These images above make me that happiest girl in the world. Something huge shifted in my marriage this past week. FOOD. Its always been a struggle with James and I b/c to be frank, he hates vegetables, and really only likes meat, pasta and bread. So I usually try to eat light and healthy during the day and then cave to his likings at night for dinner. Although for a while we were almost eating our own dinners everynight b/c I just didn't want pasta and chicken again. Alot of it is my fault in the fact that I get a bit lazy figuring out new ways to cook it. It doesn't excite me the way most veggies do. So, after having two really boring pasta meals in a row last week, even James got disgusted and angry at our eating habits. Then he went on a recipe hunting spree and by the time we needed to go to the grocery store the next day he had 5 recipes and a desert and salad (for me) all lined up. Honestly, at first I was a little nervous we would buy a bunch of stuff and then have it go bad in the fridge b/c of our deep eating habits. But OMG was I wrong! For the first time ever (besides making french toast) James has been in the kitchen cooking every dinner. I can't even express how this makes me feel. It only took almost 6 years, but hey, I don't care anymore!!! And of course all the meals he picked out were meat, but they are all super different and yummy, and its a really good start!
This meal above is the only exception to the meat. And the only one I didn't get a real photo of. He actually cooked this meal for our friends who came over that night, and it was his first time cooking pasta ever. It was baked spinach and ricotta stuffed pasta shells. I couldn't believe he picked a recipe that even had spinach in it! And he loved it! I don't think even he believed he was eating it. (Im hoping this is the beginning of him trying new things he thought he hated in new ways and discovering he actually does like them). And next I need to get him working on the side dishes, they were all after thoughts that were thrown together with what we had on hand.
Another thing he has recently discovered he likes after vowing he hates it is fish! He now knows he likes salmon and tilapia. But is still hesitant to try new ones. This was his first fish meal to make. It was broiled tilapia with parmesan and herbs. And I made some potatoes and green beans on side. He ate the potatoes. :) The parmesan crust on top of this fish was sooooo yummy!!!
This was his first ever attempt at cooking chicken! Of course, for his first time, he picked something we couldn't even pronounce... Roman style chicken saltimbocca. Which was prosciutto wrapped chicken with sage in a white wine reduction sauce. I couldn't believe that he was teaching me things on his first try!!! And you can probably tell, the corn side was an extreme after thought. We were so focused on the chicken. So I threw together rosemary corn b/c its super fast and easy. And this was the best chicken Ive ever had. Week one and the hubby is putting me to shame!
This meal we did together, actually mostly me. I really wanted to recreate the meal I had in Louisianna. It was parmesan mushroom risotto with baked eggplant and a fried egg on top. I made baked chicken for James part b/c he didn't thing he would like the eggplant. Although he tried mine and liked it. But this meal was seriously lacking flavor and it was dry. They had put a yummy cajun cream sause of some kind under their bed of rice and that really helped moisten it up. And I over cooked my egg, which was a huge bummer. So yeah, my one day in the kitchen this week was a bomb.
This was James second chicken meal. Neither of us loved the way the chicken came out but it was close to being great. Just a bit too much lemon. It was a marinade made with fresh squeezed lemons, oranges, garlic and soy sauce. On the side I made a medley of grilled green beans, mushrooms, tomatoes and goat cheese. I was definitely on the veggies side on this one.
Last night he tried making steak. Neither of us knew how to cook it on the stove so we looked up a few recipes and the one we went with was way wrong!!! He burnt it a bit... But it still had good flavor. He made a marinade for it with dijon mustard and honey, and a dipping sauce with the same but with mango in it. On the side I tried my hand at making homeade mashed potatoes for the first time in my life. For some reason it always intimidated me but it was the easiest thing ever!!! And James loved them, which he claimed he hated mashed potatoes! So win! They were goat cheese and rosemary mashed potatoes. And baked asparagus with a yummy balsalmic soy sauce drizzle. Asparagus is one thing James will never try he says. Never. ha ha.
Oh, and I didnt get a photo of it, but he also made Chocolate Earth Balls, which were yummy cookie dough like balls made from peanut butter, honey and cocoa powder. So good!
I know this all may sound really simple to most, but for us its huge. Like life changing huge. Im so proud of James. I hope this leads us into a new direction with food together. And I hope it gradually gets a bit more on the healthy side and not so much meat. But for now, Ill take it! James got most of his recipes from Whole Foods website.
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