In a community like Tasty Tuesday, I feel as if I know many of you by your comments. But I also know that many of you don’t pop in nearly as often as you’d like.
As I think over my mission for the food emphasis which I continue to write about here at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam vs. my new Ten Minute Dinners site, I’d love to know a bit more about your cooking style.
I think it would be a really interesting thread to read because we all approach meal time in such different ways, based on the season of life that we are in.
So, please take just a second and give me a sentence of two of where you are at presently with your meal time mania, and maybe where your ultimate goal looks like in the kitchen.
Are you intimately acquainted with your favorite drive through, and just don’t know how to break that relationship on busy nights? Maybe it’s the frozen food section or gourmet deli that draws you at the grocery store. Do you have dreams of making nicer meals but just don’t have the knowledge of where to start or maybe you are very comfortable with easy, feel good meals that don’t take much time to whip up.
We have so many wonderful personalities represented by the people that read here and link up. I’d love for this to be a community that helps each other out in this important area.
So If you are linking up today, please take a minute to share what kind of cook you are. This will help me better understand the needs of my community here (and for Ten Minute Dinners.)
So please, drop a quick note in the comment line and let’s encourage each other on the journey.
What kind of cook am I? I’m a mom who dreams of having Norman Rockwell perfect meals each night that my family loves. I dream of mostly healthy, from scratch beautiful old-fashioned dinners. In reality I do try to cook good meals as often as I can manage, but there are definitely nights that consist of fish sticks, tostadas, or even cereal for dinner. I love to try new recipes, but due to the chance that new recipes can always fail – my family limits me to one or two new recipes per week. 🙂
I am a crock pot queen! I am a homeschool mother of 6 and a blogger, so I need quick, simple, and frugal meals.
Thanks for the FUN link up.
Oooh, great question!
For day-to-day meals, I generally find that I don’t have much energy for cooking on weeknights, so I’ll make something on the weekend and eat leftovers all week. You’ll find a few of those one-dish re-heat-ables on my blog, but most of the recipes I post are more upscale dishes I’ve prepared for guests. In that sense, my cooking style is elevated comfort foods, or familiar dishes with some kind of twist.
I cook most things from scratch except chips and crackers. I rarely use recipes or measuring cups for things except for baked goods. Looking forward to reading others’ responses!
I am generally a quick & easy cook; I won’t even try a recipe that has too many ingredients or anything that requires a trip to the store. I cook almost everything from scratch, and we eat together 7 nights a week. I do freezer cooking, slow cooker, and anything else to facilitate that goal. I cook healthy but not organic. I’m SUPER excited about your new site, because it’s right up my alley!
Wow…can’t really sum it up that easily. I’m a quick and easy cook (skillet dinners and crock pot), but sometimes I’m a foodie (balsamic reductions and wine sauces). I also cook from scratch most of the time and love eating pretty healthy stuff….healthy stuff that tastes GREAT! I’ll try anything and love getting new ideas from the blog world! Thanks for hosting!
Thank you for asking, Jenn! I am a good home cook, who enjoys making meals for my family and friends. I also love to bake. I write and develop my own recipes too. In terms of where we are in the meal time mania, well, I probably cook dinner at home five times each week on average. We do eat out at least twice a week both because we enjoy it and because I write about and review restaurants. We also travel a lot (about 3 months out of each year) and we eat out a lot then too. For weeknights, I enjoy making quick, easy, delicious and healthy recipes, but when I have a bit more time or am cooking for guests I like to make more elaborate meals.
This week I’ve shared an Oatmeal Raisin bread you can make in the bread machine. Thank you for hosting!
Hi there. I hate COOKING for dinner, but I love baking for dessert. I want very east dinners and meals with minimal “cooking”.
Thanks for the party.
I love piddling around in the kitchen. However, we’re starting school next week and start all of our out of home activities. So this week I’m preparing with pancake mixes in ziplock bags for the freezer, a variety of muffins, big batches of beans and anything else I can precook and have ready to go. During the school year we have a very basic menu for weekday dinners we have sausage/venison one night, pasta one night, meatless one night (usually a stir fry), soup one night and pizza on Friday nights. For lunches we have bean burritos, lentils and rice or sandwiches – sometimes leftovers.
what a nice prompt! i just started blogging exclusively as a food blogger {i have a personal blog too} and i’m really enjoying exploring in the kitchen, trying new things and making things *my* way!
I don’t like to cook much so simple and quick is better:) I do love to make up a menu, shop sales, and sometimes try new recipes. I have to have a recipe. I love having a plan. We do a breakfast meal nite once a week that my husband cooks. Since it’s only 3 of us, we usually get to eat leftovers a few times a week. Thanks for the inspiration! I enjoy your ideas!
I tend to be more of a country style cook than anything, Quick & easy included. I work a full time job outside the home and I raised 5 kids while doing it, so I learned lots of short cuts and hwo to make tastey home meals inexpensively.
I use crockpots, pressure cooker, dutch ovens above & below, grills, turkey friers, you name it, I use it. 🙂 I love my kitchen tools. They make life so much easier.
I almost exclusivey use fresh veggies, usually organic & grass fed beef, and occasionally pastured oprganic chickens too.
I also buy pork & chicken from the grocery store and every once in a while we want a big juicy steak & Costco Ribeyes, here i come. 😉
Im not a fancy cook, though my mom has been a gourmet cook my whole life, I just dont have her touch or bug. She did teach me basics & I rarely use a recipe, though I love cookbooks & recipes for inspiration. 🙂
yep, that’s how I cook too, BUT I must head into the world of pressure cookers with my new site. Any suggestions on one of the new ones to buy? There are SO many to choose from.
@Jen, I dont really have any recommendations as to pressure cookers. The one I use is ancient but it still works great so thats what I use. I would imagine that they all are effective as well as safe.
I would go to Amazon & read lots of reviews. If I were buying a new one, I’d buy stainless steel since I dont use aluminum pans except for the pressure cooker I have.
I like to cook when I don’t ‘have’ to! <) When is that?! I used to take something out of the freezer in the morning then not think of what to cook til time to cook and that always rattles me! Thinking of what to cook. After reading your blog and others I decided on 'freezer' meals. I went to BJs and stocked up on meat and basic staples and fresh produce. I came home decided on some recipes, adlibed on others.. I got busy…I prepped and organized veggies, divided the meat, gathered spices, condiments, etc. I grabbed my freezer bags, labeled them and started assembling ingredients for freezer meals. I didn't cook anything ahead …just organized and labeled. I ended up with 18 meals in the freezer in less than 2 hours. Its such a pleasure to grab my list of meals, pick one take it out of the freezer and know exactly what we're having and what I need to do!
Sorry I got carried away!! 🙂
I left link #28 for Herb Cream Cheese Roll Ups. They look fancy but are a cinch to make.
As far as the type of cook I am, these are my priorities, in order:
1. nutrition
2. cost
3. taste
4. creativity
Thanks for hosting. I am linking up for the first time. I cook for my family. I live in a rural area of Jamaica so there is no restaurant or fast food outlet to rush to. I like to try new recipes and still have a lot to learn!:) The recipe I have linked up is Easy Seasoned Rice. Have a good Tuesday.
I love to try new recipes, but long hours at work and then post-work activities means I usually stick with our favorites during the week and new recipes on the weekend. I love incorporating fresh veggies from my “container garden” or the local farmers market, and I try to eat mostly organic animal products. I’m lucky to have a hubby that is very non-picky, so I’m not stuck with the “meat and potatoes” kind of menu. I do a lot of meat-free meals, fish, breakfast for dinner, etc. And I’m really good about baking big batches of muffins or pancakes on the weekends for us to eat during the week.
I love your blog. I am a mother of a two year old and a three and a half year old (and thinking about a third.) I love to cook, and cook many things from scratch, but I feel like at this season of my life I don’t have time. I would love to do more freezer cooking, so I could devote more time to my little ones.
My ultimate goal would be creating unique, tasty, and healthy meals cooked to perfection each night. I’m currently quite far from this goal, however. I’m usually scrambling to cook one of our favorites (i.e. we eat it all the time) while my toddler is climbing up my legs and the kitchen is a disaster. Oh well, what can you do -l ife is a work in progress 🙂
I’m the type of cook who makes the same things over and over and I often throw meal ideas together at the last minute! I haven’t been well-prepared in the freezer cooking/menu planning area since the birth of my 3rd child over a year ago–I’d like to get better at that!
I like to try new things. I tend do use my crock pot or do a 30 minute meal Monday thru Friday, spending more time on the weekends. I bake probably twice a week making muffins or a special dessert for the weekend.
I am so, so, so trying to get a handle on dinner time at my house! My very humble mission is to plan my dinners and get my kids in the kitchen to begin learning how to cook. The plan will involve take-out pizza as needed to maintain sanity.
I love to cook and bake and make almost everything from scratch, but I am quickly realizing that I need to change the way I prepare meals. I am a homeschooling mom of three kids who are getting older and need much more instruction and study time. We just began a co-op class once a week that takes us out of the house for that whole day. We all ride and compete with our horses, which requires hours of riding each week. All of this activity, plus managing the the house and farm, leaves little time for involved meals. However, I am committed to making our meals as healthy as possible. I know that I need to start planning ahead more as well as cooking ahead more, but this is a totally foreign concept for me! I have looked to this site often lately to get some ideas. Just recently I saw the post about cooking eggs in a muffin tin and baking bacon in the oven. I did that last week and the kids had healthy (we used whole-grain English muffins), protein-filled, tasty breakfasts. I need to do this more often!
There are just two of use in my household and so I cook a few different things a week and we eat the leftovers the rest of the time. I like to try new recipes even though I seem to be unable to make a recipe without changing something can’t remember the last time I followed a recipe exactly.
Whenever we have friends over for dinner I ALWAYS experiment on them with a recipe I have never done before. Makes life interesting.
Plain and Simple. That’s my style, I suppose. I do enjoy trying new dishes, learning new skills in the kitchen, but I usually get back to the tried-and-true. I do my best to stay within my food budget each month, which can be a challenge with a large-ish family. I enjoy finding creative solutions to accomplish this, proving it is possible!
I’ve only recently really started to cook “for real.” I could always throw on some spaghetti with jarred sauce, but I’ve been trying to do as much as possible from scratch, and to include more veg whenever and wherever possible. It’s only my husband and I (no kids yet), but he eats enough to feed a small army, so trying to find stuff that will fill his meat-and-potato loving stomach but that is still relatively healthy is a real challenge. I do at least one crock pot meal a week too.
I also LOVE to bake, but do all of that mostly from scratch with a lot of my family’s German recipes. You’re all invited for almond cake later 🙂
I didn’t link up (no blog), but as a homeschooling mom of soon to be 6 kids 8 & under, my current dinner goal is to not keep the local Burger King in business. I hate admitting that, but its the truth. In a perfect world I would make a from scratch meal everyday but I have a long way to get there. If dinner is going to get on the table, and be made by me, it needs to be easy, have minimal ingredients, quick, and of course be picky-eater approved (2 who love mexican, others who can’t stand it; 3 who would eat italian everyday if allowed, another who won’t touch tomato sauce; 4 who eat cheese like its going out of style, 3 who are dairy allergic/don’t like cheese. Sigh. Behind before I even try!). I try to double and triple things when I am able and freeze them for future use, but I have a small freezer and never seem to have enough time to do this on a regular basis.
I work full time and have 3 growing boys. Sunday evening I pull out ingredients for meals for the week. I do some of the things you do such as bulk cook hamburger and chicken and freeze for a quick meal. If I know it will be a crazy day I will plan to order pizza that day. 🙂
I try to make/serve a balanced dinner consisting of lean protein, 2 veggies (or salad & 1 veggie) and a somewhat healthy carb, but all preparations are very simple (and usually quick), but boring. I need some help/inspiration to liven up the dinner plate but wihout a ton of ingedients or added prep time.
I love to cook from scratch and try new recipes (especially international foods). However, I’m homeschooling 5 kids and training a toddler, so I love quick meals. I’m trying to avoid processed foods, but I’m not above using a gravy mix or canned soup once in a while.
I am new to your blog but am always looking for ways to create nutritious and delicious meals for 2 teenagers and an ever-growing 8 year old boy. I’m usually so tired from work that frozen pizza or hot dogs were common place. NOW I am making an effort to plan ahead, make ahead and use my freezer and crockpot more. Any tips or advice are always welcomed!
I like quick and easy cook meals, but sometimes (weekends) I like to explore too. (Although even then, I like the quick and easy!) Meals also have to be tasty and use real ingredients. 🙂
I don’t eat a lot of sugar and bad carbs anymore. We eat a lot of vegetables, frozen and fresh. I always have a nice stockpile of wraps in the freezer and Mexican nights are usually about every 10 days. I found a bread machine at a thrift store for $26! I think that was a good deal. It didn’t come with the recipe booklet though, so bread recipes would be helpful.
This is my first day here and was excited to see a post about cooking! I am Julie and I love to cook for my family and friends! David and I have been married 27 years and my love of cooking just continues to grow. I enjoy reading cookbooks and trying new recipes. January 1st I woke up and had the idea of baking a cake each week of 2012 so that our three children would have my recipes and several new ones. I am baking my 35th cake of the year tomorrow. No, we have not eaten 34 cakes. I make them for different gatherings; although we do keep the ones I bake for special events (birthdays, anniversaries, dinner parties.
Happy Day!
Thanks so much for hosting! I was glad to share my Hashbrown Casserole recipe. 🙂
Because of my disabilities my husband does most of the cooking for us. He is a wonderful cook but because of his work schedules we look for meals that are simple and quick. He often BBQ’s chicken breasts or lean hamburger patties. He also steams several chicken breasts at one time which he later cuts up and puts into a salad or a basil pasta dish that is absolutely wonderful. Friday night is usually our pizza night. He will buy a take home pizza with the basics and we add our favorite toppings to our half! : ) My husband tries to cook as healthy as possible for the two of us so he can maintain his health and I can have as much of a chance as possible for better health! He is a real blessing!
I really enjoy cooking for my family and try to make dinner at breakfast or lunch time to save time at dinner time but some days that doesn’t work out as well. So ideally I’d like a few more quick meals that I can prepare earlier in the day. I’d like to do more freezer cooking also!
I like to cook, but I find that I often don’t have as much time as I want/need to make it all happen. I like to plan ahead so that I’m not frustrated in the kitchen at dinnertime.
My reality is that I cook quick and easy, but not boxed or frozen. I like to have home cooked from scratch meals – but our window for mealtime is an hour or less. Since we do not live in an area conducive to easy take-out or delivery, I cook five to six nights a week with one night off with left-overs or my husband cooks. (If I miss more than one night a week it is usually because we are out of the house for a sporting event.)
My ideal would be family meals at the table with perfectly timed side dishes and a beautiful tablescape. Once upon a time I loved to bake, but that changed once I began working outside the home.
I do like to experiment with new recipes a couple of times a week. It makes me feel more adventurous and less ‘stuck in a rut’. AND I have just taken up the meal plan challenge again, which makes it so much easier than deciding after I get home from a full day at work.
Great question. It really made me stop and think.
I’m looking forward to your new site! I enjoy cooking and usually have time. Lately, I’m finding myself wanting to know which dishes freeze and reheat well. Knowing this, I can prepare and pass along food for the sick and shut-ins, busy moms, and my own busy kids since we have 3 in college! I know stews and some soups freeze well. And some casseroles too, but which ones? And what are the reheating instructions?
I am a SAHM of two children-3 yrs. old and 8 months old. My Man is a hard-working Southerner who likes his meat and potatoes. I use the crockpot a lot and generally choose meals that don’t require unusual ingrediants or very many ingrediants. Traditional meals like meatloaf, chicken casserole, spaghetti and a salad or veggie as a side is the usual at our house. I like to do quick desserts like no-bake cookies, brownies, or ice cream most evenings.