Cooking

I am making spaghetti. Actually, this is a fairly common thing in my life, since we usually have spaghetti on Sunday, after church (occasionally we have a pot roast in the crock pot). However, if the truth be told, I don't actually care for spaghetti very much. I like (or LOVE) all other shapes and forms of pasta, but I am just "not that into" spaghetti. However, I do care (very much) for my family, and they love spaghetti--so here I am cooking it again.

And, as a special treat for both of my girls (LargeBoy is away on an all boys expedition with his best friend and BF's dad--more on that later) I am making meatballs. I used to buy them in bulk at Sams' Club, (and they are very convenient that way), but they are also quite expensive AND about 500 calories EACH--and they are tiny! Mine are much bigger--and I have no idea about how many calories are in them, but they are healthier--I sneak stuff like the leftover brown rice in, and cook them in olive oil.

This is something I do because I love them, not because I like to. I am a perfectly functional cook--but it isn't something I particularly enjoy. That is not true of baking--with the exception of cakes, I am a fairly sensational baker. The worst part of cooking is thinking of what to cook. And, this is made worse by the fact that I have to do it every freakin' day! (MFG is not a cook--and is never home by the time dinner needs to be made).

For the most part, I have solved this in 2 ways: I noticed we had trends in what we ate, so I set them in stone (or at least very solid jello). Monday we have tacos or some mexican variation. On Fridays we have pizza (usually homemade, sometimes delivered). Voila--if I include the Sunday Spaghetti, half of my meals are planned! Then, I make menus for all the rest of the days of the month (jot a note on the bottom of the calendar, taking crazy busy away from home nights into account) and PRESTO! I DON'T HAVE TO THINK! Yay!