1461 Dinners - Night 7

 We have reached the part of the school year where all the things my kid signed up for at the beginning of the year that seemed so doable are all happening, simultaneously. 

Sigh.

Because I had a doctor's appointment, Kid 1 drove Kid 2 to practice while I made dinner. I am still not back in my real groove with cooking so I kept it simple and made a sausage sauce and tortellini for the kids and I made myself sausages and peppers with zucchini. 

The best part of making sausage and peppers and (onions) is that it's absurdly simple. I slice the bell peppers and onions very thin. I put them in a hot pan with oil and start them BEFORE the sausages because I like the onions to get caramelized. Plop the sausages in and cook till they are done and brown on all sides. I like bangers for sausages or sweet Italian sausages if I can't get those. Any type of sausage you like though, beef, chicken, or even vegetarian sausages will work. Sometimes I only use peppers and onions, sometimes (like last night) I throw in some sliced zucchini as well at the end. then I deglazed the pan with some marsala wine and chicken broth. You can even use just water or water with a splash of apple cider vinegar in it. 

This can be served over greens, rice or noodles if you wish, I skipped that part entirely and topped it with a sprinkle of feta cheese. It's my favorite. 

Everyone ate, not at the same time, because rehearsals and meetings and such, but hey. Still counts as far as I am concerned. 

I literally cannot take a good food photo to save my life, trust me this was delicious. 

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1461 Dinners- Nights 2 and 3

 Decided to use some frozen chicken and pasta meals I had in the freezer rounded out with an extra artichoke stuffed chicken breast from the other night and some broccoli and cauliflower I roasted because it needed to be used up. 

Do you ever stare into the refrigerator and think... "I know I bought food but I'll be damned if I can think what I was going to do with it."

When I see ingredients but I can't remember the plan I just prepare them. On this day with only the mandate, "these must be used immediately", I chopped up the head of cauliflower and the head of broccoli and put them on a sheet pan. I covered them in oil and then sprinkled them heavily with a seasoning blend that had salt, pepper, onions and garlic in it. Then I roasted the vegetables for 20 minutes at 375ºF. They looked not as brown as I wanted so I gave it all a good stir and threw them back in for another 5 minutes.

Later that night as I was driving kid 2 from sports practice to theater rehearsal I called my husband and said, HEY, there's a plan for dinner after all. Take the frozen chicken and pasta meals out of the freezer, cut up, add the leftover artichoke chicken, and toss in the roasted veg I did earlier.  

It made such a huge amount we had it for dinner again last night.

Tonight's dinner will be refrigerated tortellini and sauce with salad and a take-and-bake bread loaf served with olive oil and balsamic glaze. 

That will be 4 nights, down. 

The aforementioned roasted veg. 

Do you have any vegetables languishing in the fridge? Go ahead and roast them.  They can work as a side dish or depending on what you have can be pureed into a soup or sauce. Tomatoes, bell pepper, and onion work particularly well as a sauce or a soup. 

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1,461 dinners - Night One

Dinner Tonight: 

Heat and Eat Chicken stuffed with artichoke from Aldi.

Heat and Eat Mashed Potatoes. 

I sautéed an entire bag of spinach with half an onion. Salt and Pepper.

When life gets tough take whatever shortcuts you need to to keep body and soul together. Life is hard and days are long, you need food and rest.

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