@Sue: To be perfectly honest, as the youngest of the crowd, I don’t remember too much beyond the fact that dinner was always on the table at six o’clock and it was always (and I mean always) home-made. The town we lived in had no take-out pizza joint until I was in high school, and eating out with such a huge family was prohibitively expensive, anyway. Catholics of a certain age will remember the Friday Night Fish Fry--we went out for Friday night dinner probably twice a month. Mom was really organized, which I imagine helped an immense amount (Sustainable Eats: yes to the organization!). By the time I got more conscious, my three oldest brothers were off at college and the herd was somewhat thinned. As far as helping, we certainly did. We did some prep (I still hate making salads!), including setting the table, and we did almost all the clean-up. Also, I remember that someone (usually my closest brother) always held Mom’s chair for her, and no-one ever started eating until Mom was seated at the table. And while I remember the occasional Cream of Mushroom/chicken thing, mostly I remember REAL food. The thing that most amazes me is that not only did she run the house well, but she also was a really active volunteer AND she read a huge amount AND she tolerated us in the kitchen, especially when it came to making desserts. And we had people over for dinner a lot. Sometimes dinner guests were out-of-towners who were working with my dad, and sometimes they were school or church-related guests. Really, looking back at what I’ve just written makes me feel totally inadequate. I guess she ran on equal parts determination and organization--and coffee!

Holy cow, Marlena. You and my mom would have loved each other--she was extremely well organized. My hat’s off to you. Given your meal-prep circumstances, I would have run shrieking into the pantry and stayed there.

Pat, I had no idea my mom’s bread-baking influenced so many kids outside our family, and it’s wonderful to hear about it. I guess this inspires me to bake even more often than I do. Who knows what innocent kid’s memory bank will be permanently, and positively, impacted by the smell and taste of homemade bread?

I LOVE the idea of “everyone else cooking their own dinner” especially if they’d be happy doing so. I also love the “make your own pasta topping” idea and I’m going to steal that for my next pasta night. As for the rest of it, sounds as if you’re on your own in VeggieLand--at least right now.

Aw, Marsha, now I’m blushing! And swearing...time to figure out what’s for dinner tonight.