How Do I Cook For So Many?

I hear this question all the time. Like anything, you start small and work your way up. My mother was a "Hamburger Helper" and "Casserole" cook; I swore I'd never have more than one element of the meal in a pan at once. I found a Reader's Digest Cookbook at a yard sale when I was 13 for $1, and was astonished and delighted to learn that foods didn't have to be mixed! I still have that cookbook, with a lineup 4 feet long of others. I rely on Pierre Franey and Craig Claiborne for my inspiration and primary recipes, and do a lot of changing to suit my whims and ingredients on hand. My second son, in particular, used to tell me that my food was "crap", and we should eat McDonalds and Pizza Hut. After he went to college, he suddenly stopped ever complaining about anything I put on his plate. I swear he'd compliment diced old shoe if I cooked it today. In any event, this is the nerve center of my cooking world: