Eating Well
My sister and I were talking recently about how we used to love cooking. I was a good cook once. I would spend three days fixing a meal for guests. It was fun - I loved the feeling of work with tangible results, especially when those results made people so happy and grateful.
But children are not grateful. Or rather, they are grateful for only a small number of foods. My children, anyway.
Somewhere I began to lose my love of cooking. I used to bake my own bread, but gave up once I had two kids in diapers. Bread is too time-sensitive; just when the dough needed to be punched down, or the loaf needed to be removed from the oven, some diaper-rashy toddler screamed that she was poopy, and I rushed to change her, and then forgot what I was doing in the first place.
Many a loaf of bread has been ruined by diaper rash, I suspect.
But I am just so tired of the food that suits the palate of my children that I am trying to revive my love of cooking. Thanks to the bloggers of the world, it hasn’t been going too badly.
I made Pioneer Woman’s casserole for me and the in-laws, and it went over well.
For my birthday breakfast I made cherry cornmeal upside-down cake, and had the leftovers for my breakfast this morning. Yum.
And nothing brightens my day like tripling the recipe for peanut sauce. I justify this by pregnancy. I need the protein. Shut up.
Tonight I will be making sherried tomato soup and later this week, I will be trying spinach feta bread. A local bakery used to make a version, but the bakery closed, and I have been out of luck ever since. I am steeling myself for the results.
And I must have fish in my near future, because the mere idea of this makes my mouth water.
So thank you, many food bloggers, for improving my life in so many ways. My children would happily eat nothing but beans and rice or peanut butter on crackers for every meal, but sometimes a mom needs something more. She needs flavor.
gretchen from lifenut
Mind if I share a blog with fabulous recipes?
http://www.noblepig.com
I predict she’s the new Pioneer Woman. She’s funny and she’s a serious foodie.
Bon
i have just recently decided i need to start cooking again, for health and sanity too. so these links? welcome.
thanks.
Julie
So many things get lost in the shuffle when you have kids. I can’t believe I ever used to knit. Or care about Big Ten football. Or, for that matter, cook. You’ve inspired me, though. That sherried tomato soup looks soooooo good!
Kelly
I just had this conversation with my family last night, as I served them adult food for the first time in months. The Days of the Chicken Nugget are over. At least for a week or so.
Jenni D
You hit the nail on the head about why I no longer really enjoy cooking. It’s such a simple explanation, but I could never quite get to it on my own. Thanks for helping me understand why I get grumpy every day at 4 p.m!
Sherri E.
PW, Elise, Smitten Kitchen– all g=on my Google Reader. Nom nom nom.
Have you tried the spice peanut dip from the Moosewood Cooks At Home cookbook? I highly recommend it, tossed with noodles (spaghetti works great) and cold crispy chunks of cucumber. Mmmm. I’ll email you the recipe if you want it. VERY easy and fast to make.
Pieces
It is so hard to not consider cooking a chore with picky eaters in the house. And I will NOT prepare two meals. So I usually give up on the idea of creative, fun meals because I don’t want to hear the griping from the kids. I have actually stopped reading the food blogs because they make me feel like a cooking shlub.
Good luck and happy eating!
Beck
I have to cook two meals all the time, thanks to The Baby’s deeply irritating food restrictions. It takes almost all of my brain to keep things interesting…
… that’s okay, though. I like cooking and I don’t take ungrateful twerps to heart. MUCH.
brother
Veronica,
I’ve always been a more passionate about eating than cooking food. It explains my girth.
Cooking is an easier subject to respond to than the last one. Brothers and cleavage are just a bad combination to respond to in a blog entry.
Hope you had a great birthday.
brother
JulieC
Hey! Happy Birthday!!!!
Alison
Yum! Thanks for compiling all these links in one place–they all sound good. Lucky for me, mine aren’t too picky–and sometimes I just give the kids chicken nuggets and peas on a night when I want to cook something I know they wouldn’t eat.
Bethany
I love Pioneer Woman, although, I think she’s bad for my diet. I’ll have to check out the other posts soonish…gotta get ready for church now.
I just wanted to come out from lurking and let you know that I’ve really been enjoying your blog!
Bethany
Oh, wait! I de-lurked last post, and already forgot! Well, I’m still enjoying your blog!
andrea_jennine
Happy birthday!
(I started typing with the fingers of my right hand shifted over one spot, so I almost wised you a Ja[[u bortjdau.)
I highly recommend the little magazine Everyday Food for recipes - almost all simple, quick, but excellently tasty (and with great pictures). I’ve been using it as my primary recipe source for 5+ years now, and I’ve only encountered 1 or 2 so-so recipes in the whole lot.
andrea_jennine
Bah! “Wished” not “wised.” Apparently this is not my day for typing.
Gray Matter
You can MAKE bread? Huh, who knew. I always assumed it was like Pepsi and only Peppridge Farm had the know-how. Good to know.
Seriously, I love cooking too, even when it’s 2 hours to make for 12 minutes to eat.
NOBLE PIG
Love this post…kids do ruin the art and want of cooking. I have one picky eater that sucks the life out of every meal I make!
Miscellaneous From Missy
Happy Birthday!
Minnesotamom
Thank you, THANK YOU for linking to those recipes. I am planning a meal for my foodie in-laws next weekend, and I think one or two of those will be just perfect…
Minnesotamom
Happy belated, too!