Another Brilliant Idea

I have a personal weakness that I am acutely aware of: I like to eat. In fact, I like to eat very regularly. I do not, however, like to cook. I do like to eat what I cook and I like to occasionally bake yummy treats (only because I like to eat them) but cooking every day is just not something I enjoy. Consequently, I wind up eating a lot of take-out. This personal weakness has added to my waistline while depleting my budget -- both BAD consequences.

I am especially prone to eating take-out on days when I work. The last thing I want to do after working is come home to my mother's kitchen (or any kitchen) and cook dinner. When I think in advance I sometimes cheat by using my slow-cooker, but I rarely think that far in advance since my husband and I separated. I guess I got spoiled while we were together and I was able to go to the grocery every day. Ah, well. It was good while it lasted.

Problem 1: I do not like cooking every day yet cannot afford to eat out all the time.

I have another personal weakness. I detest leftovers. I do not think this is as much of a weakness as some people (who shall remain nameless) make it out to be, but it does compound my first weakness. With a distaste for leftovers, I need to either cook daily or buy my meals out. This is good for neither my budget or my waistline.

Problem 2: Leftovers are yucky.

In addition to both of the above, I am now down to cooking for only myself and my daughter. Neither one of us is a very big eater and most recipes make at least four servings. In fact, most of my recipes make considerably more than four servings because I cooked for a very hungry man for most of my adult life.

Now, whenever I use any of my old recipes, I need to cut all my ingredients in half...and I still wind up with leftovers, which I detest. The problem is, though, that cutting my recipes in half does not always work. Take lasagna for example. How does a person make even a smaller pan of lasagna without leaving leftovers? So should I only ever eat lasagna when I have guests? I think not.

Problem 3: My favorite recipes make too much food for every-day use.

So I had this Brilliant Idea to Solve my problems. I decided to try to come up with 30 different recipes, one for each day of a standard month. I will prepare the "guts" of the recipe in advance, then freeze (or somehow pre-package) what I have prepared into serving sized portions. Then on the day I want to eat, say, enchiladas, I will just pull out my enchilada "guts" and wrap them into a corn tortilla, pour a little sauce over top and bake. Voila! Fresh enchiladas with minimal cooking and no leftovers.

When I presented my Brilliant Idea to my daughter, who is well aware of my numerous weaknesses, she replied, "So let me get this straight. You want to make up a bunch of meals and freeze them so you can eat LEFTOVERS every night."

It was not a question. It was a statement. She is a very astute child. No matter. I am still convinced that my idea is Brilliant. My first Recipe will be posted soon after Superbowl XLV, this evening. I am making SOUR CREAM CHICKEN ENCHILADAS.