A Chef I'm Not

[Carrie Earls]

How many times a week do you ladies cook for your families, or if single, for yourselves? What about eating leftovers some nights, or throwing something together that doesn't require cooking?

I feel like I carry an awful amount of guilt in this area. For some reason, I feel like I should cook every night. Yet I don't want to! Am I being lazy, or do others feel this way?

Any suggestions?

[Military Mom]

Hey another Carrie! Yes! Carries rule the world!!!

I'm no chef either, tho I do like to cook. Being that our household is a small one (hubby, me and baby makes three), I put an actual cooked meal on the table about once a week. I tend to whip up those Betty Crocker quickies quite a bit. :( They aren't too bad but don't compare to a homecooked made from scratch meal that I am capable of.

Used to be that meals form a box were all I knew HOW to cook. That changed one Xmas when I bought my honey "The Joy of Cooking" (that came along with "The Joy of Sex," but that's another story for another time) He barely cracked it open at first. Then one day I sat down and out of boredom began reading it at the very beginning. I started snooping around for recipies that looked do-able. I had a few successes (and a few flops!) and I really started liking cooking. Grocery shopping became a pilgrimage, lol.

A few years later, I still enjoy cooking and find it easier now, BUT who exactly are these women who can find the energy, creativity, and FOOD around the house to do the home cooked meal thing EVERY night?? I suspect that they are the same women who have all their Xmas shopping done and wrapped already, and mop their basement floors for fun on Saturday nights. They are the same weirdos who sew lables into their kids clothes and iron their husband's underwear and t-shirts. They need Prozac!!!!

I feel like even if you don't cook for everyone, if they are old enough and not too beat from work/school etc that they can fend for themselves a few nights every week. Try buying stuff that requires stove or oven time but doesn't take a lot of steps or ingredients - that's what I do - I buy a lot of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, 4 pound fryer/roasting chickens, stew meat, instant potato dishes, an occasional frozen pizza (Di Giorno is really good). When I get on a roll, I'll cook all day and just freeze stuff for later.

, and I just discovered how EASY steaming asparagus is! Chop the ends off real quick, scrub 'em down, throw them in a microwave dish with a few teaspoons of water and zap them for about 5-7 minutes and thats it.

Don't feel bad, you do the best you can! If you spent all your energy cooking, you wouldn't have any left later for other quality time stuff.

Take care,

Carrie

[blinc]

Uh oh, I think we just figured out what's wrong with me... someone forgot my Prozac prescription!! {toothy}

I do cook every night. *ducks* Ok, ALMOST every night, there is that better? But ya got to understand... we don't have any kids and we live so far out in the boonies, fast food is not an option!!

I used to really dislike cooking. In a way it scared me, because most recipes sound like you have to be SO precise. Well, over the years I've found that trying different things, adding this or that has turned out to be great fun. Of course, there are those dishes that we can't even get the dogs to eat, but all in all it's usually pretty good.

We eat leftovers a lot! If I make a meatloaf, then we usually have meatloaf the next night as well. Turkey dinner one night equals cold turkey sandwiches the next day or hot turkey sandwiches with mashed potatoes and gravy. I love to grill, so I usually take something out of the freezer during the afternoon, throw a side dish together, a veggie and that's dinner. For us, fast food has turned into a treat and every couple weeks or so, the hubby will stop on his way home from work and grab a pizza or burgers. We usually have to reheat stuff though, so we have to be careful what we get... some stuff just doesn't taste good reheated. Dang, I wish they'd build a McDonalds or something out here!

[Debby]

Okay, well, I pretty much have to cook every night. I get so tired though, of working all day then coming home and fixing a decent meal, but my hubby is spoiled, I think, and if I said, We are having fish sticks and macaroni and cheese for supper, he would have a fit, and refuse to eat. Seriously. His motto is...we may not have much in life, but by golly were gonna eat good! LOL. It is the source of lots of arguements between us, because some nights, I just want something easy. And he wont eat leftovers either....so my dogs and cats get fed well. There are some nights when I am so tired, and I have worked hard all day and I just want something fast and easy, and sometimes he shrugs his shoulders and says...I guess i just won't eat then. So then he goes to bed hungry and I feel like a horrible wife. Even though there is food...maybe hotdogs or fish sticks or leftovers. So I usually make a nice meal, or try to. It has taken some of the joy out of cooking though, I think. I used to love to cook. And still do sometimes. I just have to be in the right mood I guess. :)

[Karenluvs6]

NOPE

I don't cook every night...I have six children and a hubby...there's no way I'm cooking every night!
I do cook a lot though...I'm getting better at it too. {chef}

A lot of stuff I make is frozen...precooked meals, veggies, etc. this is because hubby works really funny hours, and my children are on all these different Athletic Leagues, so there's always a game or practice somewhere around dinner time.

I do not make leftovers....NOT because I don't like them, but because Beezwax really hates leftovers!!
So I don't even save food anymore....besides, these kids' are like trash compactors...there's rarely anything left!

I don't think you're lazy.....some ppl just don't like to cook.

[In_His_Shadow]

I'm one of those that cooks everyday. But, it is something I have come to love. It is a time when the girls can come into the kitchen and tell me about their day and a time when we can just sit and stop the day for a few minutes as a family unit. My girls will attach themselves to anything that resembles a tradition. Since most all of their friends mothers work outside the home they think that having me cook is really special. I love finding new recipe sites and trying new things.

CJ

[roldfiel]

I would LOVE to be a chef! My husband and I have taken on cooking as a hobby. We both worked in restaurants for so long and as we got more experience the restaurants got nicer. We got a real taste for good food. I can't wait to get home and use my new toys!!!

[blinc]

Ooh, Debby I think I'd want to scream if my husband pulled that spoiled little tantrum stuff on me. That's rotten... laying a guilt trip on you like that. What the heck? We aren't in the 50's anymore! If you're out there working all day then why can't HE make dinner? The unfairness of women being expected to work all day, then come home to cook and clean just REALLY TICKS ME OFF!!! AARRRGHHHHH!! It's a throw back to the days when women were supposed to be all meek and mild and act like they didn't have a brain in there heads. Men! Hmmmph!!

[blinc]

I'll tell ya something else... he could GO TO BED HUNGRY AND STAY THAT WAY!! Arrgh, I'm ticked off at the childishness of that attitude. ARRGHHH!
*runs screaming from the room*
AAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

[Debby]

I know....my friends tell me the same thing. They say I just give in to easy and I should just let him starve when he's acting like a baby. But I can't really entirely blame him for his attitude....his mother did EVERYTHING for him and worked all day then came home and fixed a 5 course meal for him, so he was raised that way. She STILL babies him, which is some source of irritaion for me, she's not helping the matter!! Anyway...thanks for the moral support! (guess i need more backbone). But back to cooking...I do enjoy it when I'm not tired, or feel like I HAVE to. :)

[cool chic]

I would have to say I love doing the cooking in my house. Not because I love to cook, but if I let hubby do it, it usually takes him an hour or two before he is even organized! He made dinner the other night - my daughter and I waited an hour and a half for sausages, eggs and hashbrowns!! Not that I am complaining - at least HE cooked dinner!!

I have a pet peave when it comes to his cooking too....he can't follow recipies! That drives me crazy...I try to relax and show some support! He makes up his own recipies like his famous "poor man's spagetti"...cough...choke!!! It consists of spagetti noodles, an egg, broccoli, and tuna with lotsa mayo. It is his favorite dinner to make - easy and simple. That't why I love to cook!!!

[Debby]

Oh my gosh, that poor mans spaghetti sounds awful!!! But like you said, at least he is doing some of the cooking, can't complain about that!!! My hubby is actually a pretty good cook when he wants to cook, which unfortunatley is rarely.

[fuzzy]

I love to cook desserts. If I could make sweet stuff I would have it made. We would be not so healthy and more than likely have rotten teeth, but I could cook a huge variety. As far as evening meals go I seem to lack in that area. Usually I am doing well to cook three times a week. Some nights I get home at 6. There are chores to do, baths to take, and generally a mountain of laundry waiting. Food is the last thing on my mind. My husband also does the pouting thing on not having his meals served on a silver platter. He might think that is what he needs but he knows it isn't what he is going to get. A good portion of our meals are set up to have left overs. So I have very calmly explained that running the microwave doesn't need a college degree or the special touch of a woman. All he has to do is extend index finger and push. The microwave will obey his commands. I am sure he wishes his wife would too. LOL

[roldfiel]

ICK!Poor man's spaghetti sounds horrid. Although my husband usually makes amazing meals, I always like to remind him of his hot dog helper. Talk about disgusting!!!

[Debby]

Fuzzy, I like that! I don't understand how men ever got to the moon, without a woman telling them which buttons to push...LOL....my hubby stands in front of the microwave..."How do you defrost on here? How long should I put it in for?" etc.

[thespian]

Right ladies - make some space - I'm moving in! {chef}
Someone has to represent our poor underfed {homer} males!

I love cooking almost as much as I enjoy eating. {yum} (Believe me, I have the figure to prove it!)

One of the main reasons I am still single is that I can't find a woman who will stay the heck out of my kitchen! {toothy}

Seriously though - I do all my own cooking and love entertaining - which I do as often as possible. It's no fun cooking just for yourself.

With today's life the way it is where both husband and wife go out to work, the least the man can do is help in the kitchen or at least with other household chores. I don't know if South African men are more liberated than your husbands, but over here almost all of us are pretty nifty in the kitchen. Probably comes from our obsession with the weekend "braai" (barbeque).

Anyhow, I am dead keen on learning a bit more about cajun cooking, but over here the relevant resources and commodities are a bit scarce. (I'd hate to tell you what passes for cajun cooking down here!) So, if there are any "experts" in the field among you and you don't mind helping this nutritional-over-achiever find the way, I'd love to hear from you.

Oh btw, I do need a woman in my kitchen. You should see the mess I make! ;)

[thespian]

Wow, thanx Karen, that was quick! {dizzy}

Actually I'd like to know a little about the basics of Cajun Cooking. Maybe you can point me in the direction of a good site?

Thanx for the two recipes. In the first, could you please explain Catfish and ....

HEY! What happened to your posts? They were here a second ago! {redblob}

I wanna do the {chicken} one this weekend !!! {bawling}

Come back! All is forgiven! I'll even clean up my own dishes!!!

[Karenluvs6]

I started a separate thread especially for you Thespian!
Ok.....I have a great site for ya.
I'll get it too ya in a few minutes.....let me find another that I was looking at and I'll post them both.

[Karenluvs6]

Hey, I finally remembered to post this link!
sorry Thespian.....I totally forgot.

Here is a good site to check out the basics of cajun cooking....You should be able to find what you're looking for in there.

CajunGrocer.com (http://www.cajungrocer.com/cfapps/netgear/page1.asp)