Between finishing things up at the office and battling rush hour traffic to pick up my baby before daycare closes, week nights around my house have been a little hectic. Some nights, trying to figure out what’s for dinner is a major stressor. In an effort to simplify life, I’ve been trying to figure out ways to make evenings at home easier for myself and I think I may have come up with something that works: On Sundays I make a weekly menu, shop for groceries and spend about an hour making a few main dishes for the week (sides are usually easy enough to whip up on weeknights so I don’t worry too much about that).
Last week it was Minestrone soup and vegetarian chili. We ate those twice. This week it’s Last Minute Lasagna (be sure to check out the link below for this incredibly easy recipe), pancakes topped with bananas and blueberries and a vegetarian version of Hamburger Helper. We almost always have pizza and salad on Friday nights.
If you’re like me and frazzled when hungry eyes are on you and there is with nothing in the oven, you might want to give this plan a whirl. Try it for a minimum of two weeks and adjust it to fit your life. It will take some time working in the cooking time on Sundays (or whichever day you choose) but you’ll be thankful for the extra time you have in the evening to unwind with your family. So sip that glass of wine while you heat up your premade leftovers mom, you deserve it!
Last-Minute Lasagna:
(Amp up the easy factor and sub a few cups of fresh spinach for the frozen stuff! I’ve also tried adding some frozen peas and a layer of ricotta cheese to the middle and that was pretty yummy.)
What are your strategies for keeping week nights low-stress?
I spent some time working as
Last night my daughter and I
Last night my daughter and I had a exercise and dinner date with her identical twin boyfriends. We ate at Whole Foods. All 3 21 month old babies were very happy eating in the store together, and the mommies were able to eat too.