Don't people COOK anymore???

[Miniv]

I actually have family members give me a hard time because I've started cooking more from scratch. Hamburger Helper used to be a staple for us but now we eat it maybe once every 6 months. I bake a LOT and love to try new recipes.
Also, a friend gave me this recipe. I made it for church and the ladies in the kitchen kept back half of it so that they could eat it themselves, LOL!

Strawberry Soda Cake

1 box yellow cake mix

2 (3 oz) boxes strawberry jello

1 cup strawberry soda

1 box instant vanilla pudding mix

1 1/2 cups cold milk

1 8 oz tub of cool whip

Prepare and bake yellow cake mix as directed. When done (while still hot) punch full of holes. Dissolve strawberry jello in 1 cup of boiling water. Add 1 cup of strawberry soda. Drizzle jello mixture over cake to fill holes. After cake completely cools, frost with instant vanilla pudding mix, prepared with 1 1/2 cups cold milk and cool whip folded in.

GOOD FOR YOU! (To be honest, I have NEVER tried "Hamburger Helper".....Is it good?)

Your Strawberry Soda Cake sounds YUMMY. Where the heck to people come up with some of these recipes????

 

[Pepipony]

I cook all the time, from breakfast to desserts. We rarely eat out, usually because I think I can cook better LOL I even cook our B-day and Anniversary dinners. Todays lifestyle quite often doesnt afford people the time to cook. Poor moms, they are expected to be June Cleaver yet hold down a 40+ as well.

 

[FairytailGlennMinis]

It is just my hubby and I in our household. He usually gets home at 7:30-8pm every night and has his special heart health meals (ULTRA low sodium) of frozen fish that gets baked and topped with herbs, steamfresh nuked veggies and a nuked baked potatoe. That just leaves me. Dude, I don't have time or energy to go through cooking "real meals" for just me...and I don't even have kids to keep up with! I do sometimes throw a roast in the crockpot so I can eat when I get home ad then he can have some if he wants, but for the most part, it is cheaper and easier to just eat a little frozen dinner. I do make homemade no salt yeast rolls for my hubby's lunch sandwiches every few days...since I use a bread machine for the mixing (still takes 3 hours!) does that count?

I think with most moms working full time, transporting to school and sports and activities and then coming home and still having to get everyone fed, homework done, laundry, housework, etc are just worn smack out. Women are expected to be supermoms these days--and look like a supermodel too. I think the pressure on Moms is insane...I don't know how ya'll do it!

 

[wildoak]

Not if I can help it LOL. When I had kids at home though I put dinner on the table every night - meat, vegetables........ my daughter was aghast when one of her friends said they always had McDonalds/ fast food for dinner when she was young. Harder to get motivated to cook now when it's just the two of us, and I'm usually out in the barn feeding at dinner time. I cook dinner once or twice a week now, as does my hubby. Rest of the time we either go out or just graze from what's in the kitchen.

Jan

 

[osu_barrelracer]

You should try being married to a vegetarian!!

We are pretty limited when we do go out to eat (not to mention that we have to drive all the way into town!), so we eat at home a lot.

However, we don't always have a lot of time during the day, and by the time we are done for day, don't much feel like spending hours making a good meal.

So we end up eating a lot of pastas, baked potatoes, and other easy stuff to make. We do grill a lot ( and i still love my steak!) which always seems to be a fairly fast and easy way to make some "real food".... except when you forget about the grill and burn it all!!! lol

 

[Steph_D]

GOOD FOR YOU! (To be honest, I have NEVER tried "Hamburger Helper".....Is it good?)
Your Strawberry Soda Cake sounds YUMMY. Where the heck to people come up with some of these recipes????

MA, a great Hamburger Helper recipe is the stroganoff. I make it as directed, add a can of diced green chilies and some extra sour cream, then make a burrito out of it. It's very filling and the kids love it as a quick meal. My husband even asked for it as a father's day dinner instead of lasagna or enchiladas

It does tend to give me a bit of heartburn but most boxed or frozen meals do that anymore. Also, hubby drives a semi and is gone 3 weeks or more at a time. While he's gone, I'll cook the normal big meals and freeze portions for him (a vacuum sealer works great for this, stuff lasts WAY longer in the freezer when it's vacuum sealed). He has a microwave in his truck and gets home cooked meals on the road. Works out awesome!

That cake is heavenly! I have half of one sitting in the refrigerator calling my name. Hubby was supposed to be home yesterday to help eat it and he's not home yet

If he don't hurry, there might not be a cake left, LOL!

 

[HorseMom]

I don't cook, but thank the goddess my husband does. I'd be eating mac and cheese for my whole life. The only reason that I don't cook is that my attention span is too short and I will forget that I'm cooking if I leave the kitchen even for a moment. I'll either burn everything or miss some vital ingredient and dinner will become far form being edible. I once made some cookies that looked ok, but once you bit into it you realized something was very wrong. I was told to "stick to tollhouse."

I have made some progress to using the crock pot, since I can leave it there. I'll even make some quick stuff as long as I have a book with me in the kitchen so I don't walk off and forget what I was doing. I will literally grab a stool and sit next to the stove while reading so I can make sure nothing goes wrong.

Thankfully we stress having a family dinner. We used to just eat in the living room and watch a movie, but now that our son is quickly reaching 2 years old we like to make sure we eat together so he has that. I feel that it is important.

 

[Miniv]

Hey......Trust me.......I am NOT "Miss Suzy Homemaker"! I'm a tired middle aged mom who does the horse chores with the husband, but am still expected to churn out a meal.......NOT a microwave one......(my fault, perhaps?)

I was raised in an old fashioned household, so the instant foods that my contemporaries were exposed to, I never was.

Yes, we occasionally have a "Skillet Dinner".......but 29 out of 30 dinners are homemade.......And what I like to do is plan dinners that take an hour (OR LESS) to prepare!!!! As Marty would say -- I'm the QUEEN of "Homemade in an Hour or Less!" LOL!

 

[MiniforFaith]

Both of my children's friends say the same thing when they eat here. It has gotten harder for me to cook as much since I've been working 3rd shifts for a yr now. But, I always have homecooked meals and it makes a difference. My son's friend will even ask before he comes over, what's for dinner>>

 

[MeadowRidge Farm]

Guess I am going to join the stone age club as well. There is only my hubby and myself now at home (and of course our 4 furkids..who I also cook for

) I cook at least one good "old fashion cookin" kind of mean a day, plus I also freeze and can alot of things. My DIL is also a excellent cook, but unfortuanately I cant say the same for my daughter, but her hubby LOVES to cook, so she is lucky there. Everyone is always kidding me that when I cook its enough to feed a army. So, needless to say...I have the kids and grandkids over alot. I love to cook and bake. I dont care for anything in a microwave.....but I do own one

great for leftovers. I grew up in a cooking kind of family, my Mom was a surgical nurse, she was a good cook but usually only on weekends, her career kept her very busy, and my Dad and my Grandmother had catering business, which was one of WI largest, and everything was homemade there too.

Kids just popped in a little bit ago and asked when I was making pizza pockets again, one of my grandkids favorite lunches, so I will go and do some of those now, and I already have a pork chop bake going in the oven, the sour cream/cheddar cheese scalloped potatoes kind with the pork chops layed in it. Now..I am hungry

 

[Karen S]

Add me to the stone age club!

We raise a garden so I put up fresh veggies out of it for the winter...we raise our own beef, I do buy fresh eggs from one of our club members who live close and I love to cook. I'm used to cooking for a large family (five of us at home and I was the oldest). My grandmother on both sides and my mother were all good cooks so I learned from them. Since my husband has been out of a job, I have cooked more than I have been. I can tell the good home cook food is better for me as I have lost weight in three short weeks. The one thing that the family request at least once a month is my double dipped chicken fried steak, with creamy mashed potatoes out of real potatoes, cream gravey and okra from the garden along with fresh tomatoes, cantalope and a salad. This is making me hungry now as my lunch break will be coming up soon.

Karen