Home Cooking

I once knew a girl who begged her mom to please make macaroni and cheese for dinner. She wasn't asking for homemade mac and cheese, just the kind out of the box. Her mom refused. They were eating out, as they did most every night. Her mom and dad both worked full time so meals from scratch, or even from a box, were a rarity.
My kids would have loved it if I forced them to eat out for all of their meals. I didn't.
I was a stay-at-home mom, for the most part. I wrote a column for the newspaper and I taught classes at the local college, but I was home with my kids nearly all the time.
I baked bread from scratch and mixed up cookie dough. I would make mac and cheese from the box, but sometimes I'd make homemade with fancy cheeses. All of this home cooking made my kids crazy for store-bought cookies and restaurant food.
Since the two oldest have been away at college, they have an appreciation for home-cooked meals, but Tucker still prefers restaurant food.
I was home on Wednesday and Tucker was home and I asked what he would like for dinner.
"I'll fix anything you want," I told him.
"I want penne rosa," he said. "From Noodles & Company."
Noodles & Company is a chain restaurant here that makes some fairly healthy pasta dishes.

Not a great picture. Should have waited for the
 salad along the side to add some green. 

I turned to the computer and found a recipe for Penne Rosa with chicken.
Then I went to the store, bought the ingredients and whipped it up.
Delicious!
I didn't add the mushrooms because my kids don't like them.
I forgot to get the spinach, so ours didn't have spinach. If I do it again, I will definitely add some spinach, but I think it can be overdone.
Tucker and Grace ate early before heading off to evening activities.
Earl and I ate around 8 when he got home from work.
The remainder went into a container in the refrigerator.
When I got up this morning, it was empty and in the dishwasher. Spencer finished off the penne rosa when he got home from work around midnight.
A successful meal even though it was homemade.
Here's the recipe from Noodles and Company at Home Blog.
Tucker agreed that the recipe tasted similar to Noodles, so he grudgingly ate it. But I've promised him Jimmy Johns sandwiches for lunch today as I move from teaching at one college to my evening class at another college. You'd think I could recreate a sub sandwich at home.
Even now though, my kids prefer Oreos or Chips Ahoy to my homemade chocolate chip cookies. And when Spencer was  younger and I asked him what kind of brownies he wanted, he said, "The kind Cathy makes."
I asked Cathy. She said she uses "the red box." Again a mix was preferred to my homemade brownies.
Someday, they'll all yearn for my homemade cooking.