Month: November 2009

But I don’t wannnnaaa go to Wally-World!!!!

When my husband and I got married, we were dead broke. As in, a $7 bottle of wine was too much except on very special occasions kinda broke. To manage this level of tight budget, I consolidated my grocery shopping into only one trip every two weeks. I planned it out down to the penny…every single meal and household need for two blasted weeks. This usually took hours, but it kept me from accidently bankrupting us in a moment of bad-blondie-mama-math.

As the years passed, this method made even more sense, because $4-a-gallon gas and a 30 minute drive to the store meant that mistakes on my part would cost gas money we didn’t need to spend. Shopping for a two weeks stretch usually takes a couple of hours at the Wally-World (or Hell as some of us call it), but I never minded too much. When you have not left your house in days or spoken to anyone over the age of 5, a trip to Wally-World is downright exciting.

But times have changed my friend. Now, I am hitting the Wally-World after work…in heels…and I still shop for two weeks like an idiot. Do you have any idea the things I would rather be doing than going grocery shopping tonight? Hmmmm,

  • I could clean the bathroom
  • I could read War and Peace
  • I could hide in my closet and pretend I am on vacation…that is until the boys find me and skewer me with a light saber or two
  • I could rearrange my Netflix queue
  • I could get over my aversion to dental floss
  • I could tackle the laundry monster head-on

Goodness, if I would rather do laundry than go grocery shopping tonight you know this situation is getting desperate. Think we could rig up a glass of wine like a horse-and-carrot scenario? That would be the fastest trip you ever saw…think Roadrunner dust clouds and skid marks.

It may be time to re-evaluate my grocery shopping methods….

Learning to Cook in High Heels

The past couple of months have certainly been a test of Mommy endurance. Obviously, I am now working, which is still a trip. Youngest started school, which was traumatic for both of us, and promptly caught every germ he had missed in his life with a stay-at-home mom. We’ve been through swine flu and four separate stomach viruses in less than two months, all while I try to settle into the new job and not look like a yahoo. (And of course what better time to catch swine flu than the week before my first big business trip?)

However, I can finally say that I am getting life under control and adjusting to the new routine of a working mom. The transition has taken a time and patience, and copious amounts of red wine.

In the meantime, I am getting a crash course in how to make dinner in less than 45 minutes. Hoooolllyy cow, if that is a bit harder than I expected. I have been guinea-pigging my poor family to death with new recipes in an effort to streamline my weeknights. This endeavor has definitely been hit and miss, but I am committed to home cooked meals, job or no job. We have had some success, like the following recipe I got from (where else?) southernliving.com. It is yummy, but I recommend serving it over rice…not enough sauce for noodles in my opinion.

Balsamic Garlic-and-Herb Chicken Thighs

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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes

Ingredients
  

  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • 6 boneless skinless chicken thighs
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 cup dry white wine
  • 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 1 10-ounce can diced tomatoes with green chiles
  • 1 envelope Lipton Savory Herb & Garlic seasoning mix
  • sliced green onions for garnish

Instructions
 

  • Combine flour, salt, and pepper. Dredge chicken in flour mixture.
  • Brown half of chicken in 1 tablespoon hot oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat 4 minutes on each side. Remove chicken from skillet. Repeat procedure with remaining chicken and oil, reserving drippings in skillet
  • Add wine and vinegar to skillet, stirring to loosen particles from bottom of skillet; cook 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and green chiles and garlic-and-herb sauce mix until combined. Return chicken to skillet. Cover and cook over medium heat 15-20 minutes or until chicken is tender. Serve over ice and garnish with green onions.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

I won’t bore you with the stories of dinner failures…you have probably heard my family revolt at the dinner table from your house.