I'm surprised that roasting isn't more popular in the programming community. Supposedly, we like having devices do the work for us, and we're known for getting jazzed about emergence. Why don't more of us apply this to cooking? (As an aside, my inclination is to cite a decline in education and a distancing of knowledge from the real world, as in: http://v.cx/2010/04/feynman-brazil-education)

Instead of doing a lot of fussing over our cooking, most of the time, for everyday meals, we should be sticking things into the oven with olive oil, salt, and pepper, then letting the magic of roasting magically create wonderful flavors for us. (Garlic? If you feel like changing it up, go for it! I've solved the "garlic peeling problem" so it's a good way to change things up. It's a mistake to be too consistent with flavoring, so garlic every time isn't necessary, needed, or wise, IMO.) Also keep in mind, that unless you are one of them, you aren't cooking to impress your "foodie" friends. You have a different set of priorities. So a helpful thing to do, in your own mind (NOT out loud) tell all your "foodie" friends to "smeg-off!" Go ahead and do things "wrong." So long as you're okay with it. It's your relationship with food, not theirs!

Steak, cauliflower, fish, asparagus...so many wonderful things to have as everyday meals, and if you approach the task with efficiency in mind, the overall wait is usually 30 to 45 minutes, but active preparation/labor time is very slight. Do very minimal prep, stick something in the oven, go and play a game or write some code, then take really yummy complexly flavored food out of the oven.

Truth be told, some of us who aren't very focused on food thoughtlessly imitate people we shouldn't imitate when we cook. One example: How often do you get out a cutting board and use a full sized chef's knife? I haven't used a full sized chef's knife in over a year and get out a cutting board most often when I just need a place to set ingredients. Let's face it, we aren't chefs! We aren't pulling amazing feats of multitasking rapid culinary excellence. We don't need such a highly specialized and versatile tool to rapidly accomplish a dozen different operations and exercise well honed skills as we zip around in a restaurant kitchen. Basically, it's the inversion of the "teaching" segment in Ratatouille: You are your mother! Cut your broccoli in the air over your bowl or pot. Use a really sharp knife. (Look up the Victorinox Fibrox knife http://amzn.com/B0000CFDD5 then look at this video by America's Test Kitchen. That $24 knife has the same grain size and performs as well as the top-rated $300 knife in the video, and it's cheap enough for you to simply donate and buy a new one every year.)

I now cook all my own food, I roast and steam everything, and the effect is that I eat better than I ever have while doing just a fraction of the work I used to do. "Change your relationship to food" with Soylent? Nah. (Tried it.) An oven, judicious use of aluminum foil, a baking pan, a pot with a steamer insert, and olive oil. Use your brain and observe what you do and adjust it to your priorities. (I call it "hyper-lazy cuisine for programmers.")