The Husband, The Cook

Yesterday, after a weekend of carbo-loading for NYC marathon watching, The Husband decided that we needed to eat healthier.  He volunteered to start preparing our dinners at home for one week instead of the constant ordering in of heavy meals, with way too big of portions.  This sounded like a great idea to me.  Living in the city, we are spoiled by the amount of restaurants ready, willing and able to deliver any dish you can possibly think of to your door within an hour or less.  Such a convenience is a luxury during the work week when cooking up food eats away at the already limited number of hours outside of working, commuting and sleeping.  Not to mention that the high cost of groceries in the city and the lack of storage space for keeping said groceries is major discouragement for exploring my inner chef.

Yes, there are times when I make a sandwich or have a bowl of cereal for dinner.  But the average NYC kitchen was not intended for cooking.  Which is good because I'm a bit challenged in the cooking department.  Our kitchen is utilized more as a storage space for the plates, forks and knives used to eat take out food with.  The rest of the space is for the rolls of toilet paper and paper towels from our semi annual trips to Costco that don't fit anywhere else in the apartment.  I know at some point we had cayenne pepper in the cabinet because my sister gave me a killer guacamole recipe that required some of that spice.  But the last time I tried to make the recipe, some questionably living beings were swimming around with the cayenne pepper, and well that was that.  All of our spices were immediately dumped into the trash and since we haven't attempted to cook since then, I think the only thing left in those cabinets is a mouse trap.  Are we hopeless?

Last night, in honor of The Husband's vow to eat healthier, he cooked me up my very own turkey hot dog in a bun with a side of vegetarian beans.  It was actually delicious.  Tonight, he told me that dinner would be ready at 8:15 PM.  When I got home from work, he was at the movies with one of his best buddies.  He called me on his way home from the movies asking me what I wanted from Chipotle.  For anyone who has not experienced Chipotle, they make some mighty tasty burritos the size of your head.  Their healthy version involves taking away the tortilla and piling in loads of rice or beans and maybe holding the cheese.  But all in all, you're looking at over 1000 calories no matter what you get and certainly it's not really in line with our healthy week of eating.  The long line at Chipotle made The Husband's decision easier, and he decided to skip it and make a decision about dinner at home.  He walked in the door around 8 PM and stated the following, "I am conflicted between whether we should go out for a big meal or order in a boat load of sushi."

Again, not sure how we got here from planning healthy, well-proportioned meals prepared at home for a one week period.  We opted for the sushi, and just a semi-boat load.  So we're two days in and have already gone against our plan.  Can someone please do us a favor and give The Husband some easy, healthy and not too burdensome recipes for meals he can prepare at home?  Please make sure the recipes don't leave much in the way of interpretation and hopefully they don't require things like "Dutch Ovens," because there's only one Dutch Oven that The Husband knows about and it's not for cooking. And while preferences are for healthy, easy to follow meals, who are we to turn down the most amazing cherry or pecan pie recipe known to mankind? Thank you in advance.  And please HELP!