So far, staying on top of life in 2023 has demanded all of my time and energy. I haven’t spent much time looking back at 2022 to consider what I want to carry with me into the new year and what I want to leave behind.
But when I took a moment to think about what worked in my kitchen last year, a few things immediately came to mind.
Sheet-Pans of Vegetables: I talked about this meal-prep strategy in a previous newsletter . It’s an easy way to bring more vegetables into your life, whether you serve them warm at dinner or in a salad for lunch.
Here’s how you do it:
Buy three or four sheet-pans. Chop up several types of vegetables, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast at 425 degrees for 20 to 40 minutes, until the veggies are roasted to your liking. I usually roast some combination of sweet potatoes, zucchini, red onion, broccoli or cauliflower and bell peppers.
Make sure to roast enough for leftovers. Eat the roasted veggies with dinner, then turn leftovers into a salad or grain bowl for lunch the next day.
Instant Pot Pork Shoulder/Butt: If you’re craving protein, this recipe for pork is so delicious and so easy to turn into multiple meals. Serve pulled pork one night, then crisp up the pork in a saute pan and serve it in tacos or burritos the next night. The cooked meat freezes well, so you can also stash some away for later in the month.
Frozen rice: I buy mine at Trader Joe’s, but other grocery stores carry this magical rice too. You microwave it for 3 minutes and it’s fluffy and perfectly cooked. If you also have a child who will sometimes only eat rice with butter for dinner, then instant rice comes in very handy. Sometimes I put it in her lunch with black beans and grated cheddar, sometimes she eats it with avocado and lox for a quick “sushi” bowl. I never regret having this rice in my freezer.
Fried rice: I have a kid who loves rice, can you tell? This year I remembered how quick, easy and delicious fried rice is. Don’t follow a recipe, just make extra rice one night so you have leftovers for the next night. Then saute whatever other leftovers you have in your fridge (like chicken, ground meat, salmon, tofu or chopped veggies*). Then scramble a few eggs and mix it all together. Season with soy sauce and Trader Joe’s coconut aminos, maybe a drizzle of sesame oil and/or rice vinegar. Add green onion if you have it.
*If you don’t have any leftover meat or veggies, you can make fried rice with just egg and frozen peas.
Variety is Over-Rated: When I started this newsletter, I also started keeping a journal of what my family eats for dinner each week. Looking back through the journal, the repetition of meals is clear. I tend to stick with familiar meals that I can cook without a recipe and that I know my family will eat.
When busy parents try to meal plan, I think the most common mistake is trying to add too much variety. An easier and more efficient strategy is to write down 6 to 10 meals that most members of your family like, and just rotate through that list. You can plug in new recipes or more variety when you have the time and energy. Or, you can add variety by eating out a few times a month.
Not Cooking on Sunday: Last year I designated Sunday as the day I don’t cook dinner. There are other nights when I tell the family that it’s a “whatever night” which means leftovers or grilled cheese or whatever they want to make themselves. But Sundays, I don’t want to be involved at all. I don’t want to spend any mental energy thinking about what’s for dinner. I just want a meal on the table at 6pm that I sit down and eat.
I chose this night because I enjoy a lazy Sunday. Also, because on most weeknights my spouse works too late to cook dinner. So, Sunday is his designated night to cook.
All of us have different living situations, so what works for you is different than what works for me. If you can assign dinner duty to your spouse many nights a week, god bless. But even if you only get one night a week off, do it! It’s worth it.
I’d love to hear what’s working for you in the kitchen. Do you have any recipes, strategies or tips that are making your life easier?
Cookbooks
Simple Pasta by Odette Williams is a dreamy cookbook to flip through, with photos that will make you yearn for a vacation in Italy. Some recipes are long and involved but many others are easy enough for a weeknight. Luxurious Pomodoro in a Flash, Chopped Salad Pasta and Garganelli with Vodka Sauce are a few I have my eye on.
Please note that book titles in this section are Bookshop.org affiliate links. Your cost for purchasing the book is the same, but a small portion of your purchase will come back to me and help support my work. When ordering from Bookshop.org you’ll also be supporting independent bookstores.
Hope you all have a good weekend! Ours will be filled with kid-centric things, like karate & swimming lessons, a trip to the zoo and taking my 8 year old in for her first haircut at a salon in about three years. This is a kid who has A LOT of hair and is very opposed to hair brushes. Wish me luck!
Jenny
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