I’m so with you on kitchen burnout. We came home from vaca on Saturday (during which I cooked dinner every night, only in someone else’s kitchen) and since then I’ve dug into my freezer stash of leftovers (twice) and tossed together an Asian Noodle Salad. That’s the extent of my cooking energy right now.

Poor baby. When I don’t feel like cooking…I don’t!! My husband is happy with eggs, bless his soul. Tonight I made a yellow squash southern casserole, w/ cream, eggs, an onion, a little cayenne, & cheddar. Fattening, but divine. I had a bunch of yellow squash from the CSA last week. This week I got lemon basil, among other things. Any ideas what to do with it? It smells divine.

How about chicken caesar salad? Grill the chicken, tear up some romaine, & improvise a dressing w/ anchovies and garlic. Easy, I think. It works for me when I don’t want to cook.

I definitely get into the cooking doldrums occasionally. But with two kids too small to fend for themselves in the kitchen I’ve gotta come up with something. I have a couple of go-to meals. Quesadillas are one- I always have whole wheat tortillas in the freezer and cheddar in the fridge. I add veggies if I’m feeling up to it. 😉 Pasta with broccoli, garlic and olive oil is another, because the broccoli can cook in the same pot of water as the pasta.

Oh, I’m totally with you. The weather is too nice to stay in the kitchen. I’ve been buying a lot of salad and sandwich fixings lately. We can just grab something out of the fridge on our way out fishing/gardening/traveling etc. Plus, it’s healthy, too.

i hear you. especially with the heat wave going on right now (i live on the north east) i dare not turn on the stove!

I’m tired of cooking too. I think it’s the heat that makes me feel this way — It’s unbelievably hot in Philadelphia. Days like these it’s time to defrost things I’ve saved in the freezer and to eat lots of salads. Store bought rotisserie chicken is pretty good to have too.

Oh god girl. It’s hot here too (97 today) and I was right where you are tonight. Too tired to cook.

So, we had BREAKFAST FOR DINNER, hooray! Two of the kids ate cornflakes and milk (fresh local raw cow’s milk) and James and the oldest and I had scrambled eggs with tomatoes and baby leeks and some herbs from the garden. (Quick to cook and yummy to eat). I also threw some stuff from the freezer in the blender with some ice to make a green smoothie (bananas, milk, kale, spinach, flax seeds).

GAZPACHO is the best to make when you are too tired to cook and it’s too hot (you throw it in the blender) but I couldn’t even bring myself to do that tonight…

I agree with you. When I get tired of cooking, I go to the Farmer’s Market and come up with some fresh stuff for salads. I also make easy stuff such as tuna, chicken or egg salad and put them on bakery fresh croissants. Sometimes easier is best.

Oh poor Brette! I get tired of cooking sometimes too. What I find inspires me is to open my fridge pick an ingredient that needs to be used up then do an internet search for something interesting. Half the fun I find with cooking is the recipe search 🙂 I’ll also do this by just looking in my spice rack and finding some obscure spice to work with.

How about trying some crafts, or canning? I could definately use some help with that!

Keep your chin up… we all get tired but eventually that food bug bites us again 🙂

Sounds good!

I love Caesar. So do the kids.

I use lemon basil the same way I use basil mostly. It’s nice if you want to do an Italian haddock (bread it and make kind of a bruscetta topping for it)

Coming home from vacation is the worst. You’re so tired, have no food in the house, but everyone needs to eat. Ugh.

Oh Brette! You poor thing. I don’t blame. You my stand in (always) is pasta. Mainly spaghetti with melted cheese eaten with lots of butter and ketchup. Not a great thing if you are dieting but for me it is the perfect comfort food – quick and tasty.
I hope the supermarket offers some suggestions.

Well I came home with some meal ideas. I bought figs though and have never eaten them or done anything with them, so I could use suggestions from anyone about what to do with those.

Fresh figs?? They’re not here in No. VA yet. My favorite thing to do with them is stuff them w/ goat cheese, wrap them in bacon, & broil. Heaven

Thanks. Are they very sweet?

Usually yes. I think you can dip them in brown sugar before you wrap them if they’re not sweet. I have a perfect recipe, I think from GOURMET.

I’m so with you. This week, I’d rather put my now transitioning to a bed daughter to sleep that cook dinner. Seriously, the hubby, for the first time in years, cooked dinner last night!

I’m going to have taste one to see what they taste like so I can figure out how I would like to serve them I guess, since I’ve never tasted one (other than in a Fig Newton!).

Whew! That’s quite a statement! And to get hubby to cook! Around here that would mean something from a can or spaghetti. Or takeout.

When it’s hot, leftovers come in so handy. Ward tends to do far more barbecuing when it’s hot, and we don’t always get all the food groups on the plate, either. But it fills us up, and that’s what counts!

Hi one more time! Guess what? I bought figs at Costco today, for $6.50 – a lot of them. I was so excited!! And they are really sweet, and large. I have a million fig recipes, so I’m starting on them tomorrow (unless we eat them all first). I’ll let you know if any of them work. Yay figs!!