I'm a "late bloomer" or you could say, late marry-er. I'm 35, and (finally) marrying a wonderful man in a couple of months. I've never been a homemaker, and cooking has always been a necessity, not a pleasure. Before, I only cooked for my son and myself, and frankly, we'd eat anything. And we were just as apt to go out. I worked a lot, he had evening activities and I didn't have much time for cooking. Now I do. And my soon-to-be husband is a vegetarian! So I always need a new idea. I'll cook anything as long as it doesn't have too many steps. I'm leaning toward simple preparation, natural and "normal" ingredients - if it calls for wheat germ or any kind of root, forgetaboutit. I'm looking to keep it simple but I'd also like to have my family absolutely RAVE about it! My grandmothers are the best cooks I know and neither of them would consider using a RECIPE. They are from the old school, they cook it the way their mother's taught them and it's really amazing - without a recipe and without measuring a single ingredient it comes out exactly as you expect every time. How do they do that? Can't say I have any of these really since I'm mostly only cooking vegetarian right now. Sometimes I do well enough there that the boys smile and eat it all up but nothing that measures up to my baked-barbecued chicken which had them fighting over the last 5 pieces... Thankfully none of these either. I seem to be able to get something good enough that they'll eat it!