Foolin' Myself

Chicken Divan tonight; Mom's was certainly better, but I think mine fared decently, and was unquestioningly kinder to the hips!! A few tweaks for the next go-round that may negate any of the health benefits of MY version, but oh well.

This is bringing the 2nd week of My Triumphant Return To The Kitchen to a close. I am starting to get into a routine, and one that is admittedly far more family-friendly than my prior habits. I had myself convinced that I didn't really have TIME to cook. I work all day, and need to play Mommy at night, and I'm too flipping tired to plan and shop and prepare and cooking takes WAY too long anyway....

Except, I do have time. It doesn't take nearly as long as I thought it would. It does take effort and forethought, a bit of planning and researching, but the TIME is not too bad, really. I'm getting into a routine, too.

It used to be this way: Leave work, pick up Squirt, arrive home, scream about homework to the zombies masquerading as my children, grab a snack for myself and one for Squirt, clean dishes from the feast the Zombies had when they got home, and then mercifully retreat to my room and hop on the computer for an hour or two a few minutes. I'd emerge somewhere close to 6pm with a mild sense of panic, knowing there were 4 hungry male mouths that needed to be fed with something that resembles healthy food.

Now, I have my menu for the week on the fridge, along with the page numbers of all that week's recipes. (I am having flashbacks to my MOPS meetings from years ago when we had a speaker come tout the benefits of meal planning a month in advance. I'm not quite yet THAT ambitious) I have already purchased everything I need for the week over the weekend, so I just need to gather ingredients, and have at it! And, if I start when I get home at around 4:30, small potential disasters akin to what happened today can be averted. (I went to gather the chicken I had in the back fridge only to smell long before I tried to OPEN the package that the contents had seen better days. Off to the store I went for fresh chicken!) I have the added benefit of spending the hours between walking through the door and sitting at the table actually IN the presence of my children. Which is sort of nice.. in its own way... when they are not trying to dismember each other.