Saturday, March 31, 2007

Casserolling, Rolling, Rolling

There is only one thing I fear more than turning into a June Cleaver-style 1950’s housewife, and that is starving to death. Throughout history, humanity has faced food shortages caused by wars, famines, mini-ice ages (yes, I’ve been watching the History channel, why?), and malfunctioning kitchen equipment. Rarely, if ever, is humanity given an opportunity to prepare for and thwart an upcoming shortage. But I, I have been given such an opportunity to avert impending starvation right here in my very own apartment.

You see, a famine is coming soon to the Raisinhater household, the famine of no-way-I’m-cooking-I-just-gave-birth. Fortunately, after the baby arrives, Mr. Raisinhater will be staying home for a few weeks because of his company’s generous paternity leave. Unfortunately, Mr. Raisinhater cannot cook. He REALLY cannot cook. I have never in my life met anyone with a greater kitchen ineptitude. He did not know we had a gas (not electric) stove until last month (we’ve lived here for three years). He orders takeout grilled cheese from the diner across the street.

I have tried. Lord knows I have tried. But we all have our strengths and our weaknesses, you can’t teach an old dog, blah blah. The truth is I don’t want to share the kitchen anyway. I'm bossy and there's only room for one chef in there. And it's too much fun to watch him struggle with the self-locking tongs. He just needs the basic tools to feed us for a few weeks. Those tools are…



Casseroles!



Check out those simple instructions. A monkey could do it! But can my husband? (He may have done 3 points better than me on the LSATs but at least I wouldn’t starve to death if we lost all the takeout menus.)

I’m putting aside my June Cleaver fears and storing up for the lean times ahead. Easy as a TV dinner, but full of tasty healthy stuff (chicken, spinach, mushrooms and onions) because I made it myself (without a recipe, so lets hope it actually turns out ok).

Anyone out there have a recipe to share – something I can make now and freeze, that Mr. Raisinhater can pop in the oven without too much difficulty? Preferably something healthy with lots of veggies?

Also, is that Rawhide song from the title still stuck in your head? Yep, me too. Sorry about that.

5 Comments:

Blogger s'kat said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

12:09 PM  
Blogger s'kat said...

That's very cute about your husband... I'm still dying over to-go grilled cheese!

Here are some ideas for your freezer: baked ziti OR double cheese penne with sausage and cherry peppers, peppery beef stew, chicken parmesan,pollo alla cacciatore,
, braised beef short ribs.

What about a nice big pot o'chili, portioned out? Asian dumplings? Pizza?

12:11 PM  
Blogger MeBeth said...

Thanks S'kat - all of those sound really good! I'm off to buy more freezer containers!!

6:06 PM  
Blogger Jeff in NC said...

Don't look at me - I screwed up scrambled eggs when Joe had his shoulder surgery last year.

But back to the monkey vs. Mr. Raisinhater...can you tell me what kind of monkey beore I wager on this one?

PS - Dear Mr. Raisinhater: No offense.

9:11 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hmmm... I'll have to think of something, but your casserols sound like a great idea. ;-)

Paz

12:10 AM  

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