Cheryl, I often get that response from my husband too..and then I will make something I want..that I know he'd prefer not to have..lol...I cater to the guys most of the time.. Kamren was just looking over my list and said I like #12 the best..What's that? Patty Melt..lol..he even likes his with a bit of basalmic grilled onions! He's a foodie..that one..appreciates flavors! He wants to be a chef..we have a highly accredited Culinary Program at our High School..he is so excited to start taking the classes next year. Yes, I will be happy to share the recipes..now mind you Ellen, the two you requested are not tried and true in my kitchen yet..they've been on my to do list for a while..and I jumped in this time around. Almost all the recipes are pinned at Dinner Plans on my Pinterest. TerriM or terri_memos Baked Cauliflower Broccoli Cheddar Cashew Chicken I have made the Broccoli Chicken that is pinned and we loved it..the chicken fat left on the thighs melt away by the time the dish is served..which is huge with my boys..they will pick apart a chicken thigh and eat very little usually.

Shaun got it right! If you are home with little ones and have a fair-sized freezer or separate freezer, you can make plenty of meals ahead by just making a big batch of a recipe each time you cook. Ideas: "Dump" chicken recipes - you mix chicken pieces with various marinades, "dump" it all in a heavy freezer zip bag, put it in the freezer. When you want to have chicken for dinner, pull it out a day or two before, let thaw in the frig, put in a baking dish and bake. Meatballs - I use the Freezer Stash Meatball recipe, make several dozen, bake them on a cookie sheet, drain on paper towels, let cool, flash freeze them on a clean baking sheet, put in freezer weight zip bags. When you want meatballs for dinner, you pull out enough for your family, simmer in red sauce for meatballs and spaghetti, or meatball sandwiches, make a pot of soup and add meatballs, simmer in a mushroom sauce, serve over noodles, etc. Chicken off the bone - boil a couple of chickens in a big pot, cool, pull meat off the bones, make some favorite chicken casseroles, put some in the freezer, have one for dinner that same night. Mexican Meat Mix - cook several pounds of hamburger, drain fat off, season with taco seasoning packages, simmer, cool, pack in containers for tacos, burritos, mexican pizza etc. The concept can be taken further and is called Once a Month Cooking - you cook for one day (a marathon session) and eat for the rest of the month. But you can do mini sessions as I have described. Just do a Google search for OAMC recipes and you will find tons of information. Here is a link to a OAMC Hamburger Plan. Click on the set of pages provided down the article and you will find the Freezer Stash Meatball recipe. You can also Google "Recipe Dump Chicken." Here is a link: Dump Chicken Teresa Here is a link that might be useful: OAMC Hamburger plan

Thanks for all the great feedback and warm welcomes, everyone! I'm really excited to hear from other large families, too, because you guys get how important function is (not that the rest of you don't, but we are definitely in a different category than families with 2.1 children!) ;o) Regarding the refrigeration questions, I forgot to mention this in my OP, but we are keeping our current refrigerator (a 5 year old wide-by-side - 27 cubic feet) and will be getting a deep freeze. They'll be kept in the basement in a secondary kitchen/laundry area. It won't be the most convenient, but especially at times like holidays, I'll have the space I need for everything. We're also considering an under-cabinet fridge which would just be for milk. I'd love refrigerator drawers, but I don't think I can carve any more out of our budget. I've gotten really good at weekly menu planning and I basically buy just whatever we need for that week's meals, but I always have to make mid-week milk runs. Our big new pantry and the spare refrigeration will mostly be there to help me take advantage of good deals and buy loads of milk! Plus, we have a large storage room in our basement that's entirely devoted to food storage. acountryfarm - I would LOVE to see pictures of your kitchen! Do you have them posted somewhere? rhome410 - thanks for offering to help with the 3Ds. I would be happy to pay you something for your time. We live in a very rural area, and the nearest kitchen designers are 2 hours from here. We could have gone to the local building center, but didn't feel good about having them do all the work when we weren't buying our cabinets from them. I will email you what I have. rmkitchen - we were looking at your kitchen the other night, and I guess I should confess I'm totally stealing your Roomba garage idea. ;o) That's just too cool! Your kitchen is beautiful. And cosmo_nj - one day at a time! :oD The funny thing is, I used to say I didn't want kids. It was a HUGE deal for us to decide to have a third child, and we always say that it was the fact that #3 turned out to be twins that led us down this road. After they were born, we adopted 8 more amazing children. :o) It's wild, but lots of fun!

Autumn, I don't think you need cooking classes. I never knew how to cook anything until I moved out of the house. My mom was seriously OCD and wouldn't let us in the kitchen. I literally taught myself how to cook basics with a cookbook called "The I Never Cooked Before Cookbook". It explained everything. For example, when it told you to boil something, it had photos of what boiling water looks like. It had photos to explain the difference between chopping, slicing, dicing and mincing. It was incredibly helpful since I didn't even know how to anything. I think I could pour cereal and make taste. I had never even made cookies before. I'm certainly no gourmet cook but after familiarizing yourself with the basics, you can start throwing things together with some success without taking a class, imho. Like, after cooking a few Mexican dishes using recipes, you learn the basic ingredients, flavor profiles for sauces and seasonings, and then just start throwing things together using those basics in different ways. Using beans, rice, various hot sauces and seasonings often used in Mexican dishes, some chiles, and then a variety of vegetables, you can make sautes, soups, salads, casseroles, whatever using meat/fish/poultry as your protein or even the cheese (if you're vegetarian or want to do a vegetarian meal once in awhile) or the beans (ditto for vegan eating). When I do this, things might not be the least bit authentic to that cuisine, and I substitute a lot so I don't have to run to the store for something, but if you have a pantry of basics, it's not that hard to throw together something tasty. I hate grocery shopping so I do wish someone would do that for me. I sometimes send DH but he always gets some odd stuff and spends too much, lol. And I really don't like thinking up what to cook so I'll often have DH grab the protein out of the freezer. Whatever he grabs, I cook. Or I'll just reach in and close my eyes and grab something. Batch cooking does help. I often will cook up a big pot of rice (usually a wild/brown rice combo) and keep a container in the fridge to heat up as a side or throw in a soup or casserole. I do the same with dry beans, peas and bulgurs. I always have couscous and quinoa on hand because they cook up quick if I'm out of rice. So sides are easy. A variety of fresh veggies and a few bags in the freezer of Asian and California blends make it easy to throw a veggie side dish together. I buy cleaned/bagged salad mixes, mixed greens, and baby spinach making it quick and easy to put together for a salad or toss in the last few minutes of a stir-fry or saute. And multi-meal planning works well. If I make a roast, I save some for French Dip sandwiches the next night. Or I might boil up a chicken or two and use the breasts for stir-fry and the meat off the rest of it for chicken enchiladas or some other casserole or a soup. At least once a week dinner is my own Muscoe soup or casserole using the stuff that is starting to go but isn't bad enough to throw out. Thanks for that, bpathome, as I just call it Clean Out the Fridge Food. Muscoe sounds more purposeful. We don't eat out much. I can't see paying $20 for a meal that I can make for $5 at home. And I figure the time to go there, order, wait, eat, and go home takes longer than it does for me to cook and clean up. I don't have a cooking gene or special skills. I just decided to be fearless in the kitchen. Most things you make, if they don't turn out right, are salvageable somehow. The rare times it's not, the dog enjoys a treat. :) I think of it as a way to play.