The quickest dinner

When I started this blog, I told you: “In my family, food is an event ... it inhabits and enlivens our conversations, our emails, our thoughts, our beings,” here’s some proof. My busy sister, Bridget sent this email on Thursday, within hours 2 of my busy sisters and my busy sister-in-law had weighed in. Now we're all mothers of busy families, so getting something healthy and quick on the table is always a concern. In fact, yesterday I was reading the book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs to my 2-year-old (the premise of the book is that the weather brings the food: It snows spaghetti and meatballs and rains marinara sauce), and I thought, wouldn’t I have so much more time in my day if I didn’t have to worry about getting food on the table for my family? Then I laughed out loud at the irony that I'm a personal chef and I do that for my clients regularly, I just need to practice it at home too. Being prepared is the best way to get dinner on the table quickly and easily.

That said, I have had 2 parties to prep this week, so I neglected my email and my blog. This morning I’m combining both:

Hi Sisters,

I need help coming up with some quick meal ideas for crazy spring weeks, especially Baseball nights. I don’t get in until after 4pm, [husband and son] are heading over to the field 2-3 nights a week by 4:45pm. [Son] doesn't usually feel like eating “dinner” beforehand, especially if he thinks he’ll be pitching. I don’t like to have to cook something at 8pm for us to sit down and eat together. Some nights [daughter] and I eat before we head over to the field. I have done some crockpot sandwich recipes (Pulled Pork and Beef, Meatball Subs, Beer Brisket and BBQ Beef, I’ll attach those recipes later.) I have also done BLTs, Turkey Clubs and tonight I’m trying Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad Wraps. I’d really appreciate any suggestions and recipes you have for the really busy nights.

Bridget

Maureen responded:

You are way more creative then I am! We had burritos and tuna sandwiches the last two nights since we were running out. I’d love some ideas too!

To which Sarah responded:

Not so creative but we do tacos which are easy to reheat and I put everything in a tupperware or ziplock and we usually have it again later in the week. I also marinate boneless chicken breast. I throw them in a ziplock with a bottled marinade in the morning and then throw it on the grill. They only take about 5 to 7 minutes. Then I serve with couscous or on a bun. Subway also comes in handy especially since they have footlongs for $5!! Also Italian beef sandwiches are quick.

I appreciate their dilemma and was struggling with it myself this week, when, even though I had made eggplant earlier in the day, I was waiting for the water to boil for the ravioli at 8pm. (Would have been a good night for eggplant subs.)

I have the additional dilemma of Son #1 coming in from his game or practice while we’re at another game. He can’t wait for us to eat (it’s 6:15 and he had lunch at 10:30 at school. Like Bridget, I can never get the boys to eat before the game, they're concerned about cramps. I can’t even get Son #1 to take an extra sandwich to eat before the game that starts at 3:45 (school gets out at 2, so he’d have almost 2 hours before he had to play, but he won’t). I can get the other two to have a more substantial after-school snack when they get home, so they still have a little fuel in them when the games start at 5:45. As for Son #1, his “dinner” of choice when he comes home is cereal, sometimes 3 bowls. I’ve gradually convinced him that an egg sandwich (or two) is a better choice, and he’ll do that on some nights. Regardless, he’s seldom hungry when we are eating at 8pm.

And getting dinner on the table the millisecond you walk in the door with a hungry brood is never easy, especially at 8pm when you’d rather be crawling up on the couch yourself. If I didn’t have the kids to feed, and I’m truthful, many nights I'd opt for cheese & crackers.

Tips I use for getting dinner are the table are very similar to my sisters’:

• I keep sub rolls in the house and try to always have meatballs, Italian sausages, eggplant, chicken cutlets, prepared so subs are always an option. I add veggies and dip as a quick side (and something the kids can snack on while the meatballs are heating in the microwave, if they weren’t in the crockpot that day). Because if I don’t have the veggies and dip, they’ll find something else (cereal or cheese & crackers) that they can nosh on immediately, because even 3 minutes in the microwave is too long to wait to eat at 8pm.
  
• Hot dogs are always an option. Can steam really fast. Same rules as subs:
  Keep buns in the house, and
  Give them veggies and dip while you’re steaming or nuking the hot dogs.
  
• Bridget’s right about the other crockpot sandwiches too. I also make chili in the crockpot, and make the rice ahead. This way, just heat the rice quickly (or in a pinch, serve the hot chili over cold rice and mix them together), and dinner's on!
  
• Egg sandwiches, omelets, or huevos rancheros are a very quick option. Huevos rancheros makes them think they're having something other than “breakfast for dinner” think scrambled egg tacos on a soft tortilla. We always add refried beans, there’s a recipe below, but the No-Fat Casa Fiesta canned brand is very good, just mix in a little Tabasco and light shredded cheese.
  
• Dinner salads are great on a warm night. It's been a little cold here in Newburyport, so after freezing at a baseball game for 2-3 hours, we’ve been looking for a little hot food, and the chilis and meatballs, even eggs, have been winning out, but in warmer weather, we love a dinner salad. If I have time to make it up before we go out, it simply has to be pulled from the fridge & dinner is ready. If it’s not already put together, I pull out all the ingredients and everyone gets to assemble their own custom salad. It’s a great way to get veggies into the family, since that's basically what the meal is. I always make sure to have some protein: Leftover grilled steak or chicken, black beans, chick peas, cheese, hard-boiled eggs, a can of tuna, are all good options.

A client recently told me, “Forget 30-Minute Meals, even that’s too long; we need 15 minutes from walking in the door to sitting at the table.” This is a tall order, but at 8 pm on Baseball Nights, I am in full agreement. I'll be developing some meals that you can get on the table, from beginning to end, in 15 minutes, and I’ll post them here for you.

In the meantime, how do you feed your family on a busy night?

Refried beans
This is a great building block recipe, substitute black beans for the pinto beans, use it as a side for any meal, place it between soft taco shells and hard taco shells to change up taco night a little (and add some fiber to the family diet), add to eggs with some salsa and cheese for huevos rancheros, or serve with chips for a fiber-rich dip.

1 can pinto beans
2 T butter
1 T onion, minced (or ½ t onion powder)
1 garlic clove, pressed (or ½ t garlic powder)
2 dashes hot pepper sauce (like Tabasco)
1/3 c shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese

Melt butter in saucepan. Add beans with liquid, onion, and garlic. Simmer until beans are soft, about 10 minutes. Mash with a potato masher until most beans are mashed, but some remain whole. Remove from heat, add Tabasco, cheese, stir, and serve. Great to make ahead and heat in the microwave or on the stovetop.