What is it that makes food taste delicious? There are obvious things like salt, but what is it that allows a skilled chef to consistently deliver delicious food to the table? We could go many directions with this idea, but today I want to focus on ingredients.

The thing that sets most top chefs apart from the average cook is that they will go out of their way to acquire the highest-quality ingredients available. When you have good ingredients and you respect them during preparation, you don’t need fancy recipes or kitchen tools to produce a tasty meal. In fact, the less you do to your ingredients the better!

Recipes are a great way for cooks to communicate and record information. I have probably read many thousands of recipes by now, but the number that I have actually gone out of my way to follow is less than 1%. I get inspiration from recipes, but when it comes to day-to-day cooking, it doesn’t really make sense to follow recipes all the time. I can’t always buy the exact amount asked for in the recipe so there is bound to be leftovers. I can’t go to the store every day to make sure I have all the ingredients that are listed. Plus, if I am always following other people’s recipes, I never learn or try anything new.

The reality is that you always have to work with what you have. And after reading enough recipes, you start to get a sense of what sorts of flavors go well together, and you can combine the ingredients you do have with harmony without needing a recipe. So when you just always make sure to have the ingredients around, you can find ways of combining them that brings you nourishment.

This means most of the work required to prepare and eat good food happens long before you get to the kitchen. It happens at the farmer’s markets and the grocery store. It happens when you sign up for a CSA or visit a local farm. It happens when you research what produce is in season and what is grown in your area. You do all this work beforehand so that when you are actually hungry, the work is mostly done and all you have to do is let the ingredients come to the table.

I will always write and read recipes, but when it comes time to actually prepare a meal, I won’t be searching for a recipe to make, I will be looking at the food I have and comparing that to what I feel my body needs. Where they intersect is the ideal place to start building a meal, and when you always have high-quality ingredients around, you will always have high-quality meals.

Please read as many recipes as you can, but realize that it is the food, not the recipe that tastes good. When you have good food to begin with, the recipe is not important and preparing the meal becomes quick, simple and painless. So do the work now, before you’re hungry, to seek out the good ingredients and you will be able to reap the benefits later.

In my experience, the most difficult part of preparing your own meals on a consistent basis is not coming up with recipes, or learning how to cook, but the cleanup that needs to happen after. When your belly is full and satisfied, the last thing you want to do is spend an extra half hour or longer cleaning up the kitchen. I imagine if we all had people to clean up our messes, we would spend a lot more time in the kitchen and eat higher quality food. The trick is becoming that person yourself.

Working in professional kitchens and spending countless hours washing dishes that never seemed to stop was how I got over the hump of not wanting washing dishes. After a while it becomes a form of meditation or a craft for which we can hone our skill and efficiency. Now it is just a habit whenever I have an extra couple minutes to stay ahead of the kitchen mess and not even let the sink get full of dishes.

To spare you the time of applying to work as a dishwasher in a local restaurant (though if you’re inspired and have the time, please go for it!), I will offer some quick tips on how to be a better dishwasher and therefore a better cook.

Be mindful and keep it simple

The easiest way to make dishwashing more efficient is to not make as big a mess to begin with. Keep your meals simple and use only as many dishes as you need. Live with the end in mind and every time you pull something out of a cabinet to use, be aware that you will at some point need to clean it. Practice making one-pot or one-pan meals and using fewer ingredients.

It is also really key to be aware of your emotional and mental state during the act of washing dishes. Are you experiencing anger or frustration at having to clean up? Is your mind drifting off to “important” things that need to get done instead of washing dishes? When you wash the dishes, be with the dishes and see the cleanup portion of the cooking process as a necessary and beautiful part. Treat it as meditation and stay present-minded by trying to be as efficient and effective as possible.

Organize the kitchen

The great thing about small kitchens is that even at their messiest, they are still pretty quick to clean completely. The less stuff you have, the less potential mess there can be. Do you really need thirty mugs and fifty plates? When you run out of clean dishes you can just wash the dirty ones instead of delaying the inevitable and hoping someone else will do it. Having less leaves more opportunities to be creative with how you use your things. There’s really not much at stake here, just let it go.

Wash as you go

This is a standard tip you might have heard before, but I want to encourage you to actually do it. This starts by cleaning the kitchen before you even get started. If you start with an empty sink and clean counters, not only will there be a smaller mess later, but you will be more motivated to maintain the cleanliness. This works on other people too. For instance, if you have a guest with a dirty dish and they see a clean and empty sink, they are much more likely to wash that dish than if they see a sink full of dirty dishes. In psychology, this is called the broken window effect, and we can use it in the kitchen.

Just wash the dishes

There will be moments where you really don’t want to clean up. It is so easy to just leave a dirty kitchen as something to deal with tomorrow. It as these moments it is most crucial to stay focused and strong. When we do what is right even though it is hard, we are making the world a better place and making a dent in the karma that countless generations of humans have left us. It may seem strange to apply this to dishwashing, but remember that how you do anything is how you do everything. If you habitually opt for toxic convenience food because your kitchen is a mess, I wouldn’t be surprised if this reflects other aspects of your life.

The good news is that if you do feel like your life is so cluttered and overwhelming that it doesn’t let you take care of yourself, the solution is simple: just wash the dishes. Literally washing dishes is practice for when you have to overcome the same obstacles on a bigger scale in your life. You can get to more cooking and creation when you have a cleaner kitchen with less clutter. Practice staying on top of the mess and cleaning as you go to not let it get to the point where it becomes overwhelming. And when the dishes do end up piling high sometimes as they inevitably will, just stay calm, sink into a meditative state and just wash the dishes one at a time.


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This is a super easy way to eat your veggies that are more filling! In our 29 days INTENSIVE program, we coach our group to eat more veggies that help to sustain your energy longer, such as squash, sweet potatoes and pumpkins! 

A video was shared with us on how to make soup with a pumpkin! The video will be displayed below, however, it does use some ingredients that we would omit, such as cheese. 

We speak about how important it is to consume bone broth, especially when your diet is limited. A great way to moisturize your pumpkin while roasting is bone broth. You can also use coconut milk if you would like the texture to be more creamy. 

We have been playing around with fillings for the pumpkin, and so far, there hasn't been one that is disliked. So be creative, fill up the pumpkin with what your family likes in a soup and bake for 45 mins at 450. You can either puree the insides of the pumpkin after, or eat it a little chunkier. 

Here are some suggestions of what to fill your pumpkin with: 
Onions
Garlic
Leeks
Mushroom
Bacon
Carrots 
Potatoes
Sweet potatoes
Celery 
Thyme
Salt, pepper 
Bay Leaf
Rosemary 
the list is endless… have fun!!