I decided I want to post these meal plans on here for seven weeks to help me get into the habit of planning and cooking. After that I’ll stop boring the Internet with these meal plan vs. reality posts, at least for a while.
Category Archives: Food + Drink
Meal plan vs. reality
This week has been a bit hard. I think I left the pozole out for too long after dinner. I didn’t think about it and still ate it for lunch on Tuesday. I had food poisoning starting around midnight. I took it easy on Wednesday and Paul’s mom came over to help.
Maggie skipped her afternoon nap on Friday and Saturday, which resulted in tired parents in the evening onward and more frequent night wakings. Not to mention, without the nap I didn’t really have time to clean or cook. But Sunday, Paul’s mom and sister came over to help with Maggie and housework. It was so, so nice.
Chicken pozole rojo
This recipe is based off a recipe on The Kitchn called 30-minute chicken pozole. Let me just tell you, it used to take me about 30 minutes back in the pre-kid days but this time it took longer. I have made this several times and it has always been easy and turned out amazing.
It’s a great weeknight meal. I used to make this when I would come home from work sometimes. I also like that it makes a lot of servings, so for some families there would be leftovers the next day.
A realistic meal plan
I have been so tired lately. Well, story of my life. Or at least since I became a mom. Even though I’m a stay-at-home mom, not working, and sort of creating my own schedule during the day, I’m just tired. I sort of create my own schedule but it’s a collaboration between myself and my child.
Lately Maggie sleeps great during the day and I actually can get things done during her naps. I can cook dinner, wash dishes, fold laundry, take a nap. But at night, I can’t sleep. Even if she sleeps better than normal, I find myself waking up at 1 am and again at 3 am out of sheer habit. Perhaps she’s waking up out of habit at this point too.
Grandma’s recipe: Cinnamon rolls
A few weeks ago, I made cinnamon rolls for my grandma’s 95th birthday party. I started them the night before the party, after Maggie went to bed. Although it did take a few hours including 1 hour for the first rise, it was totally worth it.
Beer braised beef short ribs in a Dutch oven
For this short rib recipe, jalapeño, onion, garlic, beer, and rosemary all come together to make a savory and slightly spicy braise. I love that the liquid imparts a lot of flavor on the short ribs in the long cooking process.
I should probably mention that you should plan on getting started on this about 3 hours before you would like to eat dinner. It takes about 1/2 an hour to prep and sear the meat and then it cooks in the oven for 2 to 2 1/2 hours. It is so worth all that time in the oven though. The meat becomes very tender and pulls completely away from the bone.
Beyond basic banana bread
Everyone has their own favorite banana bread recipe, it seems, and the Internet has plenty so what am I doing adding another? Well, when I looked for a recipe to make banana bread a few weeks ago, I didn’t find one that I loved. Either they called for ingredients I didn’t have on hand, or they seemed too simple and I wanted to add a bit more flavor to them.
I ended up turning to a basic recipe. I added almond flour and almond extract as well as a few spices, and substituted brown sugar for about 75% of the white sugar.
Kale “Funyun” chips
One day earlier this year when I was in the break room at the child care center I was working at, I was snacking on a leftover container of kale chips. Another teacher looked at it and said, “What is that? Weed chips?” She seemed genuinely weirded out. I was a bit put off by her question. It must have been a joke, but we weren’t friends and din’t work in the same room, so I felt embarrassed. I guess baked kale looks like weed. But of course that wasn’t what I was eating while on break at a school where I took care of infants and toddlers.
Fried rice
As promised, I’m sharing my mom’s fried rice recipe with you. It goes great with the orange chicken I posted on Monday.
Fried rice is a great way to use up leftover white rice. This recipe is one that my mom used when I was growing up.
I made this for my husband Paul and me for dinner and he said, “This tastes like takeout. Better than takeout!”
Weeknight orange chicken
It took me about 45 minutes to make the orange chicken from start to finish, and that includes stopping to take photos here and there. You may be able to have it done in 30 minutes or less.
If you’re part of my family on my mom’s side and reading this, you may recognize this recipe because it’s in the Carpenter Cookbook.
