One day last week for dinner I had a can of Bush's Baked Beans, country style, right out of the can. The only cooking I did was add a little salt. If I had to do it again, I'd probably add a few cooked pinto beans and let them "marinate" a while in the extra syrup. Oh, and a small bag of potato chips.
I'll just add an easy homemade tomato soup recipe. It's so easy and really good... only 3 ingredients (plus some water and salt.) Not much "cooking." 4 tablespoons butter 1/2 large onion, cut into wedges 1 (28-ounce) can diced or crushed tomatoes 1 ½ cups water salt to taste (about 1 1/2 teaspoons or so) Melt the butter in a medium saucepan; add the rest of the stuff to the pot and bring to a simmer. Cook uncovered over low heat for about 45 minutes. Use a potato masher to mash up the cooked onion and any large pieces of tomato (or use a stick blender to get the concoction to a smoother consistency.)
I’ve always loved cooking, prior to meeting my hubby in 1986 I lived on a huge sheep / cereal growing farm where I cooked everything from scratch for sheep shearer’s twice a year ( total of 4 weeks ) that included something hot like mini toasties / mini pies / pasties as well as cake/ sandwiches (usually containing cooked meat of some sort) for morning and afternoon tea as well as a hot lunch / deserts ….no packet or canned stuff all freshly cooked food. There always seemed to be other workers come in during the year as well for castrating young male lambs as well as fencers you name it …I did that for 12 years as well as cooking for my own kids and the farmers kids who ( he was widowed) but strictly not my type ….he was so mean/ stingy with his money when it came to buying food ….and he ended up dying in the rams paddock late one night while plowing the paddocks at 70 years old.
I grew up having Campbell's Cream of Tomato soup diluted with milk and not water. To this day my tomato soup has got to be diluted with milk; otherwise, it's like eating watered-down ketchup.
Low fat Grilled cheese sandwich? Toast two pieces of whole wheat bread (although I like Ezeichial Bread) put one piece of toast on a plate, put cheese slices on it, put other piece of toast on it. Put sandwich in microwave for 10-15 seconds. I used to eat noodles mixed with cheese curds till soft with spaghetti sauce mixed in.
I love your story! I can relate to the shepherd's life from time spent in high altitude Idaho visiting the Basque shepherds. I learned to make dutch oven bread and shear with hand shears. The Basque cooks made a lot of stews during shearing and lambing time. The main thing I remember during lambing was a big pot of strong coffee. One year I helped lamb a band of ewes and had to turn lambs in 11 ewes that were having triplets. One lamb of the three always needed repositioning. These days even though I hate cooking, I would volunteer for it over lambing shed activities.
After so many years preparing high end culinary delights in order to wow and impress other people, I’ve kinda lost my interest. I cook what I want to eat sans all the extra efforts I used to love to do. I’m just as happy with a plate of chicken wings as I am with a Ribeye. Speaking of: I bought a whole ribeye the other day and per pound, it was less expensive than chicken wings.
I almost opened up my own breakfast/lunch cafe back in the 80s because I like to cook. I had spoken with an accountant to discuss startup costs, and even had a location picked out...an office park with so few access points it was tough to get out of the place during the lunch hour. They were basically a captive audience. Of course, we're not talking about fancy eats. This would have been a basic breakfast/lunch place where I got in early but was not working into the wee hours. There were many ways I gave myself a reality check (my lack of industry experience being at the top of the list), but also on the list was the pleasure I got (and still do) out of cooking. I realized that if I had to cook day in and day out, it would kill my enjoyment of it. So I kept it in its proper place and stayed at my desk job. Regarding the price of chicken wings: before the days of bar food, we called them "crab bait." Can you imagine?
In order to stay in the food preparation side of the restaurant business, one has to have a very hungry ego that needs to be fed every minute from the time you walk into the kitchen to the time you walk out. It’s a show, a tough show and probably the hardest business there is in which every pro in the show wants to be a headliner. Frankly, there are times when I want to go back into it but I just do not want to commit that much time (every waking minute) and energy to it any longer.