Next Week: Gourmet Green Beans

My culinary skills have always left something to be desired. That's OK with me though as anytime I cook a nice dinner Chris is quick to thank me. Last week we had french toast for dinner. Twice. And we all loved it (mom was staying here). I guess that's just the family we are.

When we first moved to the mountains Caitlin and I would enjoy our afternoons together by walking along the railroad tracks and drinking a bottle of wine while the dogs would run wild. Then one of us would make dinner. By one of us, I mean 95% of the time, Caitlin would. 4% of the time I would make tacos, and the remaining 1% of the time I would whip up something that just sounded good. Most of the time, that would mean it had artichoke hearts in it. I didn't know this until recently, but my surprise dinners were given a nickname of "Jessica's Special" or something along those lines. Meaning, they are good for Jessica, and everyone else should grin and swallow.

Since I have started staying at home, I have found myself getting more and more interested in what we are eating. I have been visiting allrecipes dot com and going over the ratings and figuring out which ones I should try here at home. They have been a success and I think Chris gets slightly excited that we might start eating like grown ups by the time Austin is ready to leave the house. I like to think that I'm giving my future daughter in law (Bronwynn??) something to win over Austin with. If she isn't serving cereal, his heart will be hooked.

Recently Caitlin and Jen were coming over for dinner and I thought that this would be a great time to impress her and show her my new cooking abilities. Because I would be running around that day, it couldn't be something I had to prepare right THEN. Caitlin has a love for casseroles, so I turned to my trusty online tool and went in search of the perfect casserole. There was one that intrigued me. It had chicken, swiss cheese, some other stuff, stuffing, and you could add broccoli if you wanted. I wanted to. Though it was only rated by the person who posted it, she did give it 5 stars. Usually I go for things that are rated by over 100 people and score at least 4 stars, but I let this slide. They must REALLY like it if they are willing to score their own recipe a 5.

The smell was great. It had a good mixture, and I was sure I had chosen a winner. Looking back, I should have realized that a recipe that requires instant stuffing might not be what I would score a 5, but hey, I was in a hurry. I can now only imagine that the person who posted this recipe thinks that Chef Boy R D is a famous chef at a French restaurant and a bottle of Boone's will be the perfect accompaniment to a celebratory dinner. The dinner tasted like crap.

Now, not only will my dinners be referred to as a Jessica Special, people will now know that I go LOOKING for these types of recipes. At least the old dishes were spontaneous and creative. While analyzing my kitchen capabilities, it can be considered a good thing I have a baby. I have begun to make Austin's food at home, and there isn't much you can screw up when it comes to pureed bananas.