Wife = Cook

Before Husband and I got married we went to Bed, Bath and Beyond and Target and registered for many cooking tools. We registered for gadgets, knives, food processors, and simply everything we thought we'd need to cook. However, I don't think I understood that being married meant cooking most nights. I don't think I understood that being married meant I WOULD BE COOKING MOST NIGHTS! I am sure in other marriages the delegation of jobs is perhaps different; however, due to being a teacher and coming home first, the job of cooking fell into my category. For the first 18 months of marriage I was re-creating any meal possible with chicken. I had no confidence and I had no desire to really try to cook. As long as it was warm and edible I was happy.

Then I came across the website A Year in the Kitchen. This website has greatly helped me. Ashlee (the author) is not only creative with her recipes but they are healthy. I don't care how many cookbooks I have, if I don't feel confident in the quality of the recipes then I won't cook a single meal from it. Husband and I want to eat good meals and feel content with the nutritional value. I don't want to eat high fat/high calorie meals that make me feel sluggish and gross. Ashlee has a wide variety of recipes: soups, casseroles, pasta, cupcakes, breads, everything! Most weeks when I am planning our menu (and our shopping list) I visit her website for recipes and inspiration. Thank you Ashlee!

After being inspired by Ashlee, I decided to ask for the magazine Cooking Light for Christmas. Each month it is a gift of new ideas. This weekend I made the recipes Butterscotch Bars (Lighten Up). They were very good! Last week I visited our local library to check out some new cookbooks and came across Cooking Light: Super FAST Suppers: Speedy Solutions for Dinner Dilemmas. After checking it out, I found about 25 recipes that I wanted to try. So Husband looked on Ebay for the cookbook and I bought my own copy for $10 (shipping included!). The first meal we tried was Chicken Piccata (YUM).