Do you ever feel that way? I'm now the chief cook in the house after many years of my husband being the chef. When we lived in New York and I worked 10, sometimes 12 hours a day and was finishing graduate school, he held down the fort at home and prepared meals both for us and his elderly parents with whom we shared the house. After we moved, I gratefully returned to the kitchen.
In truth I enjoy cooking, food preparation and baking. But after a while....don't you just get sick of it?
I tend to trot out the same recipes over and over again, the staples that I know the two other adults in the household will enjoy. One has health issues and can only eat certain things; they are fussy about the pasta shapes on the plate (the shapes! all pasta is the same - curly or straight, bow tie or spaghetti!); this one has a sweet tooth, that one has no appetite, this one would eat the roof if it was edible.
So I sit with a pile of cookbooks and a stack of post it notes, and begin The Hunt. I flip through the books and stick a pink note next to anything that I think will be remotely palatable to the crew here. I have a pretty good memory for what's in the pantry and in the freezer, and if there's one or two ingredients missing from the stock, I jot it down to pick up at the store.
I also hit the blogs. There are two cooking blogs which I can recommend to you with enthusiasm:
- Restless Chipotle - this is my friend Marye Audet's blog. She's a working mom of 8 - yes, count 'em, 8 kids - and writes frequently for major websites about food, cooking, and antiques. Her Rollo cookies recipe was a huge hit at Christmas time and her recipes go over well here.
- Mennonite Girls Can Cook - have you ever met a Mennonite woman who couldn't cook? Honestly, they're like the ultimate homemakers. And this blog features a group loving sharing family recipes, crowd pleasing recipes and more. No, they aren't low calorie and sometimes not very healthy, but they are often a hit here.
- Cooking Light - I used to love the magazine but lately all the recipes are kind of frou frou and fancy. But online, they still have some great ones like the Sweet and Sour Cabbage recipe my family loves. Worth a look.
At some point I will dig out my vegetarian, vegan and raw food recipe blog and website favorites to share with you. Those are the ones I often turn to for sparks of inspiration.
Below are some of the cookbooks I'll be perusing this weekend. Which ones are your favorites? Share links to favorite recipe blogs and sites in the Comments section, please.
1 comments:
Love your picnic pic. There were days when I was so sick of cooking or being the cook. I have come to understand that was happening when the kids were all home and I was the cook for yes, perhaps a picky eater and the other a chef by trade. Now just my husband and I cooking is a breeze, I used to do it more and do a lot less now, however I dont' have to go out of my way to please. These are good sites to visit, your right.
Post a Comment