Can I Get a Yum-Yum?

I'm just going to be honest- I really enjoy food. I mean, REALLY enjoy food. Who doesn't, right? Well, my beyond picky eater of a husband does not. Now, I don't mean that he doesn't like food or doesn't eat it often. What I mean is that he doesn't enjoy it. This may sound a little far fetched so let me give you an example. When I eat something that is really good, everyone around me knows it. Anyone else tend to say - "OOOHHHH, this is so good!!" over and over or make other grunts and noises while inhaling, I mean, eating? Yeah, wives, if your husband does this, be very grateful! Every time we eat, no matter how good the food is, I have to stare at Chase for a long time to finally get a plain ol', monotone "it's good" out of him. So I always have to say, "Make it again good, or it's just okay good?". And if it is "make it again good", he will respond still with no inflection in his voice that shows whether he truly likes it or not. Come on now! Don't you know that every woman who takes the time to cook something really wants to hear how amazing and satisfying you think it is?! It makes us feel good! I'm sure some of you may be saying, "Kristin, it's just plain and simple. Your food must just stink, and Chase doesn't want to hurt your feelings". To which I will say, come over for dinner.

So after many a meal of frustration and after Chase finally cooked a meal for the first or second time ever in his life (my Mother's Day filet from previous post), and I gawked all over it, I lashed out. I wanted to know why he can't ever comment or act like he really likes anything I ever make. Nothing. To which his reply verbatim- "I just don't enjoy food as much as you do". Say wha?? You don't enjoy food?! That is just unfathomable, incomprehensible, inconceivable. Absolutely ludicrous. It makes NO SENSE AT ALL. But then I started thinking. Even when we go out to eat and he gets some ribs or steak or some other man meat that he always gets, he never comments about it or makes satisfied noises when he eats it. Yet, he must like it because he always orders it. Good gracious, some how he actually does not enjoy food. But then again, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. This is coming from a man who refuses to eat a single fruit or vegetable in any form (corn and potatoes are NOT vegetables!). He will never appreciate a juicy, ripe watermelon or the deliciousness of steamed broccoli with a little dab of butter and lemon juice or the heaven of roasted zucchini with a little parmesan sprinkled on top. Which are all amazing. I'm salivating just thinking about them. 

But, I guess there really is nothing I can do about that. I mean, how can you make someone enjoy food? It's just a sad, sad life, and his loss (and my frustration). It's a good thing that so far, the boys seem to be more like myself when it comes to enjoying food. Hopefully, they will comment on my food as they grow and make me feel appreciated. 

Now, as this post gets rather long, let me just say that as much as I enjoy food, I am in no way a food snob, but I also would not just enjoy whatever random thing was put on my plate. I am a lover of all things homemade. That doesn't mean I don't enjoy a good boxed brownie mix (because technically I have yet to eat a made from scratch brownie that is even close to the fudgey goodness of a boxed brownie), I just very much prefer a good home cooked meal to anything frozen or preservative-ized or picked up from a window. That also doesn't mean I make my own everything homemade. I'm talking mainly meals. And I'm not all healthy-fied (I should make my own dictionary) with my cooking, either. If my chicken paprika calls for some sour cream, I'm going to add me some sour cream. And I definitely will not shun white rice. (Except cream of whatever soup, I mostly shun that except for very few recipes). I'm just trying to make good, wholesome meals for my family. I'm not going to get all sugar-free, vegan, no carbs, etc. All things in moderation. 

As of late, I've been trying to learn how to make all kinds of bread goodness. Because, let's not deny, bread is the ultimate comfort food. For some reason, anything dealing with the words 'yeast' and 'rising' and 'not too much flour because it will be dry' has always intimidated me. How am I supposed to know if this is too much flour?! Well, slowly, but surely, I have begun to figure it all out. And let me just say, it is DE-licious. 

Here are a few delicacies we've begun to enjoy at our house here and there (no critiquing, I'm still learning with the breads):

Need to better learn the technique for rolling them tightly, but these babies slathering in cream cheese icing are divine.

Wheat french bread rolls

Oh. my. mother. These are uhhh-mazing. Cheese Rolls with Buttery Parmesan Crust. Cheese inside a roll. Cheese inside a roll! With a yummy breadcrumb topping! I'm speechless.

Close up of the beloved cheese roll

More cheese and bread for you. I have been searching for the best (and easiest) pizza dough recipe for a really long time, and about a year and a half ago, I finally found it.This is what gave me a little more confidence to try other breads.

My ultimate favorite thing to make is, duh, dessert. And my ultimate favorite dessert of all time ever since I was a wee bratty child is cheesecake. I love cheesecake so much that I almost had a cheesecake wedding cake (until the practice one didn't turn out so well because it cannot be easily stacked without becoming a huge pile of mush and for some reason I really wanted a stacked cake. So I forewent the cheesecake wedding cake. That was dumb.). So, I've been trying to perfect my cheesecake baking for the past 6 years. Nowhere near perfect, but getting better. Here are a couple goodies:

Brownie Mosaic Cheesecake. No words describe..

Inside of Brownie Mosaic. Still no words describe..

I made this Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake a couple years back for Easter. I made it again for the Scout Spaghetti dinner at church to be auctioned off last month. This picture was taken before I decided to just completely cover the top with the ganache and add some cookie dough balls for decoration. Thanks to my MIL (she appreciates my cooking), it went for $50! Good thing it stayed in the family, because when cutting into it to share a piece, it was not done setting up at all! Mortified! Another day in the fridge, and it was perfect. You can't rush the chilling of a cheesecake.

Other cheesecakes I make on occasion- Pumpkin, Chocolate and Vanilla Swirl, Plain, and still working on finding the best Oreo recipe.

Isn't she a beauty?? Chase used his credit card points to buy me a bigger and better mixer for our anniversary. Maybe that is his way of telling me he likes my food...

It's really not about being a good cook, it's about finding good recipes and just being able to follow them. A lot of my best recipes come from the cooking blog - Mel's Kitchen Cafe. If you don't already know about it, check it out. If you are also a food lover and have any recipe or other blog suggestions, I would love it if you shared with me!

I may not be the world's best cook, but I keep trying. And I try because I love food that much.