Welcome to the first issue of Cook When You Can. I hope it's helpful and removes a little tiny bit of stress from your life.
I'd love feedback on the structure, so feel free to reply back to this email and let me know what you think.
Enjoy.
How to turn cooking into a habit (Part 1)
Awhile back I wrote three posts on Medium that line up with the vibe of this newsletter, so I'm going to include a link to each part for the first three issues. Or, you can skip ahead and read all of them at once.
Recipes
Monday - Ragu Penne
We've tried a lot of the meal delivery kits, and most have been...fine. But this recipe was easy and quick, so I've been cooking it pretty often.
Tuesday - Chicken and Rice with Peas and Scallions
I've made this a dozen times or more and everyone loves it. It scales well if you want a big batch to cover multiple meals.
Wednesday - Takeout
Part of living that "cook when you can" life means checking the calendar to see if there's a night where you'd be better off grabbing something quick on the way home from work.
Since you didn't cook, you can use all that extra time to prep the chicken for tomorrow's dinner.
Thursday - Roasted Chicken Thighs
A super simple spice rub and minimal prep makes a solid main course that pairs well with pretty much anything.
You can use the Italian seasoning from the ragu recipe instead of oregano if you don't have any or don't want to buy two things.
Grocery List
Each week I'll include a list of all the ingredients you'd need to cook all of the meals, but each link has its own ingredient list if you just want to cook one or two of them.
Produce
- 1 or 2 Zucchinis
- Yellow onion
- 1 small red onion
- 1 white onion
- Garlic
- 2-3 lemons
- Thyme
- 5 scallions
Meats
- Ground beef
- 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
- At least 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
Boxes, Bags, Cans
- Penne pasta
- Crushed tomatoes - 28oz can
- green olives (optional)
- flour
- white rice
OIls and Spices
- Italian seasoning
- dried oregano
- garlic powder
- kosher or sea salt
- smoked paprika, or regular if that's what you've got (but it makes a difference)
- extra virgin olive oil
- vegetable oil
Other Stuff
- Parmesan
- unsalted butter
- dry white wine
- 4.5 cups chicken broth
- frozen peas