Do you make multiple dishes (main, side, etc)? Or are you a one-pot wonder? Do you aim for cohesiveness, or are you more liberal in your pairings?
I'm generally a one-pot wonder, though when we have something like a wrap or pasta I'll try to have a salad on the side. But I just toss the veggies on our plates, I don't make a bowl of salad. When we do multiple dishes, Jake has to take over or I'll just put things I like together instead of thinking of a cohesive meal.
I usually do a main dish, side dish and a veg. Recently though I've realized that I'm spending far too much time in the kitchen and need to start cooking some easier meals. I may have to look into this casserole thing.
I'm really traditional as far as the food groups go. I need to have a meat, a starch, a veggie and a dairy. The foods need to match. Like if it's a Spanish dish, the sides will be Spanish, too. Italian with Italian, etc.
I switch between one-pot dishes (sometimes served with bread or over rice/quinoa) and main/side combos. The side is frequently salad, but we also eat a lot of roasted or grilled veggies. Sometimes the side is a starch. I rarely (read: never) make more than one side.
ETA: I definitely think about what foods or flavors go best together. I'll even make different salad dressings depending on what the main is.
It is pretty 50/50 for us. We will either do a one dish meal (burrito bowls, spaghetti & meatballs, soups) or a main dish with two sides (veggies and rice/quinoa).
We mostly do protein/side/vegetable. The girls don't like their food mixed together, and H almost always and I sometimes like to have a big salad with the protein instead of the sides, so the separate components work best for us.
usually a protein and sides. i go through phases w/ sides. last year we had roasted asparagus w/ goat cheese 3-4x a week, now i'm in a sauteed spinach w/ garlic kick.
i like things to mesh (if we have burritos the sides will be beans and rice) but sometimes i really want my side of the moment and i'll make sauteed spinach with something random like pot roast or lasagna.
eta: tonight we are having pizza (tombstone, fancy!) and...sauteed spinach. i can't get enough right now.
Post by Captain Serious on Apr 2, 2013 12:16:54 GMT -5
We almost always have a main, a starch, and a caesar salad. I prefer mixed, but caesar is all I can get my husband and kids to eat. Most nights, we also have a side of cooked vegetables. We use frozen because it's easier and quicker than fresh.
Usually protein/starch/veg combo. Pasta/salad, pizza/salad and soup/salad/bread are the normal exceptions. Tonight we had elk steaks, roasted fennel & carrots, and rösti. Last night was creamy tomato soup with grilled cheese croutons, salad. Tomorrow will be bratwurst with pretzel buns and sauerkraut, green bean salad.
It varies. Tonight we are doing chicken tacos with a side of Zataran Spanish Rice. It's the only boxed rice we like. Tomorrow I am doing spinach spaghetti with homemade ground beef sauce and a side salad. If I can't come up with anything I do a protein (fish, chops), roasted veggies and some sort of starch like baked potato, cous cous, etc.
Oh and I'm big on the side salad, which takes minutes to throw together, and I've mastered an awesome homemade balsamic vinegrette. No more store bought salad dressing.
I tend to do one crockpot/one-dish meal per week; usually it's because I have a class for DD1 right when I'd be cooking on Wednesday nights, so the only way to juggle that and not have starving, cranky kids is to have something that can be ready right when we talk in the door.
Most nights it is a main dish and 1-2 sides, usually a veggie + starch. Plus I chop up some fresh fruit for the girls. Some nights I make fish for DH and the girls, and something else for myself, and we share the sides (I can't stand fish).
I like to try new recipes, and sometimes I get overly ambitious with that and try multiple new recipes at the same meal, and that can end rather badly or half-assed.
Other times, like last Friday, I set things on fire. DH brushed off the charred crumbs and salvaged the broiled salmon. Luckily that doesn't happen very often.
Typically it's a main dish (meat) w/veggies on the side and a salad. I don't eat starches like pasta or potatoes anymore but I will make them for DH a few nights a week.