Tag Archives: dinner

Cooking For Two

How often do you cook? When I was first divorced Hailey was ten, she ate hardly anything so making a meal was a challenge. It seemed like everything I made was so big we would be eating the same meal for four or five nights. This did not go over well with my child. Hailey is a picky eater anyway and to try and put the same thing in front of her for dinner, night after night was asking for mutiny. There were so many new things I didn’t have time to figure this one out. That first year we … Continue reading →

Does “Fresh” Really Make a Difference?

Do you know where your food is coming from? Are you concerned? How far are you willing to go to get “fresh” food? These are some questions that my family and I are trying to answer. When I was a child, I remember my father telling me a story about a cow that he became “friends” with on their Indiana farm. He called his “pet” cow, Moses. One evening at dinner when my father was about 6 years old, he asked where Moses was, and my grandpa told him, “you’re looking at him.” Needless to say, things have changed quite … Continue reading →

The Death of Family Dinners

My daughter spent the day with her best friend M last week. The two girls are inseparable, which is why I wasn’t surprised when M’s mom called to ask if my daughter could stay for dinner. I agreed and we set up a pick up time for later that evening. I ended up getting to M’s house early and was concerned that I would be interrupting dinner (or at least clean up time), but to my surprise as soon as I got out of my car the girls came barreling toward me to show off their freshly painted nails. M’s … Continue reading →

Beef Up Sunday Dinner

Growing up I never dined on beef stew unless it was Sunday night. Beef stew was one of my dad’s specialties and since he worked during the week, and the dish takes a while to cook, he’d always wait until Sunday to make it. Sundays are an ideal time to make warm, homey meals to share with family and friends. If you are looking for a hearty, beefed up dish to serve this Sunday, consider the following recipes: BAKED BEEF STEW Ingredients: 2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch cubes 1/2 cup flour 1 tablespoon garlic salt 2 teaspoons … Continue reading →

What is a “Typical Meal” in Your Single Parent Household?

We have many of us read the reports about how important meal time is for family cohesion and child development. As single parents, it can be tough to carve out the time for the “sit down” meal and for many of us, three courses are definitely out! It might be stew made in the slow cooker, pizza ordered for delivery, or deli sandwiches but many single parent families go for simple, quick and available instead of a complicated, multi-course meal. I thought it might be fun to talk about what a “typical meal” looks like in your single parent household? … Continue reading →

Recession Proof Your Marriage: Dinner

The other day I proposed that marriages could actually benefit from recession. To start us off on the right-thinking foot, I proposed giving thanks for what we have right now. (Mainly, each other and any time we spend together, because that’s precious in and of itself.) Sometimes it just takes looking at all the good we enjoy to realize everything else isn’t as bad as it seems. However, I also hinted that I’d explore other ways a recession could benefit marriage. After giving the matter some thought, I’ve come up with some date night ideas. Ones that use the recession … Continue reading →

What’s Wrong with Appetizers for Dinner?

As a single parent, I have made many adjustments over the years to my family scene to accommodate the realities of a single parent family—we take things like time management and the organization of the how things operate into consideration fairly regularly. Just about everything I do is done with the intention to simplify and maximize the amount of stress-free time I can spend with my kids. Years ago, we instituted hors de oeuvres and appetizers as a way of transitioning from getting home to dinner time. Instead of making the kids wait to eat, I discovered there were many … Continue reading →

3 Easy Ways to Salvage a Ruined Dinner Without Ordering Pizza!

It doesn’t happen to me often, but every once in awhile I ‘ruin’ dinner. I should clarify that if you’ve completely burnt dinner to a crisp, or baked the roast with the plastic still on it, then just go ahead and start dialing the pizza place now. But sometimes, I ruin dinner enough that while it won’t make a whole dinner. . .it might survive some type of make over that will spare us from forking over the cash for pizza. Case in point: last night I tried to cook a roast that wasn’t fully thawed. Yes, I know–that’s not … Continue reading →

I’m Barely Through the Door: “Mom, What Are You Making for Dinner?”

A single parent’s day is a long day—I know that I am not alone in this reality. There are days when I am up at 5 am to start chores and work and leave my home business at 7:30 to do other work. There is plenty of overlap during the day with family stuff, home details and work, until I stop for groceries or the bank or another appointment on my way back to the house in the evening. It never fails, however, that if I walk into a house at 5 or 6 and at least one of my … Continue reading →

Meal Co-Ops (1)

In my previous article, I talked about forming co-ops to share resources and save money. One of the co-ops I talked about was the meal co-op. I think this is a great idea. So, let’s talk about it a little bit more. In a meal co-op you share meals. You cook once or twice a week and have a week’s worth of varied meals to enjoy. Not only do you save money by shopping and cooking in bulk, but you save time, too. You will be less likely to rely on convenience foods or take out foods on those busy … Continue reading →