Love for Home Cookin'

Recipes like sweet potato pie, pecan crusted fish, and chive butter filet mignon make my taste buds quiver with excitement. I’ve discovered that most of my “free” internet browsing time is consumed by searching for recipes. I’ve spent hours reading about how to beat egg whites until “soft peaks form” or how to make chicken or fish taste like they’re fried when they’re not.

I’m not sure why this new obsession recently emerged. I used to dread going through cookbooks to find new recipes. The first years of my marriage, our dinners included spaghetti, tacos, and chili. It was easy, it was from a box or jar, and it didn’t take much time. Two years later Sheldon and I were sick of eating tacos and spaghetti every week. I guess I’ve learned to love trying new recipes.

The new addition to my already over-stacked baker’s rack is Paula Deen’s “The Lady and Sons” cookbook. It’s southern, down-home, comfort food. I’ve been waiting for cooler weather to use this book.

Others on the new-cookbooks-to-get list are Weight Watchers cookbooks – Simply the Best: All American and Take Out Tonight. Both have excellent recipes that taste like real home cookin’. I know this because I’ve tried a few recipes from a friend’s copies of the books. One recipe I spotted today is Coconut Bread Pudding with Chocolate Sauce. Yum! Who wouldn’t want to try that?

A challenge I’ve tried to overcome is cooking for two. I have all these wonderful recipes and no one to cook for. No big family Sunday dinners going on at the Anderson’s. No pitter-patter of little feet, or big feet for that matter. And if I did have family to cook for, I wouldn’t have time. Between work, school and volunteering, I don’t have much time left in the day.

But I’ll hold onto my many cookbooks in hopes of one day fulfilling my taste buds’ pipe dream.