I don't mind cooking dinner. I've come to enjoy it as a little sacred half hour when no one interrupts me, a sphere of limbo in between "work" and "home" that's become my mental transition time. It's peaceful. It helps me switch gears.
Planning the week's meals out, on the other hand, is the crabbiest part of my Sunday.
I used to ask for meal requests from other household members, but the answers were invariably "Spaghetti!" and "Tacos!" I was met with blank stares when I started adding "...besides spaghetti or tacos." Eventually I stopped asking.
So, my Sunday mornings are spent combing through my cookbooks and allrecipes.com, looking for inspiration, trying to figure out how to alternate hamburger and chicken with enough variety that I'm not sick of either, and am still within our food budget, wishing everyone went for fish so we had more options. Oh, and don't forget to plan out the sides and veggies... last week I thought we had potatoes, discovered (too late to run to the store) that we didn't, so we ended up having hashbrowns with our gravy. It was actually surprisingly delicious.
Wednesday is St Patrick's day, so that meal's settled... corned beef and cabbage, of course. One down, 6 to go. Any suggestions?
You should add some beer bread to that St. Paddy's day lineup. :)
ReplyDeleteI hate meal planning too. I generally roast a chicken, make a homemade pizza, have meatballs and risotto, and make breakfast for dinner about once a week. About once a week I make something special...french dip or mexican lasagna or some sort of fun pasta.
Love ya!