Wednesday, June 07, 2006

The following is very mundane figuring-out-married-eating stuff. Mind-numbingly boring for most of you, I’m sure…

As a single person, dinner was usually scrambled eggs or a bowl of cereal. My husband expects something a little more substantial for dinner, which we like to eat together, and he prefers to eat earlier than would be possible if we waited for me to start cooking after I get home. For the past five months we’ve been hit or miss - partly because we never really talked about a strategy for meal prep given my full time work and Beau’s more flexible schedule. What’s great is that Beau is a very good cook - where he doesn’t know how to do something I give instructions, which he follows very well.

This past weekend, Beau and I scrounged for meals that were easy to prepare because we were too lazy to go to the trouble to make a nice meal that would take more time. And we don’t have enough snackable foods in the house to make do that way. What we wanted were handy leftovers that would be easy to heat up and also be a little more nutritious than hot dogs or pizza. So we discussed it, strategizing the regular weekly meal preparation so that we have plenty of leftovers for the weekend scrounges.

We’ll be out and about for most of the coming weekend with CH’s wedding festivities, which will include a few meals. So we implemented the plan for early in the week and we’ve done well.

Monday: I had purchased a pork loin vacuumed packed in a balsamic-basil marinade. Since Beau got home before I did, he put that in the oven with some potatoes to roast and two leftover roasted ears of corn from last week. We’re becoming big fans of roasted veggies - so much tastier than steamed and just as easy to prepare. Anyway, that was delicious and we had enough pork and potatoes leftover to hold for Wednesday’s (tonight’s) dinner.

Tuesday: I had also purchased a whole roaster chicken. Since Beau was home yesterday, he prepped the bird for roasting, with some chopped onions, celery, and carrots in the bottom of the roasting pan. He also started some potatoes for mashing. By the time I got home, the chicken was nearly done with delicious looking veggies, the potatoes were ready for mashing, and I started some peas on the stove to go along with it all. He started the cooking and I finished it - a great plan that works well for us. A quick cook off of the giblets in some water provided additional broth from which to start a nice gravy, which I finished off with some of the drippings from the pan. We feasted well last night and were still left with 2/3 of the chicken, half of the potatoes, and about half of the peas/roasted veggies for Thursday’s dinner (and other meals beyond as needed).

So tonight we’ll dine on the leftover pork meal, tomorrow we’ll dine on the leftover chicken meal. Friday we’ll be at the rehearsal dinner. Saturday will be a grab during the day whiel I’m working the wedding details with a nice dinner at the reception. Sunday lunch will most likely be out with my parents and dinner will probably be the rest of the chicken meal.

Next week, we’ll start the process over again.