So tell me if this sounds familiar...
Pick up Mason from school at 2:45 and drop him off at piano lessons. Pick up Morgan and Brooklyn from school at 3:30 and run Morgan to swim team practice. Pick up Mason from piano ten minutes late because some guy driving a hay trailer took a turn too fast and dumped his load all over the road shutting down all but one lane of traffic. Drop Brooklyn off at gymnastics and Mason at football where you forgot it was your turn to bring Gatorade. Run to the store, back to the football field and then to pick Morgan up at the pool. Squeak through the door of the dry cleaners right as they're locking up and then back to the gym to grab Brooklyn. Hopefully she can just jump in as your driving by because Mason is texting you from the field wondering where you are. After hitting every single red light on the way, Mason and the extra Gatorade are in the car and Brooklyn asks, "Mom, what's for dinner?". Ummmm.....Taco Bell?
What's for dinner can be the single most dreaded question any mom or dad or anyone for that matter has to answer. And the answer is something my dad always said that I swore I would never say. Failing to plan is planning to fail. Dinner requires a game plan. It takes a little extra work, but the payoff is well worth it.
There are different ways to approach dinner menus. One woman I knew had it worked out that Mondays were Italian night, Tuesdays were Mexican night and so forth. Her family's favorite was Friday - breakfast for dinner. My mom would plan a month of meals at a time that included tacos every single Sunday. What works for me is doing a week at a time. Most grocery stores start new sales and discounts on Wednesdays. My store of choice is King Soopers, the Colorado front range Kroger chain store. So every Wednesday I run in and grab a sale ad. You can also find the weekly ads online. At the top of the page I'm making my list on I actually write the days of the week, usually Friday-Thursday because that's how my shopping works out. Then I start through the ad and begin building a dinner plan based on what's on sale. If I know I've got the late shift on Tuesday night then it's something I can put in the crock pot before I leave. If I know Thursday night is packed then it's something fast and simple like grilled cheese and tomato soup. During Cole's baseball season we did things that were portable and could go to games with us. Ask your family what their favorites are because believe it or not, the more involved they are with the planning the more likely they are to actually eat it. What I end up with is something like this -
Friday - Swiss steak over rice, steamed carrots, salad
Saturday - Potato soup, rolls
Sunday - Pulled pork sandwiches, cabbage salad, cantaloupe
Monday - Chicken paprika, egg noodles, steamed broccoli
Tuesday - Cottage cheese meatloaf, mashed potatoes, salad
Wednesday - Chicken rice-a-roni salad
Thursday - Lasagne, garlic bread, salad
It does take a bit of effort, but it's a great feeling when it's 4th and long and instead of punting (Taco Bell, McDonalds, Wendys), your family ends up at the dinner table because you had a game plan. Bill Belichek ain't got nothin' on me :).
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
The Legend of the Corndog Casserole
Brent has always had a pretty good sense of humor when it comes to my efforts in the kitchen. Whether it's a new recipe or a trial run of my own creation he's quite tactful at letting me know that it might not be something to make again. "Not really my favorite but someone else might like it". Or, "It was interesting". Or, "The salad was really good". Only one time has he ever flat out said please don't ever make that again because it was disgusting. Corndog casserole.
My brother had been on the road, touring with a Broadway production, and was in town for the show's run in Denver. We hadn't seen him in almost six months and were really excited for him to come up for dinner. I decided to try a new recipe I'd found in a magazine that was touted as tasting like corndogs in a baking dish. Hot dogs, cornbread batter, a can of corn and seasoning all mixed together and dumped in a dish to bake. I know, I look at it now and wonder why on earth I thought that was a good idea. We sat down to eat and I served everyone up. Brent took a bite and made a face that still brings a smile to my face when I think of it. Amanda, who was five at the time, took a bite and promptly said, "Mommy, this doesn't taste very good". Tiffany picked a bite up with her fork, sniffed it and wouldn't even put it in her mouth. Now I don't know if it was because my brother had been on the road for so long without a home cooked meal or because he was just an early twenties kid who would eat anything, but he ate the entire 9x13 pan of it all by himself while we all sat there and watched him do it. Once the pan was empty he proceded to scrape everyone else's plate clean and then asked if there was any more. At least the salad was really good. Although I guess lettuce with salad dressing is kind of hard to mess up.
Eating that entire pan of yuck is something we gave my brother a hard time about for a lot of years, although he always maintained that it was delicious. It's a memory of him that I cherish now.
My brother had been on the road, touring with a Broadway production, and was in town for the show's run in Denver. We hadn't seen him in almost six months and were really excited for him to come up for dinner. I decided to try a new recipe I'd found in a magazine that was touted as tasting like corndogs in a baking dish. Hot dogs, cornbread batter, a can of corn and seasoning all mixed together and dumped in a dish to bake. I know, I look at it now and wonder why on earth I thought that was a good idea. We sat down to eat and I served everyone up. Brent took a bite and made a face that still brings a smile to my face when I think of it. Amanda, who was five at the time, took a bite and promptly said, "Mommy, this doesn't taste very good". Tiffany picked a bite up with her fork, sniffed it and wouldn't even put it in her mouth. Now I don't know if it was because my brother had been on the road for so long without a home cooked meal or because he was just an early twenties kid who would eat anything, but he ate the entire 9x13 pan of it all by himself while we all sat there and watched him do it. Once the pan was empty he proceded to scrape everyone else's plate clean and then asked if there was any more. At least the salad was really good. Although I guess lettuce with salad dressing is kind of hard to mess up.
Eating that entire pan of yuck is something we gave my brother a hard time about for a lot of years, although he always maintained that it was delicious. It's a memory of him that I cherish now.
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Z....Z....Zucchini!
Ah early September! Thoughts turn to football (NINERS!!), getting to wear my favorite pair of comfy sweats on Sunday afternoons, cardigan sweaters, finding the perfect pair of new riding boots that I absolutely have to have this year, and what the heck am I going to do with all this zucchini????!!!! Seriously, our garden this year produced the hugest, most prolific zucchini plant we've had in the 11 years we've lived in this house. So what to do with them?
Perfect eating zuchs are between eight and ten inches long. My favorite way to eat them -
In a medium pan, saute 1-2 cloves of chopped garlic in about a tablespoon of olive oil over meduim heat until the garlic is browned. Add one sliced zuch and saute until tender but not soggy (it will start to look a bit translucent). Add one diced tomato and one tablespoon chopped fresh basil (or 1 teaspoon dried basil) and gently stir just until tomatoes are heated. Salt to taste and top with Parmesan cheese and serve. Makes 2-3 servings.
Of course the fact that zucchini grow from inchlings to over two feet long in just over 36 hours (not really, but they grow FAST) means that coming back to pick it a few days later may find it past it's pan sized prime. You could write an entire book of ways to bake with zucchini. Brownies, cakes, muffins, biscuits, cookies.....and my favorite -
Classic Zucchini Bread
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup vegetable or canola oil
2 cups sugar
2 cups grated zucchini
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups flour (part whole wheat is good)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves
Nuts or raisins or mini chocolate chips if desired
In large mixing bowl, beat eggs well. Add oil, sugar, zucchini and vanilla and mix well. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Grease bottoms of bread pans and fill 3/4 full and bake at 325 degrees, 1 hour for large pans, 45-50 minutes for small pans. Bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the middle of the loaf comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes. Gently loosen sides from pan with a knife and turn loaves out onto rack. Cool completely.
The one thing I did try one time that I REALLY would not recommend is making zucchini jam. Yeah...shredded zucchini, sugar and koolade. If you ever come across that one you might want to skip it. Trust me.
Perfect eating zuchs are between eight and ten inches long. My favorite way to eat them -
In a medium pan, saute 1-2 cloves of chopped garlic in about a tablespoon of olive oil over meduim heat until the garlic is browned. Add one sliced zuch and saute until tender but not soggy (it will start to look a bit translucent). Add one diced tomato and one tablespoon chopped fresh basil (or 1 teaspoon dried basil) and gently stir just until tomatoes are heated. Salt to taste and top with Parmesan cheese and serve. Makes 2-3 servings.
Of course the fact that zucchini grow from inchlings to over two feet long in just over 36 hours (not really, but they grow FAST) means that coming back to pick it a few days later may find it past it's pan sized prime. You could write an entire book of ways to bake with zucchini. Brownies, cakes, muffins, biscuits, cookies.....and my favorite -
Classic Zucchini Bread
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup vegetable or canola oil
2 cups sugar
2 cups grated zucchini
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups flour (part whole wheat is good)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves
Nuts or raisins or mini chocolate chips if desired
In large mixing bowl, beat eggs well. Add oil, sugar, zucchini and vanilla and mix well. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Grease bottoms of bread pans and fill 3/4 full and bake at 325 degrees, 1 hour for large pans, 45-50 minutes for small pans. Bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the middle of the loaf comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes. Gently loosen sides from pan with a knife and turn loaves out onto rack. Cool completely.
The one thing I did try one time that I REALLY would not recommend is making zucchini jam. Yeah...shredded zucchini, sugar and koolade. If you ever come across that one you might want to skip it. Trust me.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
No I'm Not a Professional
I never learned how to cook growing up, bake definitely, but cook, definitely not. I always figured when I was rich and famous someday I'd hire someone to just do it for me :). However, as is often the case, life has other plans and I found myself getting married very young. I remember at my wedding shower a dear family friend gave me my first cookbook, the Betty Crocker basic red cookbook. I opened it and looked at her with an expression of "what the heck am I supposed to do with this?". She smiled kindly and said, "Yes dear, you really are going to have to use that.". Sigh.
My first experience actually making a dinner came not long after. My husband and I lived with his mom and dad for about a year after we were married. Brent's mom is one of the most amazing women I know. He grew up with wholesome, homemade meals every night even though his mom put in full time hours as a principal's secretary. They made pizza from scratch every Saturday night, including the dough. Yeah, I know, I felt sorry for him too, marrying me. His mom asked me to make dinner one evening because she had meetings late. Hamburgers. Easy right? All you have to do is add a few ingredients to ground meat, form into patties, grill and serve on a bun. Uh-huh. Mine ended up falling apart all over the grill (my father-in-law actually had to take his grill apart to clean it because so much of the meat ended up down where it shouldn't be). I ended up locked in the bedroom, in tears, unwilling to come out even after my darling husband made a trip to a local burger place to buy dinner.
Fast forward a bit to our first apartment. Our first dinner? Burned spagettios. Seriously. And again, me locked in the bedroom in tears while my undyingly patient husband went and bought dinner to eat by himself. Not even hot and sour soup would lure me out.
Fast forward again, 23 years and 4 children later. I still have my first red Betty Crocker cookbook. It's dog-eared and the binding is broken. It was the first of what has become a rather substantial collection. Brent and I have fed I don't know how many teenagers over the course of our kids growing up and more church missionaries than I can remember. I have a small catering business and truly, one of my greatest pleasures in life is preparing food and watching people talk and laugh and enjoy themselves while eating it. I'll say right up front I have no official education or any kind of schooling as far as food goes, aside from the one cooking class I took with Brent's sister. But as is the case in so many things, life provided the best education.
So here's my hope with this. Two or three times per week sharing receipes, menus, random food musings, anything and everything that might make time in the kitchen more enjoyable (notice I didn't say less stressful although hopefully that will happen too). Like I said, I'm not a professional, but I love food and everything that goes with it. My parents were over for dinner not too long ago. My dad looked at me and said, "You've come a long way from burned spagettios.". No comment could have meant more.
My first experience actually making a dinner came not long after. My husband and I lived with his mom and dad for about a year after we were married. Brent's mom is one of the most amazing women I know. He grew up with wholesome, homemade meals every night even though his mom put in full time hours as a principal's secretary. They made pizza from scratch every Saturday night, including the dough. Yeah, I know, I felt sorry for him too, marrying me. His mom asked me to make dinner one evening because she had meetings late. Hamburgers. Easy right? All you have to do is add a few ingredients to ground meat, form into patties, grill and serve on a bun. Uh-huh. Mine ended up falling apart all over the grill (my father-in-law actually had to take his grill apart to clean it because so much of the meat ended up down where it shouldn't be). I ended up locked in the bedroom, in tears, unwilling to come out even after my darling husband made a trip to a local burger place to buy dinner.
Fast forward a bit to our first apartment. Our first dinner? Burned spagettios. Seriously. And again, me locked in the bedroom in tears while my undyingly patient husband went and bought dinner to eat by himself. Not even hot and sour soup would lure me out.
Fast forward again, 23 years and 4 children later. I still have my first red Betty Crocker cookbook. It's dog-eared and the binding is broken. It was the first of what has become a rather substantial collection. Brent and I have fed I don't know how many teenagers over the course of our kids growing up and more church missionaries than I can remember. I have a small catering business and truly, one of my greatest pleasures in life is preparing food and watching people talk and laugh and enjoy themselves while eating it. I'll say right up front I have no official education or any kind of schooling as far as food goes, aside from the one cooking class I took with Brent's sister. But as is the case in so many things, life provided the best education.
So here's my hope with this. Two or three times per week sharing receipes, menus, random food musings, anything and everything that might make time in the kitchen more enjoyable (notice I didn't say less stressful although hopefully that will happen too). Like I said, I'm not a professional, but I love food and everything that goes with it. My parents were over for dinner not too long ago. My dad looked at me and said, "You've come a long way from burned spagettios.". No comment could have meant more.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)