I’ve learned a new skill recently that has empowered me and given me an apetite to learn more.  I suppose I should give a little background to help put this into context. 

I do not like to cook.  I’ve tried changing that.  Hubby and I took a cooking class together.  I watch cooking shows with him.  I absolutely love Top Chef.  And of course, I love food.  But interested in the process that the food goes through before sitting on my plate?  Not a bit.

Well, being a stay-at-home mom and not liking to cook don’t really go hand in hand.  Regardless of how I feel, meals do need to be prepared and in the interest of having a family dinner with nutritious food, I try to make this happen.  I try to avoid handling raw meat because it’s gross, and since I love baking, I try to do casseroles and stuff like that.  But there aren’t very many healthy casseroles so… you get the drift. It’s an ongoing battle in the kitchen.

Did I mention that Hubby loves to cook?  He absolutely LOVES it.  And he loves cooking for us.  But he can only makes dinner on the weekends so that’s that.

So, what is this new and empowering skill that I’ve learned that has made my cooking life SO MUCH EASIER?!

Grilling!!! I have become the freakin’ Grill Master!!!

Now I know why the guys love it so much!!  It’s SO easy!!!  And there’s virtually no cleanup from it.  And there are a lot of ways to vary the food through different marinades, types of meat, seasonings, etc.  And the best part of it all is that I get to be called the Grill Master!!  (Did I mention that part?)

So now we have this fantastic routine going on.  Hubby will throw the raw meat into a plastic bag with the marinade the night before it needs to be cooked.  Then that next evening, I’ll just toss the meat onto the grill and let it cook itself.  I make up some side dishes and Wa-La!!  Dinner is served! 

Oh I must admit that I am very chickish about the grilling though.  I keep track of the time that each side of the meat cooks on and I carry my trusty meat thermometer outside with me when I need to make sure it’s done.  Afterall, I don’t want to serve undercooked meat!  (I think the guys have their own instinctual meat thermometers that God included in their genetic makeup.)

There’s this really big part of me that wants to buy a pretty pink apron and do all my grilling in it. I can just imagine a 50’s chick wearing her domestic apron and holding up a pair of tongs… “Ward, kids, dinner is served! Medium-well, just like you like it!”

I think the coolest part is that this new skill has totally empowered me to learn to do more stuff.  I mean, something that used to be such a big problem for me (what to make for dinner each night) is now so much simpler.  I feel like a big roadblock was removed from my path. 

So what other skills could I add to my repetoire?  I will be contemplating this over the next few days.  (I’m really hoping that mowing won’t be one of them!)

I would love to hear what you all think about grilling your food.  Do you do it a lot?  Do you love it?  What’s your favorite thing to grill? 

Also, have you ever had the empowering experience that I am referring to?  What skill did you learn that made such a difference in your life?