Friday, December 17, 2021

What's for Dinner, and How May I Help?


 LUCY BURDETTE: To follow up on yesterday’s food blog, I was chatting with my friend Paulette this week about how making supper every night can sometimes feel unending. What do I make? Do I have the ingredients? Will there be leftovers? Has the chicken broth on the bottom shelf gone bad? I can spend lots of time reading recipes, and still have no ideas. 


When John and I joined forces in 1992, he came to the marriage with two children. (I came with two cats.) He was relieved to give over the task of cooking meals to me. His go-to meal had been overcooked hamburgers (aka hockey pucks), served with peas and carrots, and Rice-a-Roni. I had learned from my mother that after spending the day working and coming home to a hungry, loud family, it’s easier to do the work yourself. At the same time, it could be annoying to have people shouting from their places in the next room (in front of the TV): “What’s for dinner??” John and I negotiated a solution. No one could ask that question without adding “and how may I help?” (I think the only one who retained that is John.) I’m looking forward to seeing the whole family in early January, and cooking with my son-in-law. Isn’t it always more fun with another cook in the kitchen?


Reds, who’s the cook in your house? Are you ever stumped by what’s for dinner?


HALLIE EPHRON: My husband would have cooked if I’d let him. My problem is that I like to eat things cooked the way I like to cook them. He’d be off experimenting with rice and cinnamon cooked in the style of some exotic locale and I’d be wanting fried chicken and salad with homemade blue cheese dressing. He was, however, a fabulous fabulous eater who encouraged me as a chef and loved whatever I made, even if I didn’t.


DEBORAH CROMBIE: Oh, I'm the cook. My hubby's "How may I help?" is "Do you want me to pick up something?" I don't know what he ate when he was single. Beans and franks from a tin, mostly. In a real pinch, he can manage spaghetti. As much as I like to cook, I often feel overwhelmed by the prospect of what to make for the week. And I always bail for takeout by Friday night!


My daughter and son-in-law both cook, however, so it's great fun when we get together in the kitchen.


LUCY: This reminds me Debs, our son was visiting his in-laws this summer and someone suggested they could make one of my recipes. He persuaded them to try hot dog casserole. HDC, the kids called it. So embarrassing!


HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Pre-me, as we always joke, Jonathan ate what he calls “expired pasta.” 

Now, oh, I cook. Well, specifically, I cook dinner and Sunday breakfast. We make our own weekly breakfasts, and Jonathan makes lunch. (WHOA. Yes, it is a joy, and we always have the same thing, (another blog), and he does not do it the way I could do it, but who cares, it tastes the same and I am in heaven. It is totally room service.)

As for dinner, it’s just easier if  I do it. I absolutely adore him, but I know you will understand that if I asked him: could you chop the zucchini for me?

 He says: How, how many, where are they, where’s the knife, can you move over so I can stand there, where’s the cutting board, is this right,  is this enough, where should I put them now?

By that time, dear friends, I could have done it myself.



RHYS BOWEN:  Oh boy, does that sound like someone I know. I suspect it’s calculated so that I end up saying don’t bother. John does cook, occasionally. He makes breakfast—sardines every day, and tea and coffee. He’s good at curries but he dirties every single utensil and bowl!


One thing that drives me crazy is being asked, “what had you planned for dinner tonight?”

Answer: “I don’t know. What do you suggest?”

I don’t actually mind the cooking. It’s the thinking and planning I dislike 

After 50 years of cooking I’d really like a meal to be placed in front of me. I’m tempted to get a personal chef!


HANK: Rhys! DO it! We would LOVE to hear about it! Sigh.


JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: After twenty-some years raising a family of three kids plus Ross, the phrase most likely to set me off is, “What’s for dinner?” I don’t know, suggest something! 


When I met Ross, he existed on restaurant meals and Campbell’s soup, which he made, sequentially, in the same pot. Without washing it between meals! He said it added savor. I think it added botulism. Somewhere about fifteen years into marriage, however, he got into cooking. He had six or seven specialties and would make those to the kids’ delight and my gratitude. 


Our daughters have split our original stances - the Maine Millennial maybe knows how to boil water? I’ve never seen it, if so. Meanwhile, Youngest is already enjoying cooking with her bf in their apartment, so she got my mother’s cookware when I cleaned out my parents’ house.


And Rhys, you have my vote for personal chef. I used to fantasize about having a housekeeper-cook when the kids were all at home, like in so many TV shows from the 50s and 60s. Of course, that was usually just for the single father…


JENN McKINLAY: I was the main cook for 20 years and then COVID hit and Hub was working at home. He offered to take on the task and I let him! I have only cooked once or twice since March of 2020 and even though he went back to work, I decided to let him keep that task and the grocery shopping that goes with it. I have tapped out. I might assist occasionally but otherwise, nope, nope, nope. I do not enjoy cooking (except for baking because...cake), and he actually likes it (weirdo), so here we are. I never ask what we’re eating. I don’t care. If Hub has a gig, which he does a couple of times per week, I eat popcorn and call it a meal. Honestly, I don’t think I’ll ever cook again. Sorry not sorry.


How about you Reds? What's for dinner and how may we help?


93 comments:

  1. Whenever I ask John what he would like to have for dinner, he says, “I don’t know,” so I don’t usually ask; I just make whatever seems to be a good idea.
    I enjoy cooking and John never complains about a meal [even if I mess up . . . there was that yogurt onion bread] and he always offers to chop the onions, so I think I’m doing okay. [Baking, Jenn, is pure heaven because . . . chocolate!]

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    1. So I should go right on ignoring the spaghetti squash in the grocery store?

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    2. My rule of thumb is a person should not complain before the chef labels it a disaster:). Spaghetti squash isn't the same as spaghetti, that's for sure. Though I did once make a good recipe in which it was smothered in chili and cheese!

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    3. I agree with ROBERTA. Whoever said spaghetti squash is a good substitute for real spaghetti lied! But I am sure you can eat the squash in other ways that are tasty.

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    4. I'm not sure about that, Grace. I've given spaghetti squash a shot several times, because it inevitably is one of the cheapest veggies in the supermarket. I have yet to come up with anything I really liked, let alone something that excited husband and kids.

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    5. JULIA: I was a carb addict when I switched to a paleo diet for about 2 years so I craved pasta for meals. Back in 2013-14, there weren't a lot of gluten-free pasta alternatives on the market, so I tried the spaghetti squash recipe a few times. The strands were too limp and overcooked for my taste.

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  2. You can help but making dinner for me while I read your latest book. Isn't that a fair trade? :)

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  3. I really do not like to cook, so whatever is in my fridge or cupboard that involves only one or two ingredients or whatever number I dial or what I feel like eating on seamless or doordash.

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  4. What is it with men who don't cook? I'm proud to say both my adult sons are excellent in the kitchen and cook regularly. Allan makes artisanal sourdough bread to die for, too. I love it when one or both of them is home and we cook together. They always put on music, and it's so much better than cooking alone (Hugh's idea of helping is taking the pepper and carrot with the board and knife back to his den to dice while he watches some show, leaving me solo in the kitchen).

    Yes, I get tired of the planning, and last night we had leftovers from a quite good roasted chicken, potatoes (still home grown), and broccoli-mushroom thing I made. But I don't have to cook every night.

    Just before I came upstairs with my coffee, I asked Hugh, "Will you cook tonight?" He said yes. He's not an imaginative cook, but boy is he consistent. Once he gets a recipe down, it's exactly the same every time. As long as I don't have to think about it, I don't care.

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    1. EDITH: Well, there is nothing wrong with eating good leftovers. And I envy Allan's ability to make artisanal sourdough. My attempts to make sourdough (from my own sourdough starter) in spring 2020 gave me mixed results. I was so glad when my fave artisan bakeries finally reopened last summer!

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    2. Good job on handing off dinner to Hugh! I did not get into the bread baking craze during the lock-downs but I love making quick breads. Last night I made cheese sour cream scallion scones...

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    3. ROBERT: Like you, I have a lot of different quick bread recipes in my regular repertoire. Yum, those scones sounds delish.

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  5. I can't believe that I, the food writer, missed yesterday's blog. But it is December, time to get those doctor visits in, and my eyes were dilated, so.... (By the way, have you ever looked in the mirror when your eyes were dilated? Yes, your vision may be impaired, but wow, are your eyes big!)

    Having officially lived alone for the last umpty decades, I have to cook for myself-- but I find that I have become lazy as the grocery delis have become more proficient. Time was when a deli had macaroni salad, coleslaw (only one kind), cold cuts and sliced American "cheese." I had to learn to make sushi from scratch to write about it back around 1980 when it was a new thing (though I'd been eating it for years). I learned to make my grandmother's recipes (and even managed to duplicate some she'd never written down) because I wanted those things after she died. I do follow recipes when I'm writing about them, though, because if a recipe doesn't work, or needs modification, I'm not letting it get into print.

    My late love was a better cook than I am, but in a different way. He followed recipes precisely. And he baked. I don't do either. I let him cook for me, without my messing anything up. When he ate at my place, he stayed away from the kitchen. Cooking at home, I will look at half a dozen recipes for something I want to make, decide what the main ingredients are, and just toss them in until it looks and tastes right to me. (No one has ever complained.) I tend to overcook chicken (I hate it slimy), and char the outside of beef while leaving the middle very rare because that's how I like it. And I use lots of garlic and very little onion (onions no longer like me), lots of cilantro, but absolutely no basil (I'm allergic). I like cookies that are crunchy-- even better if you have to gnaw on them. So that's what I make.

    And I have actually written about this, but there is a great schism in Jewish cooking. My grandmother came from Lithuania. We put sugar in desserts, never in main courses or sides. I was talking with my grandfather's youngest sister on the phone a few years ago, and she told me she was making blintzes. Thinking of those travesties that pass for blintzes in New York and much of the rest of the country (where IMHO they also mispronounce Yiddish words), I asked her, "You don't put sugar in them, do you?"

    "Never!" she exclaimed-- as vehemently as I would have.

    If you ever have blintzes at my house, they'd be served with sour cream, never with fruit sauce. Kugels too. And I think sweet gefilte fish isn't fit to eat. My idea of Italian food is Tuscan, because I studied in Florence (which doesn't mean I won't eat Sicilian or Neapolitan food, just that it isn't what I think of as Italian.)

    What can I say? You live alone long enough, and you develop an opinionated palate! It's easier for me to cook alone.

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    1. ELLEN: I totally agree with you about developing an opinionated palate! And having the freedom to choose what to (make) or eat each night is easy when you live alone.

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    2. And you both are excellent cooks! I do want to come over for blintzes with sour cream Ellen...

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    3. Omigosh, I haven't had blintzes in a thousand years. I never did understand them with fruit, Ellen. Savory is the way to go.

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    4. I confess, I buy frozen cheese blintzes at the supermarket and they are excellent. I eat them with sour cream and cherry pie filling. Yum

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    5. Hallie, I bet they are somewhat sweet to begin with. That and the cherry pie filling would have been a travesty.

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  6. Most Reds and readers know that I am an eclectic, adventurous cook.
    I also enjoy cooking for myself every day but it was a gradual journey to get there.

    Considering Toronto is known as one of the most multicultural cities in the world, I basically ate typical (North) American meals growing up at home. As I mentioned, the Betty Crocker cookbook was my mom's main reference to what to cook each night.

    But when I left Toronto at the age of 19 to go to university, I slowly expanded my cooking repertoire to make different ethnic dishes. I began cooking French, German, Italian and English dishes after coming back from my first solo summer trip to Europe in 1986.

    Even during the past 20 months with multiple lockdowns, I rarely ordered takeout. Maybe a handful of times in all of 2020 and 2021. The only times I had to order takeout/Uber Eats on multiple days was on the 4 days in October when I was in Toronto clearing out my late dad's retirement apartment. He lived in suburbia North York...there was no nearby eat-in restaurant for blocks.




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    1. The biggest challenge for me is to avoid eating/making foods with the growing list of ingredients I developed food sensitivities in recent years. Toughest one for me was to avoid nightshade veggies (tomatoes, sweet bell and chili peppers) since 2018. And black tea and some red wine (tannins) have been a no-go since the late 1990s.

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    2. Giving up the nightshades must have been really hard. So many dishes automatically use them. I really enjoy seeing your meal photos Grace--you are amazing!

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    3. Awww, thanks Roberta. I am glad that friends enjoy seeing my meals/baked goods that I post on FB.

      Yes, this is the second time I have been having bad allergic reactions to nightshades. It also means i can't eat many ethnic cuisines/dishes I love, especially those made with spice blends (Mexican, Indian, some Thai, Italian etc).

      But I do have some good news. I am slowly adding a spoonful of tomato paste or a few cherry tomatoes to my diet. I still having a mild reaction but nowhere as severe as before.
      I want to be able to eat some red/green Hatch chiles in NM next April when I am there for LCC. Fingers crossed.

      My edible balcony garden doubled in size this year due being home during prolonged lockdowns and we had a fantastic LONG growing season (8 months, instead of 5 months in 2020).

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    4. I found it wasn't the tannins in red wines that set off a migraine, it was the ones aged in oak barrels. As long as I stay away from those I can enjoy reds again.

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    5. Interesting, Diane. I only get headaches once in a while. I've never noticed which ones do it...sometimes it seems like a moving target and that I should have just consumed more water first!

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    6. For me, the tannins did not cause a headache (or migraine)....I became nauseous and threw up about 10-15 minutes after drinking the tea/wine!

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  7. My husband did the food shopping during lockdown and I made dinner, which included experimenting with many stovetop recipes after the oven died. Now in our eleventh month with no oven, I'm planning Christmas for seven adults, using the stovetop, grill, and our new instantpot. My sons will grill, and my daughters have promised no-bake desserts. We won't be baking many cookies this year.

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. Trying again...
      MARGARET: Kudos to you for surviving without an oven for 11 months.
      Good thing you have these other working appliances to help make a yummy Christmas meal this year.

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    3. Margaret, Servatti's for pumpkin pies and cookies. Hard to beat them!

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    4. Need a wall oven/mic combo to fit the existing cabinet opening. The oven died February 1st. In early June, I found an appliance dealer willing to place an order for a replacement. Still waiting...

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  8. Arh, dinner, cooking, mind freeze. Yes I love to cook, no I hate dinner! Yes I’d love a cook particularly now. When V and I met in the dark ages I would come to his flat at the weekends and cook for him. Swinging London in the ‘60’s. He said I was the only girlfriend whom he allowed to cook for him. A little arrogant but he made the best breakfast evah! Fast forward to marriage, I cook. But until the dreaded memory impairment struck B could be counted on for spaghetti or shepherds pie and he could follow a recipe. Sadly no more. There’s been a lot of homemade ‘Stone’ soup recently if I haven’t gotten organized earlier in the day. I do better if I’m feeding more than us. But today? Well the day out is planned, so a cooked chicken from WhF seems good or sushi. I am so over nightly meals.

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    1. One of my dearest friends, an accomplished pastry chef who was a personal chef for several years, just moved to Maine. FYI. She could be a short drive from your home. She does "custom" meals.

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    2. Thank goodness for supermarket roasted chicken - And all the meals you can make with the leftovers. My favorite: chunky chicken noodle soup with mushrooms and carrots and celery, seasoned with rice wine vinegar and hot sauce and soy sauce and topped with chopped fresh cilantro.

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  9. However I am so envious of Jenn, way to go. I dream of a hotel, a four star or up preferably, room service, a pool with a swim up bar and plenty of books. That’s what I’d like in my stocking.

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  10. When my family was young I was a good cook, although not very adventerous with planning meals for little kids. now I live alone and for the most part can't be bothered to cook. But when I do make something I end up eating it for a week because I don't know how to downsize the recipe. And with just a tiny freezer compartment there isn't much room to freeze things.

    I love reading all about what everyone is cooking or planning or planning that someone else can cook. In spite of all that I said above, I love reading cookbooks, even if I seldom cook what I have read about.

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    1. I do love reading cookbooks too. I came across this great quote that I'm using in food critic #12: "You want happy endings, read cookbooks." Dean Young

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  11. When the kids were little and there was only one of them left at home (he came 10 yrs after the first group), he would have his friend over to play and often stay to supper. We lived in farm area, so meals in many homes were usually bounteous, but maybe boring. Stir Fry was something exotic. The kids were about 5 and tended to be irritating me about supper time. The question would come “what’s for supper?”. “Puke on a Stick”. The answer was always the same, (because I had usually not decided by the first asking); the food changed every time.
    Owen’s mother called me one day and said Owen wanted Puke on a Stick for supper – he loved it and she wanted the recipe!

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  12. I love this topic and all of your food stories. Jenn, we are all a little jealous of your chef/hubby. Did you know he could cook?

    Irwin lived quite comfortably on Sal's grinders and Cheerios. He bought lunch in the P&W cafeteria and he didn't need a wife. I was pretty much a beginner cook when we met, even though I was in my 30's, but I was "game" to be the chef. The biggest boost for us was that my dad was in the meat business and we got cartons with hand prepared packages of deluxe cuts of fancy meats from him. We did not have to "shop." Each package, wrapped in butcher paper, was clearly labeled and dated.

    Spoiled? Yeah.

    I think that Irwin's proposal of marriage was as much about the steaks as anything else! Dad retired at age 70 and Irwin and I are still together. He waxes poetic when he reminisces about dad's steaks.

    Over time I learned to cook and bake, accumulated recipes and favorites. I bake bread that we have for breakfast every morning and I make lunch and dinner most nights. We have take out or go to a restaurant at least once a week.

    Hank's description of Jonathan in the kitchen is really close to what happens here if Irwin "helps." When I broke my foot last winter you could see him cheering quietly when Doc gave me a walking boot!

    On another note, Irwin's daughter was 3 when I met him. She hated everything I cooked. She'd spend part of each summer with us and chili is a go-to because of leftovers. My chili was a big joke to her for years. Last night Rachel made us chili. She had leftovers. It was very similar to my recipe. When Irwin and I were alone later he was in stitches. Oh, the irony!

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  13. Say "yes" to the chef, Rhys! (There could be a TV series in there, somewhere.)

    Both my parents cooked, although with extremely uneven results. My first husband had trouble managing toast, so after our divorce I was most attracted to men who could at least put a rudimentary meal on the table. Steve does some things very well: grilling meats, smoking meats, and putting together a salad, although not as imaginatively as I do. All three of my daughters are with men who cook, to varying degrees (because two of them just refuse to cook), and my grandson loves to noodle around in the kitchen.

    I've been thinking about this for a while, because our next-door neighbors, she at 90 and him at 80, have been married over 55 years. They never had children, and since both are classical and jazz musicians, they've had an interesting life. But now she is worn to a nub from shopping and cooking. I'm pretty sure Frank could figure out how to make more than cereal, if he wanted to.

    I do prefer my own cooking to restaurant meals, for the most part. But I would like to have the option to eat out more often than Steve would like us to. He spent 25 years on the road and absolutely hates going out. It's my own fault for being a decent cook, I've begun to realize. Hoist on my own petard.

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  14. I love to cook although dependence on a rollator makes working in the kitchen an interesting logistical problem. And I am completely unable to cook for two unless it's breakfast. So when, as in yesterday, I decided to clean out the fridge and freezer, I have soup for an army. Fortunately most of it goes back into the freezer, which rather defeats the purpose.

    My mother and grandmother taught me to cook and four children, three of them boys, taught me to cook for England. So although I'm always responsible for dinner, I don't have to cook every night. There are always leftovers to bring out, thus the freezer soup.

    Julie can follow a recipe, but her forte, the thing she makes best, is reservations. And with the plague amongst us, make that Door Dash or Grub Hub. Tonight I've been promised fish and chips, if she remembers.

    The conversation, "what's for dinner", starts the evening before. Dear Julie is excellent at getting something out of the freezer to thaw. What she doesn't realize is that unless its a 20 pound bird, thawing doesn't take all that long. And I prefer to wait until the next day. Deciding what to have for dinner on Thursday while I'm eating Wednesday night doesn't do it for me.

    During this pesky post op tummy problem, I've been mostly on the BRAT diet, if you eliminate the rice and apple sauce. All I want is bananas on toast. Poor Julie. She's had to discover the delights of Marie Callander, LeMenu, and Stauffer's.

    But I have all the ingredients for mince pies, sausage rolls and fruit cake, so Christmas is coming. Rhys, I wish you could join us. I haven't make Yorkshire in eons, but want it to go with the rib roast. That could be your job maybe? I bet you make a mean one xo

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    1. ANN: What have you made with the InstaPot air fryer?

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    2. GRACE: Good question! ANN -- do tell.

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    3. So funny. We do not discuss what's for dinner unless we are choosing a restaurant. Otherwise, I make what I want to make. At my house, it is always cook's choice. If someone else wants to cook...well...if that ever happens...

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    4. From the air fryer: fried chicken, grilled chicken, pot stickers, red and white hits, Zweigels of course, and today, A CHOCOLATE CAKE for my neighbor’s 80th birthday. So far everything has been good. Best fifty bucks ever spent. Clean up is a breeze

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    5. Choc cake total disaster. Now have a reliable one in the real oven. Note to self: baking cakes is not a science experiment but actual science.

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    6. That reminds me. When I lived in Tel Aviv in the mid 70's, I bought a Miracle Pot to bake cakes on the stove top because my apartment did not have an oven. They came out surprisingly wonderful. I wonder if you can get those things anywhere else!?

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    7. Oops, too bad about the chocolate cake!

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  15. Like so many here, I like to eat and to cook, but the daily dinner dilemma is a total drag. I'd default to a boiled egg and toast but we often have that for lunch, so a real meal is required. We are both good cooks, but I've taken over the main management of supper and I'm not too proud to simply cycle through three or four reliable and tasty menus. Without a microwave in the kitchen, the trick for me is to think ahead and pull out the meat from the freezer in enough time.

    As a few commenters have already said, it's not the cooking I get bored with, it's the damn planning and shopping!

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  16. This is one area where The Hubby and I share the joy - or tedium. Like so many of us, we don't mind the cooking, it's the "What are we going to have tonight?" that drives us crazy. But once we decide, we're pretty good about sharing the responsibility. Except dicing onions, which is always his job, because I hate it.

    There is usually someone who is mainly responsible for the prep and someone who is mainly responsible for the clean up. It works.

    My kids can both cook. Whether or not they do or will...that's the question.

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  17. I keep a binder of tried and true recipes and when those fail, I search online for a recipe given what I have on hand. Lucky me, when older nephew's son arrived in our household at age three, nephew decided his son needed to know that dad could cook real meals. And lets his son be the helper. These guys have even tackled apple pie! Not to mention green eggs and ham :-) I'm always happy to let them have the kitchen. Although, I do prefer my own version of chili, so we take turns on that.

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    1. My son, Jonathan cooks a lot for their family and his 4 year old has grown up helping his mom bake and his dad cook. It will be a blessing. Jonathan helped me in the kitchen when he was growing up and his wife is appreciative that he came knowing a bit about cooking.

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  18. I hate to cook! There confession done. At least 10 years ago my husband (who loves to cook and considers himself a foodie) took over the dinner planning and cooking because once the kids were out of the house I pretty much abrogated this responsibility. He says exactly the same thing you all are saying--the planning is the worst thing. Recently at a business retreat we heard a functional medicine doctor mention GreenChef and we decided to give it a try. It's not unlike other meal services except there are keto, vegan and vegetarian options. My husband loves it because everything comes in the box and I've done the meal planning by making the weekly choices. It's a win-win situation.

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  19. I am the cook, because I enjoy it and Diane is the cleaner-upper because she is good that way. We manage our own breakfast and lunch (pre-Covid I made her lunch, but now that she works from home many days and I go to my office, she has taken over preparing her own mid-day meal.) We collaborate on what to have for dinner most of the time, which I appreciate. I also tend to make something on Sundays that can be enjoyable leftovers later in the week. Diane has taken over the grocery shopping since Covid, whether it in person or order ahead, and I am so, so grateful for that.

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  20. My husband does most of the cooking. He has a knack. He was a boy scout and learned campfire cooking. After watching Hogan's Heroes he decided to make strudel. Had to stand on a chair to stretch the dough. Now he makes no knead bread in a cast iron dutch oven, so we have good bread every day. He makes yogurt and yogurt cheese. (For himself he also makes wine and brews beer)

    I make a crustless quiche with spinach, mushrooms, and other vegetables that we have for breakfast with baked beans, tomato slices, and ajvar or salsa (or both). I feel virtuous having gotten some vegetables in the first meal of the day.

    When dinner comes I am tired and hungry and have no energy for prep. Hubby and I usually work together to figure out what to make. I make a big pot of grated carrot, celery, onion and garlic cooked in bone broth/stock that I freeze in portions. That way the vegetable prep is out of the way for sauces, casseroles, soups.

    When the kids were teenagers and I had a night with no idea what to make for dinner, I'd just yell upstairs to them - 'Every man for himself." It was great to have some nights off.

    And I agree with Jenn - popcorn is a great meal.

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    1. Your breakfast sounds amazing! and that is so smart to prepare the veggies ahead and freeze...

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    2. What a brilliant idea, to pre-prep the veggies in the stock. Thank you!

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    3. You're welcome. Its a time-saver.

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  21. My husband lived with his brother for a while. To put it kindly, they were not very good cooks. One night they cooked a pot of pasta and left the pasta in the water after it had cooked. They had to cut the block of cooked pasta into cubes with a knife!
    I do the cooking here. And, yes, figuring out the "what" is the hardest part sometimes.
    Classic. "What do you want to eat?" "I don't know."
    Just give me a general direction-beef, chicken, fish, vegetarian- at least!

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    1. Blocks of pasta, yikes! Years ago, I lived with a boyfriend and his brother. The brother existed on stacks of white bread covered in sausage gravy. His mother also called to wake him every weekday at 5:30, but that's another blog...

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  22. I have to confess that we have a couple of standard "cheat" meals most weeks--homemade pizza on Sundays with a big salad, and whole wheat spaghetti with pasta sauce on Thursday, ditto big salad. So if we get take-out on Fridays and sometimes on Saturdays, that's only three or four meals I have to plan in a week! I usually do the planning for the week before Sunday grocery shopping, but sometimes I just cannot wrap my brain around it.

    Lunch is an issue, too. Rick will eat basically the same sandwich every day, or leftover pizza and spaghetti, but I don't really care for sandwiches so I try to have some cooked beans/veggies/rice and salad stuff organized for the week. More planning!!

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  23. For many, many years my Mom had a Blondie cartoon on the refrigerator. Blondie individually asks Dagwood, the kids, and a guest what they want for dinner, each replies along the lines of "I don't care." Blondie fixes dinner and they all gripe. It was a long, colorful strip that held place of honor for all who opened that fridge. ;-)

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  24. I love reading your comments. Especially on "helpful" kitchen husbands. I do most of the cooking although hubs will usually be my sous chef. He loves to grill, however, so we often have grilled tuna, ribs, chicken, and grilled veggies. Thanks for all the fun posts!

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    1. You're so welcome, thanks for being here. And grilling is good! But you still have to figure out what to grill:)

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  25. Oh, that question of what are we having for supper drives me nuts. I did have a reprieve when Philip was in the Army and working and living elsewhere for fifteen years. I could eat when I wanted and not worry about cooking much. But, now with his retirement comes the dreaded question every day. It irritates me most when he asks it before I've even had lunch. However, here lately, he is cooking a bit more himself. It may not be what I really want, but I'm not complaining. I'm in a place of nothing sound that great right now. However, I have no doubt I will continue to cook when (maybe if) I get my cooking mojo back. The one thing that has to be constant is that it's either my husband or me that cooks. I don't want him in the kitchen with me, and I think he feels the same.

    It's interesting to me that while my mother did all the cooking when I was growing up, there was an exception. My father fixed his own breakfast of two poached eggs, toast, and tea. He didn't want anyone else in the kitchen while he was doing it or eating it. My husband is the one who fixes our fried eggs when we have them, either for breakfast or supper. I do fixed better scrambled eggs. But, I find the similarity in my father's and husband's egg cooking ability kind of nice.

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    1. My father also didn't cook dinners, but he made his own breakfasts and sometimes pancakes for all on Sunday mornings. After he was divorced, he got serious about big vegetable heavy stews he could eat for lunch and dinner for the week!

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  26. My mother was a good, if plain, cook and I learned basics from her. My Dad only did barbecuing. I was single for much of my adulthood and often made whatever was quick and easy but would make casseroles on weekends to have leftovers during the week. That and salads got me through. Once married, we trade off. Now retired, We sit down Friday morning and plan the following week meals, make the shopping list. Barbara does the shopping, I put it away when it comes home. There are always two things that yield leftovers, a couple fast and easy, and we kind of go through a chicken, beef, pork, all veg, rotation, and one take out a week. Diabetes has severely limited my choices, so we try to keep carbs low and sugars lower, thus sugar free shows up a lot. This time of year I loved fudge more than anything, my mother had that Maime Eisenhower recipe. Can’t have anything like that now! So, all of you, enjoy those carb loads and sweets while you can! I envy you. I’m having a slice of ham and half an apple for lunch.

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    1. Rick, I think my husband would like it if we sat down one day and planned the menu for the week. Maybe I'll give that a try with him. We both shop and both can cook, so it might work well.

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  27. My mom gratefully moved on to frozen meals and eating out once she only had to please herself. I've reversed that, moving toward more "from scratch" meals with the extra time gained in retirement.
    I went to P.T. a bit unwillingly because of rain, but as I turned into the parking lot, I saw Viet Thai next door and promised myself stir fry as a reward . . . changed my mood immediately. ;-)

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  28. Yes, the planning is the bane of my existence! Mom taught me to cook at an early age, like 9 or 10,so I've basically been the cook most of my adult life. Luckily hubby isn't picky, and he usually cleans up. He's the master griller of meats and veggies, too and really where we live in Texas, it's often more comfortable for grilling outside in early Spring and in Fall, than the heat of summer! Since I broke my arm earlier this year and still not healed to normal he's been mostly in charge of dinner, whether it's takeout, omelets, precooked stuff or experiments where he has to ask for supervision. Heaven. Though I do miss my own cooking, I'm not complaining! We were caregivers to my elderly parents for many years, so frankly I'm tired!

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    1. I forgot to say that several years ago, except for certain holidays or celebrations, I put my foot down and declared Sundays my "day off". After cooking for 6 or more people every day, plus laundry and others chores even split with hubs, that saved my sanity, or what's left of it!

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  29. I'm so incredibly lucky. My husband loves to cook and he is very good. As in, restaurant quality good. His pizza is fantastic, from scratch dough and baked on a cast iron pan and his jambalaya is my favorite. He always enjoyed cooking and once he retired and we got a revamped kitchen and great cookware, there was no stopping him. I finally had time to become a better cookie baker!

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  30. My mother cooked until she got sick and then coached me. Dad made breakfast and snacks like Chex mix and grilled. I think if he had lived to retire, he would have done more. He would try anything which made my Mom a better cook. At some point after he died, Mom asked me to help plan dinners so we wrote down what we would eat for each week. I still do that for myself.

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    1. Sally, Great idea! I kept notebooks for years also, after checking the weekly grocery circulars and our freezer, frig & pantry to have an idea of what needed to be cooked, etc. And I kept a running list of our dinners every day, so I'd know what and when we'd last had certain dishes. Same when we'd visit/care for parents long before it became permanent, I'd make a list for Mom and put it on a magnet on her frig!

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  31. I was the cook for many years. Then, after my husband retired and I was still working, he started making the evening meals. After I retired, we both sort of took turns. He prefers his spaghetti and chili so I rarely make either. Tonight he made chili. He never makes it exactly the same. I prefer to bake.
    Our son-in-law was the cook for the early years of his and my daughter's marriage. Now they usually cook together. They brought both of their sons up to cook. The older grandson loves cooking and made spaghetti with his home made spaghetti noodles for us in November. The younger grandson cooks, but likes to bake more. I think he and his girl friend take turns.

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