Hi everyone, you're listening to the Lazy Genius Podcast. I'm Kendra Adachi and I'm here to help you be

a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. Today is episode 252, how I choose new recipes.

We're always on the hunt for new recipes, right? We want variety and beautiful meals and we think that repetition is somehow a sign of laziness in the kitchen.

It's not, let me just be clear about that right now, but that doesn't mean there isn't a place for new recipes.

We all have different approaches to them and today I'm going to share mine and you don't have to copy what I do because that doesn't make sense, but hopefully my process can spark some ideas for your own.

So where do we start? With what matters? Of course we do, but there are a few questions I ask myself when I'm itching to add new recipes to my life.

First, why? Why do I want new recipes in this season? If there are multiple reasons, which one matters most?

I'll be honest, sometimes when I get that new recipe itch and I ask myself why I want new ones, the answer is drenched in sheds.

Because I should make more variety than I do, because my kids should get used to trying new foods, because if I'm going to talk about food as part of my job and write and release a book about the kitchen, then I should make more new stuff.

Pals, those are not compelling reasons for me. So sometimes the search stops there. I'm trying to solve a problem that doesn't really matter.

It's okay for me to cook a lot of the same things. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. And it's more stressful for me to add new recipes in the expectations and time that goes with them to my life when the reason isn't important enough to merit that shift.

Does that make sense? Only pursue something if it really matters. So that's my first question. Why do I want new recipes in this season?

If there are multiple good reasons, I choose the one that matters most so that I could have an engine for my decision making. Right? We have to pick the thing that matters most.

I have recently been in a place where I do want to add some new recipes. And the thing that matters most about that is that I want to occasionally be more excited when I cook.

I love cooking. I love being in the kitchen. I love watching something come together in a pan. But because we cook a lot of the same things and because a lot of those things are convenience driven like Trader Joe's, Mandarin chicken, there's not a lot of creating going on.

So I'd like to add some new recipes so that I can enjoy that cooking spark more often. Second question. What matters most about how I'm using new recipes?

Are you looking for new dinner or lunch recipes? Are you thinking of incorporating them super often or just occasionally?

Will new recipes only exist on weekends when you have more time? Or does that actually not make sense because weekends are usually when you enjoy takeout?

Think about how you're going to use these new recipes, how often you'll incorporate them and when, what matters most about that?

For me, it's that there is not pressure or a system I have to follow. That might be surprising because I'm so in love with systems. But I only like systems when following them gives me life or the system itself gives me space to enjoy life somewhere else.

Saying that I'll make a new recipe every Thursday is a recipe. Get it for no new recipes on Thursdays or any other day really because regularity and systemizing aren't the point for me.

Just having ideas is all I need. So my how is simply having new recipes in the same place where my brainless crowd pleasers are listed so that when I'm making a meal plan for the week, I can decide right then if a new recipe makes sense at some point during that week.

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