When I was editor of Cosmopolitan my assistant Lucy used to book me out for 15 minutes either side of all my appointments. She did this off her own back. I asked her why one day. “So you have a buffer,” she said. By which she meant, so you have time to go to the loo, eat something, draw breathe and scratch my inner left elbow between what were often back-to-back meetings.

Photo by Brian Oldham

To this day I buffer. I actively set aside pauses in my day – 15-20 minutes at a time – to breathe and scratch my inner elbow. Lucy – thank you for instilling the idea!

I don’t like the feeling of being tugged all day, being a passive passenger to the capricious winds of others’ needs, emails, noises and distractions. I have a tendency to be the dry, fluttery leaf that follows the whirly-whirly of life’s demands. I’m easily caught up. But I want to be more solid. The original tree trunk in the equation. Not entirely unflappable, but with an immovable, safe home base to come back to.

I have often stressed the importance of creating space (not just time)  in your day, in your life, in your cells. Space allows us to expand, to get steady, like the roots of a tree. Space enables wellness, for it’s the constriction in our cells that causes disease and pain.

And I’ve made it one of my missions to emphasise with everyone I care about (you!) that we are the only ones who can take charge and do our own rooting. We don’t all have Lucys in our lives.

We have to book in our buffers ourselves.

We have to ensure we’re not the dry, fluttery leaf, day-in, day-out so we can be

Gradually, gradually I hope I’m getting you all used to cooking with secondary cuts of meat…yes? The secondary cuts are the ones that can often be discarded because they’re not as fashionable. Which is a waste. The dumb thing is, these secondary cuts – chuck, shanks, cheeks, offal, shin, blade, brisket – taste infinity better than the primary cuts if they’re simply cooked a little differently.

Slow cooked cinnamon beef cheeks, recipe below. Image from Eat Drink Paleo

Dumber still, these different cooking methods (slow and long) make the meat much better for you (the slow temperatures don’t destroy as many of the enzymes).Make a difference and vote with your dollar: buy secondary and learn to cook differently!

I’ve been playing with a few different cuts…gradually moving us all via this series of slow-cooked meals (you can check out my lamb shanks with lemon and cinnamon here and my beef with coconut curry here) to cooking with offal. We’re not there yet. But stay tuned.

Today, it’s beef cheeks. These are the facial cheeks of cows (not the bum cheeks!) and are very lean and tough if not cooked nice and slow and languidly.

Some quick pointers before we start…

* You can use a heavy-based casserole pot instead.

No need to buy a special electric slow cooker if you don’t want. You can use a Le Creuset casserole pot or dutch oven on the stove top or in the oven instead. You generally have to add liquid if you do (see below) and reduce cooking time from 8 hours (on low) or 4 hours (on high) to 1-2 hours.

* It doesn’t have to be a big one.

I use a 4.5L one. It’s big enough to make 6-8 portions.

* Halve the liquid if you’re using a slow cooker

If you’re converting a recipe from a standard (oven or stove-top) recipe, halve the amount of juicy stuff and do things

I’m going to take a step or two back. And explain the “simple” in the My Simple Home experiment. I’d like to be clear.

Image by Maxwell Holyoke-Hirsch

You’ll notice the series is not called “My Minimalist Home”. Minimalism is a righteous aesthetic, but not always practical. All those ardent minimalists out there can be painful. And their all-in-one gadgets can cost a bomb. I really enjoyed reading this Slate article on how minimalism isn’t sustainable….and how the original minimalist zealots have backed off on their message to something…simpler. You might like this fresh perspective too.

I don’t call it “My Green Home” either. Sustainable timber and chemical-free options are great. But generally green home features and rants suggest more buying…More Stuff, albeit derived from new-growth shrubbery. It’s consumerism dressed up in hemp clothing.

You’ll also notice I don’t speak of “Decluttering”. Decluttering denotes chucking stuff out, and often perfectly good things that are then replaced by a less cluttery version of the original. And complemented by a visit to The Storage Shop to buy a whole heap of containers and filing solutions. Which is More Stuff.

Instead, I’ve gone the simple slant. Simple is minimalist, green, decluttered, low waste, practical, economical and all the rest of that good stuff rolled into one. Well it should be.

Simple has as its mantra one word: less.

Go to the shops less. Buy less. Consume less. Recycle less (recycling should be a last resort). Less furniture. Less gadgets. Use up what you have first. Improvise. Make do. Use the same thing for two purposes. Need less.

Recently Leo Babauta listed what he didn’t own over on mnmlist. I’ve decided to do the same, as prompted by his