On the left sidebar is a new feature to the blog titled, “Tonight’s Menu”.  I got the idea when my friend Angie asked me this week on the phone, “Could you just send me your menu for the week?”, after asking me, “Hey Lori, what are you making for dinner tonight?  I need some fresh ideas.”  Don’t we all now and then!  I get so bored with recipes that Greg jokes I never make the same recipe twice.  I have SERIOUS cooking ADHD.

A few other friends who have copies of my first compilation of recipes, “The Kenmore Kitchen” (named for the address of my first home), have asked when I plan to print a second compilation.  Between the sewing, preschool, blog, Gifts Galore….um…never.  But it’s crazy not to share, because I’m still COOKING.  Always cooking (and cleaning up from the cooking).  Except when I’m not, and in this space will be the words, “Gave up…eating hot dogs at Sam’s Club”.  OR, “Too tired to shop…eating omelets and biscuits again.”  Listen, everything is better with bacon and/or honey.  This is just a universal truth.

Click on the recipe title and it will take you to the recipe.  When I can, I’ll add “sous chef” tips, on how I incorporated the girls into cooking.  My kitchen is a bit of a laboratory where they are concerned.  I let them feel, taste, smell, and make a mess of just about everything.  They have fun, and I get to cook, which for the past few years, has been challenging.  Including kids in the kitchen is time consuming and messy, but I never regret the extra effort.  I find they are more likely to try something if they had a hand in making it.

Sitting down around our dinner table after a long day and sharing a prayer and a delicious meal is the highlight of my day.  I like good food.  I don’t get out to restaurants often, so if I want it, I have to cook it.  I love introducing Greg and the girls to the endless flavor combinations that cross our table.  The girls aren’t huge eaters, but they aren’t overly picky, THANK GOD.  They’ll refuse spaghetti as quickly as they’ll refuse a pork loin basted in an orange and garlic broth!  The only proteins they are sure to eat are salmon and shrimp, which I swear is from my seafood-heavy pregnancies.  Don’t judge until you’ve been pregnant in Florida…it’s the only protein in the state.

I wish for you good food.  I wish for you fresh and plentiful produce and proteins.  I wish for you a maid to clean up the disaster that will inevitably result from anything I post here.  But most of all, I wish for you the greatest blessing of my life: someone to cook for.