Double Dipping Moms

The cooks in this world deserve a pat on their shoulders for staying thin or attempting to lose weight. Think about it, you are supposed to cook healthy, nutritious and tasty meals for your charges, what is more natural than lick a spoon here or sample a little something there. How can you cook without sampling? Don't you have to test your product?

I try to limit my nibbling during cooking, but boy, it's not easy. First of all, I am hungry when I am cooking. It's dinner time after all. And of course, I want to make sure that the dish is balanced and passed my taste buds. Cooking and baking to me is an art. I love experimenting with spices, consistencies and combinations. I hardly ever cook from a cookbook or if I do, I change the recipe to suit our tastes or availability of ingredients. I grow my own herbs and some spices and love to use them. I pick up new ideas from books, conversations or just standing at the grocery check-out looking at the covers of magazines. I am proud of my cooking... and a ruined meal is a stain in my reputation as good cook.

But even if you just try to get dinner on the table without any culinary aspirations, how do you avoid turning into a double dipping mom? During the last couple of weeks of intense dieting, I have stuck to tried and true recipes, where I didn't feel the need to sample before serving. But I know the day will loom when I am tempted to experiment and need to sample. One might say that if you sample during cooking you'll limit what you eat at dinner...well, that has never worked for me.

Come to think about it, I am not just a double dipping mom, but more like a triple dipper...What to do with all the leftovers. I was raised in a time where you ate your peas and finished your plate. Never a problem for me, unfortunately. I admire people who for reasons nebulous to me cut the crust off their pizza or the fat of the meat. Since I raised my children to listen to their hunger indicators in their bodies, I have never forced them to finish what is on their plate...so they regularly have leftovers. Danger zone for me. It just hurts to throw food out. Are you a triple dipping mom? And what are your tricks to avoid the pre and post dinner sampling?