Things that make cooking tolerable

 (1) Juice Press / (2) Slow cooker / (3) Strawberry slicer / (4) Compact Egg Slicer  / (5) Salad Shooter

Things I like to do: Eat, sleep, travel.  Things I don’t like to do: Cook, bake, or clean up a cooking or baking mess.

So with that said, when I was single I ate out a lot (isn’t that what dating was for?) and there was nothing wrong with cereal for breakfast and dinner.  Then I got married and realized my duties had to expand beyond the ready-made box pantry and being a Proverbs 31 wife doesn’t come naturally for some of us.  Some excel in sewing, knitting, crafts and such while others excel in the kitchen (yes that was me trying to justify my existence and value).

I found a few things that have helped me tremendously in the kitchen that I thought I would share for the kitchen-challenged.  Things that just make it easier, tolerable, if you will.

1. We have a citrus farm in the back – limes, grapefruit, pink lemon, juicing things make this easier.  We have a similar one, ours is from Pottery Barn but it makes the process fun when we try to freeze our juices.
2. Crockpot = Lifesaver.  If you are single you can do away with a smaller one around $50.  Even this crockpot size is a bit big for the two of us, but when you load it, it gets smaller.  Thanks to Tastefully Simple, with minimal ingredients they sell, you can create frozen crockpot recipes (they provide) and I made 20 2-person meals in two hours!  Drop in a few things before work, turn it on, dinner is served when you are back.
3. From strawberry ice cream to strawberries in oats, slicing is so bor-ing so this heavy duty strawberry slicer comes in handy.
4. Egg slicer! This one has kept up with our madness.  I must have an egg on my salad or I feel like it’s missing something.
5. You thought they didn’t exist any longer!  We use our Salad Shooter for grating cheese when I make some wicked mac and cheese.  Who likes to grate cheese?  Ugh, how about your fingers too?  I also do slices of apples when I make bircher museli.

Again, I’m an incredibly lazy kitchen girl, unmotivated.  So my recipes I list are called “Easy Recipes” and the things – just about all the things in my life are conveniences because you and I know if we can’t find that much natural joy in it, we want it done quick – so we can move onto the next thing.  In my case, anything else!