God Bless That Man!

By Fawn Weaver on Tuesday, November 1, 2011

I love my husband.  He’s the most wonderful, supportive and loving person I’ve ever known.  And I know he loves me if for no other reason than his enormous patience. 

When Keith and I married, I didn’t cook.  I knew how to cook (following a detailed recipe to the “T”) but just thought it was a big ole’ waste of time.  A few months into our marriage, I decided I wanted to make him a delicious dinner.  So many people gave me cookbooks as a wedding present (including Keith ) so I figured they must be trying to tell me something.

So I pulled out the cookbook with the most interesting cover, best colors and pictures throughout and decided that would be the day I’d cook for my honey.  The cookbook I chose…drumroll please…Emeril Lagasse’s, “From Emeril’s Kitchen.”  Couldn’t I have at least started off with the Betty Crocker book someone bought me?

Of course not, because I love a good challenge.  Which is also the reason I didn’t choose something simple like roasted chicken.  I had to try the Lamb & Feta Cheese Lasagna recipe.  Really?  Out of all the recipes to choose from I pick one that involves lightly roasted pine nuts, freshly chopped rosemary and oregano leaves and something I’d never heard of before that day, prosciutto.

So let me tell you how my cooking adventure went that day.  I got up with all the excitement in the world and pulled out Emeril’s cookbook.  I created my grocery list and headed to Gelson’s supermarket.

Tomato paste.  Check.  1 1/2 pounds of lamb.  Check.  1 pound of lasagna noodles.  Check.  1 pound of ricotta cheese and 6 ounces of feta cheese.  Check, check.  I was feeling good until I realized there were certain things on the list I simply couldn’t find at Gelson’s like the prosciutto.

So I headed to the second store, Vons, and continued my shopping.  Why couldn’t I find prosciutto there either?  Nowhere in the fresh produce section was prosciutto to be found (okay, stop laughing at me).  And why could I not find fresh rosemary or oregano leaves in the seasonings section?

Finally, I purchased all the groceries I could find and headed home to take inventory of what I still didn’t have.  28-ounce can of diced tomatoes in their juices.  Check.  Oh, wait…why does the recipe also call for a 14-ounce can of diced tomatoes?  Didn’t see that one.  But why didn’t the recipe just say I needed 42-ounces of diced tomatoes.  I was already starting not to like cooking and I hadn’t even fired up the oven yet.

But I wasn’t going to let anything keep me from preparing this special dinner I set out to make for my hubby, so I returned to the store — for the third time — to pick up the remaining items on my list.  Up and down the produce isle looking for the prosciutto, I finally broke down and asked the produce man where I could find it.  Looking a bit baffled he said, “Ma’am, the proscuitto is in the deli section.”  What would it be doing in the deli section, I thought to myself.

Ah ha!  Prosciutto is a meat not a vegetable.  Okay, one problem solved.  Now, about those lightly toasted pine nuts and fresh rosemary and oregano leaves.  After realizing the fresh leaves were in the produce section (not the seasoning isle) and the pine nuts would have to be purchased untoasted, I finally had everything I needed to begin cooking.

By now, it’s in the middle of the day and I’ve been shopping for ingredients in this one recipe for several hours.  So I begin to prep.  First, I needed to determine how to toast the pine nuts since that wasn’t in the recipe.  Do I put them in the oven or the skillet?  I decided toasting sounded like something I could do easily in a skillet.

Chopped the fresh leaves, cooked the lamb, boiled the noodles and began to pull everything together.  Somewhere in the midst of all this, Keith called to see how my day was going and boy did I give him an earful.  Not only did it take me three trips to the grocery store but now that I’ve prepped the food, there are literally pots, pans and dirty chopping boards all over the kitchen.  What a mess! 

Keith could hear the discouragement and frustration in my voice so he gave me a gentle “I love you” and I got back to cooking.  After an hour or so of prepping came the moment of triumph.  I could finally layer all the ingredients into the 9″ square glass pan and exclaim “Victory!”  Then I looked at the dish and thought, “All that for this tiny amount of food?” 

Nonetheless, I was finally done and could put the lasagna into the preheated oven (at least I knew how to preheat an oven :) ) for 50 minutes.  Halfway through the baking, and in the middle of me cleaning two sinks full of dishes, Keith returned home with a beautiful bouquet of white roses.  I thought, “God bless that man!”

The end of the story is the lasagna came out and was one of the tastiest either of us have had and it all seemed worth it.  Sort of.  Keith swears that experience traumatized me because it took me another 5 years or so to even attempt to make another recipe and even then I’d make the same recipe over and over and over again.

When my sisters and I were growing up, my mom was similar in that she only cooked a few meals.  Oddly enough, Keith’s mom was the exact same way.  Now, both my mom and his mom are two of the best cooks around but neither of them really learned to cook until we were grown.  Thus, I never found cooking to be important.  The funny thing is once my mom learned to cook, she wrote a book entitled, ”God is in the Kitchen Too,” containing all of her favorite recipes.

Almost eight years after my first adventure into cooking for my new husband, I’ve probably cooked eight times (I know, I know) and although Keith teases me about it, he’s never made it a big deal.  Which is why I want to do something special and begin cooking for him on a weekly basis.  But I need your help!

I need really tasty recipes that don’t involve toasting or roasting anything in advance, no chopping fresh leaves and a simple recipe to follow.  Prep time and the ingredient list have to both be extremely short.  So I’m asking all of the readers of this blog to help me fall in love with cooking (or at least to like it a little more).

Do you have a recipe your family absolutely raves about but is so simple to make it astonishes you how much they love it?  Great!  That’s the recipe I’m looking for :) .  I’m hosting a contest over the next two weeks.  If you’ll send me your recipe, you’ll be automatically entered to win a $25 gift card of your choice for Starbucks, Barnes & Noble or Amazon.  The drawing is completely random, automated and done through a third party site.  Just post your recipe here in the comments section and then click on this link to enter your full name and email address so I can contact you in two weeks if you’re the winner.

I’m so stoked about this.  After 8 years of takeout, I’m going to battle the kitchen again but this time I’m determined to win!

Until tomorrow…make it a great day!

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Fawn Weaver is the USA Today® and New York Times® bestselling author of Happy Wives Club: One Woman's Worldwide Search for the Secrets of a Great Marriage, adopting the same name as the Club she founded in 2010. The Happy Wives Club community has grown to include more than 900,000 women in over 110 countries around the world. When she’s not blogging or working on her next project, she's happily doting over her husband of nearly eleven years, Keith.

 

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  • Fawn

    Hi Everyone,

    Don't forget to post your recipes here so everyone can see them. I'm sure I'm not the only happy wife out there getting takeout. Let's share the wealth of knowledge (and tasty recipes :) ). Thanks a bunch!

    Fawn

  • Suzi Strickland

    Here's one of my favorite recipes….

    Maple Glazed Salmon

    1/4 cup pure maple syrup
    3 tablespoons reduced/low sodium soy sauce
    1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
    2 tablespoons olive oil
    4 skinless salmon fillets

    In a shallow dish or a ziploc bag, combine syrup, soy sauce and red pepper flakes. Add salmon to coat then set aside (no particular time but can marinate for a few hours if needed). In a large non-stick skillet, heat olive oil. Add salmon to skillet, reserving maple marinade. Cook unitl deep brown, about 4 to 6 mins. Turn over fillets; cover and cook until opaque in center. Another alternative to cook: brown salmon on both sides then put salmon in a baking dish or keep in stainless steel skillet then put in oven at 350 degrees for 15-20 mins (depending on thickness of salmon). While salmon is cooking, in small saucepan, heat remaining marinade until reduced. Keep under low heat. Sauce will thicken slightly but watch over it so it doesn't burn. Once salmon is done, you can drizzle sauce over it. If salmon is already in a baking dish, you can pour all the sauce over salmon.

    You can increase the ingredients if you have more salmon. I serve this with Sauteed Spinach with Garlic.

    Enjoy!!!

  • Amanda

    I have 2 simple recipes for you. Both can be made in the crock pot and LOVED by my husband. Her you go!

    Lime Chicken Tacos
    1.5 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts
    3 Tbl. lime juice (fresh or bottled)
    1 Tbl. chili powder
    1 cup frozen corn
    1 cup salsa

    Place chicken breasts in slow cooker. In small bowl, mix lime juice and chili powder. Pour over chicken. Cook on low 6-8 hours. Remove chicken from crock pot; shred. Add chicken back to crock pot along with corn and salsa. Heat until warmed through. (Doesn't take long.) Serve in tortillas with your favorite taco fixins.

    Pepperoncini Beef
    2 lb beef roast (I usually just get whatever is cheapest)
    1 jar sliced pepperoncinis (16 oz., in the pickle aisle, look for mild if you don't want spice!)
    1 cup beef broth
    Salt and pepper

    Place roast in crock pot. Pour 1/2 jar of peppers over beef. Add in a little pepper juice–I use about 1/2 of the juice. Add beef broth. Sprinkle the roast w/ salt and pepper. Cook on low 4-6 hours. Remove roast from crock pot; shred, removing any fatty bits. Add back to crock pot. Serve on toasted buns with provolone cheese.

  • Shay James

    BBQ Chicken Breasts
    Season Chicken breasts with salt and pepper
    coat with olive oil
    Pan Sear for 4 minutes on each side
    coat with your favorite bbq sauce
    serve with steamed mixed veggies"

  • Fawn Weaver

    Thanks, Shay, Suzi and Amanda! Amanda, I'm going to start with your recipes because they're in a crock pot and you'll see on my blog post from Friday that I've officially fallen in love with the crock pot :) . But I look forward to trying ALL the recipes posted here. Thanks all! You rock.

  • Kita

    Try this one day. It's one of the ways to a man's heart ♥! (Make rice with it… yum)…

    Beef and Broccoli Stir-Fry

    Servings: 4

    12 oz (375 g) flank marinating steak, thinly sliced across the grain
    3 tbsp (50 mL) oyster sauce
    4 cups (1 L) broccoli florets (about 2 stalks)
    2 cloves garlic, minced
    1 tbsp (15 mL) minced gingerroot

    Sprinkle beef with 1/4 tsp (1 mL) pepper; set aside.

    In small bowl, whisk together 3/4 cup (175 mL) water, oyster sauce and 1 tbsp (15 mL) cornstarch; set aside.

    In wok or skillet, heat 1 tbsp (15 mL) vegetable oil over medium-high heat; stir-fry beef until browned but still pink inside, about 3 minutes. Transfer to plate.

    Add 1 tbsp (15 mL) vegetable oil to wok; stir-fry broccoli florets, garlic and ginger for 1 minute. Cover and steam for 2 minutes.

    Return beef and any accumulated juices to wok. Add oyster sauce mixture; stir-fry until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes.

    Tips:
    If you can't find flank steak at the supermarket or butcher shop, thinly slice top sirloin grilling steak across the grain. Or use the beef stir-fry strips available at the meat counter. Serve this stir-fry with Asian rice noodles. Naturally gluten-free, they are available in a range of thicknesses and widths, are very quick to prepare and are a great alternative to rice.

    Find over 8,000 more Tested Till Perfect recipes at CanadianLiving.com. This recipe can be found at: from http://www.cbc.ca/bestrecipes/2010/04/beef-and-broccoli-stir-fry.html.

  • Fawn Weaver

    Thanks, Kita! I will definitely be testing this one out. If only I could figure out how to make stir fry in a slow cooker. Just kidding! I know the crock pot will only get my halfway to being a real "cook" and I'll have to eventually move to the stove… :)

  • Tricia

    Mom's Tortellini Soup
    2 bags of frozen tortellini (cheese or meat or both!)
    1 box frozen chopped spinach
    2 48oz cans of low sodium chicken broth

    Pour contents of both cans of broth into soup pot.
    Add frozen tortellini and frozen spinach to broth.
    Boil until tortellini is cooked.

    Served topped with grated cheese.

    One of our favorite quickie dinners!

  • Fawn Weaver

    Thanks, Tricia! I may try this one this weekend. That sounds delicious!

  • JSW

    Turkey Chili

    1 lb ground turkey
    1- 15 oz can of Pinto Beans
    1- 15 ox can of Diced Tomato
    1- 15 oz can of Tomato Sauce
    1- packet of Chili Powder

    Simply brown the turkey and all the other ingredients- BAM!
    Takes 15 minutes

    Extras to add to your warm bowl of chili:
    Sour cream
    Chives
    Cheese
    Diced onions

  • Ty V.

    "Tuscan white Bean Soup

    1package of Zuppa Joscana tuscan White Bean soup( found in any grocery store)
    1 half rotisserie chicken chopped
    half cup of frozen corn (Trader Joes preferred)
    1 zucchini cut in 4's
    1 yellow squash cut in 4's
    1 can of white beans rinsed well
    half cup of chopped spinach (optional)

    There it is, straight from my kitchen. My husband loves it with crackers. Healthy, delicious, and easy!"

  • Fawn Weaver

    Thanks, Launi & Ty! Two recipes I look forward to trying soon :) .

  • Fawn Weaver

    I just saw this recipe on another blog, Before I Kick the Bucket, and had to borrow it. She borrowed it from another blog and both said this simple recipe was delicious!

    Ingredients:
    1.5 lbs of meat
    Can of pinto beans
    Can of black Beans
    Can of kidney beans
    Can of corn
    Can of diced tomatoes
    Ranch seasoning packet
    taco seasoning packet

    How to make (so simple!):
    1. Empty all canned goods into crock pot or slow cooker
    2.Brown meat
    3.Drain meat and insert into crock pot with ranch and taco season packets (make sure to open them and pour the contents out into the crock pot)
    4. Cook on either HIGH for 3 hours, or LOW for 5 hours.
    5.Dish out, put some sour cream in there and enjoy

  • Alicia Street

    I know this is funny it tickled me to read. I personally did not have the same testimony but I can remember making something that my husband hated and it hurt my wittle feelings. Thanks for sharing I am sure you 're a wonderful cook now. Happy Happy

  • Fawn Weaver

    Yes, Alicia, I'm a much better cook now. Thank goodness! Happy Happy New Year to you, as well!