Wednesday, June 1, 2011

What's for dinner & What Audry ate today

WOW! I just realized that today is the first of June. Which makes it something like halfway through the year. Or at least going on that. Dang. Time flies.

Anyway, I love food. I love cooking it and I love eating it. I do not love cleaning up after it. But it is a necessary side effect of cooking and eating. I love food so much and I am such a decent cook that I usually am disappointed going out to eat unless they make something there that I can't make at home. I make most of our dinners in, but I am constantly wracking my brains trying to think of what is yummy to eat.

My husband will eat almost anything that I cook. He is the kind of person who appreciates good food, but doesn't moan orgasmically or cheer about any particular dish. He is a decent cook himself, but can think of about eight hundred thousand other things that would be a better way to spend his time, so he makes doctored mac & cheese and calls it good. (But I'll have you know his doctored mac & cheese is great!) He does not like onions, and he doesn't prefer chicken. He would have seconds and lick the bowl of ice cream.

Audry (my daughter of 19&1/2 months) eats barely anything. I count it good when she has a few noodles or "bunny cookies" (think of those yellow cheese flavored fish crackers only in a bunny shape). She will reliably eat yogurt and fruit. Sometimes she will eat peanut butter, ham or sausage, cheese or noodles (but none of these items together, like ham and cheese on noodles). On rare occasions I can get her to eat curried spinach (I know, weird, right?) I think mainly because I ate a hell of a lot of that while I was pregnant with her. I am always trying to think of ways to trick her into eating a more balanced diet. She is still breastfed, so I don't panic, but still.

We live out in the "country"- not REALLY country for those of you who actually do live in the country, but to suburbanites, we live in the country. We live like 5.9 miles (don't you just love Google Maps?) from our nearest grocery store, which is a rather poorly stocked Safeway. I do most of my shopping at Sprouts Farmer's Market, which is a whopping 13.2 miles away (Yay again, Google Maps!). Needless to say, I avoid going to the store more than once a week, which means that I plan out all my meals weekly and then go shopping with my very active, climbing toddler who hates to grocery shop. I make my lists as precise as possible so I can get in and get out quickly. Often this leads to some very wacky impulse buys that I'm always getting spanked for (curious foodie + natural foods store + fussy toddler = coming home with too many jars of capers) when my grocery bill gets out of control.

And left unchecked, my grocery bill can get out of control. (Sigh)

So each week when I sit down and plan my meals, I am always wracking my brains for what food sounds good to put on the list of things to cook. Willy says I should keep a spreadsheet of what meals I cook when and then I could just repeat it next month. Then I say that I like to buy seasonal fruits & veggies, AND I would get sick of the same 30 meals (maybe I would) to which he replies that I could repeat it next year, then. (Did I mention that he is an engineer?)

But blogging about what I cook for dinner would be a good way to keep track and then I COULD look back if I really wanted to.

Also, I am always wondering about Audry- are her food habits ever going to improve? Do other parents have the same problems or any decent ideas? So I will write about her eating habits, as dull as that may be.

So if you don't care about food or what my family ate today, don't read the posts that talk about those things!