Have you ever seen that House episode where the docs make a brilliant diagnosis after examining the contents of a patient's refrigerator? In preparation for being out of town for 5 days, I cleaned out the fridge this morning. I shudder to think what my diagnosis would be. Here are the contents that were dumped:
Chicken noodle soup, moldy rosemary, box of chicken broth, 4 bottles of BBQ sauce, baked beans, roasted chicken legs, pepperoni pizza, mandarin oranges, yogurt well past its prime, cool whip, artichoke hearts, pepper jelly, flat tonic water and 2 lime quarters.
I don't know about the rest of it, but the last two items clearly indicate we're not drinking enough gin and tonics around here...
Dinner tonight: steaks, sweet potatoes, and salad. Happy eating!
Friday, March 27, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Don't Blink
An update. Got home from the grocery store this morning, feeling quite proud of myself that I was organized for Thursday and Friday meals, food to take to Orlando, and an easy dinner upon return. And yet, my brain clearly only has limited capacity. Because after I turned into my driveway, patting myself on my back for my organizational skills, I sat there for a full 5 minutes wondering why the heck my garage door wasn't opening despite the fact that I was pushing the lever over and over again. As it turns out, it's the garage door opener, not the blinker, that provides the garage with the information it needs to know you're home. Sigh.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Mickey Mouse Meal Planning
It's Wednesday night as I type this, and I am in the midst of meal planning in preparation for a grocery store run tomorrow. As much as I love to cook, there's nothing I like about meal planning. It's sort of like laundry. I like to wear clean clothes, so I do the laundry. I like to cook meals, so I do meal planning. Nothing fun about it.
But tonight's meal planning is made more complicated by the fact that we leave for Orlando on Saturday, and will be back, exhausted I'm sure, sometime Wednesday afternoon. That means that in addition to planning our meals for the next 2 days, and trying to organize what food I need to buy to take in coolers and bags on our trip, I'm trying to plan a meal for Wednesday, so that we won't come home to a totally empty fridge and pantry. I could just forget about it at this point and deal with dinner on Wednesday, but I think that will make my life more complicated, not less. We'd either have to get back in the car to go somewhere for dinner (not ideal for a 1 year old and 4 year old after a 4.5 hour car ride), or we'd have to order pizza (which will inevitably take so long to arrive that I'll yell at the poor guy and everyone will tiptoe around grouchy mommy).
So I'll force myself to plan ahead, since I have to make a grocery run tomorrow anyway. My requirements: it needs to be fast, because it's entirely possible that we'll be pulling in the driveway at 5pm. It needs to be based solely on ingredients I can buy tomorrow. And it needs to be 100% kid friendly while including at least one vegetable.
After wandering through my cookbooks and recipe files (ok, maybe meal planning is slightly better than doing laundry), here's what I've decided on - my trusty P recipe (pasta, peas, prosciutto). I've seen a million versions of this recipe out there, but here's mine:
The P Recipe
8oz Small pasta
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup finely minced onion or shallot (Shallot is better, but really, who keeps a bag of those on hand all the time? Onions are a much more frequent staple around here.)
2/3 cup half & half
10oz package frozen peas
8-10 slices of prosciutto, diced (In my house, this means 8 for the recipe, and 2 for me to roll around a piece of string cheese and munch on while I'm cooking.)
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
Cook pasta according to package instructions. In a large skillet, melt the butter and add the onion/shallot. Cook until soft. Add half & half, peas, and prosciutto. Cook until peas are hot. Taste for salt and pepper. Pour sauce over pasta, add parmesan cheese. Toss well. Happy eating! (And note to self - don't forget the wine!)
But tonight's meal planning is made more complicated by the fact that we leave for Orlando on Saturday, and will be back, exhausted I'm sure, sometime Wednesday afternoon. That means that in addition to planning our meals for the next 2 days, and trying to organize what food I need to buy to take in coolers and bags on our trip, I'm trying to plan a meal for Wednesday, so that we won't come home to a totally empty fridge and pantry. I could just forget about it at this point and deal with dinner on Wednesday, but I think that will make my life more complicated, not less. We'd either have to get back in the car to go somewhere for dinner (not ideal for a 1 year old and 4 year old after a 4.5 hour car ride), or we'd have to order pizza (which will inevitably take so long to arrive that I'll yell at the poor guy and everyone will tiptoe around grouchy mommy).
So I'll force myself to plan ahead, since I have to make a grocery run tomorrow anyway. My requirements: it needs to be fast, because it's entirely possible that we'll be pulling in the driveway at 5pm. It needs to be based solely on ingredients I can buy tomorrow. And it needs to be 100% kid friendly while including at least one vegetable.
After wandering through my cookbooks and recipe files (ok, maybe meal planning is slightly better than doing laundry), here's what I've decided on - my trusty P recipe (pasta, peas, prosciutto). I've seen a million versions of this recipe out there, but here's mine:
The P Recipe
8oz Small pasta
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup finely minced onion or shallot (Shallot is better, but really, who keeps a bag of those on hand all the time? Onions are a much more frequent staple around here.)
2/3 cup half & half
10oz package frozen peas
8-10 slices of prosciutto, diced (In my house, this means 8 for the recipe, and 2 for me to roll around a piece of string cheese and munch on while I'm cooking.)
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
Cook pasta according to package instructions. In a large skillet, melt the butter and add the onion/shallot. Cook until soft. Add half & half, peas, and prosciutto. Cook until peas are hot. Taste for salt and pepper. Pour sauce over pasta, add parmesan cheese. Toss well. Happy eating! (And note to self - don't forget the wine!)
What's your go-to dinner? Part II
My day yesterday:
Up at 6am. Shower, dress. COFFEE. Eat breakfast. COFFEE. Make breakfast for the boys. COFFEE. Empty dishwasher. Get boys up and dressed, hair combed, teeth brushed. While boys eat breakfast, make lunches and pack school bag. Take boys to school. Run to Target, return too big baseball glove. Meet girlfriend at hospital to see new baby. At desk by 10am, work until 3pm. Pick up boys from school. Come home. Play outside. Get t-ball things together. Feed boys (something, anything). Eat the remains off their plates (sandwich crusts and smushed strawberries...mmm...) Hand off little one to Mimi. Run to t-ball with older one. After t-ball, hand off older one to DH (who thankfully made it to t-ball just in time). Go straight from t-ball, sweaty and smelling of bug spray, to neighborhood mom's social. Inhale wine, cheese, crackers, fruit, cookies, and an obscene amount of jelly bellies, probably to the horror of perfectly coiffed and better-smelling ladies who apparently did things like eat and shower before attending a cocktail party. Go home and collapse.
These kinds of days are the ones when I do the worst job meal planning, and yet need it the most. I have no excuse - I knew Tuesday's schedule on Monday, and thus no reason not to get myself a little better organized and at least have a more substantial dinner for myself planned. (I have no qualms about the boys' dinner of pb&j sandwiches and strawberries, it was my own last minute foraging that was totally unsatisfying). But what to make? At a get-away weekend recently, my college roommates (the source of all wisdom in the world) and I were talking about meals on these kinds of days, and the universal conclusion was "cereal." (Except for one, who said her emergency meal is grilled eggplant with tomato sauce and cheese. Um, okay. )
But to me, cereal is just as unsatisfying for dinner as sandwich crusts and squished fruit. I wanted something that could be made ahead of time and thus required no separate preparation that afternoon, simple enough that I would make it even if I were the only one eating it, and satisfying enough to make me feel like I actually ate a real meal. Oh, and it should be at least reasonably healthy (otherwise we could just drive through Wendy's and end all the drama, right?).
It occurs to me that perhaps my standards are too high.
But here's my resolution - next time I know I have a day like that coming up, I'll figure out a better dinner, and then I'll let you know what it is. In the meantime, if you've already figured this out, please share!
Up at 6am. Shower, dress. COFFEE. Eat breakfast. COFFEE. Make breakfast for the boys. COFFEE. Empty dishwasher. Get boys up and dressed, hair combed, teeth brushed. While boys eat breakfast, make lunches and pack school bag. Take boys to school. Run to Target, return too big baseball glove. Meet girlfriend at hospital to see new baby. At desk by 10am, work until 3pm. Pick up boys from school. Come home. Play outside. Get t-ball things together. Feed boys (something, anything). Eat the remains off their plates (sandwich crusts and smushed strawberries...mmm...) Hand off little one to Mimi. Run to t-ball with older one. After t-ball, hand off older one to DH (who thankfully made it to t-ball just in time). Go straight from t-ball, sweaty and smelling of bug spray, to neighborhood mom's social. Inhale wine, cheese, crackers, fruit, cookies, and an obscene amount of jelly bellies, probably to the horror of perfectly coiffed and better-smelling ladies who apparently did things like eat and shower before attending a cocktail party. Go home and collapse.
These kinds of days are the ones when I do the worst job meal planning, and yet need it the most. I have no excuse - I knew Tuesday's schedule on Monday, and thus no reason not to get myself a little better organized and at least have a more substantial dinner for myself planned. (I have no qualms about the boys' dinner of pb&j sandwiches and strawberries, it was my own last minute foraging that was totally unsatisfying). But what to make? At a get-away weekend recently, my college roommates (the source of all wisdom in the world) and I were talking about meals on these kinds of days, and the universal conclusion was "cereal." (Except for one, who said her emergency meal is grilled eggplant with tomato sauce and cheese. Um, okay. )
But to me, cereal is just as unsatisfying for dinner as sandwich crusts and squished fruit. I wanted something that could be made ahead of time and thus required no separate preparation that afternoon, simple enough that I would make it even if I were the only one eating it, and satisfying enough to make me feel like I actually ate a real meal. Oh, and it should be at least reasonably healthy (otherwise we could just drive through Wendy's and end all the drama, right?).
It occurs to me that perhaps my standards are too high.
But here's my resolution - next time I know I have a day like that coming up, I'll figure out a better dinner, and then I'll let you know what it is. In the meantime, if you've already figured this out, please share!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Get your egg on!
An Easter tip: time to buy eggs now for coloring. In our family, we color hardboiled eggs the day before Easter and use those eggs to make deviled eggs for Easter brunch. (The Easter Bunny hides plastic eggs filled with various treats.) I've learned the hard way that older eggs are much, much easier to peel once they've been hardboiled. So buy your eggs for coloring this week, leave them in their original carton and stick them in the back of the fridge. By Easter, they'll be just right.
Fool-proof hardboiled eggs:
Put eggs in pot, cover with cold water. Set on stove, cover, and bring water to a boil. As soon as the water boils, turn the heat off and let the eggs sit for 10 minutes. Rinse with cool water and pat dry. Voila! They are ready to be dipped in vinegar and dye that does NOT come out of your kids' clothes or off their skin, no matter what the package says.
In addition to deviled eggs, our Easter food must-haves are ham biscuits, marinated asparagus, pound cake with strawberries and whipped cream, and of course marshmellow peeps. What are yours?
Fool-proof hardboiled eggs:
Put eggs in pot, cover with cold water. Set on stove, cover, and bring water to a boil. As soon as the water boils, turn the heat off and let the eggs sit for 10 minutes. Rinse with cool water and pat dry. Voila! They are ready to be dipped in vinegar and dye that does NOT come out of your kids' clothes or off their skin, no matter what the package says.
In addition to deviled eggs, our Easter food must-haves are ham biscuits, marinated asparagus, pound cake with strawberries and whipped cream, and of course marshmellow peeps. What are yours?
Monday, March 23, 2009
What's your go-to dinner? Part I
Here's the scene: You haven't been to the store. You were too tired, too busy, or too something (anything) to do any meal planning. You're supposed to be saving money and not going out to eat. So what's your go-to meal? In this house, it's porkchops and rice. I love this recipe. It's cheap, I always have the ingredients on hand (hint: buy the porkchops whenever they're on sale and stick them in the freezer), and it's SO GOOD.
In the interest of full disclosure, this is actually my mother-in-law's recipe. Sort of. It was (is) always her go-to meal, and the first time I had it, I asked for the recipe. Unfortunately for me, it's one of those dishes that she just carries around in her head, and when she attempted to write it down...well...you can see for yourself. This is what it looked like:
Pork chops
1-2 cups rice
chopped onion
water
seasonings
canned diced tomatoes
canned crushed tomatoes
Brown chops, combine with the rest of ingredients, bake in oven 1-2 hours, around 325 or 350 degrees.
Ummmm...I don't know about you, but I'm TYPE A. Which means I need precision and order in my life. Let me tell you, the first time I made this dish with these vague instructions, it wasn't pretty. But I consider myself a pretty accomplished cook, and I wasn't going to let someone else's Go-To dish defeat me. It took me a full year, yes, a year, to finally replicate how hers tastes. And I took notes, every single time. Here's the result. Try it. You'll like it.
M.E.'s Pork Chops and Rice:
6-8 large bone-in porkchops
1 large sweet onion (suggest vidalia if you can get them), diced
1 cup long grain rice (don't go all healthy on us and try to substitute brown rice; won't work)
28 0z can Muir Glen organic diced tomatoes
28 0z can Muir Glen organic crushed tomatoes
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2/3 cup water
Sprinkle porkchops with salt and pepper. Brown both sides quickly over high heat, set in the bottom of large casserole dish. Sprinkle onion over porkchops. (Is your family weird about texture like mine sometimes is? If so, leave out the onion and it will still be yummy.) Measure rice into measuring cup, add salt, chili powder, and garlic powder. Stir to mix the spices together with the rice, and pour over porkchops. Pour both cans of tomatoes over porkchops and rice. Pour in water. Cook uncovered at 350 for 1 hour, 45 minutes. Dinner is ready when all the liquid is absorbed, rice is cooked, tomatoes have reduced down, and porkchops are fall-off-the-bone tender. Mmmmm. Happy eating!
In the interest of full disclosure, this is actually my mother-in-law's recipe. Sort of. It was (is) always her go-to meal, and the first time I had it, I asked for the recipe. Unfortunately for me, it's one of those dishes that she just carries around in her head, and when she attempted to write it down...well...you can see for yourself. This is what it looked like:
Pork chops
1-2 cups rice
chopped onion
water
seasonings
canned diced tomatoes
canned crushed tomatoes
Brown chops, combine with the rest of ingredients, bake in oven 1-2 hours, around 325 or 350 degrees.
Ummmm...I don't know about you, but I'm TYPE A. Which means I need precision and order in my life. Let me tell you, the first time I made this dish with these vague instructions, it wasn't pretty. But I consider myself a pretty accomplished cook, and I wasn't going to let someone else's Go-To dish defeat me. It took me a full year, yes, a year, to finally replicate how hers tastes. And I took notes, every single time. Here's the result. Try it. You'll like it.
M.E.'s Pork Chops and Rice:
6-8 large bone-in porkchops
1 large sweet onion (suggest vidalia if you can get them), diced
1 cup long grain rice (don't go all healthy on us and try to substitute brown rice; won't work)
28 0z can Muir Glen organic diced tomatoes
28 0z can Muir Glen organic crushed tomatoes
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2/3 cup water
Sprinkle porkchops with salt and pepper. Brown both sides quickly over high heat, set in the bottom of large casserole dish. Sprinkle onion over porkchops. (Is your family weird about texture like mine sometimes is? If so, leave out the onion and it will still be yummy.) Measure rice into measuring cup, add salt, chili powder, and garlic powder. Stir to mix the spices together with the rice, and pour over porkchops. Pour both cans of tomatoes over porkchops and rice. Pour in water. Cook uncovered at 350 for 1 hour, 45 minutes. Dinner is ready when all the liquid is absorbed, rice is cooked, tomatoes have reduced down, and porkchops are fall-off-the-bone tender. Mmmmm. Happy eating!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)