This extended stay-at-home season would be much more difficult if I did not like to cook. And it would be downright frustrating if my guys were picky eaters who criticized my cooking. Thankfully, I do and they aren’t. A seven day rotation of their favorite meals would please them fine, but I like variety both in the preparation and enjoyment of food. I’m not a very creative cook, preferring tried and true family favorites or easy to prepare recipes.
Here’s a book of super easy recipes that I like.
I try to keep our diet healthy, with not too much salt or fat (and occasionally apple pie or homemade ice cream). As I wrote in a March 2017 post about Collections, I’ve been a subscriber of Cooking Light Magazine for years and usually tear out 2 or 3 recipes from each issue, planning to try them someday. That amounts to over two dozen pages per year for, let’s see, it might be 20 years! I’ve sorted and filed the recipes, but feel that now’s the time, while I have time, to purge some and to refine the filing system.
Normally, I would use our dining room table to make stacks of recipes for bread, salad, appetizers, chicken, etc. But the table is now Dave’s office, so I’m spreading them over my bed, the bed that intend to sleep in tonight. The good news is that I have removed quite a few pages to the recycling bin. When Kyle saw my tedious project during his break, I quipped, “Can anyone ever have too many potato salad recipes?” Probably, since I rarely make potato salad.
I haven’t even started into the dessert and breakfast recipes!
I’ll wrap this up (gotta get back to work on the sorting) with one of our favorite salads, a Spinach Salad with delicious dressing, a favorite among the MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group at our church.
LISA’S SPINACH SALAD
1 bag of washed spinach leaves, 2 or 3 diced hard boiled eggs, several slices of crumbled crisp fried bacon, a cup of croutons.
Thoroughly mix 1/4 cup sugar, 1/3 cup oil (I use canola), 2 Tablespoons catsup, 1 1/2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar, and 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce. Add some finely diced onion if you like (we don’t). Toss dressing with salad just before serving.
