A few weeks ago I was talking with my friend Kate about dinner. You see, she has a cooking blog and knows all sorts of tricks and well, I don’t. And I scramble at dinner. Sure, I plan my meals, but I still feel like I am scrambling to get everything done just before we eat.
Kate, however, has found a system to get it all together, and on the table with no stress. And amazingly, her system really isn’t hard to follow at all!
I’ve talked to her about this magic system, and she’s going to teach us all about it here on MomsToolbox for the next few weeks. I’ll let her explain…
Guest Post from Kate of Cooking During Stolen Moments
As a busy mom, do you ever feel like you don’t have time to take a deep breath, let alone get a home-cooked meal on the table? I know I do. There are always things (and children!) pulling me in a hundred different directions. While that is a constant throughout the day, I’ve found that it really boils over in that hour before dinner is served. It isn’t referred to as the witching hour for nothing!
Trying to make dinner during that witching hour used to be the bane of my existence. I’m sure I don’t have to explain why. I think we’ve all been there.
Well, several years ago I reached my breaking point with that hour. I had three children at the time – a 5 year old and a set of “Irish twins” who were 11 months and 2 weeks old at the time. After months of serving meals based around convenience items, my newly post-partum self was craving some real, homemade food. But I knew making it before eating it was going to be a problem. I knew I could find a way to make it work though.
After several weeks of contemplation and failed attempts, I hit upon a system that really worked. I was serving up dinners made from scratch and not stressing about it! My life hasn’t been the same since.
So, what exactly was this system? I like to call it “Cooking During Stolen Moments.” That means I use little stolen moments, or chunks of time, throughout my day to prepare dinner. Cooking this way has completely eliminated the dinner hour madness.
Five, ten and fifteen minute chunks of time are my best friends. When the kids are occupied for a few minutes, I brown a pound of ground beef while dicing some vegetables. Later, when I’m on hold on the phone, I’ll boil some pasta and make a sauce. A little while later, I take the last few minutes of lunch time to combine everything. Then I put the completed dish in the refrigerator. At dinner time, I just warm it up in the oven or microwave or on the stove top.
As I’ve perfected this method over the years, I’ve felt such freedom. I can make wonderful, homemade meals for my family without any stress at all. Meal preparation feels as easy to me as it did during those days when I relied on convenience foods. The difference is I actually feel good about how we are all eating.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing a few recipes here on Mom’s Toolbox that Amy will be preparing for her family during stolen moments. Then Amy will report in with her results on my blog, Cooking During Stolen Moments. The recipes will be formatted to show you how easy it is to take those little chunks of time and get dinner made without hassle. I’d love for you to join us!
Come back tomorrow and Kate will show us how to make Tortilla-Crusted Chicken with Fajita Vegetables and Mexican Black Beans the Cooking During Stolen Moments way.
Kate Miller, a mom of 5, blogs at Cooking During Stolen Moments where she is having an affair with her kitchen. Kate uses stolen moments throughout the day to serve up scratch-made food to her family without experiencing any of those dinner hour crazies. Kate specializes in recipes that can be enjoyed by the average family who desires to eliminate stress in their kitchens and processed items from their pantries
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