A Week’s Meal Plan

I am a working mother, wife, and an all around domestic goddess.  Ok, that last title is normally reserved for the weekend routine, but hey, I like the way it sounds, and quite frankly, I rock that title!

Being the only cook in the family, I am the one to come up with dinner ideas, making sure they are gluten-free and that my family, who are just a tad stuck in their dinner ways, will actually consume what is made.

I popped into the grocery store last night after work.  Ok, so I drove there and walked in, but “popped” sounds so much cuter, not to mention fun.  I wasn’t planning on spending much, and only went a tad over what I anticipated (go me!).

My daughter was with me, and as we were walking up and down the aisles, she said, “hey Mom…how about breakfast for dinner”.  Seeing as I would be starting dinner around 6:00 p.m., I thought that was a great idea.  So we had eggs, hashbrowns, bacon and toast.  Easy-peasy and I could crash early, seeing how I started my day at 3:00 a.m.

Then I caught a few sales and decided to buy the rest of the week’s meals

• Monday:  Eggs and Bacon
• Tuesday:  Tacos and Spanish Rice
• Wednesday:  Grilled Pork Chops and Baked Potatoes with sauteed green beans and carrots
• Thursday:  Baked chicken wings; half will be coated in wing sauce.  Served with rice.
• Friday:  Grilled Tri-Tip and Scalloped Potatoes and corn on the cob.

Now all of these meals are homemade.  I don’t buy premade dishes, for the most part, esp. not at dinner.  As we will be home before 5 on Friday, I saved the longest prep dish for that day.  The homemade scalloped potatoes take a couple hours to prep and cook, but are so worth it.

It’s also nice to know how to plan different aspects my week, knowing how long dinner will take to make and clean up.  I am so pleased with myself, I need to make this a habit instead of a just picking a few meals for the week and winging the rest of the dinners we will need.

Thank You Betty Crocker

As my mother’s three year angel-versary approaches (6/25), I can’t help but remember how she always would turn to her red, Betty Crocker cookbook to teach us girls how to cook.  My mother was not a stellar cook, by any means.  In fact, some of her dishes were so bad, even the dogs snubbed their noses at the “treats” were trying to pawn off on them. I will say, she was a better baker than cook.  I always thought the same of myself, until I became an adult.  Now, I am a better cook, although I can hold my own in the baking department.

My specialty as a teen, was making peanut butter cookies.  My younger sisters always asked me to make them.  We didn’t have a kitchen aid, food processor or a lot of fancy gadgets to help us; we did most everything by hand or used a hand mixer, if needed.

That cookbook is such a reminder of my mom.  I used it to learn how to convert measurements, how to cook vegetables, and to make homemade brownies.  Every Christmas, we would make divinity.  I still keep that tradition alive today.  Although, in CA, when it rains half of the winter, it can make it challenging for the divinity to set up right.  If you’ve never had the fun experience of racing against the clock to get the divinity out of the mixing bowl, via two buttered spoons, onto a cookie sheet covered in wax paper, only to have the humidity too high and reduce your divinity clouds into sticky, flat, white puddles…you’re missing out.  However, when it turns out just right…it’s a sugary piece of Heaven that melts in your mouth.

Tonight, in 85 degree weather, I stood near a warming 350-degree stove, and prepared the white sauce to go with my scalloped potatoes.  Once that was completed, I peeled my potatoes (in batches), sliced them thin on my mandoline slicer, arranged them in a nice scalloped design in the ceramic baking dish and alternated layering with adding the sauce. It was during the layering process, I thought about my mom.  She would always remind me to cut the potatoes as thin as possible.  Thankfully, I have a mandoline now and I would be lost without it.

I didn’t get the chance to cook for her often as an adult, but when I did, it meant a lot to her.  I was the cook in our family, after my died passed several years ago.  She loved my Spanish rice.  Neither her, nor my sister, Kathi, could cook rice that wasn’t from a microwavable bag.

Since we didn’t have a lot growing up, when my mom would make scalloped potatoes, it was usually with chopped up ham.  It was a fairly inexpensive casserole, that fed a family of five.  My family now, doesn’t care for the ham in it and they will tolerate the potatoes, as they prefer rice, but they let me make my scalloped potatoes every now and then.  Little do they know how much it means to me.

If you don’t already, I encourage you to cook with your kids, siblings, spouse; family. Spend time together.  Make memories.  Share these moments for generations to come.