Introducing 'What's Cookin'?'!

Every day I hear the age-old question: "What's for dinner?" I was never a big cook and never really had a large repertoire when it came to making meals–my staples were pasta with jar sauce and with Ramen noodles (still one of !).

When my kids were born, my ex did most of the cooking–okay, all of it except for the Ramen noodles–and he made some pretty good meals; and growing up, my mom always took care of dinner, making enough to feed our family plus anyone else who may have stopped by so I never really found the need to expand on my cheesy, carby menu.

But when I met my husband, whose freezer was stocked with Bertolli frozen dinners, that all changed. While I certainly enjoy my pasta, I like a bit of variety in my diet–throw in some protein and veggies once in a while! And now, with no one left to do the cooking for me, I had to give it a go myself. 

While I'm certainly no Julia Childs (did you see that movie Julie and Julia? I definitely don't cook like that! Good movie, though!), I have found that I am now making some meals that are more than just edible–they're actually enjoyable.

In "What's Cookin'?" I will share what we're having for dinner–the good, the bad and the ugly. I make no promises of gourmet meals. With a husband, four kids, a full-time job and other commitments, it's certainly more the quick and easy route! And, though this column is called "What's Cookin'?", I can pretty much guarantee there will be some nights where there is no cooking involved (What? Of course cereal can be dinner!).

Some of my friends are really good at cooking and even plan menus out for the week, making sure they have what they need to make each dinner. While the planner in me loves that idea, I don't quite do it that way.

I don't really follow recipes and a lot of times, I just go by what's in the fridge (which can be interesting as I hate grocery shopping so it gets pretty barren in there sometimes!) and see what happens. Feel free to try out the 'recipes' at home and if you do, let me know what you think. If you have a specialty dish that you make, I'd love to feature it–just take a few photos and email them and some instructions to me at jenn.mcculloch@patch.com.

Tomorrow I'll share the first dinner–stuffed salmon. So in the spirit of the aforementioned Julia Childs, bon appetit!