The Great Dinner Dilemma...

I really really really extremely hate cooking dinner. I honestly cannot express to you my abhorrence of this daily chore. I would quite frankly rather spend the entire day doing laundry (which I really don't hate) than cook dinner every evening. I think it's mostly that I hate trying to think of something yummy, healthy, edible, and different to cook every single night. Oh and all of those criteria must be met. And then, my family still won't eat it (Travis might because he feels obligated). In fact, only about 10% of the time will it actually be delicious. Maybe 50% of the time, palatable, and the remaining 40%, it will be a horrendous disaster.

So with no further ado, I am hereby launching
THE DINNER PROJECT.

In which I plan out our meals for the week (I usually do this anyway, on a calendar in the pantry, but then I either forget to shop for some of the ingredients or decide I'm not in the mood for that and end up not sticking to the plan anyway. And making pancakes instead. Not that that's not okay once in a while... just not every night.) and POST THE MENU for all to see on my blog. That way I feel accountable, even if no one reads or cares. I'll also try to link the recipes beside the menu items, if I have recipes available. If not and you really think it sounds interesting, let me know and I can give it to you.

Here is this week's Official Menu (to the right ----------->)
Recipes are linked by ***

Remember that one time when I "started" a recipe blog? And then I think I posted a total of two recipes? That's when I realized that was all I really had. And I think both recipes were in the BAKING category and not COOKING - which are completely opposite things, by the way. I could bake all day, but when it comes to cooking dinner, I am dragging my feet. Anyway I've resurrected the abandoned recipe collection (mostly so I can just have my most often-used recipes easily accessible online so I can just cook from the laptop rather than printing off an 18th copy of the chili recipe to take into the kitchen). I plan to add to it until eventually the majority of my recipes are there and not stuffed into a bulging binder on my cookbook shelf.

And now it's time for my disclaimer. Don't judge by the obvious health content (or lack thereof) of the meals I plan - this is a serious work in progress and I'm going to post all the dinners no matter what we really eat (yes even the pancakes) in hopes of building a repertoire and trying to improve little by little. It will probably be a lot of unhealthy and/or lazy recipes for the remainder of my pregnancy because I am starving and tired and not in a very healthy mood all the time. I know this is not a constructive attitude to have. I don't really care.

So here's where YOU ALL come in. I clearly need help with new recipe ideas, so if you could post a favorite recipe or even just WHAT your favorite dinner to cook is, it would be awesome. Thanks.