Wingin' It

(This ain’t about chicken)

A few years ago, when I was still a control freak drama queen novice in the kitchen, one tiny little speed bump on my road to creating a meal would totally derail my cooking efforts.

Partly because of inexperience, partly because of frustration and partly out of indignation that I felt like preparing something and it wasn’t going perfectly, I would freak out at the slightest urm, challenge that came up while cooking. A recipe called for fresh rosemary, and I only had dried rosemary? Disaster! The sour cream I needed went bad sitting in the back of the fridge for a year? Chris! Out you go in the pouring rain to find sour cream at 10pm! The recipe clearly states that I should broil my chicken, and my stove’s broiler setting is not working? Forget it! I’m done! The whole thing’s going in the garbage!

Yes, it’s true; Chris put up with a lot of freak-outs as I worked my way up the domestic goddess ladder. These days, I am practically Zen in the kitchen. My instincts for cooking are way better, I can improvise pretty successfully, and I have managed to transfer any need for freaking to trying to put together a 7-month post-natal outfit out of a 3-year pre-natal wardrobe.

I think I can attribute my current mellow state in the kitchen to the watching of copious hours of cooking shows, having two very small children making demands of me, and frankly, not friggen caring that much. How’s that for a recipe for success?

This weekend brought up a pretty good example of the kind of thing I used to go bananas about: My mother brought over pre-marinated souvlaki for barbequing, but forgot tzatziki. In the past, I would have seen this as a passive-aggressive jab by my mother; something she had done on purpose to ruin my efforts at entertaining (I swear to god). But add a good deal of maturation mixed with a bunch of problem-solving skills, and guess what? I figured I could make my own tzatziki! Something to dip my chicken into and maternal harmony! What fun! So I went to work. I didn’t have a recipe, the right kind of yogurt, or a chip on my shoulder. It was delish.

Kgirl’s Zen Goddess Tzatziki Prep time: 15 minutes, including straining of yogurt Cook time: Nada Feeds: 6

- A cup or so of plain yogurt, strained through cheesecloth for 10 min. if it’s not already REALLY thick
- 1/3 English cucumber, skin on, diced really small
- About a tablespoon olive oil
- A few mint leaves, chopped fine
- 1 clove garlic, smushed
- Juice of 1/4 of a lemon

Mix it all together and slap it on some souvlaki. Right on.

*SoundBITE*
Yogurt really is a super-food. High in calcium, protein, iodine and B vitamins, yogurt also contains important bacteria that help boost your immune system, digest food, and girls, it keeps away the yeast infections. Yogurt is naturally low in fat, so don’t get too sucked into thinking that you should opt for a fat-free variety. That said, don’t rely on one of those creamy-deluxe dessert lookin’ kinds of yogurt for your daily health dose – you may as well be eating ice cream.

Comments

[nomotherearth]

Have I mentioned yet how you're inspiring me? On Monday, I made my very own - very first - basil pesto sauce. Not bad, if I say so myself..!

I'm so on the yogurt train these days. I love Activia, and I think it's helping with the weight loss post baby..

[motherbumper]

I totally get the transference of freaking out to the wardrobe issue. And omg I can actually make my own tzatziki? Who da' thunk it?

[daysgoby]

Mmmm...souvlaki....