Noodle Casserole
Cooking Breakdown
This was super easy to make. It was literally a 'throw it together because these ingredients are about to go bad' meal.
Note: I replaced the beef with Italian turkey sausage for more flavor 😊
Taste Scale
10/10 😋
Prompt
So far, my occupation has gone very well. I am finding that I am enjoying my occupation more and more. This week I actually made a dish that was very similar to one I made a few weeks back. While I followed the basic instructions from the recipe, I added in my own additional ingredients, and was able to add my own twists on how I cooked the meal. For me this is a major improvement as I normally have to follow the recipe vertebrae, if order for the dish to turn out. I am definitely getting a better sense for cooking than when I first started early this semester. Last week, in the blog, I identified certain contextual barriers, and how I went about navigating them throughout the course of the semester. With that in mind, I realized how smoothly my participation in my occupation is going.
I think my meal prepping occupation can be identified as both a co-occupation and a non co-occupation. I don’t believe it can be fully assigned to one category. Oftentimes, cooking can be a co-occupation because it can involve more than one person. This can be due to mutual enjoyment of the occupation, or as a means to foster connection (shared emotionality). It can also be co-occupation because the goal to successfully cook often requires a level of preparation, and skill that demands more than one person’s abilities (shared intentionality). Individuals may also need the physical support, of another individual, to safely and successfully cook (e.g. need help holding a knife, stirring, chopping, grabbing ingredients, etc.), demonstrating the quality of shared physicality. Lastly, it can also be a solitary occupation that one does for enjoyment, or because they have no one else to share it with. I often cook alone because my family is usually away doing other things. So more often than not, I would classify meal prepping as a non co-occupation. There have been a few times, when meal prepping, that there's been someone else intentionally in the kitchen with me either cooking or chatting. When they have helped me cook my meal it has been a co-occupation, with the aspects of shared emotionality (e.g. being together) and intentionality (e.g. helping me make my dish), being present. However, when they have been cooking something else or just talking with me, we were engaged in parallel occupations.
References
Pickens, N. D., & Pizur‐Barnekow, K. (2009). Co‐occupation: Extending the dialogue.
Journal of Occupational Science, 16(3), 151–156. https://doi.org/10.1080/14427591.2009.9686656
This looks amazing! (As do all of the other cooking recipes you've tried!) I may just have to steal some of these for my recipes because I never know what to make.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciated what you had to say about the complexities of cooking being able to be both a co-occupation or a solitary one. I am just curious whether you personally prefer engaging in this occupation alone or while having others with you. It seems like there would be benefits to both. For me, I feel like I typically enjoy more solitary occupations, as I feel it helps me to more easily enter a flow state or to feel relaxed.
Hi Josilyn! Thank you, it has been really fun picking and trying out all of these new recipes. To answer your question, I usually prefer to cook alone. I get easily distracted and have a decent chance of ruining my dish if I am trying to multitask. However, if I am familiar with the dish I like to cook with someone. I find its a fun way to connect with a friend of loved one.
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