I understand your "pain"! That's why I'm glad for the change of the seasons, you have a whole new ingredient list and recipes that you use for each season.

The warming foods of winter (soup, stew, root vegetables, beans, cooked cereal/oatmeal, etc.) all give way to a whole new list with the coming of spring.

By the end of March I'll have fresh leaf lettuce, spinach, and turnip greens, parsley and chives from the garden.

So hold on, Spring can't be THAT far off (although we've got more snow forecast for the weekend....), and perhaps all you need is a Spring Tonic.

-Grainlady

I hear ya Khandi -- I'm also in a bit of a cooking rut... I've got a whole stack of recipes "to try" but nothing seems to be inspiring me. I'm just barely managing to keep to my one-new-recipe-a-week resolution, where there are other times of the year where I blow through tons of new recipes in a row... Oh well... I like grainlady's point about a new season bringing new ingredients and a new cooking mood...

Emily

My husband does most of the grocery shopping and the other three of us do most of the cooking but so often when presented with a blank list at the beginning of the week I'm not sure what we will cook later. He keeps our usual pantry items and things like carrots and potatoes stocked, but when something needs a fresh or unusual ingredient I won't have it if it wasn't on the list.

And sometimes I think about what to cook but forget to put one of the ingredients on the list - I planned on making aloo gobi so I put cauliflower on the list but forgot that it uses a bunch of cilantro. I ended up subbing adding coriander seeds instead of topping with fresh cilantro at the end. Still good but the fresh is better.

Sometimes on Sunday afternoon I'll sit down with a cup of (insert favorite beverage here) and my stack of "To Try" recipes. Pick out 2 or 3 and go through the ingredients to make your list. Double check the pantry items too, more than once I planned to bake bread and found I was low on flour.

Leave those recipes somewhere in plain sight. Make them!

I usually prioritize them by how fast fresh ingredients will spoil or by the available time I have.

Sometimes it takes me a week to make them, sometimes several, but at least when I'm ready, I have the ingredients.

And.........It was an enjoyable way to spend a few relaxing minutes with a cup of coffee (for me).

Or, you can just scroll through the WFD thread. That usually inspires something for me even if it's not a particular recipe.

Deanna

See, that's why I need to go back to making menus for the week, so I don't have to think about what I should be cooking after working all day, and then I don't want to walk the half mile to the store to get whatever I don't have.

Grainlady is right, though, a new season will bring new ingredients and new ideas, a refreshed point of view. All we gotta do is melt some of this snow....

Annie

Let's all go out to Dinner !!!
LOU

I second Lou's idea!
:)

Yep, Khandi. Happens to all of us at some point in time. I haven't posted on WFD in a good while simply because what I am making for dinner is less than inspiring these past few weeks. And of the couple of new recipes I've tried, well, the results have been less than stellar.

I think once I get back from my vacation and spring is just around the corner, I'll come up with some winning ideas again. But for now....nothing. I'm making chili tonight....whoopdeedoo.

Linda

Hey now Linda I'm making chili too and DH thinks it's a treat [whodathunk it when I've made tamarind-ginger chicken and chix oscar in the past week *sigh*]

But I completely understand the no-inspiration thing - usually happens at the end of a season for me. I'm all soup-stew-roasted-pot roasted-crocked out. I need spring fare already!!!

PS I need a 5th bedroom to accomodate all the pantry stuff I'd need to make whatever I want whenever I want - e.g. my pathetic butt had no beans, sauce, or toms for chili tonite...lalalalalaloser!

Wow, I'm feeling the same pain. My cupboards and freezer are full, very little meat though, and I'm completely uninspired to fix anything. I even went through the freezer and threw out the ready to heat items, didn't help me any. There was a reason why they were left over! Well, I do have a fresh head of cauliflower to inspire me.

Hi Lou, I'm game, where would you like to go and what would you like to have?

Beverly

Beverly: Anywhere and anything you like !!!
I think the whole forum should meet somewhere, like in a Hall and have a dinner.
That would be a real WFD winner.

Khandi:
I don't know what to tell you. I have the same problem.
I make portioned meals and freeze them. Then they sit in there for a while.
Think I'll start going to Mac Donald's. I heard that !!!

OK ! Who want's to start the WFD Dinner. When and Where ???

LOU

All this talk of chili made me hungry for it so that's what I cooked tonight. It may not be fancy but I think its a treat too. DDIL made corn bread to go with it - a double treat!

I like Lou's idea. :) I'm surprised there isn't an annual CF convention by now!

I have sort of a similar problem but with a twist -- I HATE cooking for one person, so I talk myself out of it and end up eating a limited range of things.

Khandi, I can certainly relate to what you say. When I get that way I usually turn to something very unhealthy and very tasty like a batch of queso dip and chips.
I can also relate to what Beanthere said. It pretty much sucks cooking for one but at the same time it's like fishing or playing golf. You get in the moment and the world goes away for awhile.
James

I only cook on weekends, if at all. I have a "to try" folder of recipes that I SOMETIMES go to for inspiration. I also do "potage de garbage" on the weekends, but I tell you, by Wed. or Thursday, and Friday g-d fobid, I am so sick of that soup! If I have a lot of root vegetables I often roast them up on a Sunday for the rest of the week too.

This weekend it's going to be cabbage soup, that squash pasta you posted, and hopefully some bread in the bread machine that Ohiomom sent me.

Hey Everyone:
James, Welcome to the " Cooking for One club "
I have a freezer full of meals for one or two.
It is a lot of preparation and then I don't even feel like looking in there.
Maybe it's the winter weather.
Beverly:
I'm free. How far are you from me, in Pa. ?
Beanthere:
looks like you and I are the only ones, going to the Convention.
Lou

Know whatcha mean. When I get like that, I usually do something so out of the ordinary, it shakes me up enough. Like I might have potato salad, ribs, spend an arm and a leg on some ok watermelon (it's being the spirit of things that matters here), the whole shebang for a 4th of July picnic! Flower and colors to carry out the theme too. Or if it was summer, I might do a thanksgiving theme, you get the picture. It could be as simple as breakfast for dinner, blueberry pancakes is my go-to on that one.

Or just go out to eat with Lou et al!