THE SECRET TO HOME-COOKING HAPPINESS

by Sarah Hiner

Nothing makes me happier than being surrounded by family and friends at our dining room table. I love being with them, love sharing playful banter and interesting ideas, and I love serving good healthy food.  It’s the triple crown of happiness:  human connection… good fuel…and the pride of accomplishment.

When my kids were young we served healthy but simple meals.  Now with them grown and on their own, I have been branching out of my comfort zone to try new recipes and make more things from scratch that I might previously have purchased.  Why?

They say that necessity is the mother of invention. Well, high prices, loud restaurants and food boredom are the mother of my dive into expanding my culinary skills. Combine this with the fact that both of my daughters are very good cooks who enjoy creating healthy and unique meals, and I’ve definitely been inspired by them to step things up. 

Rising food prices have made headline news for the past few years, and I know that restaurants are seriously suffering from rising food and staff costs. But when dinner for two at a casual Italian restaurant costs over $100 (for chicken marsala with a side salad, one entrée salad and one glass of wine)…and the steak my husband got when we went out with friends last week cost $68…it just seems crazy not to expand my repertoire beyond our go-to meal of grilled chicken and salad. I could have fed all four of us filet mignon for the price of my husband’s one meal out!

But it’s not just about saving money or the noise level at the restaurants. I enjoy the creative challenge of trying new things and minimizing waste by using what’s in the fridge or buried in the pantry. I haven’t had any major flops (except the day I cooked off all the fluid in my chicken soup), and I am proud to be stepping out of my comfort zone by trying new things and creating great food to share with family and friends.  

Here is some of what I’ve tried lately…

Thai Quinoa salad from Run Fast. Cook Fast. Eat Slow: Quick Fix Recipes for Hangry Athletes by champion marathoner Shalane Flanagan and chef and nutrition coach Elyse Kopecky. There is so much that I eat that, frankly, leaves me listless an hour or two later. But this salad truly fills me up and keeps my blood sugar running evenly for hours. I served it to a friend last week who doesn’t especially like quinoa, yet even she went back for seconds!

Chicken Paprikash and Braised Beef with Red Wine and Cherries. Both of these are from my new favorite cook book How to Braise Everything by America’s Test Kitchen. I recently discovered braising as a cooking technique. It’s super-easy to do and relatively fool-proof (which is definitely what I need). All you do is brown the protein add sauce ingredients and then let it simmer either on the stove or in the oven. Braising provides unique flavors and great texture to meals so anyone can seem like a gourmet chef—and the leftovers are great, too.

Half the fun I’ve had with cooking is being resourceful—such as using milk and lemon juice for recipes that call for buttermilk. The braised beef recipe called for dried cherries, which I didn’t have and store-bought ones are sweetened with sugar. So instead, I used frozen cherries that I’d had in the freezer for smoothies and laid them on a cookie sheet at 200°F. Six hours later, I had perfectly dried cherries…sugar-free.

I am proud that I figured out a way to make my own healthier—and cheaper—version of dried cherries. I actually was going to order some dried cherries from a catalog because I like them in trail mix and salads, but making these was so easy that I’m simply going to make my own in the future.

What else have I made lately?

A beautiful Pear Tart for Christmas dinner. A family member sent us a lovely “fruit tower” gift that included pears, apples and assorted other sweet treats. The pears were perfect, but too many for us to eat before they became overripe. I’d made apple pies before and even apple tarts but never a pear tart. This was so easy. I used only frozen puff pastry, sliced pears and apricot jam—and I looked like a pro.

Foccaccia. Next to ice cream (which I do make at home), my favorite thing is fresh hot bread, but I rarely eat it since I avoid wheat. So when I do eat it, it better be good and fresh. As my father used to say, “Yesterday’s bread is not fresh…only today’s bread is fresh.”

Since I now live at an altitude where things don’t bake the same way as they do at sea level, I’ve avoided making traditional baked goods like cakes and muffins for fear that they will fail. But one day, my daughter announced that she was going to make Italian focaccia…and that it was easy and didn’t require kneading. Easy and no kneading? Hmmm, worth a try. Only four ingredients— instant yeast, flour, water, salt…plus olive oil and seasoning on top. It did require some planning, however, because the dough has to rise for 12 to 18 hours (overnight) and then again for three hours. But I’m not doing the work—the bread is. Five minutes of mixing and lots of sitting. So easy. So delicious. And…in spite of the altitude, it came out perfectly!!

There is a saying that food is the language of love. It provides comfort and connection, both of which are critical to personal happiness. With every new recipe, I feel like I have provided extra love to my family and friends while also expanding my mind and creativity. My daughters and I share recipes and photos of what we’ve made and enjoy cooking new recipes when we are together.

Cooking definitely takes some time, but with a well-stocked kitchen, there are many things that can be prepared far faster than the time it takes to drive to and from a restaurant, wait for a table, wait for for your order to be taken,  wait to be served, and then eat the meal. The braised beef I made required 10 minutes to cook bacon…five minutes to slice onions (while the bacon cooked)…and five minutes to sauté the onions. After that, it was simply babysitting a pot on the stove/in the oven while I enjoyed the delicious smells. Even making the cherries took zero effort beyond preheating the oven and putting them on a pan. The oven did all the work for those six hours.  Advanced planning…yes. Effort… minimal.

It saddens me to hear the number of otherwise intelligent, creative people I know who insist that they don’t cook—flat out don’t do it. It’s not that they don’t have the time or the ability to do it – they’ve simply decided it’s not “their thing” and are happy to spend extra money…and perhaps similar time…ordering in, reheating precooked food or going out.

Expanding my tastes and skills has been more than a satisfying journey for me. I have realized that preparing special food for family and friends truly encapsulates the art and science of happiness:  it provides a delicious, feast for eyes and stomach and it stimulates the production of all four happy hormones: Dopamine (the hormone of goal setting and accomplishment), Oxytocin (the hormone of connection), Serotonin (the hormone for your moods which is produced in your digestive tract) and Endorphins (nature’s natural painkiller, produced by exercise and certain foods).

I invite you to expand your palate and enjoy a happier life. 

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