A NEW COOK IN THE KITCHEN!

Snowed in? Bake something delicious!
I tried a new bread recipe today from Shauna Niequist's book,
"Bread & Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table." YUM.

The youngest is taking over menu planning and grocery shopping at our house. Yes, I am excited! After 30+ years of planning and preparing meals, I feel burned out, used up, stuck in a rut...same old meals, over and over and over. There's nothing wrong with trusty favorites - chicken pie, meatloaf and mashed potatoes, beans and greens, venison stew, etc. - but a young cook makes mealtime so interesting. A new cook doesn't have a repertoire of tried-&-true recipes: because every recipe is new, any recipe that sounds or looks interesting is worth a go.

Have I mentioned yet...I AM SO EXCITED!!!

So, Helen spent the morning looking up recipes and making a list of ingredients. She came up with a fantastic strategy for planning evening meals for each week: one night, soup and bread; one night, a pasta dish; one night, meat and three; one night, veggie main dish; one night, salad or whole-food bowl; etc. (I love that she developed a framework for meal-planning. Cool idea.)

Because Helen is a full-time student who is also holding down a part-time job and because I am responsible for upkeep of the house and am going back to work, we plan to split cooking duty. On Helen's long days, Mom cooks. On her light days, she cooks. Saturdays and Sundays, we cook together. Pretty sweet deal, huh?

On the menu for the week ahead (provided we can get out of the house and down the snowy highway to the grocery store), Helen has some familiar foods, plus these new recipes:

White Bean Parmesan Spinach Soup
Maple-&-balsamic vinegar-glazed pork chops, plus sides
Black bean and sweet potato tacos (Yum!)
Chicken Florentine w/ white wine cream sauce, served with pasta

Have I mentioned...I AM SO EXCITED!!!

Looks like dinnertime is about to get a lot more exciting at the Kendall house. 😋