Making Dinner

For as long as I can remember and continuing today my mother has made dinner every night, 7 nights a week. We rarely if ever ate out, the exception being vacations. Being a chef I rarely if ever make planned dinners. After 20+ years of cooking for others I have fallen into some unhealthy and boring meals. Starting January 1, 2007 my personal challenge begins. Here's why I think I need to start making dinner.
1. It's healthier
2. It tastes better
3. I will save money
4. Planning before will save me time, anxiety, stress
5. I have a feeling taking the time to slow down and plan will help me in other areas of my life that need planning, commitment and follow through.
6. As a beginning food writer I need to love food again. As a chef I know the technical stuff, I need to bring back my passion for food.

I plan on designing the menu for the week on Sunday and prepare 5 meals a week. Because my husband is a chef he still enjoys cooking so Sunday is on him and Saturday is my free day. Giving serious thought to this scares me, it is a real challenge. I know most people do this without thinking or actually enjoy making food every night for their family. I want to enjoy this too. I hope to use part of my cookbook collection to find foods I used to love making and use this blog for recommending recipes, foods, easy, good for you dinners and maybe new food products. I will not rely heavily on convenience foods but try to keep dinners as simple as possible. Wish me luck!