HOW TO COOK THANKSGIVING DINNER WITHOUT PAIN

My RSI has left me with a number of limitations, but the saddest one is that I can’t cook anymore like I used to. I’m half Italian, half Texan and the meals my Mother prepared for us at home would comprise a gourmet restaurant's offerings today. My Mother passed on a lot of her cooking skills to me. I used to be quite good at it and loved to share them with family and friends. When the holidays approach, I immediately think of my oft requested sweet potato pecan pie or the selection of Italian cookies I would make at Christmas time. Now, sadly, these are very challenging for me to make.

I’ve had to get creative and develop a number of workarounds to help satisfy what is both a passion to me and, I believe, a health necessity. Preparing your own meals allows you to monitor what you put in your body and I do believe nutrition is the best medicine. Here are a few tips to help you through the backbreaking task of cooking during the holidays:

Know the right counter height for you. Most kitchen cabinets are a standard 35” tall, but for me that's about 8” too low. It makes me bend slightly at the waist and encourages slumping. To find the correct counter height for you, stand before the counter, bend your elbows and hold your arms out. This is the best height for food prep for you. If you have an island, it can usually be raised without much expense. Another quick solution is placing a short stool or bench on the counter as a work area. Shoe storage units, the kind sold in any home accessory store, work perfectly and are inexpensive. A thick oak chopping block is also a good if you only need to raise your surface a few inches. Lowering the height of your work area is more challenging. You may have to use a surface in another room to accommodate your needs.

Cut down on the amount of chopping. There's not a lot you can do about the fact you have to look down to chop, straining your neck, but there is a lot you can do about chopping in the first place. Get the family involved. When dining solo, opt for as many pre-chopped ingredients as possible. If you can’t find an ingredient already chopped, use a small machine, chop a bunch ahead of time, then freeze it.

Use kitchen gadgets. Another trick is to use a pressure cooker where many ingredients are cubed rather than chopped. Other favorite tools include an electric jar opener, a good set of knives, and a slow cooker. When it comes to roasting a turkey, which is far too heavy for me to take in and out of an oven, I rely on cheesecloth soaked in my favorite basting preparation. Using this method, the turkey doesn’t need any basting at all. You do have to pull off the cheesecloth in the last 30 minutes however to get a nice brown finish to the turkey.

Pace yourself. When pain limits how much cooking you can do, planning ahead becomes a necessity. When a big meal is coming up, I start cooking days in advance. When it comes to daily meal prep, I opt for cooking large amounts a couple of times a week, and then repurposing the items in creative ways across several days so that I don’t become bored with leftovers.