Wednesday, March 30, 2011

not that simple

do you read the magazine, "real simple"? i've had a subscription for a couple years (christmas present!) and it's such a pretty magazine - it's sometimes hard to refrain from ripping out pages to "save". old collaging habits. they always have recipes in them and the cover often says things like, "meals in 5 ingredients or less" or this month's says, "15 minute dinners: prep and forget it". to a slacker in the kitchen like myself, this never fails to make me think, "ooh...that sounds good!"

when i get to that section in the magazine, these recipes ALWAYS are a ridiculous amount of work (in my non-chef like opinion) and they include ingredients that i'm never going to go looking for in a store. in the current issue, the recipes include items such as Gruyere, bulger, Arborio rice, and fennel bulbs for example. even if i had the time to comb my grocery store for the ingredients and then stand by the stove, waiting for things to "evaporate" or become "soft and creamy", i could never make these recipes.

Thai Curry Vegetable and Tofu Soup

so if you enjoy a challenge in the kitchen, trying new things, and savouring the subtle hints of this and that in your arugula salad - these recipes are for you! (rach, i know you recently had a lovely arugula salad somewhere and this last sentence is really aimed at you - i bet you make meals from this magazine, don't you?) if you like to make something in 5 minutes and aren't looking for hints of anything - you and i should swap recipes. ;)

4 comments:

Alyssa said...

I hate it when recipes call for ingredients that you will never use again. I have some very pretty cookbooks that have been given to me as a gift, and I refuse to make anything from because by the time you go out and buy all the stuff you need, the dinner pretty much cost $60-70 dollars. For that price, I'm sorry, but I'm paying someone else to do the cooking.

theRachel said...

So close...it was a kale salad.

I agree with Alyssa in terms of ingredient price...and even I don't have any of those 4 ingredients in my fridge :)

Megan said...

confession, I buy gruyere at Costco because it's my favourite cheese:)

I get that magazine too & find that some months the recipes are awesome & some months they are lacking. Don't give up though, I've had some positive experiences: I made a vegetarian chilli in my crock pot from the March issue a few weeks ago & it was amazing & not hard. It had sweet potato in it & even Josh loved it. I recommend that one:)

Anonymous said...

OMG! I can't believe it! I had a subscription to this magazine for a while too and loved it. But I also always thought the recipes were way too complicated and the ingredients too obscure. I'm glad there is someone else out there who thinks so as well.

I also lately have been buying gruyere too though because its easy to find here in London. Not having the right kitchen supplies and no car to grocery shop also complicates picking out food even more as I can only carry so much with my arms and that makes for picking out less ingredients: I need simple recipes.