I have a theme for the rest of this month's posts. On the Wall Street Journal "Juggle" blog today, there was a great discussion of how hard it is to walk through the door at 5:30 or 6:00 and get a homemade, healthy dinner on the table 30 minutes later. This is really the great daily dilemma for parents every where, isn't it? (See Ray, Rachael for the huge industry that has cropped up around solving this problem). So for the rest of the month, I'm going to be blogging about how we deal with this around here (some days more effectively than others).
Here are 2 suggestions for the days when you've been gone all day, and walk through the door in the evening starving.
1) Pasta with roasted shrimp. (Caveat: you have to peel and devein your shrimp the night before, or buy them already peeled and deveined). Everyone has their favorite easy pasta and veggies recipe, right? Just add roasted shrimp to it, and it feels like even more of a meal. Salt your water, set it on the stove to boil. An obvious note that all of us know but never actually do anything about - it will boil faster if you use less water! If you're anything like me, you put in twice as much water as you actually need, and then get irritated when it isn't boiling 3 minutes later. Preheat your oven to 400. While that's coming to a boil, toss the shrimp with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and put them on a baking sheet lined with aluminium foil. Water boiling now? Excellent. Toss the pasta in, and your oven has probably preheated. Put the shrimp in, set the timer for 8 minutes. You now have 8 minutes slice a package of cherry tomatoes in half, open and drain a jar of pitted kalamata olives, and crumble some feta cheese. (While you're at it, pour yourself a glass of wine. You deserve). 8 minutes up? Take shrimp out of the oven, set aside. Drain the pasta, return to pot. Toss with the cherry tomatoes, olives, feta cheese, shrimp, a little olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Serve with another veggie on the side that doesn't require any cooking. Maybe snowpeas with a little ranch dressing for dipping?
2) Baked potatoes with chili. I know, it's still summer so this doesn't sound so appealing. But it's such a great meal to come home to, especially once there's a little crispness in the air, because you can do the potatoes in the oven with the "delay start" function - just have them start cooking 1.5 hours before you want to eat, and it's not going to hurt them to party in the oven all day. Put your favorite chili recipe in the crockpot, and dinner is ready for you when you walk in. My crockpot chili recipe is: 1lb ground beef, 1 can kidney beans, 1 small diced onion, 1 can diced tomatoes, and 1 package McCormick mild chili seasoning. Cook on low for 8 hours. If you're going to be gone for 9-10 hours, I am of the opinion that nothing bad is going to happen to that meat if you put your crockpot on a timer and it hangs out for an hour or a little more before the cooking process starts. After all, chefs at steakhouses recommend letting your steak sit on the counter for an hour before grilling it. Surely ground beef is just as tough? (Note to readers: if you have evidence to the contrary, I don't really want to know). Slice open the baked potatoes, top with chili and a handful of shredded cheese, and enjoy. So good. We also like chili on rice, which is easily made ahead of time (and perhaps rice steamers come with timers, too? I don't know).
Happy eating!
