Cooking - my love/hate relationship

I love cooking- when I am not tired or cranky, when I have no plans, and when my whole family will be able to enjoy my efforts.

I hate cooking- when I am tired, cranky, recently home from work, there are no ingredients in the house, SweetPea, TallBoy or The Dude will not be able to sit down and eat it, or when I have a bajillion things to do.

I am not a great cook, either. I have about 10 real recipes I do well and a lot of "OK" ones. I try to find easy, fun recipes that my World's Pickiest Eater (TM) *aka TallBoy* will enjoy. On a budget. I could tear my hair out just with all of that.

Then there is the dreaded "what do you want for dinner" discussion.

NO one at my house has an opinion on any regular basis- so I get relegated to cooking whatever seems easiest at the time because I am too tired to THINK about cooking. And the wonder is, they eat it. Usually with a smile and "thank yous".

But baking, I always like. I always enjoy trying new breads, cookies, rolls, desserts or what have you. I don't know what my fascination with the oven is, but anything I put in it brings about a general soothing feeling and a sense of peace.

This weekend I made some biscuits and some "everything" cookies- a cookie without flour. SweetPea enjoyed them very much, and so did Fin. TallBoy did NOT like them - they had a large amount of oatmeal, which he hates. They are eaten now and I am planning my next baking brigade.

But not cooking.