When Rockford and I were newlyweds, my dinnertime culinary repertoire consisted of the following:

• Many thrilling varieties of Chicken Voila
• Grilled chicken (George Foreman style)
• An exciting array of Rice-a-Roni rices
• Macaroni and cheese sometimes with frozen broccoli

I’m sure it was a shocking blow to Rockford. His mother is a terrific cook, and he grew up eating a fresh, home-cooked meal almost every night. He really shouldn’t have been too surprised, though, considering the first meal I made for him. It was a chicken and broccoli disaster. He and my brother did their best to pretend it was edible, but I knew better. Because I have tastebuds, too.

I think my cooking skills have improved. At the very least, I no longer rely exclusively on boxed or frozen goods when it’s time for dinner. I like to cook. And I generally have plenty of time to cook, too. But it’s nice sometimes just to pull something out of the freezer and, Voila!, it’s dinner.

A few months before Poppy was born, I decided to try a once-a-month-cooking plan. The idea, as the name suggests, is that you cook once and then have meals in your freezer for quick, easy and delicious dinners all month long.

So I bought tons of ground beef and chicken and seasonings and onions (oh, so many onions), and I followed one of the plans outlined in a popular book that shall remain nameless. And I did fill the freezer with homemade meals, but it would be a stretch to call them “delicious.” Most of them were, at least, edible. But it put me off the OAMC movement.

It was nice to have ready-to-go food in the freezer, though.

This is all to say that I’ve tried it again. Sort of. I don’t have the freezer space now that I had then, so I couldn’t do the OAMC thing, gross recipes or not. But then I found the “Once-a-Week Cooking Plan” cookbook. Rockford took Poppy out for a few hours this morning, and now, in the freezer, we have:

• 1 Cheesehead Chipotle Frittata
• 4 Chicken Papaya Quesadillas
• 2 pieces of Macadamia-Crusted Chicken
• 1 Mexican Chicken Lasagna
• and the makings for 1 Pesto Pepper Chicken Pizza

The only trouble I had with this more manageable plan was the “quick cooling.” I was able to use the sink (filled with ice water) to quick-cool some of the meals, but the frittata wouldn’t fit in the sink. Good thing Rockford was back by then. It never would have occurred to me to cool the dishes in the bathtub.

. . . . . the end . . . . .