Betty Draperville

I hate cooking. This we have already covered. Baking yes, cooking no. But I am a mother of 3 now and not cooking is not an option. And I think I make good meals for my kids. Simple, but good. Problem is that Andrew is neither home by their dinner nor interested in eating what I feed them. So he either has to "fend for himself" or we make a second dinner. I loathe nothing more than finishing up one meal to start another, and yet I feel bad not feeding him. So, I have been trying to find things to cook that everyone can eat. The requirements are: easy to make, can be made at least in part ahead (ie. during lila's nap) if possible, relatively healthy, good source of protein (ie. the "main" part of a meal) and not very expensive.

The result? I have launched our dinners back to 1960. This week I made a quiche and turkey meatloaf. Both had a little too much onion (none of us like onions), but they were not horrible. C and D didn't love them but I think I could have tweaked the recipes and worn them down with repetition enough to get them to eat them. And most importantly, they met all the above requirements. The problem? My husband. He basically wouldn't eat them. Last night I made it for him because I had a girls dinner. I got up this am and found the meatloaf sitting out on the counter. Not only had he not eaten it (he'd ordered Dominos) but he had left it out so I couldn't feed it to anyone today.

I have to admit, I was irate. I know I suck at cooking, but I tried. I realize he must not realize how much I despise this part of my "job" because if he did he might have at least pretended to eat it. I of course should see it from his point of view. As much as it is nice to have someone make you food, it must suck not having a say in what you eat each night. And it sucks when you have different food tastes than the food preparer. And it really sucks when your wife can't cook for sh*t.

(He has already apologized, fyi, and I have more than ranted about it, so I'm not being passive aggressive in writing about this. At least not totally). I realize I should get over this now. So I will. Sort of : )