It tastes healthy (is that a compliment?)

What to cook for supper? I really think it might be cheaper if we ate out. How can groceries cost so much? Plus, I'm really sick of cooking. I'm even more sick of trying to think of something interesting to cook.

So, I've gone back to trying new recipes in my cookbooks. Yesterday I tried a crockpot recipe for Tuscan Chicken or something like that. Lots of vegetables, garlic, beans, seasonings and one of my favorite ingredients, roasted red peppers. Plus you ate it over pasta (whole wheat in this case). Sounded good. Sounded healthy.

It didn't give off much of an aroma, which is not a great sign in crockpot cooking. But it looked pretty. All those colors.

We sat down to eat. Nobody said anything. Now, I need a lot of positive reinforcement. Whether I have bothered to pick up a sock off the floor or win at the Olympics, somebody needs to notice. I need praise. And Paul and Lily are really good about saying how good the food is for supper, which is why I bother (plus I like to eat good food and I'm eating with them.)

"So, how do you like dinner?" I said. There was a silence as I could tell they were trying to compose an answer. I was frankly disappointed in dinner. It badly needed something. It wasn't disgusting, it wasn't bland, it was just something you could stop eating at any time and not be sad about it. Say, if I hadn't cooked enough, that would have been a good thing.

"So, how do you like dinner?" I said again.

"It tastes healthy," Lily said.

Paul jumped right in. "Yes, I can tell this is really healthy. It's good. It's healthy."

"What about the taste?" I insisted.

"It tastes healthy," Lily said. I was having trouble continuing to eat. It just wasn't worth all that chewing.

They managed to eat most of what they had taken, but I didn't even bother to put the leftovers in the refrigerator. This morning I was honestly afraid that the dog wouldn't eat it. He left most of the beans and the vegetables, but he did like the chicken. What a shame. Not even our dog likes healthy.

Comments

[Lori]

at least your dog ate some of it - Amy is trying to cook healthy b/c my 14 yr old nephew (thin as a rail) has high cholesteral. Her turkey meatloaf was awful, followed by the inedible chicken burgers! Their usually voracious puppy gagged

[Anne]

Oh, dear. A thin 14-year-old with high cholesterol. I'm sorry for them all.

You have to wonder if maybe we knew a lot of thin 14-year-olds with high cholesterol who just didn't know it. But once you know, well, then it's the inedible turkey meatloaf road for you and your dog.

It's hard to get that stuff where it doesn't smell like, uh, turkey.

[Anne]

Paul cooked tonight. It was not healthy, though he used fresh kale where he should have used spinach in a stuffed shells recipe he made up. Very chewy but tasted good. And I didn't have to cook it!