Interesting idea. We are also close to completion, but it looks like we may be moving in with a fair amount left to do...county permit office hibernates Christmas week, so we are hoping to get approval to occupy late next week, and to move in Christmas week - dh has Christmas week off from work. But we expect to be eating on the run for the first week or so that we are there - pizza from the town restaurant or whatever. I wish we expected to have the time/energy for a celebratory meal.

But your idea sounds fun...

We are also loading back in this weekend! We've been without a proper kitchen since end of August so not quite as long as you.

Dh and dd had been talking about just making a box of mac and cheese. Not my idea! Now they are thinking a proper Thanksgiving type meal. But I think that might be too big.

So who knows what we'll be cooking tomorrow night (or Sunday night⦠heck, we might have to wait for Monday night when our son is back home from college).

I like your idea of a nice, simple pasta meal. Good luck with your new kitchen! How exciting for us to finally be able to use them!

Our cabinets arrived today, so I hope we'll have a working kitchen by the middle of next week (no counters, but at least cabinets and functioning appliances). Except for the month we bunked with friends, we've been "out of commission" since late October, so really only a month of true no-kitchen-ness. (We went 4 months last time we did this, 7 years ago in a different house).

Enjoy your first meals! Now I'm looking forward to ours.

The first thing I did when my kitchen was done was bake chocolate chip cookies. My stove was the same, but it all looked so different. They turned out great BTW.

Fun post. We've only been cooking for a few weeks, and now I can't remember the first meal. It might have been steak and baked potatoes. Not too high stakes! I also made cookies, but hadn't found my mixer....so we had to improvise. My husband learned to cream butter and sugar by hand, which I might have done 50 years ago, one time.

However, having the kitchen "back" after 7 months hasn't improved the weekday cooking, which does not involve feeding kids anymore.
In fact we ate better with no kitchenbecause we could barbeque (its winter now in MA) and I resorted to good quality home-style take out. We could never sustain that budget, however.

I was aware of first meals in the new kitchen, appreciating the running water, the new lighting, nice floors underfoot. There have been quite a few "practice gratitude" moments.

Thanks for a chance to reflect on it some more.
Marie

As I recall, our break in meal last spring was spaghetti, Italian sausage, garlic toast, and salad.... oh, and lots of wine ;)

Our first meal was breakfast this morning in our 90% complete kitchen. After 6 mos without a kitchen it was especially delicious. Christmas Breakfast Casserole, French Toast Casserole and fresh fruit. Four generations gathered for an early Christmas celebration. This is exactly why we did the reno. Happy holidays, all.

I would have a chunky soup or stew slow brewing in a big beautiful pot all day! Some home made bread. A scrumptious baked desert. Bottle of red wine. Hot shaved cocoa to wind down before bed.

Unless you're in a warm climate! We have snow here :)

Oh, I never considered this . . . but the first meal should be something very special!

Must think.

first meal in my new kitchen was scrambled eggs. straight up. butter, cast iron pan, sizzle. I was so done with microwave food.

The first thing that I did was make a cup of tea with real boiled water from my teapot. But, my first real dinner in the almost-completed kitchen was, actually, Thanksgiving. And, yes, discovered the hard way that the new oven is a bit "slow".

What a cute question! Thanks for asking this. Since i will have a convection oven for the first time, for my first meal I'd like to make something that will let me "play" with that feature.

First food item was an oversized loaf of banana walnut bread that I just HAD to make because I had so many brown bananas. The smell wafting through the house made me so happy!

First meal is soon to be announced because backsplash still isn't officially finished, but I'm thinking Boeuf Bourguignon.

The first meal in our new kitchen, 3 years ago, was pizza, made form scratch.
Well, except for the cheese & pepperoni.

Hmmm...that's a good question and one I hope to ponder in the near future. Cabinets are due in this week, but I'm sure my first real meal won't be until January.

Good luck with whatever you decide. The joy of cooking in your new kitchen should make it taste good regardless of the menu. Enjoy!

Our first meal was pork ribs and steak cooked on the grill in the new outdoor kitchen, everything else done inside. The second meal was the next day, Thanksgiving! What a way to break in a new kitchen!!

We moved most of the kitchen in Sunday and Monday then family starting arriving Wednesday afternoon. That night was our first night to actually sleep here.

It was sooo great to have more than 2 burners and a single oven to prepare Thanksgiving dinner. I now have 6 burners, 1 1/2 ovens (Wolf dual 48"), and the Wolf steam oven (that didn't really get used until Friday and leftover reheating), and counter spaceâ¦â¦ oh my the counter space was unbelievable! More than I've had in all my previous kitchens combined.

I'm also doing Christmas cookies for the first time in years this year. Great question!

Detroit, we don't even have a microwave! We are so sick of take-out. Hopefully, a week from now we will have a functioning kitchen!

Oreo Peanut Butter Brownies

Not so much a meal, but who cares?

I haven't been able to do high heat or maintain a consistent low/simmer on my current range, so I'm looking forward to that with the new one. I think a veggie stir-fry for me (overcook a few vegetables so DH can eat them too), pan-seared some-kinda-fish for DH, rice for both; oatmeal cookies or a pie baking in the oven while we eat the main meal. Then I'll start making and freezing soup and tomato sauce. We will be completed by the start of summer - produce season! - and I cannot wait to fill up the freezer.

olivertwist, my son and DIL will be home a week from today -- and hopefully before that, I will have a working kitchen. Therefore, i MUST have that recipe!!! Pretty please.....

Easy:
Use your favorite brownie recipe and prepare the batter.
Take 2 oreos and spread creamy peanut butter in between and on top. Put a tiny bit of brownie batter in the well of a muffin pan. Then put the oreo stack in it. Then pour 1-2 TBS brownie batter on top and make sure it slides down the sides. (This can be messy). Then bake per the brownie recipe. Do not use cupcake liners -too hard to pull off the brownies. I use the silicone muffin pans. Make sure they cool completely before removing them from the pan (can speed up this process by cooling in fridge) or else they don't come out of the pan well.

I like to use the No pudge brownie mix and reduced fat oreos and reduced fat peanut butter. It works really well!

I also found this awesome recipe which is a No Pudge Clone: totally fat free and totally awesome:

Ingredients
1 cup sugar (don't use sugar substitute)
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa
optional 2 egg whites (for cake like brownies)
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup non-fat vanilla yogurt (a 6 oz. container)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350ðF.
Mix all dry ingredients.
Add yogurt and mix well.
Batter will be very thick.
Keep stirring and stirring.
You will think it will never get moist but it will.
Spray an 8x8 pan with nonstick cooking spray.
Spread batter evenly.
Bake for 30-35 minutes.

Thank you so much! Happy holidays.