Cooking, and Lack of.

You know those people who know how to make everything taste a little better?

Yeah, I’m not one of them.

It’s not that I can’t cook or don’t enjoy it. There are certainly parts of it that I enjoy, and food that, on occasion my entire family actually eats.  But the process of figuring out what to make, when to make it, and finding all of the ingredients is still daunting.

Some time ago, one of my online mom groups conducted a survey. Given the choice, would we choose a full-time housekeeper, or a chef? What I found surprising, was that the choice of cleaner or cook was fairly even. And more often than not, a mom who struggled with cleaning found cooking to be a breeze. Those who struggled with cooking didn’t seem to have the issues with mountains of laundry and squalor conditions.

Maybe we aren’t so different after all?

Whenever we have dinner guests over, I always ask my husband what I should make, trying to take extra effort for company. We always seem to go back to the same 3 or 4 recipes. Recipes, which are, incidentally, all recipes given to us by other people. So maybe therein lies the problem. Maybe the cooking thing is that I just don’t know how to pick recipes? Maybe I just need to find the best cooks and glean their top dinners?

It’s not quite so easy. The thing is, that Wonder Dinner might happen once a week. Maybe even twice; only if I’ve planned really well. But, things falls apart pretty quickly after that. I get burned out, or need to go to the store again. Or, I’ve planned a great main course, but have nothing for a side.

There’s an episode of Mad Men where Don Draper travels to California with a group of people. They tell him they’re going to eat Mexican food, and asks if he’s ever had it. He says no. Apparently this is isn’t too far-fetched, that a middle-aged man, in the 1950’s-60’s New York, would never have eaten Mexican food. I love Chimichangas and guacamole as much as the next girl, but it definitely made me think that years ago, cooking was a much simpler affair. Listening to those who cooked during that era, meal planning and dinner wasn’t the stress it is today. I’ve heard a few families who’ve said that they grew up eating essentially the same dinner every night.

The pressure is so different now. My weekly dinner arsenal often contains meals like sesame chicken, enchiladas, or a thai curry dish. I also make lasagnas, stroganoff, and simple baked chicken breasts. Gone are the days of beef and potatoes every night. Although, I usually fit that in twice a month, too. Whenever I think we should invest in premade meal planning menus, I always balk. Half of it doesn’t sound good to me, and the other half I know the kids wouldn’t eat.

And so we continue our meals of quasi-ethnic food, sprinkled in with the occasional Costco chicken alfredo, or what we affectionately refer to as “Dad’s Cooking,” which consists of whatever Take-Out we ask him to bring home.

Having ingredients like Cardamom or fish sauce in my pantry doesn’t make me a better cook, or even a good cook. It means someone shared a great recipe that I thought my family liked, and I learned how to make it. I hope I add more dinners to my meager list. So much of family life revolves around shared meals, and togetherness. There’s nothing quite like amazing food to bring loved ones together, and I’d rather be excited, not intimated, by the family gathered round.

One can try!

Here are two recipes that have complex flavors, but are loved by every member of the family.

Beef Stroganoff  (No one in the family likes to eat mushrooms that are visible. I chop up my mushrooms as small as I can. Problem solved!)

Thai Peanut Chicken  We love a little spice, and the kids do, too. This is often a “birthday dinner” at our house.