Friday, May 18, 2012

Why Do These People Keep Asking Me for Food?

I'm back to talk about food. Glorious food. I love to cook.  I love to talk about recipes and cooking and ingredients and menu plans and all that jazz. What I don't love is impractical cooking. I have a family of six to feed three times per day, seven days a week, fifty two weeks per year . . . and so on. So while I certainly enjoy a meal of lobster bisque, spring green salad with pears and blue cheese, spinach stuffed fillets with a red wine reduction sauce, and creme brulee, that just doesn't fit with my life.  I need easy meals that are tasty and full of whole foods.   The rub with that is Googling "easy family meals" often gives me hits of "500 Ways to Cook with Velveeta and Condensed Cream Soups."     While I can handle a pan of Chicken and Stuffing once every few months or so, it's not what I'm looking for!    This frustration has fueled my quest.   (Insert suspense building music here.)   I have given up on   most of the cookbooks and recipe blogs and Food Network shows.   They just don't offer the perfect mix of fresh foods, quick meals, and budget-friendly that I'm looking to find.   

 So I have started my own list of meals and I'm on a quest to find the "perfect" version of each classic.   I don't pretend to be a chef.   I hate pretentious food.   I hate food drenched in anything grey . . . .well, except maybe biscuits and gravy.   Sausage gravy is a food when made well, can approach perfection!   I want to get a system down that encourages my kids to eat a while variety of foods but still fits with our 4-kids-in-3-different-schools-and-sports lifestyle.   I want to have tasty meal ideas at my fingertips so when it's 5:30 and everyone is screaming at me for dinner, I don't automatically reach for frozen pizzas or PB&J.  

I don't ask for much.