Cooking

I have found some Joy in Cooking lately. To some degree, it is because Igot some great things for Christmas to make it fun. I received good knives, tongs (I never had any), mearsureing cups and spoons, fun little gadgets and some great cookbooks.

I like to be able to do things in a way that seems more effecient when I am in the kitchen. And I like it. I feel like I am contributing to my family in a very tangible way. They like what I am making (most of teh time) and the appreciate the effort. I like that.

When things do not work out, I need to work on my response. Since I feel like this is one of the only really tangilbe things that I do during the day, I get upset when it does not work out. But what I need to realize is that it was a good effort.

I have also found some ways to make it easier too. My friend Heather S turned me on to planning my menu for the whole week. That is soooooooo helpful. You can shop all at once and you will be really surprised at how much stress/pressure it relieves to not have to make that decision at the last minute. It also seems to help us eat more healthfully; less opportunities to eat out, less boxes dinners.

I also have found that pasta side dishes are great. My sister, Anne, turned me on to this. It gets veggies tokids in way they may be more likely to eat them. It gives variety to dinner because I now have something to replace the potatoe with. And the sauces are really easy. If you do not have cookbooks with sauces, www.foodnetwork.com has great recipes for free. Also, the packets in the store make things easy and good.

I hope that this spread the joy of cooking to you as well. It really is a nice way to spend some time during the day.