Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Hibernating & stockpiling dinner

And we're back!  [cough cough]  To be frank, I never left.  Remember that trip I had planned to Chicago this past weekend?  Unfortunately, the universe had other plans for me.

At the end of work on Thursday, I suddenly got a severe case of the chills and skipped the gym to head home and take my temperature.  Turns out this girl was rocking a temperature of 102!  To make a long (and unpleasant) story short, that was only the beginning of my bout with the flu, as I went downhill quickly.

On Friday, Matt and I made the tough decision to cancel my ticket.  Lest you guys think he is some kind of monster, I want to publicly state that I forced him to go because.  Otherwise, he would've surely caught what I had and missed spending rare quality time with one of his best guys.  Before he departed for the windy city, Matt was such a saint and set me up with plenty of tissues, blankets, medicine, and even ran out to a local restaurant to get a quarter of my favorite lemon chicken and rice soup :)

So, I was "stuck" in Pittsburgh for the weekend, and it had nothing to do with winter weather.  Unlike my respiratory system, the skies were as clear as can be!  Homebound and down, I napped, watched Food Network and the return of NHL hockey, made myself many pancakes, and slept some more.

Come Sunday night, I was feeling better but didn't have the energy to visit the grocery store.  After some foraging, I realized that I had all I needed to whip up five delicious and balanced dinners for the week ahead!  Let's hear it for freezing leftovers and keeping some basic pantry staples on hand.  Hooray!  Matt did make a quick stop for some fruit, but that's all we needed.  Here's what's cookin' (or, thawing, in some cases) in our kitchen this week:


1. Split pea and ham soup with pumpkin corn muffins - I had both in the freezer, but could've just as easily made the latter since Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix and pumpkin puree are almost always in my cabinet.  Long shelf life, baby!

2. Pasta with meatballs - Who knows what shape of pasta we'll use.  We've got spaghetti, small amounts of rotini and farfalle, and half of a bag of egg noodles.  I suppose we'll fly by the seat of our pants :)



3. Chicken, chick pea and collards soup with pumpkin corn muffins - Loved it so much last week and felt like it was gone all too soon.  Very thankful that I outsmarted myself and froze just enough for another meal. Plus, those corn muffins... oh, how I love those corn muffins.



4. Spinach, bacon, onion quiche - I always try to keep at least one batch of pie crust in the freezer, ready for  an occasion like this.  Throw in a collection of ingredients that were keeping said crust company -- a package of spinach, a bag of chopped onions, and some bacon -- and some eggs and milk and you've got a balanced dish for any meal of the day.

5. Garlic parmesan chicken with corn and Brussels sprouts - All freezer finds, with a recipe for the garlic parmesan chicken coming later this week.  Be sure to check it out!

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