Prepare yourself folks, this is a very MOM post. But whatevs. It's reality. Sometimes being an adult means switching up from martinis and happy hour to meal planning and Mario.
I *heart* my life.
So a few things have changed with me working full time again. Like being able to eat lunch in peace, drink hot coffee in the morning, and wearing fun cute things daily without worry of them being ripped, torn, slopped on, or otherwise tortured.
One other major adjustment has been my meal planning. You all know how crazy I am with planning my meals and what not. Remember The Nat-o-Planner? Well, it's still in effect...I mean...it is awesome. But it's been going through a few upgrades.
I am still cooking, but certain things become difficult when you have an hour or so when you get home from work. One nice thing about working from home is that I could start my meal ahead of time, I wasn't quite so rushed....now it's a NASCAR race to get home so you can start dinner.
I could turn to more prepared meals, and I have no qualms in doing so when in a bind, but there are so few healthy delicious options. What it really comes down to is I love cooking for my family though, and love the healthy benefits as well, so I want to cook for them. It's how I love. If I cram food down your throat, you know I love you. If I have never done that with you...well....
Dang this just got awkward.
In the words of my fabulously highly educated, wish I could be as smart as he, brother, I digress. We are all bringing lunches every day which means if I don't cook, I don't have leftovers, we don't have lunch. Yes we can do sandwiches but since every one of our appetites suffer from ADD we don't like the same thing twice (in a way, we eat the heck out of leftovers). So I'm forced to make some changes to my already way too organized meal planning (again, I will do so many more things for the sake of food. Luckily I can put it under the umbrella of keeping my family healthy or it could be horribly pathetic).
#1 - I am still writing out my 12 meals for 15 days. I still organize and buy for them ahead of time. I write down which meals go on which days, though this is always changeable. I still grocery shop once every 15 days (or twice a month...sometimes less than that with my new love of all things Costco.) I am more consistent with this though. When you have less and less time to run errands you don't want to get caught unorganized.
#2 - it IS more difficult to find the energy to cook when you just get home, so I am finding myself searching harder for recipes I can get excited about. Sometimes you have recipes that are okay, easy, and really just filler recipes. Well, coming from experience (like the Smothered Steak that has been on my list for months now and just never going to happen), if you don't find it exciting, you won't make it. I think this is the number one reason why most people don't cook, they aren't excited about the recipes. Pick a few of your favorites, always have new ones you are trying also, and use a variety of ingredients.
#3 - I am cooking ahead of time. Trying to do some of the prep the night before, Sunday before, or just buy already prepped ingredients (sometimes the extra money will be worth it if it makes cooking that meal less daunting / more doable). But even something as simple as having the veggies chopped can make lots of difference.
#4 - Cook with recipes that take less time. Obvious? Yes, I know, but for me it is hard because I cook complicated recipes. I like a lot of flavor. I like complex, and I like variety. This usually means the recipe takes longer, hence #3 where I am trying to still be able to make some of my faves but not end up eatting at 9:00pm every night.
#5. My large 12cup food processor. Helloooo lover. Where have you been all my life? I have literally used this thing daily. I can make pizza dough with the dough blade, mix up baked goods in it, slice up, dice up, or shred up ingredients with my meals without half of the food becoming mush and half in large chunks like my small processor does. It has saved me tons of time, and added a variety to my cooking that I didn't have before. The other day I made eggplant calzones for the family when I got home from work. Psh. No big deal.
#6 I still break everything out in serving sizes when we put it away at night, which is awesome for packing lunches. We have actually started making our lunches the night before also, which is a huge help during the mornings. With two adults, and two kids that eat the same amount as adults, well, packing lunches can take a while.
So...that being said... here is this week's recipes for anyone interested (yes I adore Skinnytaste.com):
Sunday (tonight): Turkey and Black Bean Enchilada
Monday: Cuban Black Beans and Cilantro Lime Rice on wheat tortillas with avocado and sour cream (I will make the beans Sunday night) Mmmmm, this is a staple. Love the combo.
Tuesday: Simple Lasagna (on recipe tab, though this has been modified, I made this Sunday morning)
Weds: Whole Roasted Chicken (I am using my Pampered Chef Deep Covered Baker and doing this in the microwave for 30 minutes. I don't love using the microwave but I had it before and this is delicious. Basically I will shove garlic everyone in this thing and stuff the cavity with chunks of carrot, celery and onion, then rub olive oil and seasonings on the outside...YUM) and Cauliflower Fritters
Thurs: BBQ Chicken and Buffalo Chicken Pizza (Pizza crust made Weds night and chicken leftover from the whole chicken the night before) No recipe for this really. For BBQ Chicken Pizza: just bbq sauce, onion and green pepper sliced and sauteed in olive oil until very tender, mozzarella, and chicken. For Buffalo Chicken Pizza: Franks hot sauce mixed with chicken, onion sauteed, monterey jack cheese, and drizzle with ranch after it's cooked.
Friday: NOTHING!! Free day! Probably a fat day..splurge day...probably do whatever suits are fancy that day.
Saturday: Rice Ball Casserole (made the tomato sauce for this Sunday as well, which I freeze, and it makes more than enough to use for pasta or, what we used it for last week, the dipping sauce for the calzone)
And there we go folks! We'll see how it goes. I don't pressure myself too much, if we don't make it to a recipe one night, we don't make it. I like us to have good options for lunches though which makes it more of an incentive to cook as well. I might start doing this weekly if it helps anyone. I love seeing do-able recipes and love recipes that actually taste decent.
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