Another Shocker: I Think I Need A Different Cook Book

I don't normally cook two meals.  I think that most people who are cooking for children do so with the children in mind.  What will they not eat?  With the exception of shrimp, I cook what I want and expect everyone to try it.  I had planned for chicken tonight but Geoff wasn't going to be home so I switched the menu for something that isn't really his favourite: Fettucini Alfredo with Chicken and Broccoli and I had planned to do my own as well, Fettucini with Shrimp in a Tomato Cream Sauce. 

Kid sized portions

Sure, I have time to do this because I'm not working outside of the home. It only took a little over an hour anyway, but sometimes I think that's too much on a week night.  Maybe because I don't usually start dinner until at least 5. Maybe.  Being that Geoff wasn't going to be home for dinner, we could have eaten at 5 and that would have been preferable.

Three of the kids had the chicken and broccoli and two of us had the shrimp.  It would have only taken about a half hour or so to make just one sauce too. I used to do the chicken and broccoli when I was working because it was quick, healthy, and the kids all ate it.  Same tonight.  Since I'm trying to use less prepackaged items, I made the Alfredo from scratch and I was extremely unimpressed with it.  Like the white sauce, I had to add more than the recipe called for to get flavour.  Maybe I should stop using that book for my white sauces because I've not been overly impressed with the sauces.  

When I made it before I used to buy the packaged chicken breast (pre-cooked) from WalMart and I used an Alfredo sauce package.  It took longer for the noodles to cook than anything else and it tasted pretty good.  That meal was about $8.  Tonight I used a small portion of uncooked chicken and made everything else from scratch.  Total cost tonight was about $11 because I had shrimp too.  Again, not overly expensive and I still have chicken, shrimp, cream and cheese left over to use with something else.