Krazy Kookin' Part 1 - Where's The Beef? Or Chicken? Or Pork?

I've always loved to cook. When my grandma would be in the kitchen cooking, as a young child I would be in the floor playing with any leftover pots and pans that weren't being used at the time.
It didn't take me long to realize there were benefits to helping cook, especially when the baking involved some type of batter. Brownie, Cookie Dough, Cake .... you name it and I would lick the spoon, the bowl and the beaters (as long as the mixer was turned off first of course)!😉

As I grew older I learned how to actually prepare food for a meal. My grandmother was an excellent cook who believed that "country" cookin' was the only way to go. Her cast iron skillets in multiple sizes were a staple in her arsenal for the kitchen.

I will have to admit that as I've gotten older, I have moved away from cast iron to nonstick but it doesn't mean that cast iron skillets are dead. If you season them right and maintain them periodically, they are still great to use. One of my problems with cast iron has been that my arthritis is getting pretty bad in my hands and fingers and the cast iron is so heavy, I've opted for lighter and easier to handle items when cooking. Either way you can't go wrong.

So yesterday I'm talking with our Alzheimer's Association Upstate Director of Development, Ms Aundi Hunter about my love of cooking and the challenges that are rearing their ugly head while we were headed to a luncheon. One of the main problems I'm having is trouble finishing a recipe that calls for too many steps or ingredients and/or that require multiple ways to measure.

I feel like I am a really great cook, and for a long time I did most of the cooking when we first were married. She was working long hours with a long drive to and from work, and my schedule allowed me to be at home a good bit of the time. Every evening I would have a hot meal in front of her either as she was walking in the door, or just a few moments later.

In 2015 I was able to return to a full time job and so we had to start sharing the load for cooking. Then she was laid off and it was her turn to keep the food in perpetual motion. I really missed it because I was working 60+ hours a week and the weekends were the only time that I had to really prepare anything.

Not only do I love to cook but I love to grill. One caveat; it has to be charcoal. Gas is fine for the logs in the fireplace, but not on my food. Charcoal gives food a taste that can't be duplicated. Sure, you can add some Liquid Smoke to a recipe, but it still won't give it the same flavor.

Cooking on a stove, or grill for that matter has become a safety concern for me now though. I don't really mean to, but I'll forget to wear mittens/gloves when taking something out of the oven or off the grill. I have reached out and grabbed food on the grill to either turn or remove it without even using a utensil, just my bare hands. Then it confuses me as to why it hurts. Finally I'll realize what I've done and put the food back or down on a plate, trying to treat the burn in the immediate aftermath.

This has caused us to change our food preparation and cooking roles once again. 

I don't do very well with food preparation either, so if something requires a lot of slicing or other tools, Sheri has to do that work for me also. I have a mini food chopper and a food processor that I use extensively to do a lot of my prep work. I also have a KitchenAid Stand Mixer that I use instead of the hand mixer as trying to hold the bowl and move the mixer around inside of it is difficult to do with my concentration. I can think about doing one, but not both at the same time. Here lately it is more of her cooking, and less of me even being in the kitchen, though I like to still make some of the simpler dishes.

I've said all this to give you a background as to where this is going. I love Aundi to death but I was surprised to learn that she doesn't like to cook things that have a lot of ingredients (think more than 3) or a lot of steps (mix and put in the oven is about the max I believe) and even she said that an easier way to cook and prepare recipes would be appealing to her and she thinks others too. So starting this week I'll be writing some blogs about cooking with Dementia and also about how we eat, a style known as Keto and why we've chosen this way of eating.

I hope you enjoy my writings and that you or someone you know can be inspired by something that I post. Don't forget to follow this blog and share with your friends.

And most of all, let's work together to #EndAlz