What’s the most often asked question around my house… especially by the girl? That’s right… what’s for dinner?! Just three little words that can send shivers down my spine and drive me nuts all at the same time!
We have a long list of things we eat regularly. Just about everybody does. I’ve heard different people say most people buy the same hundred or so ingredients at the grocery store over and over again. Aaaaand that would probably be because they eat combinations of the same foods over and over.
And the key word for us is combinations.
I have lots of cookbooks. Granted most of the cookbooks I have, feature quick and easy meals, but face it, that’s what most of us eat every day, isn’t it?
I love magazines…..
but food magazines are my favorites…..
But here’s the deal… the actual low down on eating at my house. Yes there are tons of fancy recipes in all the magazines I get the in mail (but…). So yesterday I was reading my new Southern Living magazine, which is a feast for the eyes, if not the tummy. And I turned the page and look what I saw….
One of our very own… The Pioneer Woman and an article about her cookbook. I’m sure every one of her recipes is is delicious. But….
we can’t eat like that. We each have our issues. From cholesterol problems (hubs), to needing to lose weight (ME!), to problems eating certain foods (Boo Boo AND me!).
So strolling through the recipes provided in the magazine just brought that gnawing question back to my mind… what’s for dinner? Granted, these recipes are lovely. But there is a lot of beef (which I can’t cook much of, because of Miss Boo) and a lot of dairy * (which Boo and I can’t tolerate) and fat… which hello… NONE of us need to eat a steady diet of that. And I don’t mean to pick on PW here, it’s everywhere. Decadence… butter, oil, cheese.
So what is one to do?
How about convenience foods? I told hubs the other day that it would be a lovely thing if just every once in a while, I could just pop open a box of something from the freezer, nuke it, or bake it and call it dinner. But we can’t. Just about everything in the frozen section is forbidden to us for one reason or another. (sigh)
So, I have my grocery list with the things we’ll eat this weekend… simple things. I am always on the lookout for recipes, new combinations of the things we can eat, so we can have creative, delicious meals. Sometimes I succeed.
And sometimes I don’t.
* Regarding the dairy. I know there are alternatives. Boo uses rice milk in her cereal (and takes calcium chewables also). But it doesn’t work in recipes very well… like exchanging rice milk for regular milk in something like corn bread, for instance. It ends up doughy and as Alton Brown would say, that’s not good eats! There is also soy milk, which she and I drank for a few years before it started to ahem.. not work out for us. Even some of the ‘fake’ cheeses still have a milk base. Believe me, my eyes are wide open to substitutions. And I am constantly strolling the health food store for other options. It just seems like they usually don’t work out for us.
And now I’m off to buy a few things for the weekend, including the ground turkey for the chili we’ll enjoy tonight and tomorrow.
7 comments:
We seem to eat the same meals over and over too...seems that I find what EVERYONE will eat, and that is what we continuously do.
You seem to have more limits, and that is a shame! Don't you have a cookbook for folks with your limits? Non milk. Low cholesterol?
I have tons of cookbooks too, but hardly look at them. I should though.
And I love turkey chili too!!!
I completely understand your feeling here. I hated that question when my kids were at home. I just wanted to say " I don't know - what are YOU cooking?"
I love cookbooks - but don't like to cook much! Go figure that one out...
I understand what you are saying. I love to look at recipes, too, but my cooking is usually very simple. I'll check out the PW issue of SL (for the pictures) - thanks for the reminder!
Suz, yes there are cookbooks that can help, and I have a few of them. But take for example, I saw a book the other day for lactose intolerance and it called for Lactaid milk. Gee,thanks, like I couldn't figure THAT one out on my own. But it goes beyond just the lactose, it's all of the milk. So it gets trickier. But I am ways on the lookout for new things and new ways to put 'our' ingredients together to make something yummy. And like I said.. sometimes it works out, and sometime it doesn't! LOL
Kay,
We too are stuck eating the same combination of foods. I LOVE to try new things though, but never know WHAT. Everyone else always seem to have more interesting meals.
I am sooo glad that I do not have dairy issues because I could not imagine having to modify my diet that way. YIKES.
But if you think about it....We are the only species on the planet that consumes another species milk.(babies food) When I think about that...it kind of grosses me out.
~Dawn
I love Pioneer Woman. I think her family can handle more high-calorie, high-fat, etc. foods because they are so physically active. As for the rest of us . . . well, chili sounds good!
1. Can you eat chicken, 2. Do you have in injector? I make chicken a million different ways just by injecting it with all kinds of different stuff. Plain chicken breast and inject it with some chicken stock and lemon juice, rub a bit of rosemary or even just salt and pepper and bake, mmmm. Sometimes, you just need some outside ideas to spice things up. I'm diabetic, my son has "issues" as well and we have finicky eating toddlers. Good luck.
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