Lisa definitely needed an intervention. She did not cook, ever. Instead, her family ordered out at local restaurants for all their meals. It was expensive, not very healthy and created a family of very picky eaters. She wanted to learn some easy but tasty recipes and also learn how to get the timing down for preparing meals and side dishes. Most of all, she didn’t “want her son to grow up thinking that all food comes out of white Styrofoam containers.”
Aviva started the intervention by looking around Lisa’s kitchen and suggesting a few helpful tips. She stressed the importance of using the correct knives. For example, using a sharp, serrated knife for slicing veggies makes prepping easier and keeps tomatoes from being squashed.
Then they discussed the meals Aviva put together for the intervention: A New Mexican Rice Salad with Chicken, a Spinach and Rice Lasagna with a Waldorf Salad, and Zesty Southwestern Burgers with Cilantro Slaw and Baked Sweet Potatoes. Of course, they would be using Success Rice in all three to make sure each was as easy and tasty as possible.
While they made Southwestern Burgers, Aviva stressed the importance of heating up the sauté pan before adding the burger patties, and not pressing down on the patties because it dries them out. And finally, she suggested not touching them until they are ready to be flipped.
Lisa’s husband and son were on hand to test out each of the three meals they cooked, and her husband gave a huge thumbs-up. A key to successful family meals is keeping things interesting, which doesn’t mean slaving over complicated recipes. Aviva pointed out that there are many unique and easy recipes out there. Her cookbooks are filled with them.
In the end, Lisa walked away from her intervention with the confidence she could make at least three meals at once to have throughout the week, a real help with a young son around the house. She now has many new, easy to prepare recipes to choose from. If you don’t have a lot of free time, keep it simple.