Just So You Know

I loved the way my grandmother cooked. I loved to eat at her house. Most of the food was grown in the back yard by my grandfather. She would cook potatoes, carrots and onions together and they were wonderful. The only spices I ever saw her use were salt and pepper. I don't remember her serving anything with sauce but she did teach me how to make gravy from the drippings of a roast.

As I look at our budget, I keep thinking we should eat out less and eat at home more. I reached this conclusion at the same time DH decided he was going on a strict weight loss program. He feels it will be best if he doesn't spend anymore time in the kitchen. So for the first time in 24 years, it will be up to me to cook and cook in a way that fits the dietary needs he will have along with feeding two teenage boys.

Which brings me back to my grandmother. She would cook with lots of vegetables and very little meat. There was protein at the meals but only a small portion for each person. If anyone wanted more, there were vegetables to fill up on. In my mother's house the filler for meals was bread. My mother makes wonderful sweet breads full of sugar and slathered with butter and homemade jams and jellies.

It's been a long time since I tried to cook. Last week I made North Carolina Red Rice because I had sausage and tomatoes and it looked easy. It wasn't. DH said my big mistake was adding more wild grain rice halfway through the cooking time. Needless to say, there were crunchy parts. He salvaged it a few days later by using the leftovers as the base for a sauce in which he baked chicken. The boys loved it. I'm envious of people who can through together a dinner with what they have in the house. It's never been a priority before but it's time I learned how.