Middle NZ: I admit to being a boring cook

The majority of Linda Hall's cooking is meat and vegetables which is "rather boring".

I did it again on Monday.

I carefully cut a recipe out of the newspaper and put it in my bag to take home. It's still in my bag.

It will eventually end up in the spare room in a folder with all the other recipes I have collected over the years.

The trouble is we humans are creatures of habit. Well I am anyway. The good intentions of trying something new in the kitchen rarely makes it out of the folder and onto the kitchen bench.

I go to the supermarket and buy the same things from the same place week after week.

Same old routine day after day. We eat simple meals, meat and vegetables. I don't bake because if I did I would eat it and then we all know what happens when you eat cakes and biscuits every day.

Sometimes I spice things up with a toasted sandwich on a Saturday night.

Yep — I admit I am a boring cook.

Even worse: when I do come across a new and easy recipe I thrash it. For instance one of my colleagues gave me an easy-as recipe for chicken.

Just throw drumsticks "or whatever in a bag, chuck in a packet of taco spice mix, shake it up and cook it in the air fryer".

Wow it's so easy and tasty. I do love a good air fryer recipe.

I've made it every week for the past six weeks or so.

Mr Neat rolled his eyes last time I made it and asked me if I had forgotten all the other ways to cook chicken.

I reminded him that I hadn't seen him in the kitchen for quite some time and that he was welcome to make a chicken dish. Funnily enough he declined the offer and ate the taco spice chicken with vegetables without any further ado.

A few years ago we came up with a winter cooking crockpot challenge.

Every Sunday we had a turn of making a crockpot dish. It was lots of fun and we made some delicious meals.

It puttered out when the weather warmed up and the crockpot was put up on the top shelf for the winter.

We never got round to doing that again.

Linda Hall is assistant editor at Hawke's Bay Today.

We make our own relish and sauce with produce from the garden, but again that creature of habit emerges and I use the same recipes year after year.

I have also had the prepped food boxes complete with step-by-step recipes delivered to my door but I found myself spending way too much time in the kitchen.

I don't mind taking the time to make something special, but spending 40-45 minutes in the kitchen when I get home from work every day is not my idea of fun, hence meat and vegetables.

Therein lies the problem. I would much rather go for a walk or read my book after work than spend time in the kitchen.

I could do preparation on the weekend but there's always something else more important to do like lunch with the school girls or spending time with my family.

However I have been thinking I must mix things up a bit in the kitchen, do things like saute, sear, sift, toss, fold, chill, garnish and grate.

But I'll have to think about it a bit. In the meantime summer is coming and Mr Neat is pretty handy with the barbecue.

• Linda Hall is assistant editor at Hawke's Bay Today