I am the mother of 4 wonderful teenage sons; and with 2 dogs, 2 cats, a full time job (wish I didn't) and an incredible, tolerant husband, it's quite a zoo at this place. We have a 100 year old house, which is wonderful, but it is an ongoing project. Good thing my husband and I are easy going! With 4 boys and a full time job, I'm always looking for economical, healthy dinners that either go in a slow cooker or can be made ahead of time. Weekends we get a little more daring, and try cooking new and different things....sometimes good, sometimes we end up ordering a pizza instead. Any holiday is time for the tried and true traditional meal. The only thing I ever try differently are bread recipes, and different ways to prepare sweet potatoes. Otherwise, the roast, turkey, mashed potatoes and applesauce are the same, and always yummy. For my mother's 80th birthday, my entire family came for a BBQ. We made all the salads and burger patties from scratch, and it was a huge success. My sisters all live far away, so when they come home it is nice to make a WOW meal for them. Except for 1 lasagna that didn't turn out at all, the rest of the meals have been great. There was a lasagna that really didn't look or taste good. Not sure what happened there, but it wasn't nice. Also, we make a lot of pizza, and some of the crusts we have tried have been horrible. I think the worst think I ever made was an eggplant dish, which was so horrendous that even my ever supportive husband wouldn't eat it.