What Ana Does

Last Spring I started a meal delivery subscription, so they'd send me two complete, vegetarian meals each week. That left me with just two-three meals a week I had to plan and shop for, and a lot more brain space for other things. I couldn't believe how much weekly stress it took off me. I looked forward to those boxes and quickly preparing the simple meals.  Well, we ended that last week when the subscription prices got hiked up and I just couldn't justify the expense. And I had to contemplate my first week back to cooking all the meals. On my own. Every night. SIGH.  I LIKE cooking and preparing a nice meal for my family. And we're lucky that we don't have a lot of after-school activities that make it more complicated to sit together. And I work from home, so you'd think I have a leg-up on the commuters, but it's still a lot to think about, especially on days when I'm thinking about a lot of other things.  Anyway, I decided on a sure-fire strategy. Thi...

 This really hit home for me when I saw it.  Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. and Yes.  Come to my kitchen so I can feed you because I love you.

I know what I said in 2013. I was committing to making a nice Sunday dinner for my family every week and getting everyone around the table with me. I wrote it all down here . But things change. And lately I love going out to dinner on a Sunday night as a family. I love that I don't have pressure to create a meal on a Sunday. And I get the family all together after we've been running around all weekend. We dish about the week ahead, what we need and anything else coming up.  And no dishes! Dinner at Our Favorite Taco Place But don't worry, we do get around the kitchen table a few days a week to eat together and talk about how our day. So that study about family traditions around the dinner table is still being observed. Related links: More Cooking posts All my Family Time posts

From Lisa Leake's 100 Days of Real Food cookbook, I found a recipe for tossing a whole chicken into a crockpot, no liquid necessary, and dinner is served in 6 hours or less. Yes, I had to try this out. Plenty of Cooking Liquid Out of the Onions and Juicy Chicken To say the meat was falling off the bone would be an understatement. I literally spooned out the meat and plopped it on plates with some roasted veggies. Easiest meal ever. Then, Ms. Lisa suggested I make chicken stock from the bones and skin left behind. Just add celery, carrots and some water and leave the crock pot on overnight. OK. Sure. Stock! Two More Jars Completed This Haul And the fruits of that "labor-intensive" project: About 8 cups of chicken stock cooling on the island. All for the $6.00 I spent at Trader Joe's for the bird.  That's a winner of a deal.  Plus, I'll be mixing bbq sauce with the leftover chicken for dinner tonight.  Meanwhile, the dog was my BE...

Remember when I was all about Sunday dinner? Yah, so it's not so easy. It's a bit difficult to fit into the erratic Sunday "schedule." But last weekend, we had a few additions at the dinner table; the three girls from next door. Sure it was just spaghetti, but it was fun! Fun at the Dinner Table

Years ago I read a study about Sunday dinner. It stated its importance in a busy family when members don't have time to all eat together during the weekdays. Meeting around the dining room table once a week becomes a sacred tradition the family can count on. It's a piece of information I filed away -- with very young kids, we hardly ate together. Or even the same things. Nowadays, with Leah in first grade and picking up early-evening activities (soccer practice and ballet class), weekday dinners have been less about what we're eating but how fast it gets to the table. Gone are my prepared menus and prep-time. In are the dinners of scrambled eggs and toast! Frozen chicken and corn! Spaghetti ... again! So, I'm pulling out this idea of Sunday dinner. Other than the family time and creating a weekly tradition, I want more time to experiment with recipes that take longer than 15 minutes to prepare. It's about putting different food in front of the kids and practic...