Holiday Meals

Ok I am gonna be real here...I am finding myself dreading the whole holiday cooking. I don't even want to do it anymore. It's no fun to spend so much time cooking for so little reward. Am I selfish? Maybe... but why is it that nobody in the family understand. Why can't they help? Although I was always the one to prepare and host all holiday meals that it is different for me now. I don't even want to bother. I still do it of course, but do any of you feel sort of the same way? It just frustrates me... Thanks for listening. Trish

i think i enjoy cooking more now than before.. we always ate out and did the fast food thing or quick and easy stuff all of which was fattening. Now I actually research meals and make them the healthiest way I can. I dont making somehting different for them at all. the other night i made chicken almondie (?) it has pasta in it. so i made all of it first.. took some out for me than added the pasta for me.. it was so good and i felt like i was eating with the group. I dont feel left out. i love yams but last holiday I couldnt have them because of the brown sugar.. now I found spenda brown sugar. I made that yesterday and truthfully it was better than the real stuff. I just loved it.. so i had turkey, ham, yams, with everyone else. i just didnt eat the pastas and stuff.. i felt like part of the group. for snack i made strawberries with splenda and they had pumpkin pie. i even got a spoon of whipcream. it felt the same. now of course i dont get as much.. but because i chew so slow now, my little portions take as long as their 3 refills..lol... so I really enjoy it. Today I am making split pea soup and egg plant lagasuana.. egg plant instead of noodles.. it is great.. and I get to participate. cooking is a lot more fun for me now cause I have to look for better ways to eat instead of fast food and I get to also get my family to eat healthier as well.. I think its a win win for me. I did feell that way a few months back til i started looking for ways to include myself. Maybe that will help if you find some ways to make sure u are included in the meal. it doesnt matter how much you eat, but that you eat with everyone... good luck

I have never enjoyed cooking, lost its ambiance many many moons ago. now I insist that everyone bring a dish. down to the point that I write down what each family promises to bring. usually they bring two. we had a dinner for 30 two weeks ago, with 4 hours notice. I made two dishes and we had 2 for each family. there was some left overs, but not much. I do not mind making one or two dishes, but not a whole table, and that was one of the biggies is the shear amount of food that people eat, myself included when there is a smörgåsbord's! it is just obscene. last christmas, we had holidays in a motel and we ended up with too much then, and I was pointedly explicit, only one dish per family, which still was too much food. for some reason they must have thought we would all starve to death, being 20 yards from McDonalds. kat

I completely and totally agree with you here! I used to LOVE to cook big huge meals and I'd spent days planning what I wanted to serve. But now I don't even want to bother. I'm not going to eat most of it, so it takes a lot of the enjoyment out of it for me. I'm finding it easier to have people "potluck" the items and that way I can bring something I know I can eat that is safe for me. Plus, then I don't get stuck cooking a ton of things I can't eat anyway. I used to love to bake and I haven't really baked anything in a year. But I'm finding I don't even miss it! It's kind of a nice change of pace! Deanna

that is just the most beautiful picture of you Dee, so flattering you look ALOT like Heather Locklear, without the knocked knees! ANDI

I feel the same way sugar, what a waste of time! I love going out to eat now because i savour my food and i have it for breakfast or lunch the next day YUM. They don't help because you dont' ask them to, most people won't say no if you tell them point blank i can't do the whole meal anymore you'll need to bring a potato side dish, pasta side dish, rice side dish, bring the garden salad, the vegggies....something so you don't have to. Hugs, ANDI

Me too, I have been ordering everything... Lots from the honey baked ham store...