I planned and purchased our week’s food yesterday. The pre-bar exam period has been a hodgepodge patchwork of crappy frozen meals and delicious gifted meals from friends, as well as living in filth. I stayed disciplined even though it drives me crazy to wade through piles of dirty laundry and weeks-old food crumbs, and the Professor kept things running despite feeling sick, but it’s really a two-healthy-person job to keep this house in order (on top of the two real jobs we both have!) I finished the bar on Friday and came home and collapsed, then went out for drinks with a friend that night, to a bar a block away that I can walk to (our V-Day/bar celebratory dinner with the Prof has been postponed to when he feels better). And on Saturday – CLEAN. I scrubbed the house top to bottom, while the Professor ran errands (getting Liam’s new glasses, picking up a futon frame we’d ordered weeks ago, taking the boys to take their merit admission test for the FREE PUBLIC SCHOOL that only lets in kids who can pass a test, WTF). I also planned the week’s meals. I go back to the normal work-schedule Monday. Zippity zoom goes the year.
Saturday: Sweet and sour chicken, jasmine rice, steamed broccoli. I did indeed make this last night and it was really, really good. I made it just as the recipe says, and next time I will probably cut down on the sugar a little. The vinegar did not overpower (I used rice wine vinegar since we didn’t have apple cider, which may be why it was on the sweeter side). I doubled the sauce and used half during baking, then boiled the other half to a nice thickness and poured it over top when I pulled the bits out of the oven. I love my rice cooker – it has a steamer basket included, so you can cook rice and steam veg at the same time. Not this one exactly, but same idea. Anyway, this recipe shall be repeated. Next time I make it, I’m hopeful that I won’t have a toddler come up and show me his handful of poop while I’m in the middle of frying the nuggets in hot oil (and the Prof was at the store – UGH!)
Sunday: taking a lasagna to a friend’s house tonight. It’s a frozen Stouffer’s that I bought for bar-time, but we ended up never eating it. We’ll have salad, bread, red wine, and good conversation. That is, if Liam feels better – right now he’s feeling poorly. 🙁
Monday: Balsamic chicken and vegetables. I like that this one is a starch-free meal.
Tuesday: Sausage and pepper hoagies with homemade potato salad and fruit. I used Aidell’s chicken sausage and it’s delicious. Yes we shall OD on chicken this week but there was a huge BOGO sale on chicken thighs, so I’ve got a ton in the freezer.
Wednesday: Wednesday night supper at church – I have church choir Wed night and we usually attend the supper beforehand. A few weeks ago we had a king cake tasting – so fun. Last week it was fried catfish, green beans, and quartered new potatoes – delish.
Thursday: Ground turkey tacos with refried beans and fried bananas (look through this linked recipe for the fried bananas – the whole Cuban bowl is a delight but it’s too much work for a weeknight).
Friday: Store-bought cheese ravioli with pesto and chunks of pan-seared zucchini and yellow squash.
Saturday: DATE NIGHT kids get mac and cheese woooooo
Hey Gill. Sounds like you are settling in and am so glad that NOLA is working out better for you and your boys, (meaning all 4 of them!) Love to hear you are enjoying walking everywhere, enjoying your friends and socializing, and all the life-style changes the move created for the positive. Nice. Thinking of you and the bar — glad it is over and then, next steps forward. Good luck on finding the perfect house for you, keeping a good thought that the right one will turn up. Lots of hugs to you and yours!
PS… I’ll be trying that sweet and sour chicken recipe. Yum.