What's for Dinner?

At some point in my 20's, long before I was married and had children, I thought about what it must be like to have to fix three meals a day, EVERY day, for years and years. I couldn't comprehend that. It sort of made me a little bonkers thinking about it. The funny thing about that is I always enjoyed cooking. But sometimes we enjoy things when they are a choice and not mandatory. I knew that once I became a mother I would HAVE to make three meals a day, it would be necessary for my children to be fed and nourished.

I've been a mother for over 22 years now, which means that for 22 years I've been fixing multiple meals every day. And still, to this day, three of the most stressful words are: "What's for dinner?"

A favorite meal: baked salmon, couscous, cheese and basil tomatoes, 3-bean salad. Most of this food came from Costco, another reason why I wish Costco would build something out this way...

Oh, I've tried all sorts of ideas to lessen this stress. I've cooked up meals and put them in the freezer. I've taught the kids how to make certain meals. I've made weekly menus. This is actually the most successful idea, but then, it is stressful to me to think through a week and decide what we should eat on which day-depending on what's going on.

I have a shelf full of cookbooks so I'm not lacking in recipes or ideas. Maybe I have too many choices. I actually think that this is sometimes a problem because my brain will shut down and we'll just end up having spaghetti that night. I wonder what would happen if I tried all 101 things to do with a slow cooker? I wonder if anyone has ever done that?

Many years ago, before we had Abbie, I was so tried of hearing complaining night after night after night about what I had fixed for dinner. So for a whole week I cooked the same meal and served it up on the boy's plates each night: a hamburger pattie with cheese melted on the top, no bun; canned green beans; mashed potatoes with a dab of butter melting on the top; a slice of bread. Every night, no kidding. I thought the boys would grow weary of this and happily anticipate my dinners in the future. That didn't exactly happen. They did slow down on the complaining, but it could be they just grew up.


I have pleasant memories of dinner time when I was growing up. It seemed like we talked a lot and had some good laughs, and that's what I wanted for my family. The family dinner table is important to me, so much so that we've been known to eat at 9:00 in the evening if that was when everyone could be together. I didn't know how hard it would get when the kids got older and started having so many activities that took them away. Once that time hit dinner time was never the same.

One of the illnesses I have, along with a love of beautiful paper and beautiful fabric, is a love of beautiful dishes and platters and bowls, anything that can help make a regular eating time into an "occasion".

I love to set the table with pretty tablecloths and dishes. Sometimes I'll even plan a meal around certain serving dishes just so we can use them! I bought a very pretty Lazy Susan at Costco awhile ago, black wood with white dishes, and started planning tacos and baked potatoes and Hawaiian Haystack meals so we could use this fun thing. The first meal we had with it created quite the reaction from Jake. He thought it was the coolest invention! It was worth it just for Jake's reaction. I remember having similar feelings when my mom used her Lazy Susan. It seemed to make dinner pretty fun.

I think that somewhere along the way I decided if I have to cook, I'm going to make it as fun and pretty as possible, and thus the collecting began.

This hutch used to be Doug's Aunt Sadie's. She never married and when she passed away years ago Doug's Dad brought this to his house. I always loved this hutch, it was very charming to me. When Doug's Dad passed away we brought this hutch to our home and I still love it. I have some old dishes in it, and some of my new dishes in it and some of my baskets that I made on the top of it. And to any of you Ogden's reading this, you'll be happy to know that "Olive, the other reindeer" still sits happily in the hutch. This is a memory hutch.

Our 'last supper' together before the boys left for DC. (enlarge photo to get a sense of the real goofiness that happens when this family gets together!!)

So, I'll keep struggling with my meal planning and preparing but I'll also have fun serving up the food once it is prepared. The plain truth, however, is that the best meals happen not with my fancy cooking or my pretty dishes but when all of us are gathered around the table talking and laughing and eating the food, even when it is spaghetti.