Dinner Vacation

I've been in a cooking rut lately.  I just don't want to cook.  At all.  I think this stems from the fact that: a) life has been really busy lately and by the time it's time to start dinner I just don't have any energy left, and b) my food is met with little appreciation.  It's mostly b.

My kids are jerks when it comes to dinner.  No matter - NO MATTER - what I am serving they will find something to complain about it.  I've ignored it for years, but lately it's really been getting to me.  It's a bit disheartening.  (I must be said that Lance never complains. Thank you, Lance. And how wise of you.)  And it's not like I'm making completely bizarre foods that no one likes; we've been having staples like chicken and noodles, pasta, quesadillas, etc.  And I always make sure to have at least one side that I know they've eaten and enjoyed in the past.  But they've been putting their noses up at the sides as well, and I just throw my hands to the heavens in frustration.  

Then I hold those hands back so I won't strangle the darling angels when they complain about being hungry.

I would love nothing more than to leave these children to their own devices when it comes to dinner.  But family dinner is important and I'm pretty sure they'd all starve or get scurvy.  Or eat all the cold cereal in the house.

Last week I finally cleaned out the freezer in our fridge upstairs.  It was long overdue.  Admission of guilt: I actually found some of the homemade baby food I had made for Tess.  Yikes.  (In my defense, it was fruit and I think I had saved it at one point for smoothies but then forgot about it.)  I got rid of a ton of stuff, but I also found a lot of perfectly good frozen leftovers.  Because when 2/3s of your family doesn't eat dinner you tend to have leftovers.

So this past week we've eaten a leftover freezer meal each night.  It's been awesome, mainly because it's so nice not just pull something out of the freezer, defrost it, and dinner's done!  The kids have been punks about it, of course, but it's not quite as offensive when I've only put 10 minutes of work into the meal.  And the meals have been pretty good, so that's a bonus, too.  (The curry on the stove right now smells heavenly!)

I know some people spend a full day just cooking meals and then freezing it all.  I've never really wanted to do that because generally I like trying new recipes and cooking fresh.  But now I'm beginning to see the draw... maybe I could freeze a bunch of meals and then just use them once or twice a week?

Well, tomorrow we go back to first-run meals.  I feel a little more invigorated and have really enjoyed my little vacation from dinners.  Too bad other household chores can't be "frozen" or done in advance so you could take a vacation from them.  I would totally get on board with that.