Food! Again, always.

We have this running joke in my extended family.  When we're all together and breakfast has been eaten, well, of course that's the time to start talking about what we're having for lunch, dinner too if we're on top of things, perhaps even for the next day too.
Ok, so not so much a joke but a necessity I'm realizing when you're planning food for others.  It's just exhausting to keep thinking of what to have, especially when you ask for help and replies are as follows...
Felix: hot dogs!
Ian:  corn?  cauliflower?
Louise: pad thai!!!!!
Ainsley:  I don't know.
harumph.

I'm slowing seeing my love of cooking being extinguished when put up against the daily grind, and I hate that!  Cooking is something I love but it's also something I HAVE to do.  Those two attributes can be hard to reconcile sometimes.

Last week I had another Eureka! moment with cooking.  I can still cook for fun, just not every day.  This last week I enjoyed making the perfect oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and actually got quick a kick out of the simple dinners I made.  It's ok to just be sustained sometimes right?  Gourment doesn't have it's place in my Tuesday night kitchen.

Most of my favorite recipes of late have come from More with Less.  I know I've mentioned it before but each time I cook something from this book I fall more in love.  It's all simple nutritious food, usually every ingredient can be found in my kitchen already.

Recently I've made the baked layer dish (carrots, onions, potatoes, ground beef tomatoes, seasonings), herb baked chicken with broccoli rice (chicken coated with lemon zest, juice, herbs then drenched in homemade mushroom sauce and baked until it falls apart...yummo!) homemade hamburger macaroni (an excellent way to use leftover homemade macaroni, and so good Ian and I shared it for lunches), and baked lentils with cheese (one of my favorites).
Up this week(end) are a cottage cheese and rice bake and a pizza bake.  I think we'll be all casserol-ed out when I'm done making it all, but I sure do love casseroles for their ease and leftovers.

This week I also remembered stuffed baked potatoes for a meal which are a favorite and great for a quick busy night dinner.  I just bake the potatoes at some point in the day, have cheese grated, broccoli steamed, and bacon fried.  Assemble individually at dinner time and whalla! food.

This week I'm looking forward to the beginning of the wind down for school and activities.  We're down to 3 things during the week after school. Louise has only three weeks left in her school year, Ainsley has five.  It'll be quite the transition from busy busy busy to long lazy days but I'm looking forward to lots of time with my kiddos and I'm thinking cooking together will be a great way to pass some time.