About 15 years ago I was working at a law firm and trying to decide between library school and law school. My undergrad was in criminal justice, but the law firm felt like a bad fit. Boring! I saw a job ad for the Addison Public Library and interviewed with Tina Hubert, head of the Youth Services Department. To my amazement, she took a chance on a very newbie and she hired me! Any success I've had in this career starts with her. I was thrilled as I had so enjoyed her fun energy and the things that small but ultra creative department was doing. Tina, now Executive Director of the Lewis & Clark Library System in Southern Illinois is still as much fun as ever. I do have the pleasure of running into her at library events and got some messages from her recently about the blog here. I was so happy she agreed to my invitation to guest blog! Enjoy! - Amy


I just started a blog called The Sunday Cook. I had been posting on my Facebook page what I was making for dinner each Sunday, with links to recipes. And, I had quite a few people who were always interested to know what was for dinner. As a friend of Amy’s, I saw that she has this wonderful blog and she was my inspiration to create my own. So, there you have it – the entire reason why I have a blog.
The Sunday Cook was created to share those dinner ideas with others. I normally only cook on Sunday because I don’t really have time any other day of the week and I truly enjoy cooking. I find it incredibly relaxing. No-one asks me to make any decisions, I can create what I want, and I can forget any other worries that consume me throughout the week. I don’t make a big batch of any dish to freeze; I don’t make fancy or costly dinners; I don’t make multiple courses; and I don’t take all day to make dinner. Instead, I make a simple home-cooked meal to share with my husband and parents. A meal that always includes dessert because my parents have incredible “sweet-tooths.”
There are, however, a couple of complicating factors to what I make for Sunday dinner. One, I am mostly vegetarian and my parents are not. And, two, I am a Weight Watcher and so count the points for everything I eat. Now, this hasn’t been a problem since I am a pretty good cook (even if I do say so myself) and have been able to please just about everyone with whatever I make. Additionally, my parents are really good sports, as is my incredibly supportive husband.
This weekend is both my parents’ 50th Wedding Anniversary and my husband and my 18th Wedding Anniversary. We’ll be celebrating by going out for dinner Saturday night. Starting this weekend Michael, my husband, won’t be joining us for Sunday dinner again until football season is over. So, this Sunday, my parents and I are on our own.
I’m thinking about making Mediterranean Orzo Salad with Feta Vinaigrette from Cooking Light (I’ll make it a bit lighter by using water packed or dry reconstituted sun dried tomatoes and adding a bit of lemon juice to brighten it up) and baked sweet potatoes. I’m not sure what will be for dessert.
To bake sweet potatoes: 1) wash them well, 2) cut the ends off, and 3) put them into a 400° preheated oven for 40 – 60 minutes. Leave the skin on the potatoes. Be sure to either wrap them well in aluminum foil or place them on a rimmed baking sheet; the sugars will drip out of the ends and make a mess in your oven if you are not careful. So easy to bake and so yummy to eat!
Check out The Sunday Cook this Sunday to learn if that’s what I actually end up making and how it all turned out. By the time you look at it there might even be three posts! As an aside, for any Weight Watchers: orzo salad made lighter = 6 points, sweet potato = 3 points, making a pretty light yet filling dinner.
Many thanks to Amy for all sorts of things, including changing her career path because she is one Terrific Librarian!
~Tina