Cooking

I am always looking for new, semi-healthy recipes to cook. I use Skinnytaste a lot and have liked almost every recipe that I have tried from that website. If you have not heard of that website, check it out. She has a cookbook coming out later this year and I am planning to buy it soon. As I was browsing some of the blogs I read on Bloglovin', I came across a recipe for Pork Chops & Gorgonzola Gravy. I saved it for later, but knew I would want to make it for dinner soon. I showed it to Joey and he said it sounded great. I put it on the menu for this week. I made the chops with a side of baked red potatoes and fresh green beans. I tried this seasoning packet from HEB for red potatoes. It was a mix of olive oil, balsamic, and some other stuff. I can't remember or find the brand! But it was good. I could easily just season the potatoes myself, but I wanted to try out the pre-made seasoning packet. The fried onions on top were awesome. I think I put a little too much cheese in the "gravy". Joey had two chops plus he covered a piece of bread in the sauce so I think he liked it. :) Unfortunately, the potatoes needed about another 5-8 minutes of cook time, but the chops and gravy were ready and we didn't want to wait. Brynlee even ate her pork chops and some of the cheese gravy. We're still working on getting her to eat more veggies, but she loves fruit!

Sometimes I get in a cooking rut. I want to be creative while eating healthy, but sometimes I am just too tired after work. When I am too tired, we usually end up eating fast food or crap around the house. What a waste of money. I am sometimes jealous of the women who say their husbands do the cooking! I enjoy cooking so I definitely wouldn't want to NEVER cook, but it would be nice for my hubby to cook some nights. He is good about helping me, if I need it. Last night, he offered to handle the potatoes and green beans while I made the pork chops and gravy. Then he cleaned up the kitchen. So I am not complaining. It would just be nice to not have 100% of the cooking responsibilities. :) We also need to be better about eating leftovers instead of eating a different meal every day. I typically make enough food for me to bring leftovers the next day (Joey typically doesn't have access to heating his food), but then I don't want to eat it AGAIN that night.

I love using my crock pot. Absolutely love it. I love coming home to a house that smells like dinner. I like that it cuts down on the preparation time after work. I feel like I can relax a little. I just hate that I haven't found very many recipes that can cook for at least 9 hours, usually longer, while I am at work. So I am on a mission to find recipes that can withstand being in a crock pot for so long.

I have friends who have said they don't cook and that their husbands/boyfriends aren't very good at cooking either. So you eat out every day?? I don't understand how people just...don't...cook. You mean, you don't cook anything? Like not even spaghetti? Spaghetti is one of the easiest meals in the world to make. We ate a lot of spaghetti when I was a kid and I still love it. We don't eat it as often because we really don't eat a ton of red meat for dinner and I just don't think turkey is that good in spaghetti. I also don't understand when people say they eat zero vegetables or they don't like any vegetables at all. There's SO MANY vegetables, how can you like none of them? There's also SO MANY different ways to cook and eat vegetables. Hell, we add shredded or grated Parmesan cheese to most of the veggies we make. Who doesn't like cheese? :) My best friend is the only person I have ever known who doesn't like salad. When I met her many years ago and found that out, I was extremely surprised. I have never heard of a person not liking salad. She has branched out now and does eat salads though. I mean some people probably don't understand how I don't like mushrooms so I guess it's the same thing...except mushrooms are a disgusting fungus so it's totally not the same thing.

Who does the cooking in your house? Do you have home cooked meals every day? What about leftovers?