What to do (or Not) When You're in a Cooking Slump

Monday: have an evening appointment that ensures you leave the house at 4:30 but that you don't arrive home until 6:30. Then your husband can "take care" of dinner (ie, grab fast food) with your daughter.

Tuesday: put off even thinking about dinner by cleaning the living room and vacuuming the house. Get so hungry from all the work that you decide to just get a pizza from Little Caesars and call it a night.

Wednesday: when it comes time to make dinner, putter around the kitchen. Fill the salt shaker. Do the dishes. Open and shut All The Things that open and shut to see if anything new materializes (oddly, it doesn't). Finally, cook the last little bit of white rice that is left in the cupboard and use the fifteen minute cooking time to think of something else to go with it. Settle on scrambled eggs with leftover sauteed vegetables. 

Thursday: on the way home from church last night, your husband announced that he would take care of dinner. What that really means is that someone gave him steak, and that he needs you to make the rest of the dinner. Break down and write a menu for the remaining days of the week and a shopping list to go with it. Take your daughter out for bagels for breakfast because yesterday you had eggs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and you can't stomach the thought of having them for breakfast today.

Even though you went shopping early in the day, come up with an errand to run right when you should be scrubbing potatoes to throw in the oven. Then you can come home from your errand and wait a bit to get those potatoes ready, so that dinner can be at 7 pm. 

Friday: have impromptu company, and be excited about cooking dinner for the first time all week. Be glad that shopping was done yesterday and that you actually have something to prepare! Think to yourself that your cooking slump is finally had better be over, and hope that next week goes much, much better!