Adventures in Cooking

If you know D and me well then you know that for the duration of our marriage D has done ALL the cooking. I could count on my hands the number of times I have cooked a meal. Actually it isn't even just our marriage because in college I didn't cook either. I did the dishes and my friends cooked. If someone wasn't cooking then I would resort to cereal or a turkey sandwich for dinner. Pathetic, I know. I'm not sure why I have always been averse to cooking. Part of it has to do with irrational fears about cooking meat. There is a reason I was a vegetarian for 6 years. D has definitely spoiled me the past eight years. He is an excellent cook and he learned most of it from his dad and his willingness to experiment. Right around the time we got married this lack of cooking came up in a conversation with my Grandma Edie. She was actually a very progressive, forward thinking person but she was appalled that I didn't cook. I remember very clearly that she said something to me like, "What if D dies? Then you won't even know how to cook a roast!" I laughed because whether or not D is alive or dead I would never want to eat a roast!

Fast forward to now and I am a changed woman! I knew that as we got closer to bringing LB home that my habits in the kitchen would need an overhaul. D never said to me that since I was staying home I needed to learn to cook but it was a silent goal I set for myself. Also ever since my Grandma Edie passed away last year I have really wanted to cook a roast to make her proud. And let's face it. I wanted to make myself proud too. Last week I did it. I cooked a roast. Never mind that I called D at least 5 times while in process and never mind that one of those times I might have been crying. I did it. I managed to take a few photos in between my moments of panic about touching the blood and meat contamination.

I made an Irish stew and it was delicious! D kept telling me how good it was and I think given all the phone calls he was pretty surprised.

I would say I cook the majority of our food these days. D still likes to cook and will often whip up something tasty on the weekends or will help me finish things up once he is home during the week. I know it is a luxury that I am able to cook during nap time and I am so grateful that I have had this time to learn to cook. I will also tell you that we have frozen pizza more than I care to admit and that my cooking adventures have not always turned out well. But this is a huge step for me. I wish I could cook and take photos like the Pioneer Woman but I am not that talented. I did manage to snap a shot of the lentil soup I made recently. Yummers.

And I have made my mom's lasagne recipe a few times too. Here it is ready to go in the oven.

Now we just need to get this little guy to start chewing so he can enjoy some of the food too.

Clearly, he is skeptical. He starts feeding therapy next week so cross your fingers!