Is Cooking Hard to learn?

[Midge]

Re: Is Cooking Hard to learn?

Yes, she has gotten treatment and her OCD's are 1,000% better. The anxiety and panic attacks seldom happen these days, but do pop up occassioally. She is great at making a pot of chilli and burritos or anything Mexican. She doesn't eat any meat except ground beef or chicken but won't touch any chicken that has bones! It's very odd, but she doesn't even like foods hot; she waits until food is room temperature or cold. I know, it's odd.

I will forward her the FB links for easy recipes. I've tried many of them and most are quick and easy. Maybe she would do better with less ingredients and video instructions. Giving her motivation to learn is another story. Thanks to all for your suggestions.

Glad to hear she is benefitting from treatment. Strange and restricted food choices are a big challenge too. It sounds though like her health is not affected by it and she is getting the nutrition she needs. My cousin's son had this type of anxious behavior from preschool years with an extremely restricted diet. It affected his health and now as an adult, hinders him socially a great deal. But that's not his only major problem.

I wonder if your daughter might be overwhelmed by just choosing from among many recipes. If she can make the choice without obsessing over the recipes and finally is unable to choose. Just something to be watchful of. If that is the case, ask her to appoint you her recipe researcher so you can do the choosing and send her one to try. Facebook is overwhelming for some. Not trying to critique you here, I know you want to help. But after 30+ years as a psychiatric nurse practitioner I always look for alternative approaches to avoid generating the terrible anxiety. Hope this helps.

[jjkaiser]

Re: Is Cooking Hard to learn?

How about getting her to try making one recipe per week? That would give her or you lots of time to find one dish that appeals to her?

[bakermom]

Re: Is Cooking Hard to learn?

we all learn differently. I would think someone with OCD would do better with a precise recipe. Others do better experimenting. Just like many of us as quilters, some need a written pattern and others create as they go. All 5 of my kids are great cooks. some follow a recipe to the letter, others like to throw things together. They all started out beside me in the kitchen as my helpers and grew from there.

[Hulamoon]

Re: Is Cooking Hard to learn?

How about getting her to try making one recipe per week? That would give her or you lots of time to find one dish that appeals to her?

That's a good idea. If she likes ground beef maybe she could try ground turkey. When I find a good recipe that I love I pretty much stick with it. This is my favorite turkey meatloaf. There is a video too.

http://www.inspiredtaste.net/21535/u...m_medium=email

[cashs mom]

Re: Is Cooking Hard to learn?

I'd just let your daughter learn or not. Her choice. My mom tried to teach me. I had no interest. But when I moved out on my own, I learned. For a while, I didnt' cook much at all. Now I've developed some health problems and my diet is restricted so I cook a lot and eat good whole foods. When she needs/wants to, she'll figure it out.

[LizTheScot]

Re: Is Cooking Hard to learn?

As a non-cook, I guess I don't see why it's a cause for concern. Your daughter apparently CAN cook and DID cook successfully for her family when the kids were younger. If it's not something she enjoys doing and no-one seems to be malnourished....

As to whether it's hard to learn to cook - what's difficult for one person may be as natural as breathing for another, even without additional challenges like OCD, dyslexia, autism etc etc. My vote is - spend as much time as you HAVE TO on things that you don't enjoy and spend as much time as you CAN on things you do enjoy. I'll happily live on cereal if it means I can spend more time at my sewing machine..... :-)

[Angelia]

Re: Is Cooking Hard to learn?

As a non-cook, I guess I don't see why it's a cause for concern. Your daughter apparently CAN cook and DID cook successfully for her family when the kids were younger. If it's not something she enjoys doing and no-one seems to be malnourished....

As to whether it's hard to learn to cook - what's difficult for one person may be as natural as breathing for another, even without additional challenges like OCD, dyslexia, autism etc etc. My vote is - spend as much time as you HAVE TO on things that you don't enjoy and spend as much time as you CAN on things you do enjoy. I'll happily live on cereal if it means I can spend more time at my sewing machine..... :-)

Amen to this!

[Sylvia H]

Re: Is Cooking Hard to learn?

A very interesting thread. I agree that anyone can follow a recipe ... well, that is, if ... they understand the terminology. Does everyone know that 1 tsp is 1 teaspoon, and it is an exact measurment, not using the teaspoon in the cutlery drawer? Same for 1 tbs. Does everyone know the difference between tsp and tbs? Does everyone know the difference between dry and wet measurements? These are the areas where I see there can be a problem with even following a recipe.

I was not the best cook while I was raising my children (single parent). My daughter teases me now that I really didn't become a good cook until after they were all grown up and on their own - she is correct!

It takes knowledge (perhaps from experience) to understand how certain ingredients work together. And this knowledge allows you to create a dish without a recipe. For most of my life, I followed recipes - religiously. But I didn't pay attention to why the recipes worked. Now, I am getting better at understanding that certain combinations work, and they can be tranferred to other recipes. This also helps in creating new recipes and adapting existing recipes. EX - while I like tarragon in my egg salad, if I want to spice it up a bit with some chili powder, then I should eliminate the tarragon. The two do not blend well together.

[DramaMama]

Re: Is Cooking Hard to learn?

I don't mind cooking, but it's the cleanup that overwhelms me when I set out to even thinking about what to cook.

For the past 2 years I have made myself cook something new 2 - 3 times per week by finding new recipes on Pinterest -- LOTS of new family favs have been found this way.

Sometimes, it's a simple new side dish or a crockpot recipe for soup & dumplings or something easy!

No Martha Stewart recipes in my home, but still some good cooking. Would love to be able to get into the habit of making some freezer meals ... but I'm not that organized. At over 50 years old, I'm still surprised that at 5 p.m. it is ME that has to come up with the idea of WHAT to cook and then COOK it! Every day ... I'm surprised.

Check out Pinterest!

[Claire OneStitchAtATime]

Re: Is Cooking Hard to learn?

Sharyn, has she asked for your help? If she has, then there are some good ideas in this thread. But if she hasn't, as an experienced adult daughter myself, I'd say let your daughter do her own thing and don't worry about it. We grownup daughters ask for advice when we need it and tend not to appreciate unsolicited advice.