Ease and Flow at Home (Part 2)

Yesterday, I posted Part 1 of “Moving with Ease and Flow at Home."
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At the request of a friend, today I’m posting Part 2 in which I share about creating efficiency and harmony around meals and the time spent in the kitchen.  
 
Please comment with your own helpful hints about what systems you’ve put in place and how you’ve made your home especially cozy!  

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Home is the starting place of love, hopes, and dreams.

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​When I am in my kitchen in the evenings, that is my dedicated "me time."  Service to others – through food preparation – I am pretty sure is part of my love language.  
 
In fact, my husband recently bought me a couple certificates for classes alongside renowned culinary chef, Bob, at our local cooking school, EVOO. 
 
Admittedly, part of my personality, too, is that I like to be productive and efficient! 

For example, if I’m waiting for our dinner to cook, it's a perfect time to wash and cut up vegetables and put them in mesh bags in the refrigerator, and then use the cuttings to start a broth base to freeze later after its cooled.  It's also an opportune time to get the Instantpot going with beans or grains.  How easy is it while sautéing or waiting for water to boil to grate cheese and put it in beeswax wrap or do some other little task that will be a time-saver in the following days.   

I have this thought:  It takes longer to go out to a restaurant, so why not make our own “fast food” at home?

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Another thing we have established in our home is that while we are eating dinner together, we’ll decide what’s for dinner the next day! 
 
I have found the best time to consciously choose what to make is when I am partially satiated and not when I’m roaming the aisles of a grocery store trying to figure out what to buy.  After sitting down at the dining room table to eat, my memory is fresh with ideas after just being in the kitchen.  

While my husband cleans up and loads the dishwasher, I’ll make sure we have everything in stock so that I know ahead of time whether or not I need to go to the grocery store the next day.  
 
I’ve raised a lot of kids and I’ve been programmed to be the meal planner in the family.  Nowadays with everyone out on their own, even though I still feel a little pressure to perform, it’s more intentional for me to stay present during the day when I don’t even have to think about what to make for dinner.

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If I know it’s going to be a super busy week, I’ll pull leftovers out of the freezer a day or two beforehand to defrost. I always try to make extra servings of dishes or double recipes so I can slip something in the refrigerator freezer on most nights.
 
I recently had foot surgery and was on a scooter unable to bear weight for 6 weeks.  If you can believe it, we had 17 meals ready to go in the freezer for while I was out of commission! 
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I can’t express enough the added value of planning ahead!

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In our home, we implement primarily a plant-based diet but we do also eat some fish, eggs, and cheese.  Dishes that are our favorites and that are easy to make extras of and freeze are lasagna, enchiladas, soup, creamy lentils, and chili. 
 
For another super quick meal, any combination of soup, salad, and/or sandwich is handy and healthy.  

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Other home-prepared “fast food” meal options I can suggest if you’re short on time or especially exhausted after a hard day: 

• strata using leftover or dry bread (savory pumpkin is a favorite)
• frittata with winter squashes (delicata squash is especially pretty when mixed with purple potatoes and caramelized onions)
• curries of all colors using up soft or “imperfect” vegetables
• we firmly believe almost everything can be made into a taco or burrito 
• omelets 
• rice or grain dishes mixing in chopped vegetables and nuts, scrambled egg, or lentils as a protein source
•  vegetable hash with legumes

  
I hope you find these kitchen hints useful! 

And now that you’ve co-created a super cozy home, have plenty of ideas to fill your loved ones’ bellies, and maneuver with ease and flow, here’s a quick side note to wrap up:  

It is also VERY GOOD to have a location somewhere else outside the home that also makes YOU comfortable and happy: a friend or relative’s place, a bakery or coffee shop, the gym, a cabin in the mountains, even the library. 

When all is said and done, home isn’t a place; it’s a feeling.  It's ESSENCE.