This is why I don't cook

This post would be a lot more convincing (and disgusting) if I had taken a snapshot of tonight's dinner. You'll have to use your imagination because I just can't bear to go back to it.

I hate cooking. All that effort and time and you end up (well, I do) with something that never tastes or looks as good as you were hoping. I go through phases of trying to cook and learn to like it. It just never works. This week I picked out two recipes to make with the idea that each would serve for two night's dinners. I chose a low-fat lasagna and a chicken pot pie recipe. First up the lasagna. It subbed cottage cheese for ricotta and I accidentally bought the no-boil lasagna noodles. Let's just say the crunchy noodles and tasteless cottage cheese left a lot to be desired. The kids wouldn't touch it and ate cereal one night and an orange the next. Sigh.

Tonight, I tried the chicken pot pie. We walked in the door a little after 4 p.m. I turned on the tv for the girls and got my netbook out for the recipe. First of all, it called for cream cheese. Plus a half cup of chicken broth. The reviews said it was dry, so I dumped in the whole can of chicken broth. Which was 2 cups. Let's just say it was not dry. It also called for using baking mix for the topping/crust. Now, I had no clue what "baking mix" was and I accidentally grabbed biscuit mix. This is my problem. I never can seem to follow a recipe to a "t" - I either get the wrong ingredient, forget something or omit it on purpose as if I would know better than someone who actually writes recipes for a living.

So needless to say, the chicken pot pie was basically soup with bits of not-quite-melted cream cheese (oh yeah, because I bought the "light" cream cheese) and then topped with not-quite cooked through blobs of biscuit. It was as good as it sounds. The girls ate lettuce and cucumbers with ranch dressing for dinner. Sigh.

And by the time I'd done the prep/cooking/"eating"/cleanup, it was two hours later and our night was about over. And I hadn't even gotten to sit down. Can you blame me for hating cooking? I am not sure where to go from here. Can't afford a personal chef, don't want to rely on unhealthy takeout, but I'm seriously tired of my kitchen and making efforts for something that turns out disgusting. I think next week I will keep it basic and steer away from the casserole dishes. I'll stick with my tried and true meals like spaghetti with jarred sauce and already prepared meatballs. Or fish sticks and microwave mashed potatoes.

I know, you're jealous aren't you? Aren't my girls lucky? They'll never be fat.