They should pay me for this idea

At my in-laws this last week I watched some television. My kids found Sprout--which beats the socks off of Sponge Bob in my humble opinion. Sponges don't have brains and he is no exception.

Anyway, The Food Network got some serious action while I was there. Not by me directly, but it was on. And I enjoyed watching the pieces of it I did get to watch. Mind you I'm not going to go out and get Direct TV or anything crazy like that. We don't even have our antenna hooked up since the move if that tells you anything. But I still think they should pay me. Why?? Because I cook and I have an idea.

Iron Chef is fun to watch. But these people are pretty extreme. And their food is extreme. I live in Eastern Idaho. I'm not sure we have Direct TV here, let along 3/4 of the ingredients they use on Iron Chef. I don't have nearly the gadgets they have either.

And I cook on a clock--sort of. So what if they had a show where they took 2 or so moms, gave them a "regular" pantry set of ingredients and "regular" kitchen gadgets and told them they had 45 minutes to make dinner--with a main dish, a side and a vegetable. But then there are elements that make it more interesting.

For example, the assigned meal was a regular dish like tuna noodle casserole. But when the clock starts they discover they only have 1 can of tuna, or no tuna at all. And then the Pastor is coming for dinner and he can't have gluten.

Or the assigned meal is hamburgers. The clock starts and the burger is still frozen solid. And there are only 1/2 the number of buns as there are people to feed.

The judges wouldn't be culinary experts who judge on all the merits of a meal like presentation and . . . I don't even know what they judge on, really. I missed that part of the show when I was helping with dinner I think. The judges should be regular moms, maybe even picked from a studio audience, who judge only on whether their family would eat the meal or not.

And the winner gets her pantry stocked for 6 months. Or a trip to Hawaii. Or something that a practical mom who can cook killer hamburgers in 45 minutes or less even if she's given frozen burger and 1/2 as many buns as she needs.

Because moms like that are awesome and we could all learn a thing or two from a show like that. Even if it's just a new perspective for those who find dinner on the table every night and really have no idea how it got there.