One of my most dreaded times of the day is 4:00 or 4:30 because I need to think of a dinner. Some days we have lots of items in the fridge that lend themselves to an inspiration and other days I really struggle. Most days I really struggle because I just don't feel like cranking out another meal. I think of the thousands of lunches and dinners I have made over the years and it just makes me want to flop on the couch. To help this dinner dilemma during the school year, when the whole day is busy, busy, busy, I try to plan ahead and have things that don't take a lot of time to put together but are still a decent dinner, especially on the nights that Dad is going to work all night. I can't really send him off with pancakes or scrambled eggs, although I have before in a pinch. He is sweet about it though and doesn't complain. The what to make for dinner dread is also heightened by the fact that with Dancer's food color allergy I can't just whip out a box of mac' and cheese or most other processed easy to slap on the table meals. I say kudos to any family who cooks from scratch every night because they want to, not because they have to. They are a better Martha Stewart than I am.
One of the easy meals I make, that gets rave reviews from everyone, is lasagna. It takes about 15 minutes to put together and takes very little planning except to make sure I have all the ingredients on hand and there isn't a cake or something else in the 9X13 pan. With Dancer's help, we have this in the oven in no time and for our family it makes two substantial meals with a salad or other side dish and a couple of lunches for Dad to take to work with him. Break that down to about 3 minutes 20 seconds prep time per meal and it seems like a really good use of time. It takes that long to make a sandwich! This recipe also freezes well.
Lasagna
10 lasagna noodles, boiled
shredded mozzarella cheese
large container cottage cheese
2 eggs
1/2 C. Parmesan cheese
hamburger
onion
mushrooms
tomato sauce - Italian seasonings if you are using plain sauce
salt and pepper
Butter the bottom of the pan and layer:
1 - Lasagna noodles
2 - shredded mozzarella cheese
3 - tomato/meat mixture
4 - cottage cheese/egg mixture
Repeat layers 1, 2 and 3
Layer 3 - tomato/meat mixture
Brown hamburger, onion and mushrooms, add tomato sauce, salt, pepper and Italian seasonings to taste
Layer 4 - cottage cheese/egg mixture
In bowl combine large container cottage cheese, 2 raw eggs, 1/2 C. Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper and whisk together.
Bake at 350 degree for about 1 hour.
1 comment:
I am a super busy Mom too and I play that "What's for dinner?" game.
To save time, I buy 5-10 pounds of a nice ground beef and cook it with onions. I put one pound of cooked meat in freezer bags.
When I want to cook a fast meal with ground meat, the bulk of the work is done.
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