To cook or not to cook...

Am I the only woman in America that can stand in front of the pantry or freezer and not come up with anything to eat for dinner?  I don't like to cook.  I know it's my 'place' as a wife to cook, but seriously I despise it.  I've never enjoyed, never took any interest in it, and quite frankly thinking about it even drives me nuts. 

I stand in the kitchen almost everyday thinking, "Hmm.. what to cook?  I should have something prepared for when Travis gets home, but what do you cook?"  Nothing that comes to mind sounds good.  I can stare at the frozen meat in our freezer and nothing, blank, notta. BUT... Travis comes home, sees the same stuff in the freezer or pantry and whala, presto! dinner is served.  It is so weird.  I will think of some of the same stuff he comes up with, but it never sounds good in my head.  

Here I am again today... lost.  Do we have roast, salmon, hamburgers, hotdogs, spaghetti, the list goes on and on.  Each thing sounds as blah and boring as the first.  I often wonder how my little granny who once cooked twice a day, well actually she still does, how does she decide? How do you keep a variety going, and not repeat the same old stuff over and over again?  I just get in the kitchen, get lost, frustrated, and to be honest... intimidated.  There, I said it.  Cooking intimidates me.  I'm afraid of burning it, not preparing it right, or having to watch Travis eat it out of pure sympathy for me knowing that he's just being nice.  

Why can't we just eat fast food each night?  Our arteries will understand, our heart will get the hint.  Green beans, and veggies & fruits, all that stuff is just over rated!! :)  I'm completely joking, I know I can't raise my kids on chicken nugget Happy Meals, granted they do make a person happy!  And pizza, come on Carter LOVES to see the delivery man coming down our driveway.  The sheer joy in his face, isn't that enough to eat out?!  No, no, and no.  

Help a sister out people.  I need dinner ideas.  My idea of dinner is not Travis, and even if it were who on earth can afford it?!  I watch Rachel Ray, Paula Deen, and read recipes in magazines.  They all make it sound so simple and like you have all that stuff in your pantry.  I would love to cook like my mom or my granny.  I really would.  I have sweet, sweet memories from my childhood of a big family dinner each and every night.  Homemade biscuits, fresh sweet tea (granted, I'm not a fan of tea... at all!), chicken & rice, beef stew, fresh mustard greens & cornbread.  Explain to me why it is that I did not inherit the cooking gene in my family, please?  My mom's sister, Angie, we tease her about her cooking.  We tell her it has taken her 15 years to master chicken and rice and I'm following step by step in her shoes.  One day, some day, granted it may be 15 years from now I'll cook that good 'ole southern food for my family.  I may only conquer one dish, but I'll cook something they enjoy.  Maybe if my sister ever moves back home, close enough to me, I can just have her cook then come home and put it on the table and take credit for it, LOL!!  That cooking gene I was talking about... Jessica got it all.

I must go, I have a date with the freezer.  We'll have a staring contest.  The freezer always wins!

Happy Monday, God bless!