2009: make a family dinner once a week

and now I’m retiring it early. Mr. Wren will be working in Bryce Canyon, and it will be just me & Sadie the dog at home, so there’s no one to make family dinner for.

I made it in the crock pot, and it was delish! Mr. Wren liked it too, although he complained that the noodles wouldn’t stay on his spoon. :)

I was hoping it would last two meals, but we ate all of it in one go.

My six year old grandson loves to cook. Tonight he mashed the potatoes and stirred the gravy. I imagined that this would motivate him to eat his whole dinner, but alas, it didn’t. We had fun anyway.

This week’s family dinner came from the crock pot once again. This meal made me especially happy because I cooked it from things that needed to be used up. It was pork chops with apples, peaches and onions. I served it with wild rice and asparagus, and it was good! Mr. Wren gave it an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10. Score!

was nummy black beans & brown rice.

I still am feeling poorly from the office cold & so didn’t want to cook anything complicated. Nummy Rice & Beans fit the bill perfectly. And it is a super healthy dish, so I am happy knowing that Mr. Wren is getting some good, cholesterol-clearing fiber in his diet!

This week’s meal is a big pot of turkey chili. It seems like a good choice on a snowy, cold day like today, and we should get three meals out of it. Plus, Mr. Wren has a track record of liking my turkey chili!

that Mr. Wren likes my cooking…...

is delicious spaghetti sauce. I can smell it simmering on the stove right now. Yum! We should be able to get 3-4 meals out of this.

both made in the crock pot.

This goal has several purposes. First, I like to cook. I haven’t cooked in a long time because years ago, when Mr. Wren & I were first together, Mr. Wren had a terrible habit of being bossy in the kitchen. This annoyed me no end, so I learned to just step aside & let him do the cooking. He has finally grown tired of doing all the cooking. So that is the second reason for the goal – that Mr. Wren has finally grown tired of doing all the cooking, and I want to help him out. Thirdly, I worry about Mr. Wren’s eating habits. He does not eat enough fruits, vegetables or whole grains. If I take over more of the dinner cooking, I can influence this. heheheh.

Anyway, I’ve made two crockpot meals so far. The first was super delicious and also quite humongous. We ate it all week. The second did not turn out so well. Happily, Mr. Wren had the day off yesterday, and he doctored it up quite nicely, and now it is just lovely!

Now I am a little weary of the crock pot, so the next meal may be something along the lines of a casserole…