Dinners This Week

Suzanne

Jan 8

A friend and I were discussing this weekend the tiresome nature of cooking dinner for a family every day. It is just The Worst, isn't it? And I have a generally very easy audience: my husband will eat anything, and always thanks me for making dinner, even if it wasn't his favorite thing. My kid eats nothing, so I have to make her separate meals anyway (unless we happen to be eating tacos, which she loves). I recognize that things really could be much worse.

And yet it is still extremely wearying, to constantly be thinking of what to make and what to buy and then having to do the grocery shopping and prepare the meals and eat them. I am so burnt out. I imagine cooking for a larger family or family members with specific dietary restrictions or limited palates would be completely soul sucking.

If you are feeling like you simply cannot make one more meal, or deal with a single comment from the people who eat the meals you make, or think up one more thing to make, or face making the same exact thing one more time… well, I have all the empathy in the world.

And yet. We still must eat. Those of us who are in charge of feeding our families still must feed our families.

Here's what I may – or may not! the week is young! – make for dinners in my own house this week. And by the way: we have eaten both sandwiches from Jersey Mike's and delivery pizza this past weekend alone, and I fully endorse making things easy on yourself and leaning on takeout and/or prepared meals as often as makes sense. The thing is that I do PREFER making meals at home, both because it feels healthier and because it is definitely less expensive.

Dinners for the Week of January 8-14

Beef with Sugar Snap Peas: I haven't made this in a while, and it's VERY easy. This is because I buy pre-sliced "stir fry meat" from my grocery store, and a bag of pre-washed sugar snap peas. I also don't use fresh ginger, I use cubes of frozen ginger which is just as good. My husband isn't crazy about the sugar snap peas, but he will handle it with grace.
Japanese Curry: My husband found a recipe for this curry in a fairly recent issue of Cook's Country. The linked recipe is very similar, and has lots of details about choosing the right curry and customizing the dish to your tastes. While the first time I made this, we used potato and carrots. But I hate cooked carrots so passionately that we switched to sweet potato the next time, and threw in some frozen peas at the end. I have also used broccoli, and if my husband wasn't a factor, I would probably skip one variety of potato. We use the S&B Golden Curry, which has two packages of the sauce mixture. My husband likes to have chicken with this dish as well. Depending on the veggies you use, this does require some chopping… but it is nonetheless extremely easy. I think it would work well with frozen veggies, too, which would cut the prep time way down.
Crockpot BBQ Chicken with Apple Slaw: I will not use the recommended BBQ sauce (Sweet Baby Ray's) because I hate it; but I will use my favorite grocery store brand. And there is no way that I am adding sugar to this recipe. Otherwise, sounds good and easy and allows my crockpot to do the heavy lifting.
Ramen: This is another super simple, easily customizable recipe. I buy ramen noodles and beef broth and then add whatever things I have on hand that sound good. Usually, I start with some frozen cubes of ginger and a good spoonful of crushed-garlic-from-a-jar in a little bit of oil. Then I throw in some beef stock, the cube of ramen, and whatever veggies seem like they would work well. Edamame (frozen or not) is excellent. Peas are good. I like to slice a red and green bell pepper and throw those in at the end. Broccoli is delicious. The best veggie for this dish is whatever veggie is easiest. If I have leftover salmon or shrimp, I add those too. Then I top with sriracha sauce and scallions (if I have them) and go to town.
Tacos: Even though we do a bunch of toppings – iceberg or Romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, onions – this is one of the easiest meals I make. I can have it on the table in thirty minutes flat. My mother taught me that you can slow cook taco meat (same recipe, just use less water!) and that makes this even simpler. Plus, everyone in my house will eat tacos. AND we have leftovers, which means my daughter has something for dinner that isn't chicken nuggets.