I’m generally the cook of the house. That means that, most nights, I’m the one that plans and prepares dinner. I have no problem with this. I love to cook and am pretty proud of my skills in the kitchen. Especially as I was raised in the care of two women, my mom and grandmother, who did not cook really at all (we ate out a lot). Plus, it makes me feel like I’m taking care of my family.
That said, coming up with new things that everyone will eat is often quite hard. Bethany does not eat red meat and is mostly vegetarian in general. Beatrix is as picky as five year olds often are and when she does eat she eats like a bird. My Mom, who is living with us right now, is on a special diet seemingly on a meal by meal whim. And I have been trying to monitor my intake of carbs and overall balance of protein, fruits, and vegetables. Yet, somehow, we manage.
Sometimes, we end up trying something new because I invent it based on ingredients we have on hand. Other times, I see a new recipe and am inspired. But other times, even though I’m generally the cook, it is often due to Bethany suggesting a recipe that we end up breaking the routine.
Well, Bethany has a friend who has a great family cookbook called Parents Need To Eat Too as well as a blog of the same name. It is perfect for situations like ours where you have many tastes to please and only about a half hour at the end of a long and busy day to do so.
Tonight we tried this one from the blog and it was amazing:
Roasted Butternut Gnocchi in Blood Orange Brown Butter | Parents Need to Eat Too
Near gourmet in concept but simple to pull off in actual execution. Rich and full of flavor. Seriously, it was fantastic. It just so happened that we had a similar circumstance as the author — a squash and a blood orange that were on the edge of use so it worked out perfectly. Bethany had by chance roasted our squash the night before hoping to find something to do with it.
I served it with a side salad of baby kale, chard, spinach, carrots, and tomatoes. It served four nicely with some leftovers.
So, if you are the cook like me and were wondering what to do for dinner tonight, I can’t think of a better suggestion.