Holiday CookEase...It's NOT What You Think, plus How to Communicate Boundaries to Friends and Family

We need to talk about holiday cooking, but IT’S NOT WHAT YOU THINK! Stay with me for a few minutes and I will prove it to you. 

There are a million little things that add up to a LOT during the holidays. When you are little, the holidays can seem so magical. When you are an adult, especially a parent, holidays are making magic…which is exhausting. I figured out how to make the holiday cooking a LOT easier making the holidays more enjoyable. 

We all have an ideal or fantasy version of what we wish our holidays could be, but the reality is more like…not enough hours in the day, weekends packed with holiday obligations, urgent runs to the store, out of stock issues, even attempting to make everyone’s favorite foods in a kitchen that suddenly feels too small or not properly equipped.

I have always LOVED cooking for the holidays, but even before my body exploded, I realized I don’t want to spend my entire holiday in the kitchen, especially since I don’t allow anyone else in there! Ha! I was missing hours of time with them to cook a meal that takes less than 30 mins to eat but twice that to clean up. 

I deserve to enjoy my holidays and to make it through them. We all do! But unless we change what we’ve always done, that won’t happen. I wanted to find another way, so I looked hard at the entire process, and I found ways to make the holiday cooking A LOT easier, AKA CookEase! This process is repeatable and adjustable to meet the changing needs of your family. It will also give you back time, energy, and money during the busy holiday season.

Still with me? I told you; this isn’t what you think! 

There are 4 parts to Holiday CookEase: List & Dish, Recipe & Test, List & Buy, and finally CookEase. In this episode, we are going to walk through Part 1, List & Dish, together. That’s it. Easy peasy! 
You can do this with paper and pencil, on the computer, or you can download the sheet I use for FREE from the website (www.wellblendedlife.com).

I will walk you through Part 2 of the Holiday CookEase, recipes & testing, on socials and YouTube shorts. Make sure you are following me @WellBlendedLife so you don’t miss anything. 

Since I’m sharing this with you, I figured I should also share a few other things that really help me get through the season! Things like how to communicate your needs and boundaries to friends and family, what to do with leftovers, hosting tips, chronic illness holiday survival tips, and even how to make the Holiday CookEase process help you with your daily meals during this busy season. 

Thank you for being here my friend and I’m so glad we are doing this together. 

The Cook Who Can't Eat podcast is brought to you by Holly at Well Blended Life. Find us at www.wellblendedlife.com or on your favorite social site.

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