops (grilled) with orange, cumin, chipotle glaze

·         corn pancakes with whole corn

·         toppings: avocado, green onions, sour cream, shredded cheese

·         frijoles rancheros – pintos with bacon, onion, and jalapeño

·         garden salad with Green Goddess dressing: salad mix, spinach, red onion, orange bell pepper, shredded carrot, shredded cabbage, sugar snap peas, broccoli florets

·         cherries jubilee with vanilla ice cream  (cherries done outside)

MABON

·         Baked vegetarian kibbeh  (potato, onion, and bulgar with chickpea-pine nut filling)

·         Yogurt sauce

·         Lemon-herb roast chicken

·         Persephone’s salad

·         Ginger pear upside down cake

SAMHAIN

·         Cornmeal-dredged fried catfish with tartar sauce

·         Hoppin’ John

·         Cornbread

·         Apple crisp

·         Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet tea

YULE

First course:

·         Buckwheat blinis with with duck, red cabbage, parsnip, ginger-cranberry-orange sauce  - lightly sauté cabbage and parsnips

Main course:

·         Maple-mustard glazed pork tenderloin with fruit stuffing

·         Duchess sweet potatoes with garam masala

·         Stuffed onions

·         Swiss chard with curry powder and hazelnuts

·         Persephone’s Salad

·         Butternut Squash Flan