Fast Food

Prepared and fast foods have given us the time and freedom to see cooking as an art form - a form of creative expression.
- Jeff Smith

My, how meals have changed around here. The closer I got to the end of my pregnancy, the less I cooked - and now, with an 8-week old....I'm just now beginning to find myself in the kitchen for reasons more than grabbing a bottle of water or the pint of ice cream.

The only thing that has changed more than the types of food we're consuming is how we're consuming it. Dinners for us used to be extended affairs, full of conversation and multiple courses...leisurely taken in and enjoyed. These days we're lucky if we both sit down to eat at the same time, and I can't even count the number of hot meals we've had lately. There is something internal that babies must possess that allows them to sleep deeply right until you are ready to sit down to a meal.

I've tried to limit the amount of takeout and work on preparing meals in advance, taking advantage of naptimes to throw something in the slow cooker or using a brief 15 minute period of peace to get everything chopped/sliced/peeled/set out on the counter in the order it will be needed...but even so, it usually takes me about an hour and a half to make the easiest of dishes - and the results haven't been photo friendly.

I'm hoping to eventually find my balance between the changing table and the dinner table...but until I do, we can look forward to more stir fry, pasta, and other one-dish wonders.