We try to menu plan our dinners for the week. That way, we know before work what will be involved with dinner when we get home that evening.

I'm trying to get my DH to lighten up on some of the dinners we fix. He does most of the cooking because he gets home first. He loves his heavy sauces and gets upset with me because I don't want to eat them.

I think this is another reason I'm looking forward to Lent. Since I'm giving up anything that has 4 legs, he'll have to make some items for himself only. I'm looking forward to more fish in my diet. He'll join me for some of that, but not all. He's going to be having more pasta. That's fine with me. I don't care for pasta (except Chinese noodles). He wants to eat more lamb. Again, I don't care. I like lamb but don't go out of my way to have it. etc. etc.

Anyone else have these issues?

Have you tried cooking for multiple days that way you don't have to cook every day? I generally have containers of beans, brown rice and other leftovers in the fridge. I also have frozen veggies in the freezer that can be popped into the microwave and steamed easily. With fish, it is a bit trickier as I wouldn't want to cook more than 2 days worth of fish but it is still doable.

DH and I generally eat the same of everything. I cook his meals, he eats them. Sometimes I'll give him a little extra of something or he'll get something that I don't get but generally it is the same food.

Thankfully, no. I do all the planning and cooking and if the family doesn't like what's being served, too bad! I actually don't allow them to fix their own--they have to eat what I prepare (and I don't cook 2 meals--one for them and one for me). I must be a pretty good cook because no one complains! I do try to appeal to everyone's taste, though. I give in once in a while and make one of the kid's favorites (usually pretty high in fat) but they are more than happy to eat my healthy meals that I fix daily. My only issue is trying to decide on what to have that night. I have the menu laid out, the ingredients purchased and I can make any one of them and at that point I sometimes want a little input of what they want to eat. Their response "food". Come on, help me out a little! Do I have to make all the decisions?!? LOL

Can you come over and pound that into his head? PLEASE!!!!

Can you investigate how to make those creamy sauces more on the "light" side? Example-skim milk, 2% cheese, whole wheat flours, etc.? My hubby does all our cooking (Yes, I'm so spoiled!!!) and he's a pro at adapting recipes to healthier. In the past when I wasn't so concerned about my eating habits it worked great because I never felt deprived of anything. Now that we both eat healthier I'm picking up on his tricks a bit so I can make myself better lunches and occasionally cook for us. Just a suggestion that might work for you two.

Brandy--I'm going to be trying out a few things in the very near future. I bought this stuff called Z Trim which is a zero calorie fat replacement. You add it to fat stuff (butter, mayo, cream cheese) to cut the calories and fat in half. Then you use it like normal. I'll be trying it in a Bechamel sauce (1/2 and 1/2 with butter) and with skim milk instead of cream. From there, I'll use a low fat cheese to make a new version of my kid's favorite mac and cheese.

I tried the stuff last night in my sour cream (didn't have enough for our fish tacos, so I used it to stretch the sour cream). No one could tell the difference. Even me, and I'm convinced that sour cream is the best food on the planet--you can eat it with practically everything!

Gary--I love cooking and I love it most when I have a meal plan. If I come home and I don't know what is on the menu for that day, I usually resort to something less than healthy. I made a 2 week menu plan last Friday and so far we're doing good. I doubled a couple recipes so if I'm tired, reheating is fast and easy. DH hasn't really cooked in years. I remember he made me dinner only once. It was wonderful. But if you don't spend a lot of time in the kitchen, you get rusty. Even my mom has a problem with that. Once you get rusty, you can't get the entire meal on the table at the same time. There is nothing worse than eating in "stages" because the meat is done but the rice and veggies aren't! Angie is lucky to have you helping.

OK. What is it? Where do it get it?

He is trying to be more aware but his brain is ingrained with the fact that a sauce has to be thick and fatty. I've made some dishes where I substituted broth for half of the cream and it was good. He doesn't like it when I use 1 or 2% instead of cream. I love clam chowder. I've made it more broth based and to me it tastes better than the heavy cream one. He didn't like it.

Tonight is my night. I'm making albondigas. We make our own broth so that will be the base. I have some Mexican meatballs in the freezer. They were made from our meat mixture (1/2 each lean pork and turkey) that we ground ourselves. There will be a chayote squash, carrots and spinach in the soup. Then the seasonings. That is always good and not too fatty.

This Z-Trim has me intrigued.

Gary, part of the problem is I work 10 miles (40 minute commute 1 way) and he works 5 minutes from home. I'm glad you help her out. He helps me, too. I'm just trying to have a happy medium here.

Google it. I read an article about it on MSNBC, asked a question here under Does it Work, and then Googled it. It isn't expensive, but the shipping costs more than the product! I don't think they sell it in stores, but i could be wrong--I couldn't find it here.