August 2, 2011

Your Go-To Meals?

Spaghetti Sauce
I don't love to cook. I don't hate it either, but other than baking (which I really, really like) I rush through it, dreading the clean-up that comes afterward and feeling anxiety about whether or not the food will be any good. I'd honestly rather pour a bowl of cereal for dinner than deal with the after-dinner stove splatter and other assorted messes that come along with preparing an actual meal.


I've been working toward cooking more though. I just feel like it's something I should be doing for my husband and our daughter. Especially because Tessa is the baby equivalent of Angela Chase. (Remember that part in My So-Called Life where Angela says, "I cannot bring myself to eat a well-balanced meal in front of my mother. It just means too much to her." That's how Tessa is.) Nekos makes most of our meals because he gets a lot of pleasure from cooking and never uses a recipe to make anything. He doesn't care if I cook or not, but he's grateful for anything I do cook -- so long as it includes meat. So I've tried to put together some "go-to" simple, healthy meals that we all enjoy and that I can make again and again. 


One of them has become this chicken cornbread casserole and another is spaghetti sauce with lots of cut up vegetables (that's what's in the picture above, from last night). I've also made Jessica Seinfeld's recipe for spaghetti pie a half-dozen times, and Nekos and Tessa think it's the bees-knees. (Please don't tell Tessa it has broccoli and carrots in it.) We also do tacos once a week, but I'm looking for some more easy, one-dish type meals to add into the repertoire.


Creamy chicken and cornbread casserole
Spaghetti pie
Got any ideas?