I am divorced after a long marriage and 3 children. We came from different backgrounds, met in college. She was a stay at home mom who got bored. She hated to cook. I loved to cook and did so on weekends. Just now putting my life back together. I find I would rather cook for others than myself because I usually end up with more food than I can eat. A comment that really bothers me is when people think they are complementing a home cooked meal by saying its resturant quality. If you ever worked in a resturant you know its no complement to compare a home cooked meal made with love and care to one thrown together in order to move on to the next. At least at home you know what your eating! I will try cooking anything but fish. On workdays my crock pot gets used often. On the weekends my cooking is usually a much bigger production. Mom made a lot of soups and casseroles; hence, the need to cut various foods. When my brother and I were younger it was our chore to help! The exposure got us involved and as we got older we willingly took on more of the cooking tasks. Usually for those meals we preferred. Soups and casseroles continue to be my favorite meals. I made Christmas dinner for family one year and it included all the traditional foods: ham, sweet potatoes, bean casserole, home made bread, etc. I also made Butternut Squash Soup for the first time and served it as the first course. It was such a hit that I made a second batch after dinner as a late night snack and it all went before we went to bed that night. I was asked to make a third batch the next morning but said I was out of butternut squash. Buy the time I was done with breakfast and showered there were 5 pounds of butternut squash on my kitchen counter! I was in a hurry trying to make a Beefy Nacho Crescent Bake and get the kids fed before I had to go out. The recipe called for cumin but I grabbed curry instead (So much for having my spices organized). Needless to say, the Nacho Bake was not a hit with the kids, or their sitter.