Dumpster Diving

I've been reminding The Scientist daily that I have been kicking ass at cooking and cleaning. I'm sure he's not commenting on his own because he just hasn't noticed how awesome I've been lately at taming the house and feeding the masses, right? Right? So, tonight I'm trying three new recipes. Seems a little extreme and risky even to me, so I'll walk you through my thought process here.

My personal theme for this year is REDUCE. I tackled the older fishies' room yesterday (aka- threw all the crap away that they are too non-OCD to toss on their own- isn't a little touch of obsessive compulsion good for the soul?). I'm not even done yet. It all has to be done while they are at school so they don't see that I am throwing away their collection of tiny, cheap, plastic reptiles that they forgot even existed, never played with anyway and have been in the outer pocket of one of the backpacks since 2004. Or the several decks of cards that put together may not equal 52. Or even 25 for that matter. That they don't know how to play any games with anyway. Or the small army men who have lost legs and heads and aren't played with (but heaven forbid they go to the great dumpster in the sky). I made them watch the Oprah last week with the woman who's house was packed with stuff and there was mold, etc. under all of it. Anyone see it? I told them to consider it a cautionary tale. The Scientist says I'm heartless. I say I'm practical.

I was getting to me here... I have waaaaay too many cookbooks. I have gotten rid of dozens and am down to my "favorite" say, 15. So, a few months ago I decided to pick a cookbook and work my way through it, trying any recipe that seemed remotely appealling and something my family would enjoy. If I find a winning recipe, I write it down, put it in the recipe box and keep going. When I'm done, I get rid of the cookbook. What a great idea is that, huh?! I'm currently working on Southern Living 1998. Tonight we're having: Shrimp-Crab Gumbo (I'm skeptical since I consider myself to make a mean gumbo, but this one seemed much faster to make so I'm willing to keep an open mind), carrot-raisin salad with orange-nutmeg dressing (hate, hate, hate carrot raisin salad, but again, keeping an open mind since the dressing sounded good) and some sort of pea salad.

Not the most cohesive combination of dishes tonight, but it's three knocked off the list. I just know that my family is going to be sooooo grateful for the work I'm doing today. The new recipes, the laundry, the shopping, the mopping, the straightening, the picking up and dropping off. They are going to be singing my praises all evening long. They'll be filling out the Mother/Wife of the Year applications first thing in the morning. Unless, of course, they look in the trashcans...