Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
What’s For Dinner? Part Two

What’s For Dinner? Part Two

Last updated on: June 17, 2017 at 8:11 pm by Mary Pezzulo

What’s For Dinner? Part Two 2017-06-17T20:11:13-04:00 Mary Pezzulo

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

pasta-2100171_640

“What’s for Dinner?” is a shameless aping of Simcha Fisher’s “What’s for Supper?”

I was determined to plan dinners on a schedule just like a real mother.

I am not good at this.

Schedules and I get along even worse than cooking and I do; I never do anything according to a schedule. I can’t manage any scheduling more complicated than jotting “Rose dentist 3:00” onto the back of my hand in marker and realizing it isn’t washable later. I am a writer. My soul is best suited to staying up until 3 AM, worrying, and writing short essays about staying up until 3 AM worrying. It’s not a domestic or an organized soul. I am not the woman praised in Proverbs 31. If the woman praised in Proverbs 31 went to my church, I’m sure she’d despise me, and deliberately put her home-baked organic focaccia in front of my tray of store-bought gluten-free sandwich cookies at the church potluck. My skill set is better suited to Proverbs 21:19.

But God saw fit to give me the unimaginable blessing of a daughter, and the daughter is always hungry. I decided to learn to plan meals on a schedule.

On Sunday night I plotted the whole thing out. I looked up tasty and inexpensive recipes. I showed them to an unimpressed Rosie, who was eating a white rice sandwich she fixed for herself. I composed an itemized list of seven suppers and one Sunday treat dessert. I broke them down into their respective ingredients. I organized the ingredients into a list according to the Aldi aisles, with a supplementary list for a couple of fancy shcmancy ingredients that couldn’t be found at Aldi but could be found at Kroger. I planned to go out first thing Monday morning.

Monday morning, I came down with a 24-hour bug. I tried to explain to my husband that I had to go to the store anyway, because missing Monday on the cooking schedule would throw off the rest of the week, but he just didn’t get it. I explained about schedules and lists and Proverbs 31, but he still didn’t get it. He took Rosie out for the afternoon so I could have a long rest. He brought home fried rice for dinner. Rosie enjoyed it, and cleaned her plate.

Tuesday, I felt better. I got all my environmentally conscious cloth bags together. I took Rose to the library to play in the kids’ section, and then we went to Aldi. I showed her what I was buying and why; I talked about comparing prices, buying the best value, planning ahead. I let her help me load the items onto the cart. I got the bags on the bus without breaking them. I came home, tired but glowing with pride, and went to put the chicken thighs for slow-cooked tikka masala in the crockpot. But it was six o’clock in the evening. I gave up, and just baked the chicken thighs with some salt. Rosie had a cup of strawberry yogurt she’d asked for at Aldi.

Wednesday, I made one-pot chicken Florentine with canned artichokes. Everything went splendidly until I realized that the recipe called for simmering under a lid and my skillet didn’t have one, so I poured the whole thing in the stockpot. Then I realized that the stockpot didn’t have a lid, so I covered it with a dinner plate. When I went to remove the plate, I discovered the reason that lids have handles the hard way, and had to run cold water over my steam burns, but that was okay because two-pot chicken Florentine is heavenly, well worth a few scars. Rosie wouldn’t touch the stuff because it had spinach in it.

Thursday, we had gluten-free spaghetti and slow-cooker meatballs. Michael thought they were a treat. I thought they were a treat. Rosie’s review was as follows:”This is good. This is really good. You should make this more often, Mommy. The meatballs are yucky. They taste terrible. Never make meatballs again.” But she ate her spaghetti.

Friday, I was going to make gluten-free crockpot Mac’n’Cheese but the recipe website was temporarily down, so I made the arroz con pollo that was supposed to be Monday’s dish. It looked simple, and I like simple; it was Spanish, and I like Spanish food. Even Rosie was excited about it. I told her that “arroz con pollo” was only Spanish for “chicken and rice,” and she likes rice, after all. And how was it? Well, if I had to grade it on a scale of delicioso to Grover the waiter singing “Grenada:”

It was a disaster. A mouthful of slimy chicken bones on top of bland rice, and it tasted like ketchup even though I hadn’t put in any ketchup. Rose ate some of the rice.

We took the weekend off.

I am still not the prudent lady of Proverbs 31. Though if this were Genesis 25, Esau would absolutely swap his birthright for a bowl of my two-pot chicken Florentine.

(image via Pixabay)

Previous Post

June 16, 2017

It Started With The London Fire

Next Post

June 18, 2017 Saint Joseph, Terror of the Cult of Masculinity

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion Abuse Advent America American Christianity angel angels Annunciation Appalachia apparition apparition chaser apparition chasers apparition culture art art review babies baby baby Jesus Bad Lip Reading bad statue contest bath beauty Bible story blog blogkeeping blood book review Brandon Sanderson breastfeeding bus Catholic catholic conspiracy alarmism Catholic Oppositional Disorder Charismatic Renewal Charlie the Cat chastity Christ Christian idenitity Christianity and Judaism Chronic Illness clean clothing COD piece comedy compassion conscience conspiracy theory conversion cop-on-black violence Crucifixion cry of the poor culture Daesh Daily Saints death death penalty devotional diaconate diaper diapers dirty disability Donald Trump Dorothy Day dream drugs Eastern Catholicism Eastern Christianity education election election update Elsewhere on Patheos empathy environment Fear feminism film review fish flashback fluffy buns food Franciscan University of Steubenville Friendship Room fun Gabriel gardening gospel hair-splitting Heaven hell heresy Hillary Clinton history Holly the Witch Holy Spirit holy war Homeschooling homosexuality horror human dignity humor Icon idol immigrants infection inter-religious dialogue Interpretation of Scripture Islam Jesus Jihad Joseph joy laity and lay vocations lamb dinner laundry lent lgbtq literature love manners Mary Medicine and Science Meditation mercy mess milk misogyny Missouri monasticism monster motherhood mourn with those mourn movies movis music mystery nature neurodiversity New Pro-Life Movement news nonsense nostalgia O antiphons obituary objectification Ohio Valley Ordinary Time ordination Ordo Amoris parable paradox Passover peanut butter personal beliefs pets philosophy Planet Charismatic poetry politics polls poop Pope Francis Pope Leo power in the Church prayer prayer request prayers preferential option for non-violence president presidential election priest primary private revelation pro-life prophecy Public face of Catholicism Pure Flix Q and A race racism random rape rape. sexuality reader's request Reckoners refugee religious trauma ressurrection Right to life Saints saints and celebrations same-sex same-sex marriage satire scandal secular feasts seder Seven Joys Seven Last Words sex sexual ethics sexuality silencing six months skid row slavery social justice Speculative fiction spiritual abuse spoon stain story suffering suffrage suffragette Sunday Gospel temple Tenebrae Responsories Terror the exorcist The Friendship Room The New Pro-Life Movement Things I Learned on the Internet tin cup traffic true story tv review Uncategorized USCCB vice and temptation violence Virtue virtue and vice war Way of the Cross whimsy whole life women's ordination work of mercy Year A

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How long did Israel wander in the wilderness after leaving Egypt?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Forty years Ten years Five years Seventy years