Wednesday, April 9, 2014

What's for dinner??


Almost every day, one or the other of my children (sometimes both) ask me what's for dinner. Anyone who works a nine-to-five job knows how hard it is to come home from work and then have to throw together a meal. Depending on the meal, it could be another hour or two before it's time to eat. Unfortunately for me, I'm ready to eat as soon as I walk in the door. Waiting another hour is not usually an option.

Several Sundays ago, maybe a month, I cooked up all my meats. Taco meat, BBQ pork, Fiesta Chicken, etc. I don't remember what I started with, but let me tell you, it was soooo nice to have everything almost ready. Because the meals were already mostly cooked and were things I really enjoyed eating, it wasn't a chore to put dinner together once I got home.

One of our new favorites--Fiesta Chicken--totally easy to prepare using a Crock-Pot! Toss everything in the crock, cook all day, shred the chicken, and serve.

I mostly kept up with it, until weekend before last when I was at my writers conference and I didn't get home until mid-afternoon Sunday. I also didn't grocery shop, since I usually do that early on Sunday mornings, so last week we powered through with whatever was in the house which meant a lot of easy, high-carb meals like grilled cheese and quesadillas. Not good for my waistline.

This past Sunday, I got back on track and it's been so nice to come home and be able to put together a healthy, filling meal without too much time or effort at the end of the day.

Have you ever pre-prepared meals?

5 comments:

Regina Richards said...

Back when I was homeschooling I was a crockpot goddess. I'd load two crock pots the night before and put one on high and one on low the next morning. School ended around noon each day with a meal and the afternoons (which usually consisted of debate team, sports teams, social events, and other enrichment activities) ended with another meal waiting at home. But now it's just Steve and I so I've fallen away from using the crockpot. Although I do fish it out again when the kids come home. Makes a huge difference.

Jen FitzGerald said...


Any favorite crock meals you'd care to share, Regina?

Regina Richards said...

I get them right out of a crockpot cookbook so I don't own the rights and am not sure if I can put them on the internet. But almost any recipe can be adapted to the crockpot with a little effort.

Unknown said...

I love my crockpot! I have a cookbook I can bring to the next meeting, if you'd like to peruse!

Jen FitzGerald said...

I gotcha, Regina. Thanks.

Lara, that'd be great. Thanks so much.