Ben has a work thing tonight, so after I teach, I have to go home and do dinner and bath and bedtime by myself-- which, for the record, I hate to do. It's a 2-person job, and I totally lack patience by then. Also? The kids? Totally need to eat at 5:20 at the latest or they are TERRIBLE, so by the time we get home, they are cuh-razy.
But the Family Dinner. It is sacred.
Which is why I planned to take them to Panera.
But when I was opening the fridge to scrounge up a snack for Jack this morning, I was assaulted by all the pretty, fresh food in there that was screaming to be eaten before it goes bad. Sooooo, I whipped up a 5-minute, $5 dinner, and I am kind of excited about it.
I sauteed all of this (garlic, peppers, spinach, mushrooms, and onions)
And added it to this:
I threw it in the crock pot with some tomato paste and a bunch of random spices and turned it on warm for a few hours. When I get home, I'll boil this:
and throw the sauce on it. Instant dinner!
Then I'll lose my shit at some point cleaning pasta sauce and squished cheese off the floor while the kids run wild and trash the living room which has no toys because we moved shit around to make room for the tree we're going to hack down Griswald style on Saturday (where someone will lose a phalange or limb, so wait for that gory post).
Here's Jack nodding off mid-Pirate Booty snack
Harry and I also have big plans to use all this crap and a ton of butter
to make fudge because I have decided that from now on, we should welcome the first snowfall of the season with fudge, and the snow, it is falling.
Yummy on all counts! We will be having leftovers tonight. Fantastic.
ReplyDeleteI think you might love TJ's as much as I do... Haha! That place is like heaven, only I'm not sure heaven has graham crackers that are nearly as yummy.
ReplyDeleteAnd you know I love a good crock pot innuendo :)
Oh, I have a mighty love for my crock pot too. I have a small one and a big one. And I covet an even fancier one. Best. Thing. Ever.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy your fudge idea. But, out here, that would have been Sept. 22. Not quite fudge season.
You know, I've never owned a crock pot. Sounds cool, though. Any phrase that is one letter off from crack pot gets my seal of approval.
ReplyDeleteI need to bust out my crock pot again. We are always hot and heavy for a few weeks, then I lose interest.
ReplyDeleteThe other day I made a southwestern-ish soup by dumping corn, leftover turkey and turkey stock, canned tomatoes, carrots, celery and onion in the crockpot with a bunch of spices (cumin, chili powder, garlic, etc.)
ReplyDeleteIt was pretty good but made a ton. I tossed it back in the crockpot this morning and added in a little more broth, some forgotten zucchini I found in the produce drawer, and a can of hominy. I think that Version 2.0 of the soup is going to be even better!