Anatomy of a Week

I'm going to try not to turn this blog into The Sporting Life, but -- what can I say? It's where I'm at right now. The girls' spring games and practices are threatening to take over dinner. Now, I'm not in any way shape or form complaining about this (Rule #49 always and 4-ever!), but it occurred to me that even though my work life ends at 3:00 on many days, I'm not coming home to dinner until about the same time that many of you are coming home from the office. Sports or no sports. So I thought it might be helpful to see how the upcoming week of family dinners might play out.

Monday: Chicken Chili

There's a game tonight that ends at 7:30, which means we will all walk in the door at 7:45. I think the girls could probably wait a half hour while I put a quick dinner together, but since I'm working from home today I'm going to do my best to cook something later this afternoon. Reheating it will take just about as long as it takes the girls to untie their cleats, remove all their gear, and then not put any of it away in their bags meant solely for this purpose. The plan is to sit down before 8:00.

Tuesday: Burgers with Bulghur Salad and Roasted Ramps (above)

I'll walk in the door around 6:45 which means I'll have a good 45 minutes to get something together. I'm thinking it will be basic burgers with caramelized onions, some kind of salad made with the batch of bulghur made on the weekend, and roasted ramps that Andy picked up at the farmer's market yesterday. Andy has been lobbying to toss those roasted ramps into a pile of spaghetti with Parm, toasted bread crumbs (and perhaps an egg stirred in at the end) but I'm a little pasta'd out these days. Plus, going that direction means making something separate for Phoebe since she doesn't like pasta, so I think I know who's gonna win this one. But ramps will be on the menu no matter what because they'll be wilted if we wait one more day.

Wednesday: Black Bean Tacos

Another game. Dinner won't be until 7:45, but I'll be home from work around 5:30, so will try to prepare the bean filling for this one before I have to drop off Abby at her field at 6:00. The good thing about beans is that you can cook them, turn off the stove, then let them sit until the post-game reheat. As anyone who has been following this blog (or who has a pulse for that matter) knows, there is no easier meal than a black bean quesadilla or taco. My friend Elena brought me a big hunk of tangy Queso Fresco from a Mexican market last week and it was just the kind of ingredient that instantly upgrades the entire meal. (Unless you are Abby and consider it blasphemy to add any cheese to a taco that's not Cabot's Extra Sharp Cheddar.) For filling: I'll cook some garlic in olive oil in a skillet then add two cans of (drained) beans, chopped scallions, a teaspoon of cumin, a little water, and smush it with my fork until it looks about right. When it's time to sit, add the filling to corn tortillas with some radishes, sliced avocado, sour cream, crumbled queso fresco (if you have it) and you are set. In less than 20 minutes, no less! Five minutes if you've already made the filling.

Thursday: Meatballs from the Freezer/Eggs for Mom and Dad

Abby and I will be home from soccer at 6:45, but Andy will pick up Phoebe at her practice so they won't be home til 7:30. I'll aim to have dinner ready when they come home -- not because Phoebe will be starving, but because we will be dealing with deadline pressure on the other end of the meal: American Idol. (Elimination night is a big deal for the girls and it has become increasingly crucial that they watch it live.) So what's for dinner? Last week I made a big batch of Great Grandma Turano's Meatballs for a friend dealing with a sick kid (he's going to be OK, don't worry) and I set aside about a dozen of them for my freezer. Even though that's not enough to feed the four of us, it's enough for two little people which is better: Having their dinner already solved gives me permission to cook the grown-ups something else entirely -- something the girls would never allow in the airspace on or around their dinner plates. Which is to say, we can make ourselves eggs. I love an omelet for dinner -- especially for an end-of-the-week dinner because it's one of those excellent repository recipes for wilting vegetables on their last legs. I'll post an omelet recipe soon, but for those of you afraid of the flipping and breaking, I'd like to remind you that scrambled eggs serve the same purpose without the same pressure. (FYI, book owners: My favorite omelet recipe is on page 114. There's a good frittata recipe on page 117, too.) Anyway, to summarize: Girls will get freezer meatballs, grown-ups will get omelets. Two totally different dinners, but only one is actually being cooked that night for those of you keeping score. (I always am.)

Friday

No activities. Dinner with my friend Liz's family. We have no idea what the plan is, and after a week of nothing but planning, I really like it that way.

PS: Today, my friend Shauna Ahern, aka the sensational Gluten-Free Girl, and her husband Danny are coming out with their latest book Gluten Free Every Day and would like for it to spark a national conversation about Family Dinner. Naturally, we here at DALS are down with that -- check it out if you get a chance.