In Case of Emergency

At some point after Ben was born, I realized that life was a lot easier if I had a meal plan for the week. I didn't try to be hyper-organized - meals weren't necessarily designated for specific days. But grocery shopping was easier and less frequent, and I didn't end up with as much surplus in my pantry.

However. There were those weeks I forgot (or procrastinated) the planning, or an extra day of the week that I hadn't planned for at all...what to do on those days?

I realized that I had all kinds of go-to meals in my head that I had forgotten about. Like spaghetti. Seriously, for awhile there I think it had been months since we'd had that basic, kid-friendly meal. Well, kid friendly after we convinced Leah that it was okay to have her sauce ON TOP of the noodles.

Here are some more of my "Stand-By Meals":

Tacos - Aaron's favorite. I make the meat with beans in it, usually enough for at least 2 meals, then freeze the extra.

Enchiladas - My mom's recipe. I call them Norwegian enchiladas, since they have about zero heat.

Porcupine Meatballs with mashed potatoes - meatballs with rice in them, cooked with a tomato soup sauce. Mine is a microwave recipe (cooks in 15 min) which greatly increases the frequency with which we eat it. Also, the kids gobble it up like crazy.

Meatloaf - 2 favorite recipes, but one of them cooks in the microwave. Guess which one I make more?

Apricot BBQ'd Chicken with rice- cubed chicken, BBQ sauce, onion soup mix, and apricot preserves. Originally it baked in the oven - but guess what? Now I microwave it.

Chicken, Pasta, Veggie skillet - Yes, I do use my stovetop. A little rubbed sage makes this extra yummy.

Chicken Fried Rice - basically the same as above, but with a couple of scrambled eggs mixed in and a different starch.

Creamed Chicken (and Peas? Corn? whatever) on Biscuits - An old favorite from the farm days. I use Bisquik mix and make the drop biscuits. Leah is suspicious of the "creamed" part, but I'm wearing her down.

Stir Fry - The trick here is to have enough fresh veggies on hand. Easy in the summer, not so much in the winter. I don't like using frozen, as it gets too mushy.

Veggie Soup - I have about 4 different variations that I make frequently - all take about a half hour, start to finish.

Chili - Not a kid fav in our house, but I make it every once in awhile anyways, just to keep it in their heads. As with all soups, I usually make some kind of muffin or biscuit to go with it - but I've learned not to bring them to the table until the kids have eaten at least some of the soup.

Baked Mac & Cheese - Since mac & cheese is one of Aaron's favorite meals, I experimented with about 3 different recipes until I found my favorite. It's pretty rich, so we usually have steamed broccoli with it.

Mexican Ravioli - Cheese ravioli or tortellini, with a tomato sauce and black beans. If you really want to see Leah hit the roof, wilt some spinach in there like the recipe actually says. We usually just eat it on the side as salad.

Sweet & Sour Chicken - Hmm. It's a crockpot recipe, but I think I only made it once or twice before putting it on my list. Maybe I should try that one next week, huh?

Italian Deli Roll - Otherwise known as pizza roll-up. Homemade pizza dough, rolled out, topped with minced (in the food processor) pepperoni and deli ham along with shredded Cheddar & mozzarella. Roll it up, bake, eat with pizza sauce for dipping. Yum! I made it once after a long hiatus, and Aaron said, "This is good crap. You should make it more often." He has a way with words, doesn't he!

Pancakes - Leah's favorite. With either eggs or sausage for protein. Aaron has converted the kids to the dark side of putting peanut butter on their pancakes, also. And just because you are wondering, if you ask Ben what we should have for dinner, he'll say, "Chicken - Rice!" not that that means he'll actually eat the chicken.

Sloppy-Joes - I use Manwhich sauce. Just have to remember to also buy buns.

So there you have it. These meals are basically my equivalent of a box of Hamburger Helper - quick, easy, some not even needing an actual recipe. Just having them on paper makes me feel prepared for that 5pm frenzy of "What am I making for dinner?"

Because it's a very bad thing when your hungry husband gets home from work and you ask, "What do you want for dinner?" Warning sirens go off in his head that he won't be eating for at least another half hour or more. And now you have TWO desperate adults.

Great. Just great.