At least you have never sunk as low as one of my sons, who has been known to eat a bowl of cereal and consider that dinner. He most certainly did not learn that at home.

But of course wine is not optional---why limit yourself to winter?

Oh goodness, what a downer. I hadn't thought about it like that before.

I don't shop each day, but, frequently, when I go shopping, I buy what looks good and/or is on sale and then decide what to do with it after I get it home. I used to do menu planning many years ago, but that's just for special occasions nowadays.

10,000 more to go? I think I'm eating out for the rest of my life. Oh, wait, talk about not fitting into the PJ's.

mmmmm ... 10,000?

Doing my math that comes out to be 27.39 years you think you have left to cook on the 3rd rock from the Sun.

Woman live an average of 79.31 years so although we may not know your secret identity ... we do know you are exactly 51.92 years old --LOL--

Wilbur

Well, that's even more depressing. Luckily it's raining really hard today.

Hmmm....since I am only about to turn 30, I think I have waaaay more than 10,000 more dinners to prepare for my family. We have some classic stand-bys that can be thrown together rather quickly (and without much thought since I keep a pretty stocked pantry of ingredients) but I feel your pain. I am not a hamburger helper kind of gal either and want all the food groups represented for my kids....

I had to laugh...my wife makes up a list every week and posts it on the refrigerator! Me, a can of soup is fine!

But hey, on those days when the menu doesn't work out for some reason...it's time for ordering in! In HoCo, we have some great places that deliver - even non-pizza joints.

Hmmm, do I sense a future top-10 list? Places that deliver good food?

Yes! And someone else please make it for me.

French Onion Soup fits the bill: beef broth (meat), onions (vegetable), bread (starch), cheese (dairy bonus), and it's wonderful with a glass of wine. Okay, o-KAY...I'm trying to lighten the mood here.

I do empathize 'cos I'm in those weeds fairly often myself. Hate to tell ya, but sometimes--especially when it's late, you're pooped, and JUST DON'T WANT TO COOK--you gotta compromise! Sometimes we have breakfast for supper, or pizza and a salad. And, the freezer is stocked with stuff to nuke 'n' eat (mostly left-overs and pot pies).

In other words, "Lighten up, Francis!" 'Nuf...here endeth the lesson.

As a guy, I always keep the go to foods in the house. Ground beef, hot dogs, frozen french fries, and can veggies.

That's why those meal preparation stores (Let's Dish, etc) are the best places in the world. I was skeptical at first and the food isnt exactly "gourmet" however, it makes me feel good to just pull out a frozen bag of food and then easily turn it into a full meal! No thought required and voila! t looks like I've been slaving over the stove and no preparation was required. Brilliant!

And I thought I was the only person who couldn't eat sandwiches for dinner! My friends all laugh, but I was brought up in a house where cereal was for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch (and not to be eaten after 3pm) and dinner consisted of meat, starch and three vege. And that's pretty much the way I eat now (plus the wine). Of course, it does get annoying when you're standing in the Safeway aisle and are starving hungry @ 8pm at night but...i just couldn't possibly fathom eating a sandwich for dinner - heck, i won't do burgers at night. And yes Elizabeth, entree salads in summer for dinner but only if they're graced w/ grilled protein. LOL I just KNEW there were more of us out there!

I am just married and I do just what you do. Stand in the middle of the store asking what's for dinner at 8pm. I tell myself that when I start to have children is when I will plan meals.

Obviously you CAN do all those things but you just don't WANT to do them. Kind of like I could eat vegetables but I don't care to. Argh, yuck, who came up with peas, asparagus, stringbeans, etc.

Rich

Exactly.

It seems to me that the frozen waffles/cereal for dinner gene resides on the Y chromosome. No matter how well most men were raised, the quick fix "meal" (using the term loosely) will usually prevail when conditions are not ideal for a proper meal. Case in point: my mother-in-law is one of the best cooks I know and prepared fantastic meals for her children throughout their youth, yet my husband is perfectly content to pop open a can of mac-n-beef on the nights I'm out.

I have a couple of recipes that contain only pantry staples and maybe one or two non-standard items that I'd need to buy, and those are what I tend to make on those nights where I'm just not that inspired to cook. They're not gourmet, but they're still better than the alternative.

So let's hear what they are.

Ask and ye shall receive!

Szechuan Tofu: fresh ingredients are tofu and scallions, which I often have on hand anyway. Staples are hot chili paste, sesame oil, dark soy sauce, tomato paste, sugar, peanut oil, and jar garlic and ginger. I do a lot of Asian cooking, so some of my staples might not be common for everyone. Good with rice and frozen potstickers (which were homemade and frozen for future use, not prepackaged).

Spanish Chickpea Stew: only fresh ingredient is spinach, and I tend to make this when I have a third of a bag of baby spinach leftover. Staples are chickpeas, garlic, paprika, cumin, cloves, saffron, onion, a plum tomato, and golden raisins. Good with brown rice.

If anyone's interested I'd be happy to post the full recipes.

Disclaimer: yes, I am vegetarian but am not a militant unwashed hippie. I implore Robert TSO not to unleash penned assaults against my tofu-loving character.

He's not as fierce as he looks. :-)

Wilbur,

51.92 years old

Nicest comment E's ever had.

Brother Bim

a hearty soup is the way to go for a quick and satisfying meal. i always have 2 on hand at all times. chicken veg is one i make in huge batches and freeze in portioned containers, i always make a fresh batch of orzo to go with this when called upon. topped with parm cheese and fresh cracked pepper. it's the way to go. my other one is 5 minute pho. it's not the best, but it satisfies the craving. i must say that it's better than some i have eaten at viet restaurants.

I've gone to Let's Dish a few times with my daughter. It's a fun afternoon for us to spend together and she gets all the meals (mine and hers) at the end. With three little ones (almost 6, 4, and 2), these are a life saver for when she gets in late and needs to get dinner on right away.

It's not real cooking, but it works for her in a pinch.

I'm not crazy about plain ol' sandwiches for dinner either, but grilled sandwiches do cut the mustard (har har) in my opinion. My rule for dinner at home is that it has to be something warm.

My favorite "pantry" dish is a variation on pasta puttanesca--farfalle with a can of tomatoes, a can of tuna (oil pack), some garlic, some black olives, and a healthy dose of fresh ground pepper. Yum.

easy, quick and tasty and i think i got it from a sun article sometime in the recent past.

Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and Asparagus
Serves 1
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup chopped sweet onion
4 ounces boneless, skinless chicken tenders
3 cups water with 1 chicken bouillon cube, or 3 cups chicken stock or broth
1 small sweet potato (sliced 1/8-inch thick)
4 ounces asparagus (ends cut off)
salt and pepper to taste
5 fresh basil leaves, chopped, for garnish

Place olive oil and onion in skillet over medium-high heat; let sizzle. Add the chicken tenders and cook 3 minutes on each side.

Leave the chicken in the pan. Pour in 3 cups water and chicken bouillon cube (or stock or broth). Place sweet potato slices in skillet, then place asparagus over sweet potatoes.

Cover the pan, reduce to medium heat and simmer for 25 minutes, until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken and vegetables from the pan, leaving any remaining liquid. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve sprinkled with basil.

JLA please post both those recipes. I too seem to have those ingredients on hand as staples, so it'd be good to expand my repertoire.
TIA

I always make sure I have some canned clams in the cupboard so a quick spaghetti with white clam sauce can made made on a moment's notice. By the time the pasta-cooking water comes to a boil, everything else is ready.

My last minute meals usually revolve around some sort of pasta or a stir fry. I usually have the ingredients for either of those. When I was just cooking for me, I cooked meals that last all week and then I was sick of them. Breakfast for dinner has alway been a good one for me--omlettes, bacon, eggs, pancakes--but not for my husband. Oh I could do the cereal for dinner thing when in a pinch with lots to do--mowing the lawn and gardening after work come to mind, but my husband is strictly a meat, starch, vegetable optional, but not rolls type of dinner. Those are depressing figures for coming up with dinner ideas for life--I do need to expand my menu offerings.

You're definitely not alone. I couldn't agree more with your meal classifications by time of day and season!

I will eat soup for dinner but it MUST be homemade. We don't do canned soups here- YUCK.

The hungrier I get the more frustrated I am and eventually there's the point of no return where I'd rather go hungry than eat something that isn't up to par with my standards of tastiness. I generally try to pre-plan our meals for the week and have the ingredients in the fridge/pantry but sometimes that just doesn't work out.

JLA:

Who, me (as I push my plate of steak tartare aside)? I was sharpening my nib, not so much about the tofu, (note to Dante, it deserves its own circle in Hell) but for the hot chili paste & garlic. (Remember that I view V-8 as borderline hot and spicy.) But I thought of Mary's plan to auction me off (somehow that doesn't sound right) and that such an attack might hurt my market value.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned eggs--you can whip up all sorts of variations and use up leftovers at the same time. We like scrambled eggs or a frittata with a selection of cheeses and bread or knaeckebrot, maybe a salad. And it takes no time at all.

This is the go to recipe for me:

Quick Quiche

4 eggs
1 cup half-and-half
1/2 cup real mayonnaise
2 tablespoons flour
1/3 cup minced onions
Salt and garlic powder
8 ounces shredded Swiss or sharp cheddar cheese
1 package frozen chopped spinach
1 (9-inch) unbaked pie shell

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Hand whip eggs, half-and-half, mayonnaise, and flour in a medium mixing bowl. Add remaining ingredients. Pour into an unbaked 9-inch, deep pie crust. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the top is golden brown.

I have never added the spinach to this and use whatever cheese I have. If I have shrimp or crab meat I add it. The result is quite tasty and can be served with a salad. By the way, I use one of those unroll pastry crusts.

But, Regina, a recipe that needs an hour in the oven is not going to cut it when Elizabeth has said that it's already very late! She needs something FAST!

And Elizabeth, when you calculated all the dinners you need to prepare, did you subtract the days when you get to eat out on the job? (Not to mention possible doggy bags ...) You're way ahead of the rest of us here who don't get paid to eat.

Well, I don't know if you can call saying 10,000 exactly calculating :-)

OK, Aussiewonder, here are my two recipes for insta-meals. The first is quicker. And Robert TSO, you've come to be known for your razor sharp wit and saucy attacks. I think they'd raise your market value rather than lower.

Szechuan Tofu

1 pound extra-firm tofu
1 Tbs. peanut oil
1 Tbs. jar garlic
2 tsp. jar ginger
3 scallions, finely chopped
3 Tbs. water
1 Tbs. tomato paste
2 tsp. chili bean paste
2 tsp. tamari
2 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. sesame oil

Press tofu to remove excess water (not necessary for super-firm stuff like Trader Joe's) and cut into 1/2 inch cubes. Set aside. Heat oil, garlic, and ginger in wok or other large skillet over high heat. Add scallions and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add water, tomato paste, chili paste, soy sauce, sugar, and sesame oil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Add tofu and simmer for another 3-5 minutes, or until tofu is heated all the way through.

Spanish Chickpea Stew

3-5 ounces baby spinach
3 large garlic cloves, crushed
kosher salt
pinch of saffron threads
2 teaspoons sweet paprika
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika (optional, don't make a special trip to the store if you don't already have it)
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
pinch of ground cloves
freshly ground pepper
15 ounce can chickpeas, undrained
1 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
1 plum tomato, finely chopped
2 Tbs. golden raisins

Mash the garlic to a paste with 1/4 teaspoon of salt and the saffron. Transfer the garlic paste to a small bowl. Add the paprika(s), cumin, cloves, and black pepper and mash until combined. Stir in 2 Tbs. of the chickpea liquid.

Heat olive oil to a large skillet, add the onion and tomato and cook over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until they are softened, about 3 minutes. Add the spiced garlic sauce to the onion and tomato in the skillet and cook for 1 minute.

Add the chickpeas, raisins, and the remaining chickpea liquid to the skillet, and bring to a boil over moderately high heat. Reduce the heat to moderate and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in spinach, adjust seasoning as necessary, and serve.

Ever thought of hiring a personal chef? I heard they're on the "hot" list these days (something out of my reach nor my range of sanity to why anyone would do so, but just thought I'd ask =) )

Personal chef? I need a wife.

Elizabeth wrote: Personal chef? I need a wife.

Before you pursue that idea I recommend watching several episodes of "Big Love" on HBO. The chef might seem like a better idea then!

I agree with Elizabeth. My hubby and I have often wished for a wife. We'd love to come home to a tidy home with dinner just coming out of the oven. I think we'll call her June.

Janet said:

My hubby and I have often wished for a wife. We'd love to come home to a tidy home with dinner just coming out of the oven. I think we'll call her June

Ha! That belongs in the Dining At Large Hall of Fame!