The Pioneer Woman Comes to My Rescue!

Not ONLY does The Pioneer Woman have her regular blog, but also a cooking blog. A beautiful, wonderful cooking blog, where she dazzles you with umpteen photos of every glorious step in every single scruptious-looking recipe.

I may have told you before that I do not like to cook. I have been thinking that it would sure be nice if i could figure out a way to reprogram that part of myself, and somehow become a person that does like to cook. I noticed, the other day, that now that I have my glorious Tomato Bisque Soup recipe, I enjoy making it even though it is not quick and takes several steps and dirties up several large bowls. So, if it's worth it to me to make THAT, maybe all I need to do is find enough truly inspirational recipes, that maybe I'll be sailing with glee through my kitchen every day, loving to cook each and every meal.

What do you think? is it possible?

I have just found some serious inspiration at the Pioneer Woman Cooks. On my list of things I hope to make sometime soon:
Olive Cheese Bread (I may just run right out to the store and buy the ingredients right. this. minute)
Quesadillas
Chicken Spaghetti
Twice Baked potatoes (which I have made several times, but she makes it look like it would be worth doing again. AND, I hadn't really considered the possibility of freezing these, which really makes it sound great for having on hand....

For me, cooking is a means to an end. A necessary evil in daily life. I don't look forward to cooking anything. If I could hire a cook I would. The funny thing is...mealtime just keeps coming around and I'm still here with 8 people to feed. (I may not like to cook, but I do enjoy eating, as does the rest of the family.) I have this crazy idea: Maybe I could learn to like to cook. Maybe there is some other approach or perspective that I could grab ahold of that could transform cooking from a chore to an enjoyable pursuit of some sort.

So tonite I started looking on the internet, and decided to check out what Rachael Ray might have for me. She has a nice web site full of fun, good stuff. One jackpot I've just hit on is this page where you can specify what type of meal you want to make, what main ingredient you want to use, and the method of cooking (including your choice of 15, 30, or 60 minute meals). This looks like a great resource for somebody like me that often gets to 4 or 5 pm and is thinking, "Well.....I have chicken.....what could I make???"

This pursuit may die off before the first "inspired" meal makes it to the table. But, something needs to change here, sooner or later. It'll be years and years before I'm to the point where there's nobody to feed, so I can just eat a Larabar for dinner. And, there aren't any $3.99 Senior citizen Early Bird Specials anywhere around here, either.

I will tell you that I have a wonderful recipe for a Tomato Bisque soup that I have on my health and wellness blog. It's pretty easy to make, but my favorite thing about it is that I make it once and have it available to eat all week long. That's one kind of cooking I can get into. :)