crockpot

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Dinners This Week

What makes meal planning even MORE fun? Meal planning when you have a brand new afterschool activity to adjust to, and a time change to adjust to, and semi-surprise houseguests!

Dinners for the Week of March 8-15

  • Oven Roasted Chicken Shawarma: I often feel like I need to come up with something new! and different! for people who’ve eaten at my table before. Well, I don’t think I’ve served this to guests before. I plan to serve it with broccoli and couscous, which are my favorite accompaniments.
  • Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Pork with Coleslaw: And then again, sometimes I just make things we’ve all had so many times we’re well and sick of them. But I NEED a crockpot meal one night this week, and this one is easy, and we haven’t had it in awhile. Maybe I’ll grab some green beans to amp up the veggie quotient?
  • Balsamic Chicken and Mushrooms: Not quite sure what to serve with this one. Maybe some asparagus?

Yes, I realize this is only three meals. But we didn’t eat the chicken paprikas last week, so that’s up for grabs again this week. And we’re going out for dinner one night. And I am hoping we have at least SOME leftovers.

What are you eating this week?

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Dinners This Week

Thank you so much for your well wishes, both in terms of my progress toward my to-do list, and in terms of my health. The former is going better than I anticipated (the electrician AND the furnace person have been here since I posted! yay!) and I got a call back from 2/3 of the pool people I left a message for. (The first one left a message and I need to call them back. The second person called, I spoke to him and got some details, he asked me to text him to see if I was in his service area and if I wasn’t he would recommend someone who was; I texted him and he never followed up.) 

I am feeling so much better, but also I am pretty sure I have a sinus infection. (By the way, Word is insisting that “sinus” is misspelled. I really don’t think it is, but that little red underline is making me question everything I thought I knew.) A sinus infection is typical for me, when I have a cold. Alas, even though I feel like I recognize the symptoms, it’s one of those things where you have to wait for at least ten days before you can call the doctor, or they will say, “Well, colds can linger. Give it at least ten days and then give me a call back.” No way am I making ONE MORE CALL than I need to. Especially because today I also need to call the orthodontist about a loose bracket and try to convince them that they should see Carla after school and not in the middle of the school day, even though they seem completely baffled every time I suggest the latter. 

Carla did end up calling the hair salon to make an appointment for my husband. She did a great job. The only mildly amusing thing was that the scheduler didn’t question her AT ALL. Just said, “Oh, you’re making an appointment for your daddy? What’s his name?” and then went through with scheduling the appointment like it was totally normal for a ten-year-old to be in charge of her father’s calendar. Maybe it is! I am not complaining! I just thought she might get some gentle pushback, like, “Oh, is your daddy there helping you make this call?” or something. I don’t even know. Perhaps since there have been multiple times when people have asked me, a grown woman, whether my husband is there to give his permission for me to talk to them about things for which we share joint ownership, I thought it might be a little more difficult for a CHILD to make an appointment not that I am bitter or jaded or anything. 

Oh right, we’re supposed to be talking about DINNERS. What are you in the mood to eat, Internet? I’ve got nothing. And yet I cannot have nothing, because it’s part of my job to plan the meals! 

Time to scroll my endless lists of meal ideas… 

Dinners for the Week of March 4-10

  • One Pan Chicken, Sweet Potatoes, and Broccoli: It’s a sheet pan meal kind of week, I think. Plus, I already have broccoli in my fridge and chicken in my freezer. Maybe a sweet potato will materialize on my car hood tomorrow morning. The thing about sweet potatoes is that I always WANT to like them and then don’t like them in practice. But this dish sounds really good. So probably this is the one time when I WILL like them. Right? Right.
  • Lentil and Chickpea Salad with Feta: I’m in a lentil state of mind lately. I plan to eat this alongside some roasted salmon, but will make a chicken breast for my husband because I don’t want him to hate his life.
  • Crockpot Balsamic Pork Tenderloin: We haven’t had this in a hot minute! Yum. I could eat a big pile of this tangy shredded pork right now. (We serve it over rice with caramelized onions, feta, kalamata olives, and sundried tomatoes. Look at me, dual-purposing the feta rather than putting half a block in the fridge until it liquifies.)
  • Fish Tacos: You know tacos are one of my love languages. Let’s be honest. I will probably use fish sticks instead of buying and cooking wild cod. Wild cod is EXCELLENT, but fish sticks are EASY. 

Because I spend too much time ogling recipes on Instagram, I have also been influenced to make this three-ingredient yogurt cake. There is no way it will actually resemble Basque cheesecake right? That is just a pipe dream? But if I can persuade Carla to try it, it will feel like a win. A high-protein win. We’ll see. 

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Dinners This Week, Go-To Snacks

Man, I don’t know WHAT it was about yesterday, but I was feeling snacky ALL DAY. I tried to quell my snackishness with the usual recommendations: drink a glass of water, eat a bunch of veggies, eat some protein. I ate a green pepper. I ate carrots. I ate a pickle. I drank water. I drank tea. I ate a protein-packed lunch. 

None of it worked. I just wanted SNACKS. 

(This reminds me that Carla, when she was in the one-ish and two-ish age range, did not say her initial Ses very well. It came out as more of a nasal H sound, made between the nose and the back of the throat. So instead of saying “snacks,” it sounded something like, “Hnacks.” This is still my husband’s and my preferred pronunciation. Man, I wish I had recorded more of those babyisms before they’d vanished from her vocabulary.) 

What’s your go-to snack? 

Mine is always chips. (My husband is the opposite – he’s a sweet snacker. He’d probably go for a big spoonful of peanut butter and a little bowl of chocolate chips, or some cookies.) If I had a magical metabolism, I would eat chips all day every day. Tortilla chips with salsa. Tortilla chips with guacamole. Tortilla chips with queso. Tortilla chips with melted cheese and hot sauce, which is how I staunched my snack attack yesterday. Nachos. Ruffles dipped in Marzetti Southwest Ranch. Salsa Verde Doritos. Miss Vickie’s Jalapeno Potato Chips. The mix of crunch and salt and fat and spice is my idea of heaven. In a pinch, I’d eat cheese and crackers. A nice sharp cheddar or a nutty Manchego or a creamy Brie paired with a delicious Triscuit cracker or a crunchy, buttery Ritz – yum. Have I just talked myself into a second day of snackishness?

Anyway, chips. Food of the gods.

Of course, a person cannot live on chips alone. 

Dinners for the Week of February 2–8

  • Crockpot BBQ Pork Tenderloin with Baked Potato: I haven’t had this in forever and I am CRAVING it.
  • Creamy Shrimp Pasta: Speaking of cravings, this sounds SO yummy.
  • 5 Ingredient Spicy Pork with Roasted Broccoli: Since the pork tenderloins usually come in a two-pack, this pork dish would be a good second-tenderloin option. I haven’t tried it before but it sounds delicious. 
  • Crockpot White Chicken Chili: Ever since I tried and loved chicken tortilla soup, I have been inspired to branch out into more chicken-based soups and stews. I have never in my life eaten a white chicken chili, but this version may persuade me to finally dip my toe in. (Not literally.)

We have ground beef in the freezer, so there’s always the possibility of tacos. And romaine in the fridge and salmon in the freezer, which could easily result in a delicious salad. Lots of options. 

Happy eating this week, Internet!