I am one of those people who makes 87 zillion New Year's Resolutions, and promptly forgets 95% of them by January 15th. So this year I've streamlined a bit, and made precisely one: I WILL LEARN TO COOK. Come hell or highwater, I shall feed this family of mine, and feed it well!
As I've mentioned before, my mom knows her way around a kitchen and I was raised on pure deliciousness, so the time has come to step it up and get cookin' myself. Mind you, if you were to find yourself at Chez Me in the morning hours, I could whip you up some ass-kicking pancakes or muffins. If you wandered into my home after dinner, I could bust out the big guns with the world's best brownies and the like. But actual meals, involving proteins? Save for some quick veggie stir-fries, I'm pretty much hopeless.
NO MORE, friends. In a few weeks' time I will be a working mother of two, so it's time to get down and dirty with the meal planning, cooking-stuff-ahead-and-freezing, and becoming good friends with my Crock Pot.
So far I've done of lot of web surfing in search of easy, tasty recipes to try (keyword EASY), and this month I will be doing run-throughs and letting y'all know how they turn out (you're welcome, friends). Here's the list so far (with links!):
Turkey Meatloaf (I've already made this one - it's my mom's favorite - and it is fab, although I think I overcooked it slightly)
BBQ Chicken (already made - although I cheated and used bottled sauce - but it was delish)
Turkey Tacos (no recipe yet...must find)
Chicken Mole
Curry Tofu (recipe TBD)
Chicken Stir-Fry (ditto)
Veggie Lasagna
Pesto Pasta (I'll add some chicken or tofu to this, and probably ditch the cream)
Sesame Noodles (ditto, with some broccoli too)
Turkey Chili (if you can't tell, I really like mole)
Note: I am in the midst of a love affair with all things Pioneer Woman, clearly. Second note: as a former vegetarian, I just can't bring myself to cook red meat. And I know nothing about ham, except that it tastes really good in split pea soup (oooh, gotta make that too).
Wish me luck!
3 comments:
Hi there, found you via Polka Dot Hippo :) I'm also a working mom of 2 young kids living in LA. I don't know how set you are on cooking your own recipes & stuff, but thought I'd pass on what I do that has been a lifesaver. I do "Dream Dinners" (www.dreamdinners.com). You go once a month and put together all the ingredients for 12 fresh meals (provided by them. They even have the amounts of each laid out, easy for you to put it all together). Then you bring them home and freeze them. Then you defrost each time you want to use one, and they are super-simple to put on the table, usually fridge to table in 20 minutes or less. I LOVE how simple they are, makes it so much easier for me to put fresh cooked meals on the table, and they have different recipes every month so no one gets bored. Also, because you make them yourself, you can cater to your family. Like my family doesn't like spicy stuff, so I always leave out the cayenne pepper and hot sauce! Anyway, I use the Torrance location if you ever want to join me :)
Tricia
Thanks for the info, Tricia! I hadn't heard of Dream Dinners. I will check 'em out. = )
Hahaha - we are opposites. I decided it's high time I learned to bake seeing as I refuse to have children at some point and not be capable of baking things. I mastered the pumpkin muffins, so now my sights are set on a carrot cake. You may be wondering why the hell I'm skipping the more obvious things (i.e. learning to make cookies). Then again, as you know, I like to jump in both feet first with one hand tied behind my back...just to see what happens.
By the way, your holiday treats were simply amazing and I had a hard time not eating them all at once, and remembering to actually leave some for Brian to enjoy.
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