On the Menu for Tonight

Gosh, I love days when I don't have to think about what to make for dinner. This week has magically turned into one of those when I have had a nice run of those kind of days. Now, I say, "magically", but I did actually plan it that way. I just tend to forget how nice it is in the morning to take something that is already prepared out of the freezer and put it into the fridge to await its dinner-time glory. Last night, it was my mother's chicken spaghetti (Mom-cooked food is just about the best thing ever) and tonight it will be pork tenderloin that I spiced and cooked late last week. The original incarnation was served with roasted sweet potatoes and sauteed greens, spiked with pine nuts, chopped dates and fig infused balsamic dressing, which was delicious, but as time consuming as it sounds. Today, however, it is destined for an easy Tex-Mex spin on the evening table. That same tenderloin is going to become pulled pork tacos, probably with some more sauteed greens, some fresh pico de gallo, refried beans and corn. Even at 7:45 in the morning, that sounds pretty heavenly to me. Even better, it comes with minimal effort because the meat is cooked and ready to go.

I do advocate this kind of meal planning and especially cooking extra to make leftovers that work for you, so to speak. I do not often practice what I preach, though, simply because I really dislike meal planning and I am usually on the lazy side by the time dinner preparation time rolls around. My kids are running around screaming, I am exhausted and I don't want to be in the kitchen for more than 30 minutes doing prep for food that may or may not be consumed by the younger set in my family. I can and will cook what I have planned and purchased earlier in the week, but doing that requires plenty of effort, even on the best days. Now, in the case of the pork tenderloin, I didn't really have to do anything extra - the package came with two tenderloins, so I just made enough spice mixture for both and roasted them at the same time. Easy peasy. Cooking more than one meal per dinnertime hour...well, you can forget that.

Long story short, I like it when my "planning" works out so that I have weeks like this. Weeks where the most energy I have to expend is remembering what exactly I was going to take out for dinner that night. Weeks where that same energy is required in some other place(s) in my life. Weeks like this one where I have one more push before Spring Break and a well deserved rest. I guess we will see if I will use that break wisely next week and get some stuff put up for the weeks following. Eh, who knows? I just might surprise myself.