Some of you may wonder why on earth I am just now learning how to cook at the ripe old age of almost 32. Well, there are a couple of reasons for it - good ones too, if I do say so myself.
First of all, everyone cooks in my immediate family. My mom is a really great cook that was always in the kitchen (at least when she wasn't singing...and often she was singing in the kitchen), my dad has a hobby of making things like sausage and sourdough pancakes from scratch. My brother grew up to be an adventurous cook, his specialty bacon-anything. (And a host of other things, too many to mention). I remember ruining a batch of chocolate chip cookies when I was a teenager - mixing up baking soda and baking powder. I never heard the end of it! So, since I was the laughing stock of the household and everyone else was cooking anyway, I kicked back and decided I didn't need to cook. Besides, I was going to be a famous pop star like Tiffany...and I was pretty sure Tiffany didn't cook for herself.
I lived in an on-campus sorority house all 4 years of college where we had our own cooks. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We even had formal dinners on Sunday nights. The only cooking I did involved microwaving popcorn. So, there I was, 21 and had never had a reason to cook in my life. Or grocery shop, for that matter. And I was quite happy about it, thank you very much.
When I moved to Boise I was fortunate enough to find a husband that cooks, as well as in-laws that are in the food industry and love to cook. I also met a great group of friends who all could open their own restaurants if they weren't so talented in other areas of their life...
I was golden! Spoiled! No cooking for me!
Now. Everyone tells you that having a baby will change your life in ways you can't even imagine. They always say things like, "You just can't understand until you're there." And, "You just wait...your whole world will change." And when you are pregnant, you think - "Ha! Whatever. They don't know. I am who I am and no baby is going to change THAT much about me!"
You know you thought this...or are thinking it if you don't have kids.
But once Anderson started eating real food - and boy does he love to eat - I realized that here is this tiny person depending on me to help him grow big and strong. And I wanted to take a very active role in making sure he continues to love food, eat well, and grow up with the good memories Isaiah and I both have of eating our own mothers' special dishes.
I remember the exact moment. Anderson was in his high chair and I was looking at him trying to think of what to feed him once he devoured that string cheese I had just cut up for him.
Instead of getting home every night and stressing out about what to feed him, I thought, "I need a better plan." I then I totally surprised myself with my next thought.
"I want to start cooking!"
And so I did. And here we are 6 weeks later.
Luckily, over the years I did sort-of become a little more comfortable shopping for groceries. And to be fair to my mom, she did always take us with her grocery shopping when we were growing up, so it's not like she didn't try to teach me. But now you can see where my new interest in coupons and ingredients comes from. It's all new and exciting...because I'm doing it because I
want to, and not just because I'm hungry and it's 6pm on a weeknight.
So, there's a little insight into why I started gleefully posting menus and pictures like a proud 5 year old who just learned to tie her shoes.
Facebook Notes is blah, so I'm moving my weekly updates to my neglected photo blog. And maybe that will inspire me to not be lazy and actually use my nice camera to take pictures of my results.
Last week lessons learned:
- The Bowtie "Lasagna" was, as Isaiah described it, really fancy hamburger helper. But it was really good! He actually made it since I ended up having a work meeting that night, so I don't have any pics.
Quinoa Salad - Sooooooo good... Would go great in the summer with some burgers. Definitely a keeper -
click here for the recipe.
- The beer stew was amazing. I know this because even Anderson had two helpings:
- Fresh Italian Parsley makes everything better.
- I took a week off from trying to successfully make a pork dish and instead ended up making a batch-and-a-half of green chile chicken enchiladas on Friday. It fed us, my parents, and my friend Brett's family because she was sick with the flu. It's one of the few dishes I can shop for - and make - from memory!
- For the Super Bowl, Isaiah and I made Asian Lettuce Wraps in the crock pot, a garlicky fondue-type dip called Bagna Cauda, clam dip and a football cake. That's a lot of cooking for one week!
- I am making way too much food. Our overflow fridge in the garage hasn't seen this much action since...mmm, well, ever.
Menu, Week 6 - a low-key, easy week of cooking and minimal grocery shopping.
- Monday - leftover Asian Lettuce Wraps
- Tuesday - Pulled Pork in the crockpot along with the Brussels Sprouts I didn't use last week. The pulled pork recipe comes from Catie Wiseman, who was nice enough to send it over to help me have a "win" with pork. I will post it for you all to have as well! Thanks again, Catie!
- Wednesday - Leftover pork - probably made into tacos.
- Thursday - Grilled Chicken, rice, and a to-be-determined vegetable.
- Friday - I'm leaving this open... We have a little eating-out fund we keep for Friday/Saturday nights, and I'm feeling a Thai food night coming on.
