Dehydration

I am trying very hard to cook. Last Monday I made roast beef with yams and pinapple and cauliflower. I even made a Yorkshire pudding. Two days later I took the left over meat and made a stir fry. James ate the meat, but wouldn't eat the stir fry. My kids only wanted the rice. Why am I making food for kids when they won't eat it? I slave over the stove for rejection. I am becoming friends with the local grocery store's butcher because I know nothing about cuts of meat and I almost bought the wrong type of roast. (insert gasp)

Last Sunday, I decided I wanted to make an easy meal. I picked Tortilla Soup from LionHouse Cookbook. I was used to the can taco soup. The one you cook in a crock pot and open a bunch of cans of food into it, let it cook a couple hours, and it is perfection. Well, this recipe had some fresh ingredients and I thought I would go for that for a change. I bought the ingredients and then brought the cookbook to church. I am in charge of hanging out in Kevin's Sunday school class. It is a class of six boys and I have learned that if I don't bring something to occupy me, I want to kill these preteen boys. So I broght the cookbook to make a week's menu. I went to Relief Society afterwards, which is the class for women, and looked over the Tortilla Soup recipe to make sure I really did have everything. That is when I noticed that one of the ingredients was "dried refried beans." They expected me to have dehydrated refried beans. 5 cups, no less.

Who has those? I will tell you.... Mormons in Utah and possibly Idaho.

Dehydrated refried beans are available at the dry pack divisions of LDS Canneries. Only people in Utah and Idaho, maybe California and Arizona, have dry packs close enough to go regularly and get dehydrated foods. The only ones near us are four hours away and you need an appointment and they make certain things on certain days. In addition, a lot of the food is being shipped off for disasters, so it is even harder to get the food.

I think it is unfair that the recipe had an ingredient you can only get in Utah. If that is the case, they really shouldn't allow the recipe book out of the state. But my real issue is: Who the hell dehydrates refried beans and why would you? What good are dehydrated refried beans and wouldn't they be disgusting? Canned beans keep forever and even if they go bad, how can you tell? Why do you need to dehydrate something that is indestructible? I think that is a waste of time.

To add to this angst of mine, I am now sick. For the first time all year I have been drinking water and eating fresh fruits and veggies. I have been making well balanced meals and it means nothing. I am sick. So while at the grocery store buying popsicles because my throat is burning and just leaving my mouth open in the -1 degree weather is not helping, I bought a piece of carrot cake and 2 Diet Cokes. I'm reverting back to what I ate when I was healthy.

My mom used to cook well balanced meals every night while growing up. No wonder I got pneumonia every year for 4 years. It was the well balanced-ness. I'm not making the mistake with my kids. White rice and cup of soup for the rest of the month.