Sun-teriyaki chicken, rice, & veggies in a stir fry Mon-eggs Tues-Salmon, roasted veggies, couscous Wed-Chicken tacos w/rice for DH & DD chicken salad for me Thurs-Steaks, zoodles, fruit Fri-Rotisserie chicken from Costco Saturday-We have a house warming party form 1-3 so appetizer dinner?
No meal plan this week. I asked DH if he wanted me to order the grocery delivery on Saturday. He said no- he would inventory on Sunday. Sunday he bought food for 1 day and nothing for camp lunches. I almost expected his response and didn't ask him, but this morning I asked if he could buy juice boxes for the kids for lunch and got deep sighing and eye rolling and telling me he has to work. Yes what he has to do is save files all day- no phone calls no travel etc. And what am I supposed to do the rest of the week?
Maybe I need to meal plan now, and send him the list?
waverly, send him a list and ask nicely for him to please stop on his way home after work to get everything on the list so the kids can have lunches and dinners all week.
I sent him an email- no response. I knew I would get attitude this morning when I asked him, but why did you go shopping and not buy for kids lunches? Only one more week of packing lunches- school starts next week- Yay!
Monday - Italian sausages and veggies Tuesday - Tacos Wednesday - Chicken thighs with rice and veggies Thursday - Frozen pizzas Friday - TBD, might have the kids, might not
It’s just me this week, so my plan is to use up whatever is around so that later this week I won’t have a ton of stuff to transfer to my backup fridge, when I do a deep clean of my main kitchen fridge. So I’ll probably be making sandwiches and salads and charcuterie plates for a few days.
Last night was chicken sausage and fruit at the pool - packed as a picnic Tuesday - air fried chicken tenders, broccoli, fruit Wednesday - pasta/zucchini noodles and meatballs (Gardein for me yum) Thursday - out after meet the teacher Friday - pizza Saturday - grilled chicken and asparagus, roasted romaine, cherry tomatoes
I am going to make DH teach me to use the grill so the kids can swim while I grill by the pool on Wednesday nights after school starts.
2chatter, grilling is pretty easy. Start off with something easy and you can't really mess up like hamburgers or steaks and then move on from there. Unless it is a big grill/smoke meal I do the grilling as DH can't seem to take himself away from Facebook long enough to grill dogs or petite steaks (10 minutes give or take).
186momx - i have no idea why the idea of grilling stresses me out so much. I think it may be because my Dad was so dismissive of the idea of my mom grilling?
186momx - i have no idea why the idea of grilling stresses me out so much. I think it may be because my Dad was so dismissive of the idea of my mom grilling?
I get this. DH only uses charcoal, so I'm completely intimidated. I'd love to learn though.*
*Now that I think about it though, if I learn how then I'd be the one standing on the deck grilling instead of floating in the pool, so maybe I'll hold off on that.
2chatter , We have a gas grill so it is literally turn on the gas at the gas bottle. Then follow the instructions on the door for lighting it. It self lights- no need for matches. Let warm up for 5 minutes.
Burgers are probably the easiest. I like mine more on the well done side, so I just grill maybe 10 minutes on each side on medium heat. I know most people do it for less time, but for some reason when I cook food it always takes longer than the recipes.
2chatter, I get freaked out grilling chicken because I'm so paranoid it won't be done enough. I've been trying to work myself up to it with more burgers and steaks though so I at least get comfortable with the concept.
If I do chicken I also cook it in the oven first and then just finish it off on the grill because no matter what I do my chicken always comes out bone dry and tastes rubber if I cook it totally on the grill. But this defeats the purpose of not heating the kitchen up during the summer too.
I highly recommend spatchcocked whole chicken on the grill. Most of the time, it should be over indirect heat (I use charcoal and create zones) and then you can finish it off over direct heat if you want to crisp the skin. I usually do two birds at once and save the bones for broth. It is really easy, promise!
Can I buy this ready to go anywhere other than TJs sunbutter? I keep looking at it....and DD can’t have it because it contains starch.
And I have always wanted to be the kind of woman that uses bones for cooking. It just seems really hard. My mom used to but she’s not functional enough to show me.
Post by freezorburn on Aug 7, 2018 15:31:31 GMT -5
2chatter - I totally get the hesitation, too — grilling always seemed to belong to the men in my family. Never mind that I assembled one for my dad when I was a teenager. And XH loves grilling so I just let him have it.
I decided to tackle this invisible wall the first summer after XH left. I gave the grill a good cleaning to make sure all parts were in working order, bought the summer grilling edition of a food magazine at the grocery store, and went from there. First thing I made was herbed chicken wings. Super easy! I felt like a rock star.
It’s easy to spatchcock a chicken yourself, with kitchen scissors. You might also be able to ask them to do it for you at your grocery store meat counter.
Another tip — check out the Weber app. Lots of good ideas there.
2chatter, I do bone broth in the crock pot. Dump bones along with a couple carrots/celery/onion into crock pot. Put in 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar and fill until 1 inch above the bones. Cook on low for 24 hours. the house smells like soup but then I just strain the broth straight into jars and either refrigerate or freeze once cooled. FYI I tend to save up my bones (freeze them) and do a couple big batches once or twice a year.
If I do chicken I also cook it in the oven first and then just finish it off on the grill because no matter what I do my chicken always comes out bone dry and tastes rubber if I cook it totally on the grill. But this defeats the purpose of not heating the kitchen up during the summer too.
Have you tried a meat thermometer? That saves me every time. I trust it to cook to temperature and take it off at the perfect time.
Can I buy this ready to go anywhere other than TJs sunbutter? I keep looking at it....and DD can’t have it because it contains starch.
And I have always wanted to be the kind of woman that uses bones for cooking. It just seems really hard. My mom used to but she’s not functional enough to show me.
It is just a plain old whole chicken. There shouldn’t be anything in it. You just cut the back bone out so you can flatten it. This way the bird cooks evenly rather than over cooking some parts and undercooking others.
For broth, I just save a bunch of parts (carcasses, bones) in the freezer. Then when I feel like it, I put them in a huge pot, quarter an onion, with a bunch of roughly chopped carrots and celery. Thyme, parsley and black pepper. Simmer for 3-4 hours. Strain. Cool. Remove fat from top which is helped if you put it in the freezer overnight. It takes on the flavor of however you cooked the chicken originally. So the grilled chicken has a nice Smokey flavor to the broth.
sunbutter, Reading that, I feel like you are at an amazing domestic goddess level that I will never in my life achieve. I understand that it is a simple process. But it is a process that I will never pull off in my lifetime.
Teriyaki salmon Ham and baked pineapple Hot dogs and Mac and cheese Pot roast with carrots and potatoes in my new instant pot tomorrow on slow cooker mode. Gotta try it out.