You know how you always feel like you stare at the fridge, then the pantry, then the fridge again - wondering what to make for dinner? I do it ALL the time, that is if I'm not hungry enough that I need to eat cereal or PB&J for instant satisfaction. But maybe you are luckier than me... I've tried in the past to pick out recipes on Saturday to plan the next week's meals. The trouble is that when I get home from work, I am too hungry or tired to wait for something to cook. Or I buy the ingredients and basically watch them spoil because I don't get around to using them.
I have all these cookbooks and I even subscribed to the Everyday Food magazine for 2 years, but hardly ever used for much than just looking through them. So I tried again last Saturday to search for recipes I could commit to cooking this week. I found 2 new ones from Everyday Food and 2 old family recipes to try. I have to admit that a week after buying the ingredients I was only 50% successful at actually following through with the plan.
But let's stay positive, right?
Sunday I ended up with a migraine, so my plan of chicken & rice like Mom used to do was a wash. Bummer, that meal needs 3 hours to cook and Sunday was the only day I had time...maybe the chicken will last another week.
Monday I had hoped to do my mom's corn chowder, but I was definitely too hungry when I got home to wait for it. I think we had salad instead.
Tuesday was more hopeful. I ate half a banana on my home from work in hopes of lasting long enough to cook before needing to eat. Corn chowder was back on the chopping block (though that probably isn't a good expression for soup, huh?!). I needed cooked potatoes and figured the microwave would be my kitchen helper. It cooked my potatoes and I assembled chowder. One of the websites I often search for recipes had a 30-minute roll recipe that even used yeast and self-rising flour. I thought it would be my miracle worker for dinner rolls on my schedule. But they were definitely a flop. They were a really bad version of baking powder biscuits. Oh well, the chowder was SO good - Jd even liked it!
Wednesday: Macaroni & Cheese with a corndog.
Thursday was another success. My plan: sesame chicken & brown rice. The recipe was from a past (I want to episode - see how much tv I watch!)....um.....sorry....can't think of it....so we'll use "episode" anyway...of the Everyday Food magazine. The recipe, if you're interested, is here; did you click the link? It was a really GOOD recipe. Very simple, tasted good, and was fairly quick to create. After 45 minutes I was enjoying mouthful by mouthful of the honey, soy sauce, and garlic sauce over chicken breaded with corn starch and egg whites and cooked in a pan with only 2 Tbsp of oil, with sides of brown rice and yellow squash with mushrooms cooked with some butter and a touch of oil to keep the butter from burning. Now have you clicked on the recipe link?! It was a WINNER!!!! We'll do that one again. Maybe next time we'll try it with broccoli like it asked.
Friday: Left overs, but still happy.
Tonight: Not sure yet, back to the drawing board.
Tomorrow: Hopefully the chicken & rice.
Plan for next week: Not as much chicken. Plan for more red meat. Talk about something other than food on Facebook and my blog.
Kim I'm so proud of you for at least making a plan and trying new things. I definitely want to try that sesame chicken!! If you want some more ideas, I'm always happy to do recipe exchanging. We've tried some fairly good ones this week. Happy cooking!! (or at least, happy eating!)
ReplyDeleteI would love to do recipe exchanging! The link to the sesame chicken is on Facebook, but it's here too:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/lighter-sesame-chicken?autonomy_kw=sesame&rsc=rf_result1
i can relate on ALL levels to this post. first, i always seem to talk about food on my blog. but i also noticed it is the one topic i tend to get the most reactions from...so i don't think it's a bad thing to talk about. plus, you and i are on the same love of food wave-length. :)
ReplyDeletesecond, i too do the tango between the cupboards and fridge. wyatt laughs at me. but dinner in general is a very stressful subject for me...espcially after getting home from work at 7pm at night. ugh!!!! i keep telling myself things will get better when i don't have a full-time job. we'll see...
PS - i LOVE corn chowder! i was on a kick for a while where i made it quite frequently...until wyatt asked me if i was over it yet (apparentaly he was). sad.