{"id":649,"date":"2009-03-17T19:35:21","date_gmt":"2009-03-18T01:35:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ldswomenofgod.com\/blog\/?p=649"},"modified":"2012-03-21T20:44:28","modified_gmt":"2012-03-22T02:44:28","slug":"whats-for-dinner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reliefsocietywomen.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/17\/whats-for-dinner\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s For Dinner!"},"content":{"rendered":"

If there is no eating in heaven, I\u2019m not going!<\/p>\n

On the other hand, I bet heaven has the freshest gardens and the most sumptuous spreads of pot luck foods EVER.\u00a0 Just look at all the food at any given Mormon function: \u201cPlease bless the refreshments that they will nourish and strengthen our bodies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of us cook every day.\u00a0 All right, there are those who hit the fast food places and pre-packaged aisles at the food market as well.\u00a0 I still see lines at popular restaurants every weekend.\u00a0 The economy doesn\u2019t seem to be slowing everyone down.\u00a0 But let\u2019s talk about food and budget.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s popular to talk about getting the freshest, healthiest, greenest, most organic food on our tables.\u00a0 If you buy everything fresh that morning, you can have a fantastic meal in the evening, barring the fact that you aren\u2019t concerned about cost.<\/p>\n

But we are concerned about cost. And as much as we all like fresh, we are taught to have a manual can opener for our canned soups in an emergency power outage.\u00a0 I love watching the food channel and will try out new recipes all the time, but most of my cooking comes from ingredients I have on hand in my basement.<\/p>\n

These days, I buy items ONLY on sale.\u00a0 If, say, pasta sauce is on sale, I\u2019ll buy ten or twenty of them.\u00a0 When chicken goes on sale, I\u2019ll buy a whole cart full, same with ground beef, cold cuts, and hot dogs.\u00a0 If I buy something good like ice cream, candy bars, or hot pockets (all on sale) I have to hide them and become the food police.\u00a0 Sadly, those items never last long in the house, once discovered, but they are nice to have occasionally and I just gloat over the price I bought them at.<\/p>\n

When I go shopping, I typically have a list in hand.\u00a0 I love the satisfaction of knowing what I\u2019m going to buy, and knowing how much it\u2019s going to cost me, before I even walk in the store.\u00a0 And when I walk out of the store, I have spent exactly that.\u00a0 There is no feeling to compare with that kind of control over the world.\u00a0 And when I walk into my storage room and see the full shelves\u2026yeah! That feels really good.<\/p>\n

Fresh, healthy, green, organic food is a relative term.\u00a0 I like to see the green in my pocket, and I feel very \u201cearthy\u201d when I know I can eat food anytime I want without having to run to the store.<\/p>\n

A typical week’s menu might go something like this:<\/p>\n

Sunday<\/strong>–Pot Roast with potato pearls (from the Cannery), homemade gravy, canned or frozen veggies, and a salad with homemade dressing (I never buy store bought, because it\u2019s so easy to make).
\nMonday<\/strong>\u2014I might throw a frozen whole chicken in my crockpot, (adding veggies or not), and salt and pepper.\u00a0 I\u2019ll remove the meat, reserve some for dinner and save the rest for another dinner or lunches for the rest of the week. \u00a0I\u2019ll save the broth for a soup later in the week, or freeze it.\u00a0 For dinner, I can throw the reserved chicken into a casserole, salad, tacos, pizza, sandwich, etc.
\nTuesday<\/strong>\u2014We don\u2019t have to have meat every night.\u00a0 I might make a pasta dish.\u00a0 I freeze large bags of shredded mozzarella, so it\u2019s easy to make pasta, pour sauce over, sprinkle a ton of cheese on top and bake.\u00a0 Green salad served on the side.\u00a0 If I\u2019m in the mood, I might make a quick batch of French bread. \u00a0I let my mixer do the work, I shape it and throw it in the oven (trick: put the bread in while the oven is preheating; that\u2019s when it rises) and it makes the house smell great.
\nWednesday<\/strong>\u2014I like to space my beef and chicken meals apart, so I might try some fish with homemade tartar sauce.\u00a0 Frozen fish is good as long as you can’t smell it. I like to make my own bread crumbs in the blender, cover the fish with the flour, egg, and breadcrumb routine and fry it up.\u00a0 It comes out great.\u00a0 A vegetable and\/or salad rounds it out just fine.
\nThursday<\/strong>\u2014Sometimes we just have time for a sandwich, before everyone runs out the door with work or meetings.\u00a0 It\u2019s fun to grill the sandwich, throw in a slice of apple or pear and interesting cheese to add flavor.\u00a0 I keep a brick in my cupboard, so I can flatten my sandwiches.\u00a0 With frozen fruit I can make a quick smoothie to serve on the side.
\nFriday<\/strong>\u2014Usually this is date night, so the kids are on their own.\u00a0 That\u2019s when the hot pockets come in handy.
\nSaturday<\/strong>\u2014This is pizza night!\u00a0 We love BBQ chicken on our pizza.\u00a0 Always homemade crust, pasta sauce, and various toppings.\u00a0 Everyone likes to make their own.\u00a0 If you fold the pizza in half it turns into a calzone.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There are lots of other dinners that are easy to store, prepare, and serve for a quick meal.<\/p>\n

Homemade soups of all kinds–great way to get rid of leftover veggies and meat.\u00a0 Broth or cream based, pasta, so many variations.
\nMexican food–Beef, chicken, or just plain beans stretch forever in enchiladas, burritos, soft tacos, etc.\u00a0 Homemade tortilla chips baked in the oven are the best.
\nChinese food–rice with leftover meat and veggies go a long way.
\nPasta–all of my kids love to make their own garlic pasta (leftover pasta cooked in some oil and garlic powder), you can throw absolutely anything in a cold or hot pasta salad and it\u2019ll be good.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We all fall into a rut and spend too much money occasionally.\u00a0 If you are interested in any details to the above ideas, let me know, I\u2019m happy to share.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If there is no eating in heaven, I\u2019m not going! On the other hand, I bet heaven has the freshest gardens and the most sumptuous spreads of pot luck foods EVER.\u00a0 Just look at all the food at any given Mormon function: \u201cPlease bless the refreshments that they will nourish and strengthen our bodies.\u201d Most […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,475],"tags":[149],"class_list":["post-649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-preparedness","category-recipes","tag-dinner-ideas"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat's For Dinner! – Relief Society Women<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reliefsocietywomen.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/17\/whats-for-dinner\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What's For Dinner! – Relief Society Women\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If there is no eating in heaven, I\u2019m not going! 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