Someone Else Needs to Plan the Menu

If there is one thing I am always tired thinking about it’s, “What’s for dinner?”  For a person like myself who loves to cook, but is being particularly vigilant about what I will eat until I get down to my goal weight the answer is fairly simple.  I would just have a salad, but I am not alone in this world.  I have a not-picky-eater husband who likes spicy food and a picky daughter who does not and neither of them would be happy if I told them they were having a salad for dinner.

Dinner has become a meal that people thinks need to be something special, all the time.  How has this happened?  Breakfast is easy, there are a couple of choices and almost all of them are considered acceptable in my house.  Lunch, everyone is on their own.  I am never quite sure what my family is eating for lunch and I appreciate that they don’t torment me with descriptions of yummy meals I won’t let myself have.

But come dinnertime everyone wants different things at different times and different from things they might have had in the last thirty days.  I take back that last part about Russ, he is happy to eat leftovers, but I am wary of making too much of anyone thing that it might go uneaten.

I know I have created my own problem because I am a good cook.  I have raised the level of expectation to be a four star meal every night.  I would not even mind cooking at the James Beard level every night if only someone else would come up with the menu, buy the ingredients and guarantee that everyone would eat it without complaint.

I could just start cooking like most of America and make a simple meal of some bland meat, a starch and an overcooked green vegetable, throw it on the table and announce that is all there is so take it or leave it.  The issue is that it would get left and then the snacking meals would take over.

I never want to hear, “What do we have to eat?” again.  I wish I could do away with all extra food in the house so that the meal that is served is the best you are going to get so it would be appreciated.  If I have this much trouble with my forty plus years of cooking dinner I can only imagine the problems most people have.  It certainly is a first world problem since so many don’t have any choice about what they eat and I don’t just mean prisoners.

Fighting Words

At three o’clock I got a text from my child I had not seen all day asking me the eternal question, “What’s for dinner?”  Thank goodness her father and I had just settled that question as he was heading out the door to the store.  Lord knows there might had been a fight over that innocent issue if I was required to go back to a store today.

What I don’t know is if Carter is asking the question to judge whether she should eat something she likes better where she is now or if she should accept an invitation to go out to dinner or if she is just hungry.  Whatever the reason I know that the “What’s for dinner” question has probably caused more disagreements in more households throughout the world for all time.

I remember thirty years ago my friend Gussy saying to her then husband David in response to that same question, “What are you trying to do start a fight?”  Granted they eventually did part ways and I’m sure it was not over what was for dinner since Gussy is a great cook.

I am so tired of thinking about what is for dinner even though over 500 cookbooks, endless cooking websites and multiple TV channels dedicated to food surround me.  Why with all these resources and the availability of almost any ingredient within five miles of my house is the dilemma about making dinner so prevalent?

I know it is harder for me since I am trying to keep it healthy, but even that is no excuse.

I know people who hate to, or are just not good cooks who make the same meals on the same nights of the week; meatloaf Monday, tuna noodle casserole Tuesday, wicked ham Wednesday (yeah I could not think of a W food), turkey tetrazzini Thursday, fish fry Friday, you got the picture.  I cannot imagine making the same thing over and over again, even just one over.  I know my child would probably love anyone of those weekday meals so I hope she does not read this blog since they are all way to fattening for us.

Those people who have a limited repertoire have cut way back on the stress about the “What’s for dinner” question.  If you serve the same things every week people stop asking.  I wonder if they complain more about the repetitiveness or less because it is a fait accompli?

I really don’t mind making dinner and yesterday we established I don’t like to shop for ingredients, but sometimes I would just like a few suggestions that fit both my dietary restrictions and time available.  Yes, we all can agree that beef wellington is yummy, but don’t ask for it on a Tuesday.  Some days I would be really happy just having Special K for dinner, any takers?