We Kinda Ate Glass For Dinner, But What Matters Is We Ate Dinner

I'm juggling a lot these days and a lot of balls get dropped. A lot of stuff just can't get done (like putting away laundry), but a good control freak like me has to pick and choose battles. The battle I seem to have picked is dinner. I can control dinner. So, I make it every day. I try to meal plan each week and rarely order in. It's not easy. I often do it in steps throughout the day, starting with chopping in the morning, then perhaps sauteing around lunch, etc. etc. If I have help with the kids I might throw together soup and leave it on the burner for the rest of the day.

I've also gotten really creative, because sometimes I can't get to the grocery store for a couple of weeks. So, I have to make do with what we have on hand. As an excellent impulse buyer and a total sucker for a deal, we have plenty of goods and a freezer full of stuff. So, I'm always able to get by.

I threw together what I could find the other day... Chick peas, frozen butternut squash, sweet potatoes, fire roasted tomatoes, onions, garlic, celery, carrots, chicken broth... Flavored it with some cinnamon and curry and thyme. It was fast, a five minute stew I threw together while I had some help. It sat on the stove for the afternoon.

Later, during the 4:00 meltdown/introduction of tv time, I decided to quickly unload the dishwasher. While moving too fast, in too many directions, I somehow knocked a Pyrex bowl out of the cabinet. It hit our silestone counter top and shattered into about a million pieces. And when I say shattered I mean SHATTERED. I was covered in little glass pieces. It filled the dishwasher, was all over the ground. I screamed at the barefooted B who was just entering the kitchen asking for crackers. And then I spent 40 minutes cleaning. 40 MINUTES. Baby was crying, brothers were bickering and whining about needing snacks, little pieces of glass were stuck in my hands and feet. And I imagined missed little pieces that would no doubt find their way into little feet. It was hell. Seriously.

Once everything was as glass-free as I could get it, I realized that I had uncovered dinner for a quick taste test. I couldn't imagine that the glass made its way into the dutch oven, but couldn't guarantee it hadn't. I looked through it. I took a few bites. I couldn't bear to throw it away. So, I made the kids mac and cheese or something. They ate and I put a few spoonfuls in a bowl. I figured that if I found glass it would be a sign that Matt and I shouldn't eat it. The first bite... CRUNCH. Glass right away. So, I threw away my bowl, but still left the rest on the stove top. It actually pained me to imagine my time and efforts, not to mention delicious, healthy food just get thrown away. What a waste.

Matt came home, we agreed to throw it away and have cheese and crackers for dinner once the kids were sleeping. It was 8:30 by the time everyone was settled. We were hungry and Matt thought it smelled good, so he might as well take a taste. And then it tasted so good, he might as well eat some of it. And little by little we each carefully, slowly ate a bowl of glass-free stew. The rest went into the garbage.

But, seriously, that was some damn good stew...

Meal Planning: Using Up My Produce

We are renovating our kitchen later this week, which means we won't be able to make dinner on Thursday and Friday and all of the fresh organic produce sitting around needs to be used quickly. So, I looked through the fridge and made a plan for getting through as much as possible:

Monday: Frozen Cheese Pizza with Apple, Celery & Parmesan Salad
Tuesday: Ribollita
Wednesday: Shallot, Zucchini, Leek & Fontina Frittata with Green Salad and Orange, Banana, Blueberry Yogurt Smoothies

Since this week is going to be extremely hot and I'll be busy with work and pre-kitchen renovation preparations, my plan is to make the Tuesday and Wednesday dinners the night before and then just reheat when I get home from work. Both riballita and frittatas are perfect to prepare ahead of time and easy enough to throw together once the boys are sleeping.

Sometimes you just have to look through the fridge and get creative to remind yourself that there is almost always a way to throw together a solid dinner with what you have on hand. And (though I've fallen off the wagon lately) meal planning makes an incredible difference in making those meals happen.

Produce Delivery Overwhelmed Me This Week, So I Meal Planned

Remember this year started with some serious meal planning determination? Yeah, me too... And then I got tired and busy and lost my enthusiasm. But, last week I decided to place an order with Artizone and use a Ripe Organics deal that I purchased a while back to give me a reason to plan and cook again.

Silly me, I scheduled an Artizone order, which also included a small box of organic produce from The Green Grocer (which was delivered on Monday):

Fennel, rhubarb, asparagus, apples, strawberries, portabella mushrooms and red leaf lettuce

And I redeemed my purchase of a small box of organic produce from Ripe Organics (which was delivered on Tuesday):

Cauliflower, bananas, apples, broccoli, potatoes, oranges, romaine lettuce, and green onions

We also went to Whole Foods on Sunday. So, basically, we're overwhelmed by produce - fresh, organic, cannot-be-wasted produce. Here is how I'm getting through it:

Monday: Chefdruck's Simple Roast Beef with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli
Tuesday: Shrimp cocktail and a red lettuce and fennel salad
Wednesday: Vegetable fajitas (portabella mushrooms, asparagus, green onion, red and green peppers) and vanilla ice cream with strawberry-rhubarb mint compote for dessert
Thursday: Baked chicken breast cutlets with roasted cauliflower and salad
Friday: Lentil soup

And, for the record, mixed boxes of organic produce is totally the way to go! It's surprisingly inexpensive and I'm very happy with the quality of what we received! We're looking for a CSA for the summer, but I would recommend either The Green Grocer or Ripe Organics, neither compensated me in any way.

I Make My Own Salad Dressing... And You Can, Too

We're trying to cut out as much processed food as we can. We won't be able to cut out all processed foods, but each thing makes a difference. It's wonderful to know exactly what goes into your food. I stopped buying salad dressing a couple years ago, because I really prefer the taste of my own. And now that I've consistently made my own dressing, I just can't go back.

Here's how I do it:

The base: one part olive oil, 3 parts vinegar (we really like vinegar heavy dressings and I use different types of vinegar, depending on what else we're eating), salt, pepper, onion powder

Additions I might add (depending on what I'm pairing it with): Dijon mustard, herbs (dry or fresh), honey, garlic powder, horse radish, agave nectar, citrus, parmesan cheese

Throw it all together in a container, seal, and shake the heck out of it. Then toss with salad.

You won't go back to prepared salad dressings and it's very, very easy.

Meal MacGyver: Whitefish With Tomato Basil Sauce and Arugula Salad

I made a meal plan this week and placed an order with Artizone, but totally went off schedule and left work tonight without a plan. I was supposed to go to a food fun event and planned for a crock pot meal for Matt and W, but I skipped the event with the sick kiddos and skipped the crock pot, too. I started to think it would be a mac & cheese kind of night.

Instead I spent my train ride home from work considering what I could make for dinner. I envisioned my kitchen cabinets and actually threw together a really awesome meal.

First, I chopped an onion and sauteed it in a good amount of olive oil. I added a few cloves of finely chopped garlic and let it cook down for a while to get golden and soft. I added two cans of diced tomatoes, a really heavy pour of wine (1+ cup), salt & pepper, and let it cook on high, stirring often. I turned it down once it started to thicken and let it simmer.

While the tomatoes cooked, I rinsed and dried the whitefish, seasoned it with salt & pepper, and added to a hot pan with olive oil and a bit of butter and cooked for a few minutes on each side. Before flipping over the fish I squeezed half of a lemon over it.

I chopped up a handful of fresh basil and stirred into the tomato mixture, which was very thick by this time. I plated the whitefish and spooned the tomato sauce over it.

For the arugula salad, I simply tossed it with the juice of the other half of the lemon, olive oil, and salt. Then I drizzled over some 30-year aged balsamic vinegar, which makes everything heavenly.

This was an unexpected awesome meal. The highlight by far was the tomato sauce. I think I could use the sauce for anything... pizza, pasta, bruschetta...

Ever the critic, W and I discussed:

W: "Sometimes I don't like it when you make me try everything."

Me: "Do you not like this?"

W: "No, this is good."

Me: "What's your favorite part?"

W: "The tomatoes. It reminds me of salsa!"

And there you have it. Another reminder that forcing myself to take a moment to put together a homemade, fresh meal is worth the time -- Even when you're throwing something together and working without a recipe.

Have you pulled a Meal MacGyver lately?

Meal MacGyver: Roasted Chicken with Pumpkin

I've embraced the roasted vegetable and chicken one pot meal more and more over the last year. I usually end up getting rid of pumpkins at the end of fall, but I was able to put one that W had painted in preschool to good use for a meal on a day I had no idea what to make and a blogging pal, Thien-Kim, inspired me to add fruit to my regular roasted vegetables, which I did here.

Here's how I did it: I chopped onions, potatoes, and pumpkin, which I tossed in olive oil and salt and pepper. Then I added a couple cloves of garlic, a couple handfuls of raisins, a handful of dried cranberries, as well as a couple of bay leaves, a palmful of cinnamon, and a heavy sprinkle of allspice and curry. I added this to bone-in chicken breasts in my trusty dutch oven and put it in the oven at 350 degrees for an hour.

This is a good one for those nights that you feel like you have nothing in the kitchen. Dig those chicken breasts out of the freezer and throw in any root vegetable, potatoes, or fruits like apples, cranberries, raisins, or prunes and I pretty much guarantee it will be awesome.

Meal MacGyver: Chicken and Orzo Lemon Soup

Tonight I managed to surprise all of us with a delicious soup that I threw together in under an hour. It was rainy and cold and I'd been busy hosting my sister's baby shower all day. At the end of the day we all wanted something comforting and tasty without too much effort.

For a moment I considered ordering out, but I looked at what we had on hand: cooked orzo, lemons, chicken breasts, chicken stock, and eggs... Why not try making a lemon soup. I looked online for ideas and put my own spin on it.

First I heated up 2 quarts of chicken stock and added three cups of pre-cooked orzo. I chopped two chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces and dropped them in to let them cook a bit while I beat two eggs. I juiced two lemons and zested one of them, which I whisked into the eggs and then slowly added a cup of the hot stock while whisking to make sure the eggs didn't get weird. I added the egg/lemon mixture to the soup while stirring quickly, which thickened it up a bit. At that point I added a handful of chopped flat leaf parsley, fresh thyme, a lot of onion powder, seasoned salt, pepper, a couple pinches of saffron, and a chicken bouillon cube. And then I let it cook on low for about 15 minutes.

And I have to say it was really, really good. William declared, "I love this soup" and ate his entire bowl, then asked for more. Trust me, it was really, really good.

So, next time you think about ordering out... Take a look in your kitchen and see what you can figure out.

What's the last meal you created from nothing?

Meal MacGyver: Smoked Salmon and Peas Pasta

I love a good challenge. One of my favorites is when it seems like we have nothing in the house for dinner and I manage to pull together a good meal with no real plan other than to use what I have on hand. I've mentioned some of my hits and misses with these meals here and there, but I'm going to try to make this a regular update on the blog.  Just the other day I inspired my sister to pull together a meal like this, maybe this will inspire you, as well.

It's all too easy to turn to take out when a little creativity could lead you to a nice meal and save you some serious dough. And you learn a lot about cooking when you play with food.

Tonight I pulled these items from the fridge/pantry/freezer:

See that Smoked Salmon in the back? Heaven.

I found the lovely smoked salmon that we bought for our Michigan vacation that wasn't, a little cream left from the pie I made last week, ricotta that I impulse bought with a coupon, and the frozen peas and whole grain pasta that are staples in our house. Not too shabby, right?

So, I melted some butter and a little flour to create a roux. Then I added the cream, followed by a couple spoons full of the ricotta over very low heat and whisked until I had a nice cream sauce. I added a ton of parmesan, seasoned it a bit, and then threw in a few cups of frozen peas. I flaked up about half of the salmon, which I stirred in and let sit for a couple minutes. Finally, I added the pasta. It sat on the stove top while I threw together a salad. All in all, it was extremely fast and really tasty (the only thing it could have used was a bit of nutmeg, but I was out). I would actually make this again and the best part: left overs for lunch tomorrow, saving us even more money!

What's the last meal you created from nothing?