Did you ever cook a meal

[hippywife]

that you worked on it so hard that you just couldn't sit down and enjoy it? I did fried chicken, homemade mashed potatoes, homemade biscuits and gravy, with frozen peas tonight. I couldn't eat for close to half an hour after I fed the husband. All I wanted to do is sit down and the thought of eating wasn't very appealing at all. I ended up eating half a chicken breast, a couple of bites of potatoes and a biscuit with butter and honey.

The gravy came out crappy. Pan cream gravy is just not my forte. x(

[yellerpup]

1. You're working too hard.

You haven't been in the pink of health lately and you are pushing yourself. That's why you're too tired to eat. Cream gravy is easy to make, but you need to make it last with that kind of meal -- after the chicken is draining on paper towels, after the potatoes have been mashed and set aside with the lid on and in that last ten minutes the biscuits are getting nicely browned on top. Gravy needs your full attention to come out great. Be good to yourself, hippywife. Try not to overdo. :hug:

[hippywife]

6. I have been feeling better

and I've been pretty lazy over the last week.

You're right about the gravy. I did it just before mashing the potatoes, which I did just before we ate. We never eat gravy so I'm very unpracticed at making it. It just sounded good for a change. Guess it's a good thing I don't make it very well. LOL

Thanx for being so very sweet, yeller. :hug:

[yellerpup]

11. Glad you're feeling better!

But, can't begin to imagine you being lazy. :eyes:

[hippywife]

12. Oh, Imagine it!

Coz I'm very, very lazy. I love to cook and bake but I despise housework! Especially in this house since it's no entirely finished yet and there is no place to put anything. Very frustrating to the point that I've come close to just not caring anymore.

[bicentennial_baby]

2. Too many times...

Sometimes, by the end of a multi-course/dish meal, I'm exhausted, or unhappy with part of it, and I don't eat it. I try to keep those episodes to a minimum.

:pals:

[hippywife]

7. Good advice, Bi Baby.

Luckily that's not hard to do around here since we usually eat pretty light and simply.

:hug:

[Longhorn]

3. Mostly it has happened to me at holiday meals

because that's about the only time I really cook. By the time I've scurried around for several hours getting everything ready -- even with the help of my family -- I find that I'm just not that interested in eating. I'm usually cured of this by the time the food is leftovers. ;)

[hippywife]

8. And they usually

do taste better left over, too, don't they? :hug:

[Stinky The Clown]

4. Hey you ......

:hug:

[hippywife]

9. Thanx, Stinky.

Cooking is wonderfully creative fun except when it's turned into drudgery trying to do too much at once.

:hug:

[grasswire]

5. sure

By the time I've got the meal on the table, I'm usually hot and sticky and would rather just go to my room with a glass of iced coffee and read. My idea of the perfect supper is a salad and a little omelet. If I were by myself, I would be happy as a clam at high tide with just that, night after night. And I'd never be sticky and hot.

But you and I and all those others who cook dinner night after night are making memories as well as meals and maybe that is the reward, eventually. I hope so.

I'm with ya.

[hippywife]

10. You're right, grasswire.

When I was single, I hardly ever went to the grocery. Ate out almost all the time with my friends or had something really simple and easy at home just to quell the hunger.

And as far as the memories go, I'll definitely remember not to do that again! LOL Husband does enjoy it but like I said, that kind of heavy, greasy meal is few and far between around here. Gonna be even fewer in the future. ;)

:hug:

[sandnsea]

13. Not as much anymore

Because we cut our meals in half. But when I used to cook big meals for the whole family, I always sat down to relax before I ate.

My mother made the best chicken gravy. Mine is rarely as good as hers was. But it's all about getting lots of crunchies in the bottom of the pan, and browning the flour like you do gumbo roux.

[Arkansas Granny]

14. I don't cook big meals very often since I live by myself, so when I do a big meal

it's usually with my daughter for a holiday dinner or special ocassion and we just knock ourselves out. Generally we serve meals buffet style, except for Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas dinner when we all sit down at the table at the same time, and after it's all on the table we usually take a short breather and let everyone serve themselves first and then join in later. There are times when I've done so much tasting while preparing the meal that I'm not especially hungry when it's time to serve it.

[pengillian101]

15. The gravy came out crappy.

"My pan gravy has always been hit and miss, I learned from Betty Crocker."

A sure-fire gravy is a mixture of one can of Cambell's cream of mushroom soup and a can of Cambell's french onion soup. Mainstay gravy - don't add liquid.

It is a cheater's gravy, but tasty.

[pengillian101]

16. "My pan gravy has always been hit and miss, I learned from Betty Crocker."

"My pan gravy has always been hit and miss, I learned from Betty Crocker."

The gravy came out crappy. Pan cream gravy is just not my forte.

***

I hear you about the gravy! Hit and miss for me also using pan drippings. Betty Crocker had some basic goodness. Try combing a couple of canned soups for good gravy. One cream of - and one broth. Makes foolproof gravy.