I'm the fifth of six girls, born within eight-and-a-half-years of eachother, and we ate dinner as a family almost every night.
My dad got called to the hospital with some regularity, but the baseline in our family was that we'd gather around the table, everyone in her designated spot, say a prayer (in about four seconds) and eat. As you can imagine, it was loud. We interrupted each other constantly. Thousands of glasses of milk were spilled over the years, thousands of stories told. My dad would quiz us on state capitals and composers. That table - THE OVAL - was the centerpiece of the kitchen, which was the centerpiece of that awesome home on Bettswood Rd. I think about my mom feeding eight people night after night, most of us starving after swim practice, and I'm in awe. My kids' generation is busier than ours was. Activities don't stop, Sundays are no longer a family day, there's never an off-season for sports. But we've tried to maintain the family dinner in our own house, and I think each of my kids will tell you that's where our best conversations have occurred, where the best stories are told, where we give thanks for what we have, and where we eat.
Before we had kids, Doug and I got into the habit of watching cooking shows on PBS on Saturday afternoon and I loved trying out different foods or cooking techniques. We used to go to the gym after work, come home, have a glass of wine and eat a leisurely meal. In this phase of life cooking is a bit more tedious. I love that my kids are great eaters and appreciate good food. I love that my husband is so grateful to sit down to a satisfying meal after a long day. But the relentlessness of it all does get to me. Ironically, when I was home full-time it was harder: many days at 4pm I'd be panicked, wondering where the day went and what the hell I'd throw together for dinner that night. So when I went back to work, and especially when I went full time, I just started planning better. And we started eating better. And I realized that you can throw together an awesome meal most nights in a half hour or an hour provided you'd planned and shopped for it. And you can train your kids to eat anything. And it's ok for the fridge and the pantry to be completely depleted by Saturday morning. In fact, it's good for my kids to have to resort to eating saltines and old raisins for a snack. Or to just go without. So now most Saturday mornings after I work out I sit down with the paper and a cup of coffee and breakfast and when I'm done I pull out two pieces of paper. On one I write the week's menus, on the other the shopping list. I don't like meals that are too complicated or that require super fancy ingredients. We like and eat carbs. We go through tons of produce. I'm not one who often creates a meal without following a recipe. Sometimes I do - sausage and peppers, creative uses for leftovers and a variety of pasta one-dish-meals are all things I can whip up without a recipe and in very little time. But mostly I rely on my standby recipe sources:
1 - Barefoot Contessa anything - but mostly At Home and Family Style. I have never struck out with one of her recipes. Ever.
2 - Melissa d'Arabian ten dollar dinners. This cookbook is the bomb. Easy, yummy, reasonable.
3 - My beloved blue binder, in which I throw every recipe I have tried and loved over all these years. I've amassed quite a collection this way and it's only recipes I like.
4 - Cookbooks from my kids' grade schools
5 - THE LIST. That's my collection of weekly recipes that I've been recording for probably the past two years, ever since I went to work full time.Now, I have this. Welcome!
This Week's Menu:
Sunday: split pea soup (leftover)
Monday: Penne with sausage and roasted vegetables
Tuesday: bbq pulled chicken sandwiches, tots & salad
Wednesday: fish tacos, rice & beans
Thursday: burritos
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