It’s 5 o’clock and the question that causes me to shallow breathe and pour a small vodka on the rocks, echoes from the family room…”what’s for dinner?” I know how fortunate I am to be able to answer that question with “what are you in the mood for?”, but that doesn’t keep me from standing in front of the refrigerator with the doors wide open and staring at the shelves, tasting dread.
You see, I have made many mistakes as a parent. And the one that is in my face (literally) every day is around food. My 12 year old is a vegetarian (and has been for 4 years), my husband is as skinny as a refugee and I am still battling the chubby 10 year old I see when I look in the mirror.
So wondering what I can make that will be meatless, fill up my husband and keep me from carbo-loading, is a constant challenge.
Elly to the rescue! Elly is my old sidekick from high school who makes all things look effortless. I appreciate knowing that the woman behind the curtain actually has to think about being human. Even she wonders, “What’s for dinner?” As such, she follows the blog of her friend, Amanda Haas. Elly claims that Amanda has “the best cooking blog and marriage saver I’ve ever tried!” When asked what makes it so great, she says, “No more wondering what’s for dinner and we go to the store once a week. Reading Amanda’s blog saves me time, energy and money.”
So friends, check it out. www.onefamilyonemeal.com
What if we tried it together, for a month, starting the week of September 6th? Its Labor Day weekend – and we could take the “Labor” out of the day. We could use TMC to post ideas we find, tips and success. Yum!
In the meantime, it would be delicious if you could share your favorite time-saving dinner recipe with our MindFULL Creative readers. I will post mine next week. It’s actually an old recipe that I have changed over the years that Elly used make in high school! And guess what, I have managed to make it into a vegetarian, low-fat and filling one dish meal. Thanks, girls!
What’s your favorite MINDFULL and easy family dinner recipe? Let us know!
themindfullcreative.com 
I’m in. We have this conversation literally every day, even with just the two of us. It is the most frustrating part of my day.
Here’s a recipe I like for dinner and for office potlucks: http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/brown-rice-and-black-bean-casserole/Detail.aspx It’s great for using up extra rice. I make it vegetarian all the time, and I mix up the veggies based on what I have on hand. Cheese is important but you don’t have to use a lot of it.
Great idea, Robin. I’ll try anything to make the autumn less hectic. A good friend of mine turned me on to spaghetti carbonara as a easy last-minute meal. Who doesn’t almost always have spaghetti, (tofu) bacon, eggs, parsley, and parmesan on hand? I sometimes add frozen green peas for an extra bit of green. Rare is the dish that makes everyone in my family light up, but this is one.
I made Lisa’s recipe tonight. I added one adobo chipotle chili, because I love that flavor. I used 1/8 t cayenne. It was delicious. I wondered whether it would be too dry, but the zucchini and mushrooms added liquid. This recipe is a keeper.
By the way, is this “my” Lisa’s recipe?
@Pam: Glad you liked it! I added some spice last time too, and the chipotle sounds like a good idea. And yes, it is. Funny running into you here! 😉
@Mary, the carbonara is a really good idea. I would use turkey bacon myself. To make sure I have some on hand, I usually chop it and put it in the freezer in smaller portions (cooked or uncooked). Now I’m also curious to try the tofu bacon, though.