Heptadecagon

Am I the only one tired of cooking? I know I can't be, because many of the moms (and dads) I know complain about that chore on a daily basis. Let it be known that if I had my druthers, I'd farm this task out. And just so you know, Tim would probably take the task on, like he did on many days when we were first married, but he gets home too late to routinely cook. Anyway, with another blast of cold weather on us, I took it upon myself to find my favorite black bean soup recipe . It originally comes from the Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home , a cookbook I own but cannot currently find in my house. Hope you enjoy it! Ingredients: 10 sun-dried tomatoes (not the kind that are packed in oil) 1 cup boiling water 1 1/2 cups chopped onion 3 minced garlic cloves 1 minced jalapeno chile or 1/4 tsp cayenne 2 Tbsp oil 1 tsp ground cumin 1/3 cup water 3 cups undrained diced, canned tomatoes (28-ounce can) 4 cups undrained cooked black beans (two 16-ounce cans) 1/4 cup fres...

The other night, on a mere whim, I decided to try and make crispy chicken strips for the kids. They love that form of chicken, and even though we'd eaten out a few days before, I thought that a homemade version might still be somewhat okay for the arteries. So I looked up how to make chicken strips and found this recipe by The Pioneer Woman. Since I made a few changes to what she did, I'll let you know what worked for me. Ingredients: 8 chicken tenderloins Buttermilk (or make buttermilk using 1 cup milk and 1 T vinegar) 1-½ cup flour ½ teaspoon salt, a bit of garlic salt, cayenne, Italian seasoning, black pepper Canola oil Instructions: 1. Put the chicken strips in a bowl and cover with buttermilk for 15 to 20 minutes (longer is okay). 2. In a separate bowl combine 1 ½ cups flour and the seasonings and mix together well. Then add ¼ to ½ cup of buttermilk into the flour mixture and stir gently with a fork. 3. Heat 1 inch (I used less) of oil in a large skillet ov...

After almost 16 years of marriage, over 14 of those with children, I'm pretty tired of cooking. I'm tired of the act of cooking, the decisions that go into cooking, and the list of recipes I have in my repertoire. Yes, I could ask the kids to cook--one child for each day of the week--and that would help cut down my responsibility in some ways. But in other ways, it would make more work for myself. So, I'm at an impasse. While I decide what I want to do about cooking in this family, I'm trying quick and easy recipes on nights when we have leftovers in the fridge in the event the kids don't like what I'm making. (Yes, sometimes I cater to my kids. Other times, I don't give them a choice about what they're eating.) The other night, I decided to throw some ravioli in the pot for Tim and me since the kids had pizza and veggies to eat. As I boiled the water, I decided that regular red sauce was too mundane, so I looked for a creamy garlic sauce. Now, I...

This is the story of how naked came to dinner, which, as you can imagine, is just another night in our slightly crazy household. "Argh," Talia said, as her baked beans fell from her spoon, onto her capri pants. "I spilled my beans. Onto my pants." She quickly picked up the errant beans with her fingers, popped them into her mouth, and shot me a sheepish glance. I looked at her. I could feel the daggers shooting from my eyes so I tried to rein them in. But the thought of doing more laundry practically made me gag. I'd just done some "spring cleaning," which included washing everything in everyone's bedrooms, even the drapes.  I swallowed my food and put down my fork. "You know, I just did all that laundry. For crying out loud, I'm going to ask you all to eat dinner naked from now on." The words had barely left my lips when Aaron's eyes opened up real wide. "Oh really? Okay then." Within seconds, Aaron and Melina...