The Next Food Network Star....Probably Not!

For the past several years, I've experienced a "drought" in my cooking abilities. The first few years of marriage, and even while my kids were babies, I loved cooking and was always trying new things, even being creative. But somewhere along the way, that all disappeared. Maybe we're just busier with extra-curricular activities, or maybe I just got bored with cooking. Lately though, I've been convicted about trying to get back in the swing of cooking every night, and yes, being creative, in an attempt to help my family eat better, to expand my kids taste buds (who am I kidding) and to save money since eating out had become too easy and way too expensive.

We've always had a joke about my cooking....the first time I ever tried to make something for John while we were dating, I completely burned the grilled cheese sandwich (very creative huh?) John immediately cooked up another one worthy of the cover of a cooking magazine. (We are very competitive between the two of us, so I still try to make my grilled cheese sandwiches as beautiful as his. I'm almost there, right babe??)

So, I started out this week with a full 10 days of menu plans, had done my shopping and was ready to go. Now, I know that it's always a good idea to plan ahead when you are trying something new, and I really thought I had, but maybe not enough!

Sunday, the plan called for homemade pizzas and homemade cinnamon sticks....something I thought would be a fun family project and though would involve a mess, should not be too bad. I'll spare you all the details, but we ended up with a whole wheat dough that after cooking, resembled very thick cardboard, and pretty much tasted like it. At one point during the kneading process, John sweetly commented that he thought it needed more water. I gave him the stern "don't tell me what to do in my kitchen, I know what I'm doing" look. A few minutes later, my sweet, bubbly little Taylor came over and in an innocent little voice, said, "I think it needs more water mom." What could I say then?

Thankfully, I had purchased store bought dough as a backup plan. My husband was so sweet to actually attempt to eat the cardboard pizza, but I could barely choke down a bit or two. We did end up with one that was good enough to eat and my kids at least did not starve. Incidentally,the cinnamon sticks were really good and we saved the leftover cardboard to feed the fish the next time at the lake.

Last night, the plan was ham and cheese quiche, something I love, but of course knew the kids would cry over. Let's just say the dinner preparation ended up taking about 2 hours and involved a large amount of liquid flowing out of my food processor which John and Bailey help to mop up. It was not pretty. In the end, the quiche was edible and my husband was wonderful through the whole process, even making the kids stay out of the kitchen...of course, that could have been for fear of their lives, but we did have supper!!

So tonight, I will try again....this time with a little more forethought and planning, and will hope for the best. Of course, if it does not work out according to plan, John can always make his "Next Food Network Star" grilled cheese sandwiches. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll ever be a contender! :}