CONFIDENCE

Now there's a word, right?  Confidence.  Occurs naturally for some (way too much so for some), needs practice for some, and can be horribly elusive for lots and lots of people.  Especially women!  And especially in the kitchen.  Trying a new recipe, trying a new food your husband or kids might hate, and trying your hand at something you have deemed impossible or too time-consuming - those things can all zap our confidence in the kitchen.  So then we boil up a big pot of pasta, dump on a jar of spaghetti sauce, and call it dinner.  AGAIN.

Walk to you kitchen right now, put your hands on your hips and stick one of those hips out.  Grab a wooden spoon for a prop - it'll be helpful.  Now put a little backbone into your voice, wave that spoon and look around your kitchen.  Repeat after me:  "This is my kitchen.  I am the queen of this domain.  These are my appliances, my knives, my spoons.  This is my pantry, my fridge, my salt and my pepper.  I am IN CHARGE here and I am going to use ALL of this to the great pleasure and joy of myself AND my family!"

Now sit down before you feel too foolish. 

Seriously, moms (and dads and teens and grannies)!  You can make small changes that will affect your confidence in very large ways.  You can try just one new thing each week and still come out ahead.  Plan your meals, make your shopping lists, find recipes here at Sassy Family Gourmet, and even dust off your cookbooks that look so pretty on your shelf. 

So if you're in the spaghetti-pork chop-hamburger-casserole-fish sticks rut - take a breath and believe that you can get your family out of it.  You can cook a beautiful roast chicken (even though those rotisserie ones from the grocery store are soooo easy and soooo good), and you can surround that roast chicken with herbs and mushrooms and little finerling potatoes and lovely glazed carrots.  And you can make a simple pan gravy or sauce from all the goodness leftover and your family will sigh and gobble and rise up and call you blessed!

In the future I plan to write about things like meal planning, list making, pantry-stocking, equipment, figuring out what side dishes to serve to round out a simple meal.  I'll probably preach a bit about ingredients and horrify you with words like butter, salt, wine, cream, sugar and bacon (mmmmmmm, bacon!).  I hope to show you that good ingredients and products are completely worth their price and that you can save money in many ways to make it all worth it.

I'm just a regular mom, honestly.  I live in the suburbs, home school my six children, wish I didn't have a muffin top over my jeans, and I even serve frozen pizza often.  Some of my kids are picky.  My husband is a gem who loves my cooking.

I'll leave you today with my meal plan for the week.  Have a great day, and be confident and sassy in your kitchen!

Monday:  Turkey Soup (made from Sunday leftovers!), Homemade Biscuits, Green Salad
Tuesday:  Crock Pot Garlic Beef Roast, Steamed Broccoli with Lemon and Herbs, Mashed Potatoes, Salad
Wednesday:  Spaghetti with Homemade Meatballs and Sauce, Baguettes, Wedge of Iceberg and Tomato Salad (my parents are coming for dinner, Dad's favorite meal!)
Thursday:  Salmon Patties, Wild-Brown Rice Pilaf, Green Beans
Friday:  Pizza (ordering it from local place, treat cause hubby's out of town)
Saturday:  We'll be at a wedding
Sunday:  Roast Chicken (two of them!), Butternut Squash Soup, Caesar Salad