Today is a holiday in the US, and we’re all being extraordinarily languid. Laundry is happening, and my husband and I have a cleaning project on tap, but otherwise we are just kind of draping ourselves over the furniture and losing ourselves in various screens. That’s fine with me. Two more weeks of being Extremely Busy before I get a mini-break (I think), so I’m taking this day of loafing while I can.
My husband and I fortunately remembered YESTERDAY that today is a holiday, so we managed to make it to the grocery store while it was still open. We were prepared for it to be a madhouse, but it wasn’t too bad. Seems like most people do this odd thing called planning ahead when there is a long holiday weekend. Food for thought.
This coming weekend, one of my dearest friends is coming for a visit. I haven’t seen her since 2008, which is TOO LONG. I am so excited that I get to see her. We have fun things planned, but of course I am already overthinking everything and wondering if I need to schedule MORE things to keep her entertained. When probably we would be fine just sitting in my backyard yakking it up.
As you know if you’ve been reading this blog for any amount of time, I am really overthinking what to feed her. When I asked her about food restrictions, she said she eats anything, so… I am not sure what to make for dinner. Fortunately, I think I will be responsible for making but one meal while she’s here (we have restaurant reservations for the other nights), so my overthinking can only go so far.
Dinners for the Week of May 29-June 4
Hamburgers and Chickpea Salad: We don’t have any propane, so we won’t be grilling. But that’s okay, because these instant pot hamburgers are so yummy. Full disclosure, my husband is making a caprese salad for himself. But I am in the mood for chickpea salad and so chickpea salad is what I am making. It is so good, and leftovers will make a delicious lunch.
Tacos: I will probably default to regular old ground beef tacos when my friend arrives. Who doesn’t like tacos? Plus, Carla will eat them so we can all sit at the table together.
Grilled Chicken and Charred Lemon Cauliflower: I think I have some shawarma marinade for the chicken, and this cauliflower is so yummy I could honestly eat it by itself.
What are you doing this week? Now that Mayhem/Maycember/May-oss is nearly over, can you breathe a little? Or is June JUST AS BUSY?
It seems impossible, and yet this is pretty much the last week in May. School is nearly done. Camp is on the horizon. My parents’ move is imminent. All sorts of good things – and yet instead of happy and light, I am feeling scattered and overwhelmed.
A lot of this is due to the fact that May has been cram-jammed with social events. In the last week alone I have attended: THREE school concerts, a playdate, a skating party, a birthday dinner, and a school event. Plus I went out to an impromptu lunch with a newish friend. Plus I got my hair cut and colored, which is wonderful but also involves more than an hour of chatting. Even chatting with my very lovely and hilarious hair stylist is exhausting. Plus it was a call week.
Up next, I have: a parents association event, my twentieth college reunion, a visit from my grad school best friend, and my parents’ arrival. Quickly to be followed by Carla’s birthday and subsequent party (which I still haven’t planned yet, because Carla has been dithering; I think we FINALLY have the details set, now I just need to book the place and send out invitations).
Like I said earlier, this is all good stuff! Happy, fun, wonderful things I am excited about and have been looking forward to! And yet, THIS IS TOO MANY THINGS.
One of my gentle aspirations this year was to get together with two friends a month, if you need a sense of my typical level of social interaction. This is so far beyond the typical that I am I am waving the white flag. I am standing on the prow of the ship, shouting “Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!” into the storm.
What do you do when you have too much going on? I am coping with walks – ALONE – when I can, and by sitting on the couch – ALONE – and watching episodes of Jeopardy! and reruns of Psych when I can. So far, these strategies are not helping a huge amount, mainly because my alone time has been severely limited. Because, of course, these Fun Extra Events are all being squeezed in and around Carla’s continued roster of activities and my regular duties of attempting to be a human. So I feel like I have little to no time to sit in a quiet room and decompress before bravely facing all the people and the talking once again.
Well. There’s no way out but through. Let’s think about food instead of about making small talk with a million more people. Yes, that’s right. Meal planning is the less onerous option here.
Last week was a sheet pan success, even though I only managed to make two of the meals I planned, so I’ve got a couple of sheet pan items on the menu again as well as a couple of leftovers. (The sheet pan tandoori chicken and cauliflower was my favorite, by the way. Very similar flavors to my old shawarma standby, but in a different and delicious form.) (Instead of sticking to the things I had planned, I also tried a balsamic chicken and veggie bake. It was okay, but the balsamic sauce ended up overpowering the meal. I might use the sauce only for the chicken if I make this recipe again.)
Dinners for (practically) the LAST WEEK IN MAY OMG:
Summer Chipotle Chicken Salad with Cilantro Dressing: I did not manage to make this last week, but I have been thinking about it with longing. So back on the meal plan it goes! The only issue is that it calls for strawberries, and the berries on offer lately haven’t been particularly appealing, especially because they are also wildly expensive. To be fair, I don’t think it’s quite strawberry season. But maybe I’ll swap in blueberries? I haven’t decided if that will taste right with the cilantro dressing. Follow Up: This was underwhelming. The cilantro dressing was fine, the blueberries were fine (or, at least, I couldn’t see how strawberries would have been better), but the whole dish was kind of one-note. I think it could have benefited from some chunks of fresh mozzarella. When it comes to chipotle chicken, I VASTLY prefer this recipe.
Chicken Fajitas: A couple of people mentioned sheet pan chicken fajitas last week and I built up quite a craving.
Mediterranean Chicken and Veggies: I think this was a backup for one of my options last week, and I didn’t make it or the meal for which it was a backup. But I have lots of cauliflower leftover from the tandoori sheet pan meal and I have some zucchini ready to go, so I think this is a done deal. Follow Up: This was delicious! I used cauliflower, zucchini, red onion, and chicken. The recipe doesn’t make a huge amount of marinade, but it was just right. The tahini sauce was fine, although nothing special. If I’d had hummus on hand, maybe thinning that out with some lemon juice would have been better (and quicker). I did drizzle the veggies and chicken with leftover cilantro dressing from the chipotle chicken salad, and combined with the tahini sauce, it added a delicious zing.
Sheet Pan Sausage and Veggies: This is my reach meal for this week. Sarah recommended it, and it sounds delicious, but maybe more importantly, it sounds different from what we normally eat. Here is where I admit that I have never once cooked a sausage in my life. I’m not opposed to sausage. We ate kielbasa semi-regularly when I was growing up. But it wasn’t my favorite. I guess I feel about sausage the way I feel about meatloaf: totally something I am fine eating, but not necessarily something I would choose. But maybe that’s why it is the perfect choice! Maybe I will realize that I have been missing out on a delicious and easy protein source! At the very least, it will be a pleasant novelty compared to all the chicken we eat around here. If I can get past the abundant variety of sausage options and just CHOOSE one, I think I can make this happen.
I just spent a good long while searching through my archives for the words “sheet pan” because I already know that I have energy enough this week for ONE PAN and no more.
There’s no reason for the lack of energy. Just, you know, the usual meal-planning dread and dismay.
If you have a favorite one-pan meal, I would be delighted to hear about it. (Omitted from today’s list are two favorites: sheet pan Cuban chicken, which I heard about from Ernie a million years ago and which is delicious but which is similar to something we ate this weekend, and sheet pan chili chicken with sweet potatoes, which is scrumptious but has as an essential component a cilantro yogurt sauce.)
Dinners for the Week of May 15-21
Sheet Pan Tandoori Chicken and Cauliflower: This is exactly what I want to eat this week, but the marinade contains yogurt. So… I am either going to try a non-dairy yogurt or I will omit the yogurt entirely.
Sheet Pan Teriyaki Salmon with Green Beans: I don’t love roasted green beans, but green beans are plentiful at the grocery store right now and this is so easy I hardly have to think about it which is a quality I am prioritizing more and more often these days. I may swap the salmon for chicken; we’ll see.
Sheet Pan Garlic Butter Chicken and Potatoes: This has feta, but I can omit it from my portion. I don’t know if I’m in the mood for potatoes, either, which makes this an odd choice. But I figure I can swap in broccoli or zucchini and it will be just as tasty. Or perhaps I will scrap the entire recipe and go with this recipe for Mediterranean Chicken and Veggies instead.
Note: This post has somehow turned into mostly me complaining about my current skin flare-up, so please feel free to skip to the admittedly meager list of dinner ideas at the bottom, if you come here mainly for dinner ideas and not for skin-venting sessions.
I am not eating dairy, on the advice of my acupuncturist. This is her recommendation to help my skin. The dermatologist has yet to call me back, so has not had a chance to weigh in on this suggestion. (I did get a call from the dermatology nurse, though, who told me to discontinue the medication I had been using to treat my rosacea.)
Will the no-dairy thing even work? WHO KNOWS?! But I am at the point where I will try anything. My face got So Much Worse after I posted on Monday. Painful and inflamed and itchy and horrible to look at. I am only putting three things on my skin now: Cetaphil face wash, Cerave moisturizer, and water. And also air, I guess. I am trying Jenny’s suggestion to keep my face cool when I wash it, and I am trying the suggestion of another person in my circle not to get too sweaty (which is impossible, because I am a very sweaty human).
So. No dairy. The big problem is that now I don’t know what to eat. Somehow, dairy has become the main source of protein in my diet. I have been starting the day with a smoothie, made with milk and yogurt, and then eating cottage cheese with lunch or as a snack, and then eating yogurt for dessert. Even the delicious chocolatey lumps have yogurt in them! Now what? (I realize the world is full of non-dairy options, but they are largely unknown to me.) Also, my fridge is FULL of dairy that I bought before I was instructed to avoid it that will now go bad because I’m not eating it.
I made the mistake of discontinuing the medicine on the same day that I stopped eating dairy, so it’s impossible to tell which of those things is helping, or if this flare-up has just run its natural course. Neither is helping A LOT, but my face is slightly better than it was last week. Still not great, Bob, but better.
Okay, on to dinners. This is apparently the time of year (although this happens more than once a year) when I completely forget what food is. Meals? Never heard of ‘em. You say there is a foodstuff known as chicken? How might one prepare and eat such a thing? My husband and I started talking about what to make for dinner tonight on Saturday, because I wanted to have A Plan, and neither of us could think of anything. Neither of us came up with anything. Well, that’s not true. My husband suggested white bean enchilada soup and chicken paprikas, but as both have copious amounts of dairy in them, I had to veto both. I asked him yet again as he was leaving for work this morning and he finally blurted out, “Some sort of meat with broccoli.” Yes, I can work with that.
Also, this weekend is Mother’s Day, and my husband keeps asking me food-related Mother’s Day questions. Do I want to go out to brunch? (I don’t like brunch, and also the idea of brunch on the brunchiest day of the year sounds AWFUL.) Do I want him to make me some sort of baked good? Yes, but also no. The one thing I want to eat above all other things is a plate of cheese enchiladas with a big, salt-rimmed margarita on the side. That doesn’t exactly jive with the “no dairy” thing, though, so we’ll see.
Fish Tacos: I have been wanting fish tacos lately; now’s as good a time as any. I will not be including the yogurt cream sauce though, which is a bummer. Maybe I will make an avocado/cilantro “sauce” instead.
It is rainy, I am grumpy. I don’t feel like making a list of things to make for dinner. My brain, these past few days, has been like one of those dog walkers you sometimes see in big cities, you know – the ones that can walk like six or ten dogs at once? Except my brain is not doing well with the dog walking, and all the thought-dogs are, like, chasing after squirrels, or biting each other, or wagging their tails hopefully at people trying to pass, or lying down because they Just Can’t anymore, or winding their leashes around their own legs until they are all tangled up, or sniffing at trees, or peeing on things. What I’m trying to say is, there’s a lot of chaos and distraction, thought-wise. And, yes, the thought equivalent of excrement.
So let’s try to untangle some leashes and return some of these overwrought metaphors to their owners, shall we?
Overwhelmed: Your advice blew me away the other day. I read each comment on my post intently and took notes and felt, with every comment, so incredibly grateful for you for taking the time to address my silly non-problems. Oh, how I would love to have a girls’ weekend with YOU. We could extend it by a few or ten days so we could fit in ALL the amazing things you suggested. I was so overwhelmed by everyone’s kindness and thoroughness and wonderful ideas that I wasn’t even sure how to respond. THANK YOU. I am so lucky.
Girls’ TripUpdate Already: Using as much of your advice as possible, I put together a list of five suggestions for the girls’ trip and sent them to one of the stakeholders of the girls’ trip. She vetoed them all. So. I am kind of thinking maybe it is now her girls’ trip to plan????
Disappearing Emails: I keep writing and sending emails… and they disappear. This happened a couple of times specifically to emails I wrote to my father in the middle of the night. (When you wake up at 3:30 am, you write emails to your parents too, right?) But because of the timing, I sort of dismissed the disappearances – maybe I dreamed the emails??? But I sent an email yesterday that I was very much awake for, and it just… disappeared. Not in a draft anywhere. Not in an outbox. Not in a sent folder. Very odd. It’s not like it was even an objectionable email – like, I could see (see, but not approve of) my email becoming sentient and deciding, no, you don’t want to say that. I’m going to quietly step in and stop you from sending something inadvisable. But this was a NOTHING email. A fact email. There wasn’t even any issue with TONE.
Listen, Hug, Advise: I saw this advice floating around Instagram as a parenting technique. Instead of jumping in to help your kid, you ask, “Do you want me to listen? Do you need a hug? Or do you need help?” Great advice, and something I have tried to incorporate into my interactions with Carla. But it wasn’t until a friend applied it to me that I realized this has applications for adults as well. I told her that sometimes I worry that I treat her like a therapist, and it makes me feel guilty – and she said that maybe I felt that way because she sometimes leans toward giving advice. She said that she understands that sometimes a friend just needs to vent, and said she described the “listen, hug, advise” technique to me and said she would appreciate and welcome it if I said I needed one or the other specifically. (She is a very lovely person.) I found this to be such a useful reframing. This is not just a technique for children! Even though I want simply to vent or be comforted 90% of the time, I still tend to jump in with advice when other people share their own problems with me. So I am going to try to do more asking of what people need, rather than assuming they need my non-existent expertise.
Skin Drama: I have complained bitterly about my skin here before. Earlier this year, I was diagnosed with a type of rosacea that causes pustules and red, swollen bumps. I have been treating this with prescription cream. Last week, my face positively ERUPTED and I am miserable. MISERABLE. The blemishes are painful and/or itchy, but also they make me incredibly self-conscious. I mean, I have a fairly prominent facial scar that I carry around with me every day, so I’m somewhat used to stares anyway, but this is SO MUCH WORSE. I look like I have the pox. I was very lucky to have very few skin issues when I was a teen, and this makes me feel so full of empathy and outrage for teenagers. At least I, an adult, can use coping thoughts like, “everyone deals with this” and “most people don’t notice, or if they do notice it is in the same passing way they notice your hair color or whether you have jam on your shirt” and “this is temporary”! At least I can be relatively certain that my peers won’t tease me or call out my appearance or give me awful nicknames! How is this an affliction that young people deal with on the regular?! I am having to FORCE myself to go out in public. I had An Event to attend a few days ago, and I did not want to go. But obviously did, because I had made a commitment and because I want to be a good role model for Carla. (It was fine. I wore cute clothes, did my hair, wore glasses to hopefully distract from the state of my face, and put some coverup on the worst blemishes even though I was afraid that it would make them worse.) I have also put in a call to my dermatologist to say WHAT IS HAPPENING and I am hopeful he will have some suggestions. This is mainly a “just venting” post, because everyone’s skin is different and because at this point I will probably only do what my dermatologist suggests, but of course if you also have papulopustular rosacea I would love to hear what has worked for you, and I would love to hear any thoughts about Going In Public When You Don’t Want To.
Aging Disparity: Clearly, this skin thing is a result of my advancing age; it is apparently a Known Thing that can develop during perimenopause. It’s just the latest example of my forties not going great, health wise. I mean, I am very blessed with overall good health. I do recognize that. But the plantar fasciitis and the skin thing and a couple of other small things I have yet to check out so therefore don’t know if they are just Regular Things For People Of This Age Group or Things We Should Treat make me kind of disgusted with this decade already. Then there’s my husband, who is six months my senior. He is having NONE of these issues! He is getting better and more appealing by the day. His patients compliment his hair. He has been trying to lose a little weight, and it seems to just fall off. He has been biking a lot and his calves are, well, they are beautiful. He has always had nice legs, but I didn’t even know I found calves attractive until he toned and chiseled them with all this biking. Ahem. Apologies for the tawdry turn. He does have a few more white beard hairs, but of course they just make him look distinguished or maybe a little less like he just graduated from medical school. His feet never hurt. He never has trouble sleeping. His face is handsome and clear. Even the gradual deepening of those little parallel lines between his eyebrows makes him look thoughtful and concerned rather than wrinkled. I am glad he is healthy and thriving (and attractive), don’t get me wrong. But IT IS DEEPLY UNFAIR.
Pity Party, Over.
Dinners This Week: I suppose I really should think about what to make for dinner. Even if I really, really don’t want to. This sheet-pan miso honey chicken with asparagus sounds pretty good. I can work up some enthusiasm for this lemony cucumber couscous salad – maybe with some grilled shrimp? How about some chipotle pork chops with some sort of vegetable – broccoli, maybe?
Romance Novel: Recently, on the recommendation of Nicole, I read this book… which I LOVED… and immediately decided I want to write a romance novel. Even though I am not even a regular reader of romance novels, which seems like it would be a huge disadvantage when it comes to writing one. Even though I am 83K words into my thriller that I vowed to FINISH instead of getting distracted with a new project. So I have this whole idea for the romance novel sketched out – but the love interest hasn’t quite taken shape for me yet. There is definitely a very hot and intimidatingly smart veterinarian in town that he used to date, but why did they break up? Why is he still single? What is his Big Flaw? What is holding him back from being with our heroine? Also, I kind of need him to be independently wealthy; I’m not sure HOW it came to be that he doesn’t have to work, but it would be nice if it had something to do with why he resists falling in love with the protagonist. She is a widow, but ready to move on; maybe he also lost someone and is NOT ready to move on? But then… how does the main character bring him around? Hmmm. This is the fun part of writing. The thinking part. The part where the story unfolds nearly flawlessly in your head. The part where you have to WRITE IT DOWN is less fun, unfortunately.
Okay, I tried very hard to come up with a tenth bullet, but I don’t have it in me. We’ll all have to deal with only nine. Fortunately, nine is one of Carla’s favorite numbers, so I think she’d say that this was an ideal situation rather than a failure of imagination.
It is the last week of April and oh, I am so sick of dinner!
Dinners for the Week of April 24-30
Southwest Salad: The recipe at the link, which is delicious, has evolved into a far lazier version that is my current go-to salad. I just chop some lettuce, make some black beans, throw ’em together with some avocado and lime juice, and call it a day. Throw on a handful of frozen corn if I’m feeling fancy. (“The corn is… frozen? Really? Is that weird?” says my husband.) Maybe I’ll plop on a couple tablespoons of sour cream and drizzle on some sriracha to make it seem like there’s dressing. I put chili lime seasoning on a chicken breast and cook that for my husband. Sometimes I’ll do salmon or some shrimp if I am motivated to do so. It’s easy and my husband hasn’t yet mentioned that we eat this much too frequently.
Roasted Veggie and Lentil Salad: This sounds really tasty and fairly easy, once you get past the prepping. Probably there would be lots of leftovers, too, which is important these days.
Spicy Chicken Wraps: These look easy to make in advance and then eat multiple times throughout the week. Considering my intense love for tacos, you may be surprised to know that I do not like wraps. “But isn’t the exact same thing as a taco, Suzanne?” you might ask, and I would say, “Call it a taco, I will eat it; call it a wrap, I refuse.” Words mean something, people. What I am saying is that I would probably eat this in bowl form. My husband can put the chicken and lettuce in a wrap if he wants to. I don’t tell him what to do.
It was a good weekend, Internet. I spent time with my family, I had a date night with my husband, I had a long phone conversation with a dear friend I haven’t spoken to since last fall. The days were full of sunshine, and the nights were cool and breezy. It was exactly what a weekend should be. I hope yours had lots of ups, as well.
Now, let’s think about dinners.
I am uninspired, so will be pulling exclusively from my master list. Oh, how grateful I feel to Past Me for putting this list together!
Dinners for the Week of April 16-23
Chickpea Bowls: We’re supposed to get cooler weather, so this will be nice and warming. I may make a double batch to ensure leftovers.
Spinach/Arugula Salad with Berries and Goat Cheese: I will probably make a salmon filet to go with my salad, and a chicken breast for my husband. Carla can eat salmon and berries and I’ll see if I can persuade her to eat something green.
Slow Cooker Chipotle Chicken Tortilla Soup: We haven’t had this in a very long time, and I feel a craving creeping on. Also, this is usually a good one for producing leftovers.
Broccoli with Beef: I have some broccoli I bought last week and haven’t used yet. This will be the perfect vehicle for it!
The rest of the nights will be ham sandwich or takeout.
Ours was very nice. It began with a Passover Seder that was so, so lovely. We are so lucky to have friends who include us in their family celebration.
My parents were really big on religious community and tradition, and I grew up going to church every Sunday and attending traditional events for every holiday: same food, mostly the same people. I really loved that, growing up, but I have not been great about doing anything similar for my kid. On the church side, my husband is not religious at all and has no interest in church, and I am too shy to go to church by myself. These two things are not going to change. Maybe when Carla gets a bit older, she will have an interest in church and can go with me. We’ll see. The tradition thing… that’s a little bit better, but not by much. Maybe, probably, it makes no difference at all whether we eat The Same Exact Thing every Easter. I feel like I’m going off on a tangent that is related to a simmering sense of guilt that I’m not doing enough for Carla’s religious education, that I am failing at surrounding her with community and values and traditions that will provide a strong foundation for her all her life, and we’re not going to dig too deeply into that today.
The Seder was lovely. I love reading through the Haggadah and eating the ritual foods and talking about how the message of Passover is relevant to our lives today. I love spending time with friends who feel more like family. I love watching a passel of kids tear through the house while their parents smile indulgently and occasionally intervene when someone gets a little too adventurous. I was so lucky to have that kind of extended friend-family when I was growing up, and I feel so grateful – for myself and for Carla – that we are being brought into the warm, loving fold of this particular family.
We also had a pretty near perfect weekend, I think, just the three of us. Saturday, we went and looked at a house and it was beautiful and I am still a little sad that we decided not to make an offer on it, but it wasn’t our house so it will be okay. (We are not in any hurry to move. We are simply looking for The Perfect House, and if we find it we might try to buy it.) Then we dyed Easter eggs. Then we went to a concert with friends, which was a lot of fun. We didn’t get home until LATE, though, and the Easter Bunny still had to put out baskets and fill eggs with stickers and money (thank you Sarah, for the cash idea!), and hide eggs which meant that my husband and I didn’t get to bed until TWO AM IN THE MORNING, which is something my system has become incapable of handling. Carla, of course, woke up at seven and she is not allowed to go downstairs on holiday mornings without us, so we ALL woke up at seven.
So Sunday we did Easter things, including eating Reese’s peanut butter eggs for breakfast, and then we went our separate ways to do the things that introverts do: video games, elaborate Barbie/Calico Critters dramas, reading. I went for a very long walk by myself, which was perfect. The weather was brilliantly sunny but cool enough that I was glad I’d worn long sleeves; I think this is my preferred temperature. I listened to an audiobook and observed with pleasure all my neighbors doing Spring Is Here kind of things: a big group sitting on the driveway on lawn chairs as kids ran around looking for Easter eggs, a few solitary people weeding garden beds, families out walking together, teens playing basketball in the driveway, kids riding bikes. I saw, from across the street, the woman without her partner, and as I waved and smiled, I thought about you and about how you would want me to say something to her, but I couldn’t find the words and then we were out of range.
While I have seen some popcorn trees and some forsythia in bloom while driving Carla to school and her various activities, and there are a few batches of daffodils and hyacinths popping up in various yards, I haven’t seen a lot of flowering trees in my neighborhood yet. But I did notice that one of the magnolias on my walking route was beginning to bud.
At least, I think these are magnolia buds. They could be something else entirely.
After my walk, I went home and did a lot of cooking.
We ended up not making ham this weekend. I just couldn’t muster any enthusiasm for ham, even though Jen made it sound extremely easy and I trust Jen completely. Instead, we made this feta brined rosemary chicken which had a good flavor but was, due I’m sure entirely to user error, so very very dry. I roasted some asparagus on the side which was good.
I also got a wild hare and made a pavlova. The pavlova turned out well: dry and crisp on the outside, pillowy and marshmallowy on the inside. But I also made some lemon curd – why not, right? – and THAT turned out horribly. First, I forgot to add the lemon zest, so it was more like lightly lemon-flavored sugar than anything else. Second, I was trying Very Hard to follow the instructions, and to keep stirring until the curd just began to boil (it never did), and managed to turn it into something resembling lemon curd caramel. Which means that when I went to scoop it into the pavlova, it was unscoopable. We had to put it in the microwave for 10 second intervals until it was soft enough to scoop. This morning, it is back to its chewy caramel state. I topped the whole thing with berries and it was SO SWEET. Just like eating a big pile of sugar. I will not be making it again. Carla loves it, though. It’s right up her alley: sugar and fruit. She made me scrambled eggs this morning and then had a big slice of pavlova, so at least I know it will be eaten.
Now that the holidays are over, it will be an eye blink and the school year will be done, and my baby will be a FIFTH GRADER which sounds impossible.
But before I spend any (more) time fretting about that, I need to figure out what I will feed my family this week.
Dinners for the Week of April 10-16
Tacos: We haven’t had tacos in a while, and Carla will usually eat tacos several days of the week, eating less meat every time until her plate is mainly taco shells and cheese. She has agreed to eat chicken nuggets again, so that’s A HUGE RELIEF.
Shish Tawook with Fattoush Salad: This also sounds good. Plus, I impulse bought a bottle of Shish Tawook marinade, so I don’t even have to think about that part.
Ham Sandwich: This is all I have planned for the rest of the week. (If you don’t want to click the link, “ham sandwich” is our new family term for “figure it out yourself.” My husband is the only one who regularly eats an actual ham sandwich.)
Date Night!: My husband and I are going on a date one night this week while my kid is at a friend’s house.
What was a highlight from your weekend? Anything delicious you are looking forward to eating this week? Are the trees blooming in your neck of the woods?
I am feeling very low lately. It’s not like there’s anyreason at all – my life is full of gifts and blessings. On top of the lowness, I find myself feeling frustrated at myself because I shouldn’t be feeling this way. And yet, here we are.
One small thing I can do to move forward is to post about this week’s dinners. Maybe not the most scintillating of topics, to read or to write, but it’s better than staring at an empty screen and/or dumping my very inconsequential whines onto the page.
We are about to embark on another period of extra busy-ness, as Carla enrolls in a new sports team. We will be back to having extracurriculars that run up against dinnertime nearly every day. This means that we need to focus on quick and easy. Probably a lot of the time, I will end up eating black bean tacos or salad, and my husband will end up eating ham sandwiches. In fact, “ham sandwich” has become code for “eat something easy of your choosing” in our household, even if the resulting meal includes neither ham nor sandwich.
Oh – that reminds me. There’s been a Disturbing Development: Carla was eating chicken nuggets the other day for dinner. She had eaten three and wanted something else, and I suggested that if she was still hungry, she should eat the fourth. And she said, “I think I’m tired of chicken nuggets. I don’t think I like them anymore.”
This is it. This is the horrible endpoint I’ve been anticipating and fearing for years, because she eats them so frequently. And I’m not even going to apologize for it, because there is protein in chicken nuggets and, more importantly, she EATS THEM. Or did eat them. I do TRY to shake up her meals – I do. But there are so few things she eats, and I hate mealtimes that morph into me coaxing/wheedling/demanding that she eat the thing on her plate. Plus, chicken nuggets are EASY, which is important too, and ready in under 10 minutes if I use the air fryer.
What am I going to do if she stops eating chicken nuggets?
(Carla’s suggestion, by the way, was that she would eat tacos every day. And, yes, fine, tacos are great and I am happy to make a big batch of meat at the start of the week so she can eat them as often as she likes. But she gets tired of those too, plus sometimes it seems like “eating tacos” is an excuse for eating multiple crispy corn taco shells and copious amounts of cheese. I get it, and crispy taco shells and cheese have their time and place. But I don’t think, in our situation of plentiful options, that they should be my kid’s MAIN source of calories, you know?)
Carla’s meals are never part of my Dinners This Week posts anyway, since she rarely eats what my husband and I do. But I am still fretting over how to get appropriate quantities and varieties of food into her. (She eats scrambled eggs and salmon and steak and – sometimes – pork tenderloin or teriyaki chicken or hamburger. She will not starve.)
Ugh. We also have HOLIDAYS this week. Well. I cannot get up enough energy to think about making anything special. Fortunately, we have been invited to a Passover Seder with friends, so I don’t even have to think about that. We can dye Easter eggs on Saturday. And maybe that will have to be that. My mother always used to make a ham for Easter dinner, but I don’t like ham enough to make a whole one. Although… maybe it would produce plenty of leftovers for my husband… and Carla sometimes eats ham (although usually in Lunchable form). I don’t know.
Despite having a wonderful list of reliably delicious dinners to pad out the meal plan each week, I still find myself wanting to try New Things, so I’ve got two oldies and two newbies on the list. Here’s what I am tentatively planning to make this week, keeping in mind that we might chuck it all and eat nothing but ham sandwich.
Dinners for the Week of April 3-April 9
Ginger Chicken Asparagus Stir Fry: This is a new-to-me recipe, but asparagus is plentiful these days and this is a way of preparing it that haven’t tried before.
Baked Gnocchi and Vegetables: On a whim the other day, I picked up a bag of cauliflower gnocchi from Trader Joe’s. I don’t particularly like gnocchi, and I’m deeply suspicious of cauliflower masquerading as foods that it clearly is not. But I own a bag now, and I need to do something with it. Maybe this is the solution?
Chili-Honey Chicken and Sweet Potatoes: I have only had this once, so far, but it was so incredibly delicious. I’ve been thinking about it nonstop lately. Maybe it’s time to make it again. I am a little fearful that I loved it so much initially because a) it was novel and b) I thought I’d burned the sweet potatoes beyond recognition but they turned out to be deliciously charred. I doubt I could recreate the same conditions of uncertain anticipation and relief, you know?
Lemon Garlic Pasta with Fresh Veggies: Pasta is one of my go-to comfort foods, and I loved this dish the last time I made it. It sounds springy and filling.
Baked Ham? With what? The more I think about this, the less appealing it is. But my mom made ALL holidays special, and I feel like such a failure for not trying to make them special for Carla. I KNOW THIS IS DUMB. Knowing that it is dumb doesn’t make the feeling evaporate.
What are you eating this week? Any plans for the holidays, eating or otherwise?
One of the disadvantages to my particular brain is that I have a terrible memory. TERRIBLE. An unanticipated benefit to this blog is that I have a record of lots of things that I might otherwise forget. (If only I were more disciplined about writing daily! Or if only I could STICK TO JOURNALING.)
My poor memory extends to food as well as life in general. Outside of a handful of meals, I feel like my mind goes blank when I try to think of things I’ve enjoyed eating. That persists despite my (mostly) regular Dinners This Week posts, which theoretically should offer a ready list of great options to put on my meal plan each week.
And yet… sometimes I see a meal I have planned and presumably eaten (although – Confession Time, it is quite rare that I make all the meals I plan each week) and I cannot for the life of me remember whether it was a hit or not!
For a while, I tried to post updates on the blog, so that I could go back and read whether a certain dinner recipe was a hit or not. But I have not been consistent about doing that.
So I am going to try something new. If I make a recipe that my husband and I both love, I am going to post it here. Just a big ol’ running list of dinners that were excellent. That way I have a go-to resource of meals that I have made before and enjoyed. Will I keep this up? I’m going to guess “not reliably.” And this isn’t to say I won’t continue to find and try brand-new recipes! Novelty is one of the main reasons I am able to keep plugging forward with making dinner night after night after night. But sometimes it’s nice to pick from a list of Tried And True Options.
Anyway: here’s a list of Reliably Delicious Dinners and Other Culinary Hits to start from, along with any notes I included with my follow-up of the recipe. (There has to be a better way to organize the lists, but I sorted the recipes out into some rough categories and then alphabetized them by recipe name.)
BEEF DINNERS
Beef Tenderloin with Red Wine Mushroom Sauce: This has become my immediate family’s traditional Christmas dinner. Double all the sauce ingredients because the sauce is amazing.
Spaghetti with Meat Sauce: Brown a pound of ground beef – say that five times fast – with half a diced onion and as much garlic as makes your heart sing. Add a jar of Ragu pasta sauce, a small can of Hunts tomato sauce, a palm-full of each dried basil and dried oregano, a few shakes of Tabasco, a few shakes of cayenne, and some salt and pepper. Simmer for as long as you can stand it. Eat over pasta of your preferred shape.
CHICKEN DINNERS
Chicken Fajitas: I make this on a sheet pan, but also sometimes in a wok. Both are good.
Honey Chipotle Chicken Bowls: I usually roast the marinated chicken in the oven. The sauce the chicken cooks in is so good, I spoon it over my salad/bowl for added flavor.
Mediterranean Chicken and Veggies: I used cauliflower, zucchini, red onion, and chicken. The recipe doesn’t make a huge amount of marinade, but it was just right. The tahini sauce was fine, although nothing special. If I’d had hummus on hand, maybe thinning that out with some lemon juice would have been better (and quicker). I did drizzle the veggies and chicken with this cilantro dressing which added a delicious zing.
Noodle Free Chicken Pad Thai: This was very good and very hearty; just make sure that the dressing is well mixed or you get clumps of almond butter that are unappealing. I only used one egg for a half portion. Also, this makes a TON of food, and I found it less appealing the second night than the first, so it might be best to make a half portion.
Cod with Asparagus in Parchment: The only thing that could have possibly made it better is if the “sauce” (literally just soy sauce) were a little thicker. I added a big blurp of sriracha to mine and that thickened it a little, but my husband is less interested in spice and he found it too thin to properly flavor the fish. Not quite sure how to fix that issue, though.
One-Pot Salmon with Peas: I use the leek version of this recipe (rather than the fennel original; both versions are described at the link). According to my mom, this one is “company worthy.”
Best Ever BBQ Ribs: You can make these a day or so in advance before slathering them with sauce and grilling them. I highly recommend using your favorite BBQ sauce in a jar instead of making the sauce from scratch per the recipe; I find the recipe version to be quite salty and it’s just an extra step when you can use perfectly great sauce in a jar.
Chipotle Marinated Pork Chops: I double the chipotle in the marinade so that there is a little extra “pan sauce” to drizzle over the cooked pork. I love me a pan sauce.
Crispy Pork Carnitas: Definitely best when you crisp the shredded pork in the oven before serving.
Oven Baked Pork Chops with Potatoes: Most often, I make these without the potatoes although they are delicious together. The sauce is what makes these pork chops sing.
Slow Cooker Balsamic Pork: I serve the tangy shredded pork over rice with caramelized onions, feta cheese, and I do Kalamata olives and my husband does sun-dried tomatoes. Sometimes if I am feeling fancy I will include some hummus and pita, and maybe some artichoke hearts.
Slow Cooker BBQ Pork: Add a pork tenderloin, about a cup of BBQ sauce, a diced onion, and as much garlic as makes your heart happy to a slow cooker. Cook on low for 4-6 hours. Shred. I slather the pork onto a baked potato. My husband prefers it on a King’s Hawaiian bun with coleslaw.
Black Bean Burritos: Taco-seasoned black beans wrapped in flour tortillas and draped in shredded cheddar, then oven baked at 425 degrees F for 12 minutes until the cheese is melty. Top with shredded lettuce, diced onion, sour cream, and lots of hot sauce.
Chickpea Bowls: I make a bunch of the spice mixture (½ Tbsp each of cumin, coriander, and garam masala; 1 tsp of cardamom; ½ tsp of paprika; and ¼ tsp each of cinnamon, turmeric, cayenne, and fenugreek) in advance, so I can use it on a whim. I also pre-make (and freeze in ice cube trays) a batch of the ginger garlic sauce. When these two things are already in my cupboard/freezer, this is super easy to make. (And the end result is well worth the fuss.) I add sliced bell peppers to the final chickpea mixture, along with sliced jalapenos and a generous dollop of Greek yogurt.
Chickpea Curry: My husband and I feel that this doesn’t produce enough sauce, as it’s written. However, I think if you doubled the sauce, it would be TOO saucy. And you can’t do one-and-a-half portions, because you’d be stuck with a half can of coconut milk and I for one don’t want to waste it or measure it out in the first place. So we decided on halving the chickpeas. If you jack up the veggie quotient, I think you won’t even miss the second can of chickpeas.
Lemon Garlic Veggie Pasta: I make this with Barilla Protein Plus pasta, increase the amount of garlic, and use broccoli, zucchini, red onions, peas, and red bell pepper. Asparagus and mushrooms would be good too. I sprinkle on 1/4 cup of parmesan at the end.
Roasted Artichokes: Not quite sure if this counts as a whole meal, although I love a roasted artichoke for lunch. Trim the edges of the stalks, wrap them in olive oil, and eat them too. I love to dip the leaves, stem, and heart in sriracha aioli.
Roasted Cauliflower, Lentil, Currant and Herb Salad: Delicious, but requires a lot of prep. Skip currants and use blueberries or dried cherries instead. Make half the lentils; a little lentil goes a long way.
Southwest Salmon Salad: This is good just following the recipe, but what I really love is the chili lime dressing that goes with this salad. Otherwise, I really just throw together a bunch of veggies and call it Southwest salad. If I need a little extra dressing, I will mix 1/8-1/4 cup of fresh lime juice with 1/3 cup of fat free Greek yogurt and a tablespoon of honey (just keep adding lime juice until it has a nice pourable consistency).
Guinness Beef Stew: I seared the meat and cooked the onions/garlic as well, before adding those things to my crockpot. I don’t know if the flavors would be the same without, but maybe I’ll try it next time because I really hate searing meat. I used baby potatoes and I didn’t chop ANY of them, which meant I had to eat the stew with knife and fork. Maybe I should quarter them next time. I added two parsnips, a container of quartered mushrooms, and two cups of chicken stock. It seemed a little under-salted, so I also added a big glug of soy sauce toward the end.
Slow Cooker Chipotle Chicken Tortilla Soup: I blend the fire roasted tomatoes and strain them into the soup. I also add a can of black beans and about a cup of frozen corn about ten minutes before the soup is done cooking.
White Bean Enchilada Soup: Yum. I reserve a can of Great Northern beans from the recipe, as well as the corn, and blend everything in the pot. Then I add the final beans and corn for a little texture. It makes the soup very creamy and rich.
Broccoli with Beef: I typically throw in sliced red and green bell peppers as well.
Chicken and Zucchini Stir Fry: Stir fry the chicken with garlic and ginger and then remove to a plate before you add the vegetables. The amount of zucchini in this recipe is only a suggestion. You cannot have too much zucchini. Also, add in a sliced white onion.
Fire Fry: Good with beef, just as good with veggies only.
Szechuan Stir Fry: This is good with chicken, shrimp, or beef, or without meat at all. I like using broccoli, zucchini, and bell peppers – sometimes adding water chestnuts, sometimes not. Bean sprouts would be good with this, too. For anyone who, like me, is sensitive to Chinese five-spice powder, I only put in the tiniest pinch. Like, 1/16 of a teaspoon.
SIDES
Charred Lemon Cauliflower: I made this with the chicken dish that it is paired with in the recipe and the cauliflower was the star. Plus, with the chicken, it was much too lemony/one-note.
Garlic Goat Cheese Mashed Potatoes: This is my mom’s mashed potato recipe, which I use for Thanksgiving and Christmas. If you don’t like goat cheese, you can use sour cream instead.
Mexican Style Green Beans: I would not eat these because they include tomatoes, but they were a huge hit with family members.
Miracle No-Knead Bread: Simple and perfect. Just remember to prep the dough the night before you want to bake the bread.
Warm Farro and Vegetable Salad: I roast the veggies before I add them to the farro. I made the farro. I steamed some peas. But then I put the cut up green beans and diced red onion in the 9 x 13 dish and roasted the veggies for about 20 minutes. Then when everything was cooked, I mixed all the veggies into the farro.
Buttery Hamantaschen: I did not put the dough in the fridge for 3 hours before rolling out. I put it in the freezer for about 30 minutes to an hour and the cookies were delicious. They save well, but begin softening a bit by day two in an air-tight container.
Chocolate Snickerdoodles: Soft, chewy, and with a delightful chocolatey edge to the typical snickerdoodle flavor.
Purple Plum Torte: I just make this with regular plums and it is delicious. Probably great with the special fancy plums, too, but I have never been able to find them.
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life of a doctor's wife 