romanticizing dinner (a series): making cooking a hobby again despite feeling like I have NO TIME !!!
I've become so busy as a full time working mom that I haven't had time to cook for fun. This recipe series is to encourage you to do that. I include prep tips to make cooking at night way easier & fun
Hi friends!
I am so excited to start this substack — my little cook nook in the corner of the internet where we do all the fun cooking things.
Ok question for you…do you feel like you have such minimal free time lately that you’ve compromised the time you spend on your favorite hobbies? I had this realization recently and it drove me to do some reflecting on what would make me happiest personally and professionally for 2025 and beyond. When I was in the depths of the first trimester of my second pregnancy, my therapist asked me, "well what's your hobby outside of cooking since that’s your job?” And to be quite frank, I had no answer. Literally not one thing came to mind. Last pregnancy, I embarked on my knitting crisis of 2023 and it was honestly depressing lol. I like going on walks and doing pilates, but I wouldn’t consider those hobbies (???) This discussion helped me realize that even though cooking is my job which I love dearly, it’s also my hobby and brings me so much joy when I’m just cooking for my family for fun. This all being said, it’s my goal for 2025 (and hopefully for the rest of my life TBH) to enjoy cooking as my hobby again, even though it's also my full time job!
When I started my business, I was 21 years old and had all the time in the world to make dinner any time after 5pm! On top of that, I had time to get groceries, do a workout, watch 8 episodes of something on Netflix and take a bath (wow.) It was up until I had kids that I really had to budget my time differently and felt like I was sacrificing the tranquil, therapeutic evenings in the kitchen that I so much crave and thrive off of. Ever since I became a mom and Sebastian and I separated into morning and night shifts (Sebastian takes the morning, we go to work, then I take the evening,) I haven’t had time to cook for fun!!!! This got me thinking of all the working parents or just busy people in general out there who miss cooking as a hobby and feel like they don’t have the time. I want to help you find the time!!! We can do it ! I am right there with you and I am finding the time too!
I post all of my recipes on my website, but this substack is for like minded people who miss making delicious, restaurant quality dinners at home and have felt like they have no time to. Each week, I will include what I made for dinner the previous week and how I broke up my time to prep certain ingredients and make the post-toddler bed time cooking process a lot easier and shorter. Of course, you don’t have to be putting a toddler to bed to take advantage of these tips and tricks.
This is basically meal prep that I squeeze into little pockets of my day where I have free time. It’s not the legit kind of meal prep where everything from Monday to Sunday is prepped out like a salad bar. To be honest, I have tried to get into that and I….hated it :) It just does not fit my personality nor my mission to romanticize dining at home!!! So this is my way of using my chef skills to make delicious fun dinner easier for myself every night.
For everyone, your pockets of free time may look different! For me, it’s the morning when Sebastian is on baby duty and I haven’t started work yet or late at night if I have a random hyper burst of energy. I usually have about 1-2 hours where I can do some prep somewhere in the day and I turn on my Netflix and chop some stuff up to prep for a delicious meal the next day. For you, it may look like 9-10pm after the kids are asleep and you find that little pocket of quiet time for yourself. Or, it may be randomly throughout your work day because you work from home and can do fun things like that!! OR, you could have all the free time in the world and just want to learn how to make delicious recipes and prep them out so that cooking is easier for when you have your friends over.
No matter what your mission is with being here, these tips are great for cooking for crowds or a table for one. Literally whatever you want to get out of this, I am here to help you just get in the kitchen and have some fun. Turn on your show (for me it’s Traitors right now omggggg,) grab a glass of wine or a cup of coffee or whatever drink u want, and VIBEEEE!!!!!
OKAY!!! I am so excited to do this. Just starting this substack is motivation enough for me to honor my fun time and get creative. So thank you for the motivation and inspiration. Yay for new beginnings! Can’t wait to romanticize dinner together. :)
Some recipes coming up are creamy braised honey mustard chicken (slow cooker friendly) my chicken cutlet with a citrus, fennel and arugula salad and green garlicky shrimp with salad. BANGGGGINNNN.
