Day 249 giving up on dry dog food

As I said, Izzy's nighttime dog food is getting a light drizzle of broth.  Her morning food is getting a well-mixed spoonful of yogurt.  I'm tired of her looking like a dog pound refuge!

It's funny how the world turns.  In the move Julie and Julia, Julie concludes her story by saying that Julia taught her, most importantly, how to cook.

I had my own cooking conversion with Harriet Hands and her More Taste Than Money cookbook.  Harriet taught me neither how to cook nor what to cook, but why to cook.  My mother cooked every day, out of necessity--her hard work kept us healthy and nourished when we couldn't afford packaged dinners or carry-out.  And even if we could have afforded them, in those days packaged dinners and carry-out were low in protein, high in sugar and salt, and never featured fresh, nutritious vegetables.  Face it--McDonalds didn't used to have grilled chicken salads and maple nut oatmeal.  And have you ever looked at the nutritional composition of a Hungry Man TV dinner?

Now, with plenty of money and all sorts of options in the frozen food section, I don't have to cook to ensure my family has a decent meal.  When the kids were little, frozen chicken nuggets and steamed vegetables were the staples of our diet.  We cooked some, too, things that were fast and friendly and pretty decent nutritionally.  But now I could fill up my grocery cart with Stouffer's lasagne; Tai Pei instant stir fry; grilled fish and sauced vegetables.  The carryout options are endless and we can even afford to dine-in if we could just find the time.

So why do I feel a yearning to cook?

I think it was Harriet.  She's the one who showed me that for pennies more than my mother's menus--pork chops, fried potatoes, and cream-style corn--I could be making Oysters Johnny Reb, Chicken Pie, Mushroom cream omelet and Bean Sprout Melange.   Her recipes weren't fancy but they were always good and came from simple ingredients.  Flour and butter and sugar; not cake mix and instant pudding.  Garlic and onion and fresh lemon juice squeezed out of a lemon.  Her food didn't come in a box with cooking instructions.


Cooking at home, from scratch, was a necessity in my parent's generation and a luxury in mine.  What will it be in the next generation?