Chicken soup for dinner tonight: bits and pieces of the leftover roast chicken bones, a potato, a parsnip, a couple of carrots, some broccoli stems, onions, and chilli peppers (both jalapeno and "ghost peppers") as we like the soup to be spicy. Plenty leftover for tomorrow night's dinner, too.

I made tuna noodle casserole. It is NOT a favorite in my house and my family was very vocal about how this should not be in the rotation. I keep the ingredients on hand, because it's fast, easy and cheap.

As I told my crew, you're more than welcome to make dinner. What night would work for you? Amazingly, silence ensued.

So tonight we'll eat up the rest of the chicken sausages and macaroni and cheese. We'll have salad and berries for our sides.

We've followed a different path to the kitchen table. I like to 'play in the dirt' as my family calls my gardening effort but other interests and obligations required I change focus to two small pots of herbs in a water planter. That gives fresh herb/spices to experiment with without the crazy prices. Each spring I fill two or three hanging planters with grape or cherry type tomato plants. They look great with little effort and give an early crop which taste great and can be used anytime tomato is in the recipe.

My brothers all learned to cook as kids so my DSs learned to cook. The 1st unexpected benefit was their willingness to eat whatever they made even if it looked unappetizing. They understand the effort of making meals and seem more open minded than their friends. I guess because we live with cold, ugly weather we eat a lot of soup whether you call it chowder, Pho, bisque,cioppini, bouillabaisse, potage, gumbo, [cold] gazpacho, vichyssiose, or name it after it's main ingredient. It's inexpensive, filling, easy to assemble [crockpot], uses up both small quantities and leftovers. I loved it when 'Pannini' sandwiches showed up on bistro/restaurant menus. A couple of slices of quality cheese & Forman Grill turned our traditional Friday Buffet [of leftovers] into a new trend for tweens.

In my experience, an appealing name meets with less resistance. For example, I don't make 'stew' but Beef Burgoyne, Chicken 'n Dumplings, Pad Thai, Cassoulet, Hot Pot, or anything nammed Mulligan are met with enthusiasm. If your family rejects ethnic names, call it Maryland Hot Pot or Cour 'd Lane cassoulet etc.

Thanks Cyd, I love the Cour'd Lane cassoulet.

Can't put tuna in if it's Couer d'Alene. Landlocked.

I do like to get some feedback with recipes, if there is generalized disgruntlement amongst the ranks. What's the part that they don't care for? (And no, "everything" is not an acceptable answer.) That can help me refine options.

Yes, I think more-urban areas definitely have different "personalities." In and around D.C. are some of the most driven people I've ever met. I used to notice when I went down to the Shenandoah Valley for my college reunions or just for a weekend away there, that the pace was slower. Of course, that was much more rural, with a lot of farms. Around D.C., unless you drive out quite a ways, there is no room for farms. And land is so valuable that it's too expensive to buy for farming. People can barely afford a house (my lot is pretty large at 1/6 acre), and you certainly need 2 incomes to get a mortgage.

I think passing on skills from one generation to the next, insofar as possible, is a good idea, and the lifestyle, too, when feasible. One must come to grips not only with economic and "cultural" aspects of one's region, but the way things have changed. DS is more into electronic entertainment than I ever will be - it's what his contemporaries do. He's less interested in current events, and doesn't care too much for yard work. I doubt he would ever grow anything edible. Maybe he will get lucky and meet a girl who likes that sort of thing.

Then, too, what one's forebears have done also makes a difference. Families with restaurants, I'm sure, are both more interested in, and good at, cooking. I like to cook for guests, but find day-to-day cooking very routine and unexciting. I'm reluctant to spend more time cooking (such as by making noodles from scratch) than I spend eating.

For me, I guess cooking is what I make it. I have to have lower food costs, it's not an option. So I can make it "routine and unexciting" or I can find a way to make it more exciting.

The exciting part can be self challenges. I did not know how to grill, I spent one summer learning how to really use my grill from making pizzas, to meat and fish, to grilling fruit. Or I can also challenge myself to make do with what is in the pantry and freezer and make a weeks work of meals without buying anything. Or I can learn about flavor combinations and what spices/herbs work well with different entree options.

We like many different foods. I like to find a way to make those options at home. In order to keep food exciting, I find new ways to surprise my family. This week for Valentines Day I made chocolate crepes with chocolate mousse and raspberry sauce with homemade whipped cream. If we went out and had dessert it would be well over $25 without tax, tip, or drinks.

I also use food to talk to my family. The kids help out at meal time by prepping food, setting the table, etc. The kids get practical experience in the kitchen, which is always a good thing. In addition, we sit, eat and talk together.

I find that if we're "reluctant to spend more time cooking..than I spend eating" than many company and/or family dinners and holiday meals would begin to become a thing of the past. Reconnecting at meal times is so important. It the basics of communication, customs, and placing value of those around us to break bread. For me, it's a means of nourishing not only our bodies but also our values from one generation to another.

This doesn't mean that I don't need a break from time to time, or that I don't ever get in to a rut, yesterday's casserole, but in order to reach our families goals and responsibilities the kitchen is one area that can help us reach those goals. It's all in my attitude as to how it will affect the family, as a whole.

They say opposites attract, but I think for a family to make cooking at home work, the adults definitely have to be on the same page (same things with gardening... if only one person is willing or supports it, it can lead to conflict.)

Striving, we do very similar things at our house. Food is more than food!

Okay, so back to meal planning: we did some pizza up tonight. I think I'll take a few minutes and do up a batch of oatmeal cinnamon muffins for the morning, just to simplify things. It all depends on one of the hens tending to lay a late afternoon egg.

Personally, I prefer reading the recipes to actually cooking them!

Lunch today was peanut butter sandwiches; with and without strawberry jam. It was perhaps not the most inspired lunch I could have come up with for what turned out to be a rainy, "cold" (by our standards; highs only in the upper 50s) day. Sigh. I ate my sandwiches, but DD bought herself some warm Indian food on campus.

For dinner, I made a stir fry with Polish sausages, carrots, broccoli, and canned baby corn. With leftover rice to which I added a little green peas, cashews and spices.

Bless: I love reading recipes, too! If my kids were given a choice they would eat pb sandwiches for several meals.

Last night I made breakfast burritos with grapes and oranges. For dessert we had angelfood cake with strawberries and whipped cream.

This morning the kids had oatmeal. Little miss found the rest of the strawberries and put in some 'cream. DH will have the leftover burrito with a banana and an orange. I'll eat the tuna casserole.

Tonight is an easy supper of fresh fruit, macaroni and cheese and chicken sausages. It's leftover night!