Cooking Without Perfection

I cook most nights because people in my house need to eat - not because I’m trying to impress anyone.

For a long time, food felt like another thing I was failing at. The recipes online were too complicated, too pretty, too unrealistic for the energy I had. Everything felt curated and polished in a way that made my own dinners feel inadequate by comparison.

But the truth is, most of what I cook is simple. Repetitive. Comforting. It’s the same meals made again and again because they work. Because my kid will eat them. Because I can make them without thinking too hard.

Cooking, for me, is care - not performance.

I’m learning to let go of the idea that every meal needs to be special. Some nights it’s pasta and jarred sauce. Some nights it’s breakfast for dinner. Some nights it’s something I’ve made a hundred times because familiarity is its own kind of nourishment.

Lately, I’ve been feeling pulled toward cooking more from scratch - not out of obligation, but curiosity. Learning how to make things myself. Trying recipes that feel grounding rather than overwhelming. Letting the kitchen be a place of experimentation, not pressure.

There will be real recipes here soon. But they’ll be the kind that work on tired days. The kind that leave room for substitutions, shortcuts, and mistakes. The kind that fit into a lived in life.

If you’re cooking your way through exhaustion, overwhelm, or just another long day - you’re not doing it wrong. Feeding yourself and your family is enough.

We’ll figure the rest out as we go.