Fall is here...

Well as we all know even the best intentions don't always work out the way we plan.  After my corn salad post, I planned on preparing some new recipes throughout the week for all of your tasting pleasures but alas, life just got in the way.  Between the school activities that the kids had going on, practices and games we relied pretty heavily on our freezer meals I had stored away.

Now let me tell you, I used to be intimidated by freezer meals.  I had visions of two days worth of cooking, high grocery bills, and food that I wasn't really a fan of.  I have since realized that there is no concrete plan for filling your freezer with food for later consumption.  After learning my way around the coupon world, and learning that I could still cook the same way I love to cook while using my coupons, I also figured out that my stockpile of groceries could be made into meals for the freezer just by doubling or tripling a recipe.  Now I routinely make three lasangas instead of one, multiple chicken potpies, and dozens of cinnamon rolls. 

If you find your schedule rapidly getting too full to make dinner try this method.  It works wonderfully for those nights that you have no time to fit cooking dinner into the schedule and saves on the pocketbook when you don't have to grab dinner on the go.

The reason "Why"

Every once in a while I have people ask me "why" I cook the way I do.  The short answer has just always been because I like to.  I have always felt more grounded and in touch with who I really am as I cook.  It is my stress reliever when times are hard and my enjoyment when life is good.  I cook when I am sad, when I am happy, when I am lonely, when I am surrounded by love, and when I just am simply bored.  I have never examined what drives me to try making something from scratch that I can easily by prepared or in a mix.  But now that I have more time to focus on food through this blog I wonder if my reasoning runs deeper than just liking to cook. 

There is a certain feeling that comes when I serve food to the people I care about in my life.  I don't know what that feeling is, I don't even know how to describe it. I do know that when people gather to eat a meal that I helped create I enjoy every moment of the process most especially the eating.  I truly believe that there is something that food does to a group of people who gather to eat; it unites us even if only for a few minutes, it creates memories and when the person who made the food did so with love, it just always tastes better. 

My memories run deeper than merely eating the food though.  Watching all the work that went into the end result was fascinating for me.  While my cousins played outside on Thanksgiving, I remember sitting on a stool watching my Grandma H. making Parker House rolls.  On quiet days my mom would make her family apple sauce cookie recipe that still to this day makes me think of her when I eat them.  Then there were the hot summer days at my Grandma VC's house when she would make homemade Roquefort dressing for the salads we were eating, or the big Sunday pot roast dinners with gravy and all the sides that Grandma W. made.  And let's not forget the breads and pies that my Dad made, he taught me so much ("you can always add flour Jenny, but you can never take it away.") Then there are all the countless hours of cooking shows I have watched in this lifetime that have added to the foundation of cooking knowledge passed to me by my loved ones.  All of these moments added something to who I am now; the memories I have, and the love I feel for everyone who nourished my body and my mind as I grew up, allow me to do the same now for people I care about.

So the answer to the "why" question is that I make food and go through the work because I like to, it has become a part of what makes me who I am.  I like to remember my loved ones who have passed on and make their food, I like to cook with my family and enjoy the end of a busy day, I like to see everyone smile (or grimace) when they try something new, I like to be surrounded by people I care about and enjoy the camaraderie that results, I like food, I like the process, I like sharing my experiences with others and taking in theirs, and most important I just simply like to cook.

Valentine's Dinner Idea

My friend Shandra sent me a great dinner idea for Valentine's day.  She said that she loves to make the pre-packaged filet mignon steaks that are wrapped in bacon, served with garlic green beans and pasta or baby red potatoes.  The cost of the steaks are about $5.50 and depending on which sides you want to serve, the total cost for a nice dinner could easily be under $10.00!

Thanks Shandra!

The next day...

Many foods are almost always better the next day, with some exceptions.  Scrambled eggs, for example, should not be reheated; they will never be anything but yellow rubber.  There is no way to return a scrambled egg back to warm, buttery deliciousness after it has turned cold.   French Fries, golden, crispy, salty bites of happiness made wonderful by simply heating them in oil and topping with salt, shouldn't be re-heated from a cold state--ever--in my opinion.   Then we return to just about everything else, the foods that once cold undergo some magic.  Maybe it's refrigerator fairies or just simply time in a cold dark box, whatever it is, food is almost always better the next day.