Welcome to 2022!
A few hangovers, full belly, and ready to take on a new year full of challenges. Or perhaps not 🙂
We all hoped that 2022 would be a little better, but with the Omicron ass circling the globe, it is already marred by school closures, flight cancellations, short on staff, panic at the COVID test centers, and a shortage of at-home test kits.
A ridiculous start to a new year, if you ask me. It almost classifies as a shit year already, and I do not see this improving in the coming weeks.
Heck, we are going backward on restrictions where only vaccinated people with triple facemasks, shields, gloves, and double boosters can enter the grocery stores.
I hate COVID with a passion, but I do not think we should be segregating people based on medical status, and I certainly do not support vaccinating kids with this poison. But, that is my opinion, and we do not have to agree – which is absolutely fantastic.
Enough about the COVID nonsense, and let’s focus on food. I want to write and share positive food stories, hoping that you might attempt to cook some superb dishes for your family and/or friends one day.
New Year Food Resolutions
I’ve never been a person who truly believes in new year resolutions. They usually last for a couple of weeks, and then it fades out.
We live next to a lovely country road, and every January, we see an invasion of spandex-dressed runners passing our house. It resembles overstuffed neon-colored pillows running aimlessly on the street.
Only the hardcore runners continue past the 1st of February.
On the other hand, I casually run semi-naked on our Peleton treadmill in our “exercise” room overlooking the busy country road.
I happily wave at my fellow joggers, but I think they choose to ignore me. Probably because I only wear a thong, Apple pods, while watching CSI on my iPad. It’s a tough life.
this year I’ve actually set a few goals for myself
- Build a proper workshop in my garage
- Restore minimum three tools (jointer, sander, and lathe)
- Continue my weekly mealplan posts, but this time with a weekly theme; famous chef’s recipes, but with my tweaks, Traeger cooked dinners, Danish inspired, etc.
- Draft the outline of a cook book for families – not some fancy glossy shit, but a book that will actually help families explore the kitchen with easy school lunches and dinner recipes.
- Design and sell cool merchandise for a brand that does not exist … yet!
- Attempt, please note I wrote attempt, to see the outline of a six-pack on my Scandinavian Viking corpus
- Complete my tattoo sleeves (only half an arm missing), while desining my chest tattoo
- Cook for needy families with my buddies
- Grow my knucklehead and firepit boys fan club
We have to set some goals for ourselves. I’m not getting any younger, and one day when I look out the window, Jesus will be staring back at me as I’m heading home.
I leave world peace, COVID free-living, lower inflation, and cheaper gas to our “trustworthy” politicians and their ilk – both sides of the aisle are misbehaving. Despicable!
The First Week
In true resolution spirit, I started 2022 with some fabulous recipes for our meal plan.
I tribute the selection of recipes to Jamie Oliver, who inspired me to cook ever since he launched the Naked Chef.
I like his approach to cooking, except I have absolutely no culinary training or accreditations. So I make food I love and enjoy making it.
The meals I chose are easy to make in any kitchen, and you don’t need a set of complex appliances, expensive pots, and strange ingredients.
The majority of recipes I prepare are tweaked to suit my cooking style, as I remove salt and attempt to use healthier options. Of course, the latter does not always work, but the thought counts.
Fire up the Traeger. Ready your Dutch oven. Go shopping, and let’s start cooking—another Sunday in the Kitchen with music on the magical Demerbox and wonderful aromas filling the room.
| Weekday | Snacks n’ Breakfasts | Lunch | Dinner |
| Monday | Vietnamese steak sandwich | Smoked tomato soup with artisan bread | |
| Tuesday | Hippie Dippie salad bowl | Chicken pot pie XX-large | |
| Wednesday | Bagel with salami | Cypriot chicken with homemade pita breads | |
| Thursday | Egg sandwich with lettuce | Thai red prawn curry with Basmati rice | |
| Friday | Spanish Tappas – tortilla (potato and egg) – chorizo sausages – stuffed red peppers with ground beef – spicy shrimps |
One day, I might get so organized that I will link the meals below to my recipes. We can only live in hope!
Have a fantastic week, my friends. I hope you enjoy these meal plans. It is so much easier to make food in advance, although you need to invest several hours during the weekend to prepare the meals.
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