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365 days ago, our town went into lockdown. Restaurants closed. Pubs that served food closed. Heck, everything closed.

I haven’t been to a restaurant since. It’s super sad. One time we ordered a pizza for a weekend lunch and my husband picked it up. Another time we ordered a batch of burgers so our staff could have lunch on the day we moved into our new offices. We did curbside pick-up for that one. That’s it.

I went into cooking mode. I’m a foodie and it’s a good thing, I can cook.

I like to cook but it can get old when you’re feeling forced, or pressured into cooking.

Every holiday since the lockdown has been celebrated with dinner for two. I even cooked my own birthday dinner. I got real smart on that one. I wanted to make it so simple that I didn’t feel like I was cooking. The menu? Prime rib and baked potatoes. All I had to do was pick up the prime rib at the butcher. Season it and toss it in the oven. Toss in the baked potatoes too. I put my husband in charge of all the bits you can use to top your baked potato. He set out sour cream, butter, chopped green onions, and grated cheddar. We customized our potatoes to our liking. I almost felt like I was at a steakhouse. The red wine didn’t hurt either.

Because I’m cooking a lot, I designed dozens of Plan Z recipes in the last year, so that’s a plus. Then, something happened a few days ago that really rocked me.

My husband and I were eating and watching a movie in our den. He reached out his hand and took the remote. He paused the movie.

Then he said something I’ll never forget.

He talked about how he’s eaten like a king over the last year. He always enjoys my cooking. He’s very good at telling me that he’s enjoying his meal. This time though he said he’d eaten the three best meals of the pandemic all in the last week.

My jaw dropped.

I’ve made 365 dinners over the year and he thought the three best were all stacked together in a 7-day period.

What’s up with that!

I just laughed.

I’m still laughing, but today I’m going to share all three recipes with you.

The first one was my Asian salmon. Now, this one is a stand-by oldie but goodie. It has been on my website for a few years, but I guess my execution was better than ever.

All I did differently is I roasted the salmon instead of grilling it.

The next two I am just sharing now. They have been recently posted.

Chicken Scallopini was up next. Traditional Italian made a little easier than the one an Italian grandma would make.

And lastly, the one that prompted the comment, and the pausing of the movie was Cajun Butter Steak.

I can always “get” my husband with a steak. I just jazzed up a butter sauce from an inspiration recipe I found online. It was so super simple. If it works, it works.

It’s been a long year; a long year with lots of cooking. I don’t see this behavior of cooking at home ending any time soon. I signed up for the Plan Your Vaccine website and at my age, they say I should expect to qualify for a vaccine mid-summer.

That leaves me with all kinds of time to design more recipes. Stand by.

Cheers,