It is either all or nothing with me. I find a series of books or television shows that I like, and it's all I do for a few weeks. Same goes with cooking and baking. I love cooking and baking, but sometimes, I just let it slide, and get lazy with meal preparation. Not today.
This week, my playgroups are limited, so what do you do with a restless three year old instead of plunking him in front of the TV? Take him grocery shopping to get the ingredients for a weeks' worth of meals. Actually, I only bought ingredients for three recipes, but odds are my children are not going to eat any of what I have prepared, so we are looking at lots of leftovers.
Today's Parent has been having a "weeks' worth of meals" feature for a while now. Sometimes they have a shopping list to go along with the recipes. I decided to prepare a couple of meals ahead of time, and get ingredients for a third meal. I know, this might not sound like a novel idea for you super organized people. A friend of mine plans her family meals every weekend, and shops accordingly. How clever. Then there are those who get the flyers, shop, and prepare meals based on the sales. How economical.
This is not me. I am a spur of the moment kind of person when it comes to meals. Either that, or I get in my head I want to make a particular meal, and that is what we are having, regardless of whether I have the ingredients in the house. We have a grocery store five minutes down the road, so I never worry about having stuff at home. I could probably cut my grocery bills down if I were more organized.
I made a gluten free "lasagna", but not really because I could not find corn tortillas, and had to use whole wheat ones instead. It was supposed to have swiss chard, but I used kale. Actually, I finally discovered a fast way to get the kale leaves from the stem by running my hand down the stalk. This could make kale chips a lot easier to make. I love kale chips. I didn't say I had a well stocked grocery store down the road, but we have a store none the less. This is going to be Thursday's meal, before swimming lessons.
Next, I made a lentil "meatloaf". This is going to be today's meal. The kids have gymnastics at 5pm, so we are eating before, and they have a bath after. Not sure if anyone in the family is going to eat the meatloaf, but it looks tasty. I will probably have to lie to my husband and say it is real meatloaf. Not sure what to serve it with. Potatoes?
Meal update: my son tried it, but didn't like the shredded carrots, and left the rest on his plate. My daughter finally came to the table, looked at her plate, said, "Je n'aime pas ça!", and ended up finishing the rest of her lunch. My husband was about to take a bite, then looked at me, and asked, "This does not actually have any meat, does it? You are so cruel." He did eat it with ketchup, though. I enjoyed it.
The third meal, for tomorrow, is a pork stir fry with peppers, snap peas, and an orange ginger sauce. This is a soy free recipe. My kids like peppers, and usually eat pork tenderloin, so it might get eaten.
Right now, I am baking chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. I saw the recipe on the oats this morning, and since we have no cookies in the house, I decided to make them. I have been so busy cooking and baking, I did not have a chance to eat much for lunch. I am starving right now, but we are going to have supper soon. I will have to wait.
I fed my son when we got home from shopping, and started prepping the meals. He played in his room for a while, and I thought I lucked out because things quieted down. But, two minutes later he claimed he had finished sleeping. I know he needs a nap, so I tried to convince him to stay put until the timer goes. He had a little fit, and after I calmed him down, he did eventually fall asleep, and didn't wake with the timer. Sneaky mom.
So, I am now somewhat organized for the rest of the week. Do not expect me to come up with anything for supper on Friday. We are probably having leftovers...and chocolate chip oatmeal cookies for dessert. Oh, they would make a great ice cream sandwich base. Yum!
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