Leftovers

I may have mentioned before that I can't have the same thing twice in a row. That makes it harder to work full time and try to whip up a dinner every night of the week. Sometimes, I can do every other night. But being picky means more work, in the end.

Here is a new family favorite, that's easy, and requested by Small Fry.

Turkey Italian Sausage Soup

1 package Jenny-O sweet turkey Italian sausage
4 cups chicken broth (the Better Than Boullion works really well)
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 cup acini pasta (they look like fish eggs, reports Small Fry)
1 bag baby spinach
basil - the stuff you froze from summer and haven't used yet

Remove sausage from casing and cook until brown, stirring to crumble. Drain then return to pan. Add broth, tomatoes, basil and pasta. Bring to boil and simmer 10 minutes or so, until pasta is done. Stir in spinach. Sprinkle with parmesan.

Another Trader Joe's post

Trader Joe's has some mini tacos and a sweet and sour chicken that have come in handy on nights when I don't have the energy to actually cook. Their microwavable rices are handy, too. Brown and jasmine.

At the same time that I was thinking I can't wait for that Trader Joe's near me to open, my brother was busy opposing it. He thought it would put his local grocer out of business, so he won't go to what he calls Traitor Joe's.

But I have to be honest, I went to my brother's local grocery store and it smelled. I'm serious. Something needed something - either ceiling tiles needed to be replaced or the entire dairy section. Not sure what it was, but I will stick to Trader Joe's. Sorry Mark.

Tomato Paste Tubes

The convenience of the tubes of tomato paste cannot be overstated. That is, until it squirts out all over your backsplash.

Quick cooking inevitably means chicken

Really, I just can't have any more chicken. I can't. Any time it's a recipe for 30 minutes or under, it's chicken. Chicken chicken chicken. Enough already.

Small Fry's Shopping List

Not a good speller and a carb addict, to boot. But at least the Small Fry is trying to help out. My favorite is how she spells schedule: skegual.

Even more fried

It was a very tiring week, with, among other things, a car breakdown and a dog who ate an entire bottle of Ambien. Technically, she should sleep till mid December, but she's trotting around, tail wagging, like nothing ever happened.

It being the second week of work, I came home Thursday night - having picked up the car, a new prescription for Ambien and the dog - and couldn't find the energy to even heat anything up!

A Trader Joe's run is in order. And instructions for Small Fry so she can start helping out.

This week, I am going to try cooking a big crock pot meal on Sunday (pot roast with veggies from the CSA farm), and then another one-pot meal on Tuesday. The first one-pot meal, from a cookbook called Glorious One-Pot Meals, was not so glorious. My oven temperature could be off, but it wasn't done in one hour as the cookbook said. Most recipes in the book make two servings in a 2-quart Dutch oven. (Two? Why bother cooking at all?) So I have to triple the recipes and then add one-half more to fit my 5.5 quart Dutch oven. I'm sorry but that is way to much math after a 10-hour day. For me, it's almost too much math for a Saturday.

I've decided to try two recipes from each cookbook. Hopefully, this next one will work. I'll do the math ahead of time.

Cookbooks from the library

Now that I'm a working girl again, I need REALLY easy dinners. I leave at 6:45 am and don't get home till 4:45. Plus, I have that weird, can't-stand-the-smell-of-food-in-the-morning thing, so the crock pot is out.

I decided I would get a cookbook a week from the library.

Last week, I used two recipes from a cookbook that promised it was the most uncomplicated way to prepare dinner for the family, with five tips to make it even easier. Her big tip? Don't change out of your work clothes until after dinner is made.

Are you kiddin' me?

If I had paid money for the book, I'd have demanded a refund.

This week I am trying recipes from a one-pot meal cookbook, where everything is piled into a Dutch oven and baked for about an hour. Tonight's recipe was frozen hash browns, frozen chicken breasts, teriyaki sauce and frozen vegetables. It wasn't done when the timer went off, so maybe putting it in for 15 minutes longer wasn't the thing to do. But it was underwhelming. That's not to say I won't try other recipes, though, because if it really does work, it would be great. Very few dishes and a hot meal.