@Lowfat Linda
I am now living in Massachusetts outside of Boston in the family homestead. We're enjoying having four seasons again, after spending 15 years living in Texas. I spent our first year in MA as a stay-at-home mom, taking care of our multi-generational family and really expanded my cooking skills and I was able to try alot of new recipes. Now I'm back to work (social work/manager at an Eldercare agency) so I'm now cooking the quicker recipes much more often. We sit down to dinner together every night (except maybe once on the weekend when DH and I leave the kids with my mom -- one of the perks of living in Massachusetts instead of Texas!). I like to focus on 'real' foods (the less processed the better), lots of veggies and cutting out the extra calories without cutting out flavor. My general dinner menu rule is 1 protein, 1 pasta/rice/grain, and 3 vegetables (typically at least one green and one orange). My youngest has been known to say, Hey, where's the third veggie? when I get lazy.