I married a wonderful cook, who in time became a very successful career woman. And then a vegetarian. And a congenital dieter.
Conversely, I didn’t know a thing about cooking when I got married (don’t get my wife started about the Hungry Man frozen dinners she found in the freezer when we started dating). But I love to eat, more so now than when I was younger. Plus I’m pretty omnivorous, and temperamentally unsuited to dieting.
It was only natural, then, as I enjoyed the leisure of an academic life, and my wife enjoyed (?) the fast pace of a well-paid corporate job, that sometime in my 50s, I began to take over the everyday family cooking, the holiday cooking, and the special occasion & company cooking.
These recipes date from that era. Convenience is a big theme (I didn’t grow any less lazy than before). Nothing gourmet here. Just satisfying meals that tasted good enough for me to want to cook them again and again.