Friday, October 24, 2008

Dinner Rebellion

4:20. (p.m.) (perilously close to dinner time)

Dudes. I am totally having a dinner rebellion. I have no will or desire to cook dinner. All the good intentions to make healthy food for my family have been sucked out of my brain and I am left in a limp, coagulating puddle in the middle of the living room floor. About six inches from the Industrial Accident. (Do not ask about the Industrial Accident. I will enlighten you when I can do so without bursting into heart-wrenching sobs.)

Honestly, I had no idea that baking a batch of cranberry-white-chocolate-chip cookies would so completely sap my will to live. Cookies and gummy bears don't sound too bad for supper, do they? I think cookies qualify as a food group....they've got oatmeal in them, after all. And cranberries.

Fortunately, I have chili in the freezer and rotini in the cupboard. Chili-mac, anyone?

It's one of those nights when, if the economy (and therefore my hubby's job) weren't so perilously teetering and I weren't so freakishly adamant about not using credit cards, I would throw up my hands and cry, "Let's go out to eat!"

The fact that there is very little for vegetarian me to eat in any reasonably priced restaurant within reasonable driving distance would completely escape my tiny little mind until the moment in which I was confronted with The Menu. At which point I would remember that most restaurants' only concession to vegetarians is pasta with some mysterious white sauce and limp vegetables.

You'd think after being a vegetarian pretty much since I moved out of my parents' house, I would have figured this out by now...

So chili-mac it is! Or cookies and gummy bears. I'm putting it to the vote as soon as hubby gets home.

24 comments:

Hannah-san said...

I just had a bagel with cream cheese and half a tub of Haagen-Dazs for my dinner so dont feel too bad!

Jazz said...

That actually sounds pretty good...and I wouldn't even have to boil water to cook the macaroni...I wonder if I've got any ice cream around here...

Jazz said...

Please ignore my comment above. It was absolutely stupid. If I had ice cream around here, it would be gone because I would have eaten it...

Monica Cassani said...

honey,
you clearly don't live in the right town. Why don't you move on down to Asheville, where there are so many vegetarian options you might think you died and went to heaven!!

and you'd have me as a neighbor to boot! Like I said, heaven....

Jazz said...

Gianna,
Not only do I not live in the right town, but I do not have the right hair (fine, straight, boring, and a mousey brown, to boot), the right eyes (a hideous swamp colour, as opposed to "sapphire" or "azure" or even "emerald"), or the right trousers (don't even get me started on my wardrobe issues...). I am hopeless. Hopeless...

Monica Cassani said...

oh man,
what did I start???

You are perfectly fine!!

I do highly recommend coloring your hair though, I think it's good for the soul!!

iHanna said...

If you feel this low I think it's hubby's time to cook tonight?! Take care Jazz, and when you cook next make sure to freeze some meals for next time you feel like gum bears if your hubb can't help. ;-)

Annie said...

I feel like the economy has us frustrated in many areas, especilally going out to eat and feeling pressured about keeping jobs. It is at the very least discouraging if not depressing! I hope things get better for and that you give yourself a break. Annie

Immi said...

I can so relate to dinner rebellion. I'd vote for cookies and gummy bears.

Anonymous said...

Oh, man, I've been stuck in dinner rebellion for about two weeks! Part of it is the back pain I've been suffering for 2 months (I think I slipped a disk) and the knowledge of the pain that will ensue from slaving over the stove keeps me from wanting to even attempt dinner, but there's something beyond that. Maybe I've been in a rut, and so nothing I've been routinely cooking appeals to me anymore. Maybe I don't enjoy cooking as much as I used to. Or, maybe it's just that I'm tired of having to be the one to do it day in, day out, week after week, month after month, even on vacations.

I agree. It's time for The Chief to step up to the plate (so to speak). To sway him, I suggest serving the uncooked ingredients for your chili mac. If that doesn't give him the hint that you don't want to COOK, nothing will.

Jazz said...

Gianna--
Yeah, I think maybe it's time to colour my hair again. I used to wear it blue/black and spiky...and I had these really cool blue contact lenses...I shall consider a makeover...then I'd at least have the right hair and the right eyes! Can't do much about the town, though it would be pretty cool to be your neighbor!

Jazz said...

Hanna--
Freezing meals saved my butt that night--I had the chili in the freezer. Chili-mac worked great...I just couldn't bring myself to feed the kids gummy bears and cookies for dinner...although I'm sure they wouldn't have complained!

Jazz said...

Annie--
Yeah, the economy is sucking big time right now. I haven't even opened our 401K statements. Don't want to know. I think we should be stuffing our money under the mattress...it would be much safer there!

Jazz said...

Immi--
Cookies and gummy bears would have won if the kids had their way! They liked the chili-mac, too, though.

Jazz said...

Heidelberg,
Yeah, can you see him confronted with a plate of canned tomatoes, dried black-eyed beans, and a can of chili powder? And maybe an ear of corn for the tortilla chips, and a cow for the cheese? Not sure how I'd fit the cow on the plate...maybe a small, plastic facsimilie would do...I shall have to consider this...

Aqua said...

Jazz: I have been having this exact same problem for months now. My husband has either taken to fending for himself, or even cooking for me, because I just can't do it. I am trying to accept the inability to do much as symptoms of my depression, but It is difficult not to feel guilty.

I say the gummy bears are a food group too (fruit and veggies)...they are made of fruit juice, No?

Anonymous said...

Wow, Jazz, you really opened up something here.

I just opened a container of Pacific Natural Foods Organic creamy butternet squash soup. I poured some in a bowl and microwaved it....it was great! I also put some potatoes in the oven and baked them. It was easy...just apply heat.

Anonymous said...

I don't understand while my little icon doesn't show up when I comment.

Tamara (TC) Staples said...

Jazz,

I can so relate to your restaurant conundrum. Not because I am vegetarian but because I am gluten free.

I also think something is in the air because I usually love, love, love to cook but lately it is torture and I would almost rather not eat than have to put a meal on the table. Whatever it is that is causing this I am trusting will blow over soon because I am getting sick of the same old quick meals over and over.

Can't wait to hear about the industrial accident.

Tamara

sbwrites said...

Dear Jazz,
Just got back into town, read your post, and wasn't sure whether to laugh or to cry! Glad you cooked the chili-mac rather than the gummy bears.

Perhaps, Gianna's right and the entire answer to the problem of cooking is to dye your hair! Did I miss something here?

Susan

Jazz said...

Aqua--
Well, if gummy bears aren't a food group, I say they should be. We should all write letters to our congressmen to this effect! Then we shall see the true power of bloggers on a mission.

Jazz said...

Naturalgal--
If only they would eat that sort of thing! I had a lovely butternut squash sitting on the counter that I could have done up with some potatoes and onions, a little thyme and sage, then sprinkle with fontina cheese...but they wouldn't touch it with a barge pole.

As for your icon showing up, I'm afraid you're asking the wrong gal! This morning it took me twenty minutes to figure out why my computer wouldn't boot up...then I found my son's geometry book CD in the drive...argh!

Jazz said...

Tamara--
I hope it blows over soon, too. I'm getting really tired of the same old stuff...unfortunately, I think in my case, things aren't going to get better until my kids move out!

Jazz said...

Susan,
Nope, you didn't miss anything. Dying one's hair is one of my more creative solutions to most existential crises...it works remarkably well...assuming, of course, that I don't have an Industrial Accident with the hair dye...