What kind of cook are you?

Reader, I pose this question:  What kind of cook are you?  There are several kinds I suppose.  Tonight I'll discuss two.  My mom and I stand at opposite ends of the spectrum.  My mom is the over-estimator and I am the under-estimator.  Let me elaborate-

You may be an over-estimator if:
-Your definition of "cooking" means heating up a jar of pasta sauce and boiling spaghetti noodles.
-You throw away recipes you haven't used in more than a year.  If you needed them, you would have used them in the past year, right?  There must be a reason you haven't cooked it, even if you can't remember why.
-You see anything that involves chopping as considered a difficult recipe.

You may be an under-estimator if:
-You significantly misjudge the amount of time a recipe will take.
-You actually refer to the "prep time" listed on a recipe like it's a reliable source of information (I will be the first to say I am no professional chef, nor do I possess any formal training, but the 5 minute "prep time" listed in the recipe I will share below is laughable.  Ha.).
-You don't seem to learn from past experience, and continue to utter the words, "Wow, this is taking longer than I expected" 2 hours into the cooking process.

So, over-estimators, like my mom, over-estimate the amount of work it takes to cook, and therefore find themselves avoiding it. The under-estimators, like me, continually underestimate the actual time and effort it will take to cook, and are surprised at how labor-intensive the process turns out to be.  Case in point:  This week's dinner.

Having a baby changed everything about the way I cook.  At first I tried to be wonder woman in the kitchen.  But after cooking honey lime enchiladas when my son was less than a week old led to a near complete emotional and physical breakdown, I realized things needed to change.  Enter a month and a half of frozen lasagna, pizza, bagged salad, pizza.. oh, and did I mention pizza?  Since staying with my parents, I have had the opportunity to cook again because of the extra hands.  This week was Indian food.  I cooked a sweet potato cauliflower dish and served it with saag paneer and naan a la Trader Joe's.  It was fun, but it definitely fell into my under-estimator category.  Here is the recipe:

INGREDIENTS;
-2 T. olive oil
-1 onion, chopped
-1 T. fresh grated ginger
-1 T. coriander seeds (or 1/2 T. ground coriander)
-1 T. cumin seeds (or 1/2 T. ground cumin)
-1 tsp. turmeric
-1 tsp. salt
-1 tomato, chopped
-1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
-1 small head cauliflower, cut into bite-size florets

DIRECTIONS:
Place the oil in a large nonstick skillet and heat over medium-high heat.  Add the onion and ginger and cook for 4 minutes. Stir in the spices and toast for 15 seconds and then add the tomatoes and sweet potato.  Add water as necessary to keep the ingredients from sticking, and cook until sweet potatoes are tender. Add the cauliflower and stir well to combine.  Place a tight fitting lid on the pan and cook until the cauliflower is crisp-tender, about 5 to 8 minutes.

Sounds easy enough, right?  It certainly wasn't the hardest recipe I have ever cooked, but it was definitely an under-estimator.  And when all is said and done, I can't say it will become one of my go-to's, but it was a fun venture into home-cooked Indian cuisine.  I loved the saag paneer and naan from Trader Joe's.

Until next time, goodnight.  I suppose I'll be back with an another underestimated recipe soon since we under-estimators just never seem to learn...