How Dinner Gets Made
I am well aware of the canonical way to be an organized housewife and cook dinner every night and it's called "Menu Planning". Sadly I have a huge aversion to "Menu Planning" but I still manage to make dinner every night and very little goes to waste in our fridge. Perhaps someday I'll grow tired of the adrenaline rush of serving a delicious meal that I determined to make less than an hour before.
There are five ripe avocados sitting on my counter. Tuesday night's Tamale Pie casserole would have gone well with avocado but I forgot them and we finished off the sour cream instead . . . oh well, that needed to be eaten too. Tonight's dinner must include avocado.
If I had some imitation crab sticks, sushi rice, nori, carrots, and cucumbers, I could make a "Build your own sushi" bar. Mmmm! Sushi! Sadly the only thing on the aforementioned list that I have is carrots. Could I still make something sushi themed? I decide no, due to the lack of sushi rice and cucumbers.
Two weeks ago in a doctor's waiting room, I saw a really cool magazine picture of a "Build your own fish taco" bar and it had a plate of sliced avocados. I could make fish tacos. I have fish in the freezer and tortillas. But I have no cabbage and I don't have any black beans.
I sort some laundry while contemplating if the lack of cabbage will ruin the fish taco plan. I like black beans with fish tacos. I should put canned beans on the shipping list. We just ate some white rice (cheesy tuna rice with peas) for lunch but I still have time to make a pot of brown rice. The freezer has two types of fish to choose from: Tilapia or Salmon. I pick salmon since this will be a bit different from how I usually serve fish tacos, I'll embrace the differences. I'll bake the salmon in salsa, that's different! (Have you met my husband? We always have salsa in the house: several varieties)
I start the rice cooking and the salmon baking (Pro Tip: Never thaw your frozen fish before baking it, you don't need to and it will just make the fish smell fishier). If I'm going to be really different, there is no reason that cannellini beans couldn't go with this meal. I like my recipe where I poach salmon over the cannellini beans. They'll taste good together in this meal too. The beans are placed into a small pot to be heated.
I open and drain a can of corn and set it out in a bowl. Is corn + sliced avocado enough vegetable matter for this meal? I say, "No! I need more green." I'm really frustrated by my lack of cabbage. I don't even have lettuce. Lettuce isn't really authentic with fish tacos but it would do in a pinch. All I've got is frozen spinach. OK, frozen spinach . . . If I saute up some onions and garlic and heat the spinach with that, it might be OK and taste good with fish. I start the onions and garlic. I flame a stack of tortillas, one by one, over the gas burner of the stove and pile them on the plate.
And there we have dinner: A plate of sliced avocado, a dish of salmon baked in salsa and chopped into small flakes, a bowl of canned corn, a bowl of hot brown rice, a pan of spinach sauteed with onions and garlic, cannellini beans, and a big stack of hot tortillas.
Looks good enough to eat!
There are five ripe avocados sitting on my counter. Tuesday night's Tamale Pie casserole would have gone well with avocado but I forgot them and we finished off the sour cream instead . . . oh well, that needed to be eaten too. Tonight's dinner must include avocado.
If I had some imitation crab sticks, sushi rice, nori, carrots, and cucumbers, I could make a "Build your own sushi" bar. Mmmm! Sushi! Sadly the only thing on the aforementioned list that I have is carrots. Could I still make something sushi themed? I decide no, due to the lack of sushi rice and cucumbers.
Two weeks ago in a doctor's waiting room, I saw a really cool magazine picture of a "Build your own fish taco" bar and it had a plate of sliced avocados. I could make fish tacos. I have fish in the freezer and tortillas. But I have no cabbage and I don't have any black beans.
I sort some laundry while contemplating if the lack of cabbage will ruin the fish taco plan. I like black beans with fish tacos. I should put canned beans on the shipping list. We just ate some white rice (cheesy tuna rice with peas) for lunch but I still have time to make a pot of brown rice. The freezer has two types of fish to choose from: Tilapia or Salmon. I pick salmon since this will be a bit different from how I usually serve fish tacos, I'll embrace the differences. I'll bake the salmon in salsa, that's different! (Have you met my husband? We always have salsa in the house: several varieties)
I start the rice cooking and the salmon baking (Pro Tip: Never thaw your frozen fish before baking it, you don't need to and it will just make the fish smell fishier). If I'm going to be really different, there is no reason that cannellini beans couldn't go with this meal. I like my recipe where I poach salmon over the cannellini beans. They'll taste good together in this meal too. The beans are placed into a small pot to be heated.
I open and drain a can of corn and set it out in a bowl. Is corn + sliced avocado enough vegetable matter for this meal? I say, "No! I need more green." I'm really frustrated by my lack of cabbage. I don't even have lettuce. Lettuce isn't really authentic with fish tacos but it would do in a pinch. All I've got is frozen spinach. OK, frozen spinach . . . If I saute up some onions and garlic and heat the spinach with that, it might be OK and taste good with fish. I start the onions and garlic. I flame a stack of tortillas, one by one, over the gas burner of the stove and pile them on the plate.
And there we have dinner: A plate of sliced avocado, a dish of salmon baked in salsa and chopped into small flakes, a bowl of canned corn, a bowl of hot brown rice, a pan of spinach sauteed with onions and garlic, cannellini beans, and a big stack of hot tortillas.
Looks good enough to eat!