Mealtime made easier – most days
I’ve been trying very hard to have supper started most mornings before I leave for work. This can be a challenge, but I’d say that I’ve been successful at least three days a week so far this year.
Sometimes, I use the slow cooker. Sometimes, I have it in a pan covered with foil on which I’ve written the time and temperature that someone needs to slide it into the oven. Other times, I just have all the ingredients prepped for me to toss the meal together in minutes upon my arrival home.
Perhaps this is nothing new in your house and you’re wondering why I’m just coming to the realization that this is beneficial. The simplest answer is that I am a slow learner.
You see, there remains a strong possibility that, even while today touting the wonders of meal preparation, I will fall off the efficiency wagon and again be haphazardly making meals at the last minute. There’s a decent chance that there will be another time in my family’s life that the chicken I pull out of the oven will be the entire meal, sans side dish or vegetable. Perhaps it will occur again that I tell everyone to fend for themselves and that one kid will eat cereal while another consumes Pringles and Gatorade, and my husband skips dinner rather than try to find leftovers in the fridge.
Still, I’m currently enjoying the fruits of my advanced labor and feeling more relaxed and successful in our evenings at home. I’m quite sure it will not surprise you to hear, however, that this has not come without challenges.
Take Friday, for example.
I was attempting to prepare a creamy chicken casserole and the recipe called for, among other things, a can of mushrooms. I grabbed the ingredients from the pantry and the freezer and had them on my island for easy access.
I opened this and stirred in that. I mixed this and added that. Then it came time to open the mushrooms to drain them. I lifted the pull tab to pop the can open and the ring came off without the can opening.
I immediately did what I think any reasonable person would do in a similar situation: I grabbed the cleanest screwdriver I could find so I could pry the lid open. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any kind of lip where I could get leverage. So, I did what any slightly-irritated-and-about-to-be-late-for-work person would do: I got a hammer out to tap on the screwdriver.
(Remember above when I said I’m a slow learner? Yes, I know I should have known better!)
The tapping on the screwdriver was enough to put a hole in the lid, which allowed the pressure in the can to vent. Before air could get in, the mushroom water had to come out, and it did so at high velocity. Only for a second, but it was enough to splash me in the face, hair, and all over the front of my sweater. Boy, did my son find that funny!
Still, hole in lid, I used the screwdriver to pry the lid open and drain the mushrooms. Dump, stir, cover, and I was done. After a quick swipe at my face, my hair and my sweater, I was on my way.
And best of all, so was that night’s dinner.