Weekend cooking

We are fortunate that both D. and M. like to cook. However, after five days of trying to come up with something that everyone will eat, M. is often burned-out, unable to bring herself to go back into the kitchen.

That is when D. steps in. He sees weekend cooking as his chance to try something new, and to eat what he wants, without having to worry whether either or both TA and PE will eat it.

As a result, on weekends, we eat more meat--barbecue, grilled hamburgers, pot roast. And more ethnic food, beyond the usual standbys of pizza, spaghetti and tacos/tortillas filled with various things. We might have borscht, blini, or Mexican food that requires more than shredded cheese and a can of beans. His bread usually comes from the oven, not the bread machine. On Sunday mornings he often makes pancakes or waffles from scratch. He broadens our eating horizons and keeps us from being bored with food.

The only problem in all of this is our unspoken rule that, usually, whoever cooks doesn't have to clean.  D.'s dinners tend to make more mess and, unlike M., he usually doesn't clean up as he goes. Also, since he doesn't figure in the tastes of TA and PE, we often have to scrounge around at the last minute adapting what has been made or finding something else that they'll eat.

But the payoff is on Monday nights, when there are enough leftovers to feed everyone and few dishes to clean, as a result. (This is why our Monday listings usually list leftovers).

It is a lovely system, for the most part, and one that we would invite other families/couples to try.

The four-five reasons we go out to eat

Because are always trying to pay off loans or otherwise save money, we've stopped going out to eat on a regular basis. Around here (metro D.C.), dinner for a family of four at the cheapest restaurant (except fast food) runs at least $40, excluding tip. 

We don't go out to eat except for the following exceptions (which have continued to change over the years):

1. When we're out of town and can't make food for ourselves anyway (this is a justification for saving up all year by not going out around here so we can taste the local cuisine wherever we go).

2. It's someone's birthday--the birthday person gets to choose where we eat (though M. often opts to have D. make dinner for her).

3. D. is out of town, so to fight our sense of isolation without him, we go out to eat once, at a restaurant chosen by PE and TA, which means it's usually McDonalds, Quizznos, or Taco Bell.

4. If we're swamped with projects or work and have no time to cook--though, usually, this most often turns out to be take-out or frozen pizza.

(5. This isn't a family event, but D. will go out for lunch while at work or after work, to socialize with co-workers; and M. will sometimes go out to lunch with friends--both valid reasons, for us, to spend the money on a restaurant. We're only frugal up to the point of not being hermits/socially isolated).

D. and M. going out for dinner and a movie is a rare occasion these days, given that a dinner date with a movie can run around $100 here, if a babysitter is also part of the cost. We sometimes go for a movie with no dinner or go out for dessert and coffee, with TA providing babysitting services.

Intro: Who we are and what we eat

We are four people who get along fairly well except that we all like to eat different things. This makes it challenging at dinnertime, especially if it's getting close to 6 p.m. on a weekday and I haven't already started making dinner.

I also have a tendency to forget what I've made from week to week, so I'm hoping that, if nothing else, this blog will serve as an electronic menu reminder for our family. I hope it benefits you and your family along the way.

Who We Are
The four of us are: Mom (M., principal blogger); Dad (D.); Teenager (TA); and Picky Eater (PE).

What We Like

• D. likes super spicy food and can/will eat almost anything. 
• M. has a few food allergies/sensitivities we have to work around including an inability to digest all cheeses except swiss, goat and sheep's cheese.
  
• TA likes sushi, hates cooked fish, has cravings for olives and stuffed grape leaves but won't eat things like white rice or eggs.
  
• PE's favorite foods are chicken nuggets, pizza and scrambled eggs; for vegetables, she will only eat corn and raw carrots, celery, and peas in the pod, but she loves almost all fruits. (We've tried to get her to eat what's being made for everyone else, but then she just doesn't eat. She once held out for two nights in a row. Since she's very skinny, we've decided to set aside and adapt part of what we're cooking each night in order to make something she'll actually eat.)
  

Our Diet

We are all omnivores, but we usually eat small portions of meat and also often eat vegetarian meals. M. and D. tend to like ethnic foods of all varieties, and would cook more of them in TA and PE would eat them.

In addition, we try to buy organic milk; cage-free eggs (organic if they're on sale); cheese without BGH (organic usually too expensive); meat raised without hormones or antibiotics; and organic fruits and vegies, when possible. 

We never buy soda (except maybe for parties, when other people expect it), and rarely buy junk food, although we've been known to buy Dorito's. We feel no guilt whatsoever about eating small portions of ice cream whenever the mood strikes us.