Why is this the most annoying question of everyday? Dinner? It shouldn't be that hard. We all have to eat and dinner is just as good as breakfast, lunch, or snacks, right?
Breakfast
Breakfast is easy, there are very defined items for breakfast: cereal, baked goods, eggs, breakfast meat, fruit and leftovers from dinner. Okay maybe that last one is just me. I will eat almost any dinner leftover for breakfast. Tyrone thinks I'm crazy since most people eat the same thing every morning with some variation on weekends. I blame my mother for this weird habit. She used to eat cold leftover chicken while making my dad's lunch. There is just something about leftover pizza, lasagna, or casserole that I can't wait until lunch to enjoy.
Lunch
Lunch also has a some what defined menu: sandwiches, salads, carrot sticks, soup, burgers, fries, and other lunchy items. My favorite lunch is grilled cheese sandwiches. When I was little we had them almost everyday and while eating them we listened to Paul Harvey read the news.
Dinner
One of the things I dreaded about getting married was now I would have to cook dinner, every night. One of the reasons it scared me was that Tyrone and I had very different upbringings and were raised on very different foods.
My mom started on the health food kick in the early 80s and our food reflected that. Lots of fruit, raw veggies, whole grains, no fast food, no sugar cereals, no soda, and the only exception to this was ice cream. There were no rules on ice cream.
Tyrone was raised with lots of fried foods, cooked veggies, and white bread. There are some foods he refuses to try or will only try once and be done.
How was I going to come up with a menu that would be healthy, cheap and that we'd both eat and enjoy? We ate a lot of sandwiches the first couple months, mostly cause we didn't get any pots or pans for our wedding. It's really hard to cook without pots, pans, spatulas, or wooden spoons. We did get a lot of casserole dishes but it took some time for us to agree on what a good casserole was.
One night I sat down with my cookbooks and started paging though, I though maybe I'd steal a page from my grandma's dinner plan. Each night would have it's own menu, she did burgers on Fridays, and Big Sunday dinners that made leftover Monday. We never got past Pizza Monday. I almost cried.
The next time I sat down with Tyrone and had him list all his favorite foods, dinners he liked and what he absolutely would not eat under any condition. This helped but some of my favorite foods were on the 'not under any condition' list. Our biggest problem was veggies, he liked frozen peas, corn, carrots and salad. I hate frozen peas, corn, and carrots. Fresh veggies are the best or even lightly steamed. Most nights when Tyrone cooks he cooks those veggies till he's sure they are dead.
We both agreed we liked salads with no dressing but then he got burned out on my favorite, Spinach Salad.
After 4 years we are kind of in a groove. We keep the freezer stocked with chicken and ground turkey, the pantry with kidney beans, diced tomatoes, and tomato sauce. I make lots of soups and freeze them for later. However, Tyrone has decided he's getting bored with soups.
Some days I just make Tyrone cook. Some days I type in a bunch of ingredients in google and hope something yummy pops up. I've actually collected some good recipes this way.
So what should I cook for dinner tonight? Tyrone says he wants to make Hamburger Helper...
Breakfast
Breakfast is easy, there are very defined items for breakfast: cereal, baked goods, eggs, breakfast meat, fruit and leftovers from dinner. Okay maybe that last one is just me. I will eat almost any dinner leftover for breakfast. Tyrone thinks I'm crazy since most people eat the same thing every morning with some variation on weekends. I blame my mother for this weird habit. She used to eat cold leftover chicken while making my dad's lunch. There is just something about leftover pizza, lasagna, or casserole that I can't wait until lunch to enjoy.
Lunch
Lunch also has a some what defined menu: sandwiches, salads, carrot sticks, soup, burgers, fries, and other lunchy items. My favorite lunch is grilled cheese sandwiches. When I was little we had them almost everyday and while eating them we listened to Paul Harvey read the news.
Dinner
One of the things I dreaded about getting married was now I would have to cook dinner, every night. One of the reasons it scared me was that Tyrone and I had very different upbringings and were raised on very different foods.
My mom started on the health food kick in the early 80s and our food reflected that. Lots of fruit, raw veggies, whole grains, no fast food, no sugar cereals, no soda, and the only exception to this was ice cream. There were no rules on ice cream.
Tyrone was raised with lots of fried foods, cooked veggies, and white bread. There are some foods he refuses to try or will only try once and be done.
How was I going to come up with a menu that would be healthy, cheap and that we'd both eat and enjoy? We ate a lot of sandwiches the first couple months, mostly cause we didn't get any pots or pans for our wedding. It's really hard to cook without pots, pans, spatulas, or wooden spoons. We did get a lot of casserole dishes but it took some time for us to agree on what a good casserole was.
One night I sat down with my cookbooks and started paging though, I though maybe I'd steal a page from my grandma's dinner plan. Each night would have it's own menu, she did burgers on Fridays, and Big Sunday dinners that made leftover Monday. We never got past Pizza Monday. I almost cried.
The next time I sat down with Tyrone and had him list all his favorite foods, dinners he liked and what he absolutely would not eat under any condition. This helped but some of my favorite foods were on the 'not under any condition' list. Our biggest problem was veggies, he liked frozen peas, corn, carrots and salad. I hate frozen peas, corn, and carrots. Fresh veggies are the best or even lightly steamed. Most nights when Tyrone cooks he cooks those veggies till he's sure they are dead.
We both agreed we liked salads with no dressing but then he got burned out on my favorite, Spinach Salad.
After 4 years we are kind of in a groove. We keep the freezer stocked with chicken and ground turkey, the pantry with kidney beans, diced tomatoes, and tomato sauce. I make lots of soups and freeze them for later. However, Tyrone has decided he's getting bored with soups.
Some days I just make Tyrone cook. Some days I type in a bunch of ingredients in google and hope something yummy pops up. I've actually collected some good recipes this way.
So what should I cook for dinner tonight? Tyrone says he wants to make Hamburger Helper...
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