Stuck

We have been stuck in a food rut for quite awhile. It seems like I only cook the same stuff day after day after day. That's one reason we have thought about going a little more vegetarian. That and we get really great produce every two weeks. With our busy schedule, it just seems like I have lost my creativity. Maybe it's more that I don't feel like I have time to be creative.

Recently, we bought a crock pot. That has helped us out of our rut a little. We have tried some really interesting recipes and some that were OK, but probably won't be repeats. I had a friend send me a website that has 1400 crockpot recipes. We are out three nights a week until pretty late, so it's nice to have dinner ready when we get home, instead of having to find something to cook or throw cereal in a bowl. It has also flowed over into the nights that we are home or get home at a decent hour.

I have hit some sales at the grocery store that included B1G1 on shrimp. I like shrimp, but I don't know a million different ways to cook it. The easiest is a stir fry. I have veggies for a stir fry, and we always have rice. But we are so tired of that. I have dragged out my trusty Better Homes and Gardens cookbook and found a couple of really neat recipes that I thought would be hard due to the amount of ingredients listed. The first was a Shrimp Mornay that was really good. I substituted mozzarella cheese for the swiss the recipe calls for. I'm the only one that likes Swiss, and I don't eat enough of it to justify buying it. I always have mozzarella for homemade pizza. That is one of our favorite meals to make. Everybody gets to pick their own toppings and put their's together. The Shrimp Mornay is actually the Crab Mornay recipe, but at the bottom it has the Shrimp version and any changes. It was really, really good. It was rich and flavorful and you serve it on toast points. We just used some Chicago bread I had and toasted. Yummy, yummy. Tonight I did Shrimp Creole. It was super good, too. The boy and the baby didn't like it very much for different reasons, so they had rice with soy sauce for dinner. Hubby, the big girl and I ate it like there was no tomorrow.

I have been on a couple of different websites, and even some blogs of friends, that have interesting recipes. I am trying to step out of my box and add different things to our table. I could spend hours on the websites, just surfing around getting ideas. Some recipes will call for things that I don't normally stock, or have never used before. Sometimes, I'm a little scared. Now I try to think about what I do stock that I have to substitute. Most of the time it works for me. Or, if it's something I don't like, I leave it out. Bay leaves are a good example. I don't normally have bay leaves and don't particularly care for it. I just add extra Italian seasoning or basil and call it good. It works almost every time.

The crockpot recipes call for chicken stock with alot of recipes. I do not like to buy chicken stock, so I need to make my own. I would rather do that anyway, because I can control what goes in it. This weekend I will roast a whole chicken and use the bones and any left over meat on the bones to make stock. I am really excited about that. I like having stock when I need it. It's great for boiling noodles, too. It gives it more flavor. Just add a little to the water. When I want to make something that needs stock, I can just grab it out of the fridge or freezer. Wine seems to be another of those things that I don't keep around. Even though we don't drink much anymore, it seems we always have beer in the fridge. I like beer, but it doesn't always substitute well for wine. It's all a learning process anyway.

I might make some chicken spaghetti this weekend. It is a recipe that my Aunt Kathy used to make and is so very, very good. The first time I made it, hubby eyed it for a minute, a little unsure of what he was in for. It is now a favorite. My mom used to make Mexican Chicken that looks a little like vomit, but tastes divine. Don't look at or smell your food, just eat it. That's always an option. I don't know if I've ever made it for hubby. They both called for cooked chicken. I boil it anyway and I would already have the stock. Decisions, decisions.

Tomorrow is park day and I have a fridge full of organic produce. Grocery shopping has become our norm after the park. I need to stock up on some things for the week and beyond. I guess I need to sit down and make a menu. Again. I am great at the starting, not so good at finishing. I need to get better at this so I'm not running around trying to figure out what to make for dinner, or realize that I don't have everything I need to throw some stuff in the crockpot.

I'm off, now, to do some writing. Caleb and Amanda have been screaming at me that their story needs to come out of my head. I'm not posting it, so calm down. I won't make you sit through that again, even though Tyler and Lydia's story was pretty good. I'll let you know about the cooking adventure. Let the games begin!