When Matt and I got married, we came from two very different worlds.  And like pretty much every other aspect of our lives, our food backgrounds really couldn’t be more different.

I grew up in a home where both of my parents worked.  My mom cooked tasty food, but it wasn’t her favorite thing to do.  Once my brother (ten years my senior) went off to college and my dad was working a lot of evenings, it was really just her and I and I was a terribly picky eater, so often we would eat out or eat something quick and easy.  I grew up a “grazer” and ate pretty much whatever I wanted whenever I wanted.

In Matt’s home, his mom was at home and found satisfaction in preparing meals for their family.  She worked hard to make things healthful and as natural as possible.  They were organic health food before organic health food was cool. He grew up a member of the Clean Plate Club and pretty much only ate at designated meal times.

I’m not saying one is better or worse than another.  Both mothers were doing their best to provide nutritious meals for their families.  My only point is we came to the table (so to speak) in marriage with different backgrounds, liking similar foods, but used to eating in very different ways.

As the primary grocery shopper and food preparer in our family, I prepared meals the way I grew up eating them and I stocked the pantry and refrigerator the way it had always been done at my parents’ house.

While Matt enjoyed and appreciated this approach food, his waistline did not.  Over the years we have learned that he can’t eat the way I grew up eating.  And since I no longer have the ridiculously fast metabolism I once had (thank you, age 32, for taking that away without warning), I can’t either.  So, like so many aspects of our marriage, we’ve had to find out own way of doing food, nutrition, and mealtimes.  And I’ll share more about that next week.

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Here’s a recipe for this week.  It was rather accidental – something I’ve never done before.  I’m a big fan of recipes and following them exactly.  However, Monday was cool and drizzly and I had some potatoes that were growing eyes and needed to be used or tossed, so I threw some things together and made what may be my new favorite potato soup.

Accidental Potato Soup

• 3-4 good sized potatoes, peeled and chopped
• baby carrots as desired, chopped
• 1 small to medium sized red onion, diced
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 2 cups half and half
• salt and pepper to taste

Throw all ingredients into pot and heat to a slow boil.  Cook, stirring regularly, until potatoes are cooked through.  Serve with crackers or warm bread and enjoy!

This made a good-sized pot and my family nearly licked it clean in one night.