Dinner Date
Hey guys, let’s talk about helping out around the house. Regardless of your relationship makeup, helping out around the house will get you further than anything else you can do. My wife and I both work full-time jobs, in healthcare where lunch or quitting time isn’t the same everyday. Our kids are either living their adult lives abroad, or in college, so it’s the two of us. I have a unique job where I am off a full week, every other week. This time off affords me to do pretty much whatever I want when she’s at work.
I help out around the house by doing honey-do lists, cleaning, fixing this or that, vacuuming the hairballs floating across the room, laundry, outside maintenance, etc., etc. But, the biggest positive response I get from my wife is when I prepare dinner. I am not an elaborate cook, but trying to take some of the pressure from her to prepare dinner for when she gets home usually scores me big points.
Due to the uncertainty of her job, there are days she doesn’t get a chance to eat at all, and others where she eats lunch late in the afternoon and isn’t hungry when she gets home. I send her a text with plenty of time to respond, asking when do you think you’ll be home? and will you be hungry when you get home? I want to make sure my efforts in preparing a meal isn’t going to end in uneaten food because she ate late or she’ll be home later than expected.
After getting my questions answered, I launch into action. Depending upon the time I get my answers, I can either throw food into the crock pot, oven, or microwave. These slow, fast, fastest approaches of food prep helps whenever she answers me. There is also the possibility in discussing dinner plans in the evening for the next day to plant the idea that you’ll be cooking her dinner. Regardless of when I get my answers, preparing a dinner for her is the goal.
Dinner Ideas
Of course, I know her palate, I should, we’ve been together for 25 years. So, I reflect back on what have we had for dinner the past week, trying to keep it fresh. I also ask her daily what did she have for lunch, just to avoid the taco Tuesday at work, then tacos at home on Tuesdays, a bit of a good thing may be too much.
When I know which meals are fresh(er) than others, I rummage through the freezer looking for ideas. Chicken can, and is, prepared in a million different ways, so even if we had chicken last night prepared in one way, a chicken dinner prepared in another way can be fresh. Chicken prepared in many ways is easy. Simply throwing a few frozen chicken breasts into the crock pot in the morning on low, or if only about 4-hours of cook time available, turn it up to high. The beauty of a crock pot is food can’t burn.
Chicken breast in a crock pot either all day on low, or 3-5 hours on high, will yield a tender chicken breast. After draining any fat, mixing a jar of French salad dressing, or Italian salad dressing, or Alfredo sauce, or cream of mushroom soup, bar-b-que sauce, or any type of sauce will add flavor. Just remember, a little bit of those sauces will go a long way so don’t overdo it.
If the sauces aren’t a big hit, take the chicken breast and sprinkle with garlic powder, lemon & pepper, or other herbs that are popular, not too much, and bake for 10-15 minutes at 325 deg, just long enough to bake the flavor into the meat.
Another idea, cut the chicken breast into cubes/bite sizes and fry in a skillet to brown them. You can mix in some herbs; parsley, garlic, thyme, lemon, pepper, or a combo of things that are tasty to both of us. Then either putting into a salad of greens, or in rice, or sauteed with vegetables is quick and easy.
Chicken breast baked in the over are another very easy thing to do. Most bags of frozen chicken breast have instructions on the bag, so follow for best recommendations. While baking, I like to sprinkle my favorite herbs or sauces over them to let bake into the meat. Flipping the breast and dressing the other side for full flavor is a good idea. Flip about half-way through the suggested baking time, then season with herbs or sauce.
Battered or breaded chicken, such as, tenders, fillets, nuggets, etc., is easy and a good fast-meal for a busy household. Following the directions on the label. Tater-tots, french fries, or onion rings together with chicken and a heated up can of vegetables, such as corn, peas, green beans, or a microwaveable bag of veggies can be filling, and the effort is not forgotten.
Frozen fried chicken is another option. I try to steer away from too much battered foods, and foods with high salt content as much as possible, but sometimes, those meals are much needed for various reasons.
Steak/Beef
I don’t eat a whole lot of red meat, but something about a nicely done steak is very satisfying. Oven baking steak is easy, pretty much the same idea of baking chicken breast. Set the oven at 350 deg for about 20-30 minutes or until to perfection. We both like ours well done so cutting into the middle to determine how much longer bake time is needed is a good idea. Sprinkling with herbs & spices or sauces, similar to baking chicken, will add in flavor.
Cubed beef in a crock pot is easy. Again, throw the frozen cubes in in the morning and let cook all day. Then when done, adding in cubed potatoes, carrots, small chunks of onions, will make a great beef stew. If beef stew is not on the menu, saute the beef cubes with herbs and spices, or Au Jus sauce, or steak sauce, will give a kick and good flavor to the beef.
Hamburgers use to be my favorite dinner night when I was a kid. My mom would fry hamburgers on the stove, or my dad would flip them on the grill during the summer. My wife, and now I, bake them, for ease of time. In the summer, I fire up the grill for hamburgers, chicken, and sauage.
Sides just aren’t Sides
After deciding on the meat/protein for dinner, sides are considered. Sides just aren’t sides, they can make the dinner and excellent meal. I really like mashed potatoes, but peeling, cooking, mashing, is time-consuming, messy, and a lot of work. But, our society is a convenient based society and the food industry has responded. Frozen bags of potatoes that are microwaveable in 10 minutes are convenient and really easy.
Follow the directions on the bag, usually 10 minutes, empty the bag into a bowl, add butter, milk, and either hand mash, or use a mixer and within a few minutes, you have an excellent bowl of mashed potatoes. I like putting a pad of butter on my mashed potatoes, but canned gravy is a good substitute, low sodium of course. I also like mixing corn with mashed potatoes, something I did as a kid and always liked it.
If mashed potatoes aren’t in the cards that night, then baked french fries are a good option. Rice, easily to make, is a good alternative. Typically throw a bag of rice in a boiling pot of water for 10 minutes, drain and either serve or can flavor with herbs, butter, or soy sauce. I also like to saute rice (boil the rice first) with vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, onions, and carrots. These come in frozen bags, throw in a skillet or wok with vegetable oil and saute, then throw in the rice. Sometimes I will throw in chunks of chicken or steak to make a stir fry.
If I don’t have frozen bags of veggies, I will cut up fresh veggies and saute them just as I would the frozen ones. I’ll add in a can of corn, mini-corn cobs, or anything else in the cabinet that sounds good. Steaming a bag of vegetables is easy. I’ll usually find a bag or two of frozen veggies in the freezer, follow the directions on the bag. Maybe mix a few bags together for variety. Canned vegetables are easily warmed up and add in some nutritious value in most cases.
Fajitas & Tacos
I mean, how can I go wrong with fajitas or tacos? So easy to prepare. In fact, in the grocery store, there are bags of shredded lettuce, cheese in variety of flavors, and salsa, so cutting up tomatoes isn’t necessary for tacos. I’ll fry ground turkey or hamburger, season with taco flavoring, and presto! If I want fajitas, I’ll use steak or chicken cut into strips from prepared methods above. Cut up peppers and onions in strips, or get the frozen bags of fajita vegetables and saute as instructed on the bags. Taco shells and fajita shells are warmed in the oven. These are usually a fun dinner night. Tacos makes people happy.
Spaghetti & Pasta
My mom use to make spaghetti sauce from tomato paste and tomato sauce. Add in a touch of this, a touch of that, simmer for hours. Boy, that makes me hungry just thinking about it. But, in this day of convenience, a jar of spaghetti sauce is a no-brainer. Warm up the sauce in a pan, add in ground hamburger or turkey, and viola’! Meatballs either beef or turkey, or sausage in the spaghetti sauce is very good. The pasta can be any shape; spaghetti, penne, rigatoni, elbow, etc. Boil the pasta in a pot til done, and rinse. I like rinsing the pasta noodles to get the starchiness off. Not necessary, I use to see my mom do this so it’s a habit.
When the sauce is heated, I either mix the pasta and sauce together if it’s a short pasta, or if it’s long pasta, I keep them separated. Put a pile of spaghetti in the middle of my plate then pour sauce over top with meatballs on top. Flavor with grated mozzarella cheese, and eat til I can’t move anymore! Preparing pasta/spaghetti for dinner is easy, fast, and overall nutritious. In most cases, it’s a fall back dinner because the ingredients are always in the house.
Boxed pasta, such as Hamburger helper meals are an easy and fast dinner. Follow the directions on the box, add in ground hamburger or ground turkey and in about 15 minutes of relaxed cooking, a good dinner is ready to enjoy.
Salad
Salads are easy, can be time consuming if I have to cut up all of the vegetables. But again, the food industry has convenience as their top priority. Bags of salad ingredients are waiting. Nearly every vegetable is cut and ready to mix with other vegetables for a fresh, nutritious salad. I will use mixed greens; romaine lettuce, spinach, ice berg lettuce, as the base. Then cut up broccoli, cauliflower, peppers. I’ll cut baby carrots smaller, celery, radishes, and cucumbers. There are many bagged vegetables already cut up for salads. I look through the refrigerated section of the grocery store and snag what I’m feeling that day.
I also use vegetables that I already have. If I plan on using the salad as a side salad to go along with meat and carb, the salad doesn’t have to contain too much, maybe greens and 4-5 vegetables. But if the salad is going to be the main meal, greens with 7-8 vegetables along with bite sizes of chicken to add in more protein. This will be filling and nutritious. When I make a salad dinner, my wife thinks I’m invested in our health, SCORE!
Wrap-up
Dinner doesn’t have to be complicated or long prep time. Planning is the most important thing I/we can do. Realize and accept that I will be making dinner for us/family the next day and have a plan, at least a loose plan that I will be preparing food. All of my extra-curricular activities, riding my bike, writing my blog, are never hampered by cooking/preparing dinner. If anything, this helps me to be know what I have to do, how long it’ll take me, and plan my day around that. I don’t prepare dinner everyday I’m off, but 2-4 times per week is a huge help to my wife. When she is happy, well we all know that saying. I like being helpful at home. We both have very demanding, stressful jobs. Extra time to give each other is helpful and will go further than meets the eye.
Anyone, even us guys, who aren’t “cooks” can prepare these easy meals. I will be uploading short videos and recipes in the near future to follow along with. Some videos will be easy food prep, and some will become a bit more involved, but quick and easy will always be the theme.
Cleanup the kitchen as you go along will help with after dinner cleanup. I like to do the full kitchen clean up after dinner. Sometimes my wife helps me, but other times I tell her to relax, I got it. More brownie points for me! Good luck men, you can do it!