Who cooks in your family?

I admit I am not a big fan of cooking.
I love eating.
I don’t even mind the clean-up.
But, I don’t enjoy preparing meals.

Several times in my life I’ve waded into the deep end of The Joy of Cooking, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and even 3 years of the now defunct Cuisine Magazine.  Eventually I move back toward the shallow waters of old familiar family recipes like Pot Roast, meatloaf, spaghetti & meatballs, or my own grilled salmon with herbs.

Something wonderful has happened.
My granddaughter Kate graduated from Culinary School.
She loves to cook and the girl’s got chops.

Yesterday she came over to go swimming.
We came in to make some lunch, but I knew I didn’t have much of a selection in the refrigerator.
I thought maybe we’d make tuna sandwiches.

I was wrong.

I watched in wonder as Kate took leftover avocado, 1/2 a tomato, some mayonnaise, a chunk of cheddar, and a can of Albacore tuna and whipped it all into an amazing tuna melt.

Her secret ingredient is Celery Salt.
She works at the speed of light even though it’s just us and we’re in no hurry.
She’s efficient and cleans as she goes.
And the best part is that it was so much better than a tuna sandwich.
Here’s why:

• She uses a crispy toasted muffin instead of bread.
• The avocado and mayonnaise are creamy and so much more interesting than just the mayonnaise alone.
• The tomato is tucked under the cheese and gets slightly cooked as it sits under the broiler for a minute or two.
• The Celery Salt teases the best out of the other flavors and of course adds a little hint of salt for the tuna.
• She always adds a little garnish because ‘we eat first with our eyes’ which sounds icky, but I guess it’s true.

Do you remember The Jetsons?
They had a Robot maid called Rosey.
Jane Jetson gets Rosey for a free demonstration and it happens to be the same day that George Jetson’s boss wants to come to dinner.
No problem.
Rosey whips up a masterpiece out of a bunch of leftovers and wows Mr. Spacely.

That’s the picture I had in my head as Kate took an odd assortment of ingredients and made something really attractive and delicious.
I was inspired.
Inspired to hire her to make 3 dinners a week.

Do you have an ‘inspiring’ recipe to share?
Or a signature dish?
Leave it in the comments section.
Thanks.
Signed,
In Need of Some New Exciting Fail-Proof Recipes

See the Jetsons episode at:
http://www.thewb.com/shows/the-jetsons/rosey-the-robot/536074a6-a743-49f2-a037-c5a422f27bac