Culinary Delights

I used to be a fairly decent cook. Not gourmet, mind you. But I knew my way around a kitchen and enjoyed taking miscellaneous foodstuffs and making something tasty. Growing up the oldest of 8 kids, I learned early how to feed lots of hungry mouths. Lasagna for 15? I'm your girl. From scratch spaghetti sauce for an army? Not a problem. For two? You'd better be ready to eat it for the next month.

Over the last few years I've gotten out of the habit of cooking. I'd make a meal; the kids would want something different. Or they'd be gone - at college or a friend's or whatever. I think the death knell sounded when Dick became lactose intolerant. I grew up making casseroles and one-dish meals - anything to stretch the basic ingredients so they'd feed more people. I was never a meat & potatoes kind of cook. If I couldn't put cheese in it or toss on a cream-based sauce, I was at a loss.

So Dick took over a lot of the cooking. We eat a lot more roasted chicken now - especially when avocados are in season. (Chicken with avocado & salsa. Yum!) He's adjusted fairly well to the lack of milk in his diet, especially after he found a lactose-free milk that actually tasted good on cereal. But the one thing he really missed, that made lactose intolerance intolerable, was chocolate milkshakes.

Until now. Lactose-free milk + lactose-free ice cream + dark chocolate syrup + blender = delicious, pain-free, better than In-N-Out, chocolate shakes. I'm pretty pleased with myself for cooking this one up.

Yarn Tails Tags:Cooking, epscraps