Having fun with dinner

Whenever people ask me if I love to cook, I just smile and say, "No, not really." Michael always chuckles and says, "She's just burnt out."

He knows me so well.

It's true. I love to cook...FOR MY FAMILY...but because of my awful culinary school experience and my not as fun experience as a "personal chef" I often don't make dinner at home because I just don't want to. We were spending a lot of money on eating out. Eating crap that makes you fat. I had to get a handle on things.

At the end of every month I pull out my little calendar and write in what I plan on having for dinner every night for the coming month. This way I can do the proper grocery shopping and I feel compelled to actually make dinner. That worked every once in a while. We still mostly ate out. (I typed made out at first. Hehehe)

Right before I left to my trip to Idaho at the end of May I was buying some magazines to read on my flight and bought a cooking light magazine. In it were tons of recipes that I wanted to try. I had an idea. I would try a new recipe every night right out of that magazine. This way it's fun, it's new, and enjoyable. It works. I have been cooking a lot more at home now. I just buy a new magazine every month. I think I'm just going to subscribe so I don't spend as much.

Since it's a new month there is a new magazine and a whole bunch of new recipes. Tonight was Lemon Vegetable Risotto. I've never been good at making risotto but I was feeling adventuress in my cute little apron and hoped for success. I chopped all the veggies, grated the cheese, and measured exactly. FYI: measuring exactly is a really big thing for me...I don't really like to do it. For those that don't know, risotto is a long process. You add stock a little bit at a time, to the rice that is, until you end up with a really creamy rice. YUM. So I stood in my kitchen next to the hot stove on the hot day with my migraine making risotto. For an hour. It made my whole house smell so good. I had to stop myself from eating the zucchini, squash, peas, asparagus and Romano cheese. I just kept telling myself how good it would be when it was all mixed together.

Finally, I was finished. It looked so good. I grabbed my plate and filled it up FULL with some of the most delicious food I'd ever seen.

It sucked. The grossest thing I have ever put in my mouth. It had too much salt, too much lemon, and the rice was not even close to being finished. There was nothing I could do. It's just bad food sitting on my stove waiting for it's trip to the garbage can.

It's ok, though. There's always tomorrow. What's tomorrow? Grilled Plum Salad with Grilled Chicken. Maybe I'll let you know how it goes.