3.19.2008

A Secret Desire

I might have a Jamie Oliver, Julia Childs, Nigella Lawson or even Rachel Ray in me, but I just don't know how to help it. I took several cooking classes offered at a neat cooking store in Texas once. It was so much fun! A group of my friends got together for the evening and learned some nice recipes. While visiting my good friend Gabrielle years ago I noticed that she had cookbooks with colored tags on pages. It occurred to me that she was actually trying different recipes-what a concept!) She was a stay-at-home mom at the time and I was working, so I thought I might do that someday if I was at home during the day. Uhm, well not yet.

I have had a secret desire to be a great cook and try out really neat recipes that I find. I have lots of magazines and recipes from magazines that I have tagged or torn out to try. I love cookbooks! I have quite a few of them, and they even have tagged pages! My mom had a great idea to put those pages and in a cute storage box in the kitchen and keep the ones I liked on the top. It was a great idea-little organization. It worked until we moved. Now, I'm not sure where those recipes have been placed since boxes like that were emptied by our movers and filled with other things (don't ask-arghh!). I have been exploring crock pot recipes lately, since that allows more evening time when kids get grumpy and homework issues arise.

I really want to try new recipes, but seem to get stuck with the same old ideas. Part of the problem is me not making time to look over the books or recipes and plan ahead. It is also because when I do make an effort to try different things my family is not usually that thrilled. They are happy with the same old things-meatloaf, spaghetti, egg burritos, pasta bakes, soups, baked chicken, grilled items, etc. Maybe someday they will be more excited to try new things, so we'll keep trying. They are always happy to have breakfast for dinner (cereal, pancakes, french toast, or fruit).

Well, off to make a pasta bake and steam some veggies. Yawn.

4 fabulous friends:

Bilary said...

You sound like me. I always love a good new recipe, but I have a hard time finding the time to actually make stuff. And I have a little problem with meat. I don't like a lot of red meat, I hate seafood, and if we have chicken Bill has to trim it first. If I trim it, I don't eat it. I guess that is just what happens when I was raised with a vegetarian mom.

The point of all of this...I find a lot of recipes I would like to try, but we don't have a lot of time lately and I have to wait for Bill to trim chicken again. We are almost out of it because we buy a lot at a time, and he trims it all, and then we freeze it. It just works better for us that way.

If you come across any good recipes let me know! Then maybe the kids won't have so much cold cereal or grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner:)

Andrea said...

Ugh. I hate to touch meat also. I have a few "tried and true ones", and I will let you know if I stumble across a "keeper".

I really get most of my cooking experience on "Cooking Mama" with the Nintendo DS. I can make some great dishes there :)

Rhea said...

I'm not a great cook. I mean, things I cook turn out ok, but I have to follow a recipe word by word and I can't just "improvise." I wish I was a great cook too! I did try some new recipes recently, some I'd found in a magazine that looked easy and good. :o)

Andrea said...

Share some good ones if you come across some! I like easy recipes!