What the Feck is for Dinner?
Struggles from the kitchen and surprise finds in my vege patch. (The big surprise is that I even have one.)
Frankly, I’m getting pretty sick and tired of this business of everyone wanting to be fed every night. Everyone, as in my family, I mean. Not everyone, everyone. There are only four of us but that’s enough. There are only four of us and we are all adults and yet I’m the one charged with working out what we’re having for dinner. If I ask the others what they think we should have for dinner that night I just get shrugs and “I don’t know”. Not helpful.
They say they don’t know but just wait until you serve up something they don’t want for dinner. Then they know. There’s a long list of things they don’t want for dinner and a non-existent list of things that they do which is also not helpful.
It's not the cooking of the dinner that I mind, it’s the imagining of it that I struggle with. Night after night. I try to find inspiration online but end up scrolling the same websites and dismissing the same recipes every time. Right now, I’m writing about how I hate coming up with meal plans as a way to get out of having to come up with a meal plan. It won’t work. Eventually, I’ll have to stop this and type “dinner ideas” into Google.
Lemon and feta chicken drumsticks are first on the list. They are “packed with punchy flavours” apparently. Works for me but maybe not for the one who doesn’t really like their meat still on the bone. Fussy.
Eggplant and ricotta rolls. This would also work for me. Anything works for me. I’m not the fussy one. Others turn their noses up at eggplant and will definitely question the lack of meat. So, must have meat, but not on the bone. Next?
Mango and chicken curry. Homemade curries are too watery apparently.
Roast Turkey stuffed with Pistachios and Cranberries. How did this one get into the “quick and easy dinner ideas” list? Come back to me closer to Christmas.
Roast Pork Wreath with Stone Fruit. This one seriously looks more like a Christmas wreath than something you’d eat. Am I on the wrong page?
Stir fry. Done it. A million times. (So, what’s one more, really?) Pasta. There’s nothing new here. There is nothing new under the sun, or in my kitchen for that matter. Bonus points for being easy and something everyone likes, though. Could even get away with a vegetarian option here. Okay pasta, take yourself to the top of the list, for now. Not spag bol though. Not again.
Some other mince variation, perhaps? Shepherd’s pie, nachos, lasagne (essentially just spag bol in disguise and with more cheese. The cheese is a drawcard though. Hmmm. But then there’s the whole putting it together palaver…)
Palaver… pavlova. Can we just have dessert for dinner, I wonder? No, we’re adults, we have no excuse for not eating vegetables. But, carrot cake? Hmm, too far.
Strangely though, this vegetable segue does eventually lead me in the right direction, that direction being my own vegetable garden. Yes, I have one! See, grown up. Although not that grown up as in neatly planted rows of peas, carrots, broccoli and spinach. No, what I have is a bit of a mystery garden. It’s a mystery because most of the labels fell off while we were still at the seedling stage so when it came to transplanting to the outside vege patch I wasn’t entirely sure what everything was. That’s okay though, I like a mystery and am looking forward a few games of guess the vegetables.
So, in terms of tonight’s dinner what has happened is that a mystery pak choy has sprouted and inspired me to make an Asian style salad, which led me on to a Nadia Lim recipe with katsu chicken on rice. Ta da.
The pak choy is a bit of a surprise, though. I honestly don’t remember having any pak choy seeds this year so it must have been in hiding since last year getting ready to sprout. There’s also a rogue potato which has done the same thing. I’m not complaining; it all adds to the fun in my eyes but my husband isn’t convinced that this actually is pak chok and is concerned I am trying to feed him weeds for dinner.
That would be kind of funny given that the one response he does occasionally give to my request for dinner ideas is “plants and goldfish” which is a Young Ones reference. He thinks it’s hilarious, I don’t but they might well end up with weeds for dinner if they don’t come up with an idea for tomorrow when this starts all over again.