Tuesday, August 25, 2009

My Least Favorite Question: What's for Dinner?

Allow me to let you in on a secret: I salivate over meal plans. I want to make out with them in a dark corner of a high school gym. But I don't do them regularly. When I do, I'm glad I have - but sometimes I just don't. No good reason. No reasonable excuse. And when I don't I get asked this question: What's for Dinner?


I hate that question. I loathe it. The fact that this task rests on my shoulders is both awesome and awful at the same time. Why do I have to decide what's for dinner? And when I ask questions like "What would you like" or "Does anything sound good" or dare I suggest "Where are you picking up from" I get giant blank stares with the standard I dunno response. I've started documenting some of my default dinners when dinner is the last thing I want to be thinking about...I need an arsenal though so I'm going to show you mine - if you show me yours.
Mine: Green Salad with Fresh Vinaigrette, Toast with Cream Cheese and Nova (smoked salmon) and Cucumber Slices and a Fresh Peach with Yogurt on top.

Your turn: What do you make when you have no plan for dinner?

6 comments:

AndreAnna said...

A phonecall to China Ming.

Sad, but true.

If I don't have the stuff in the house or a plan ready, chances are we're getting takeout or having what I call a mish-mosh dinner, which is picking at whatever leftovers we have in the house. Crackers and cheese, etc.

AnnetteK said...

I try to keep a bag of tortellini or ravioli in the freezer. It's easy enough to cook and then throw on some olive oil, parmesan, and whatever spices I'm in the mood for.

LoriD said...

My defaults are

1. pasta (tortellini or spaghetti, usually) with red sauce, with green salad and steamed broccoli

2. quiche (crustless quiche if I don't have a frozen pie shell) with green salad

anne said...

I call Fat Lorenzo's pizza, and a pizza miraculously arrives at my door within 45 minutes.

OR, I sprinkle cheese and black beans on tortillas and microwave them, and then dollop some salsa on top and roll them up. Cheeseritos:)

I totally agree with you- I HATE that the burden of meal planning falls on me ALWAYS. I ask for ideas too, or "what are you craving for dinner this week?" and I get NOTHING.

April said...

Breakfast. We almost always have eggs in the house or stuff to make pancakes or waffles or such. Usually omelets with lots of fresh veggies and good cheese and a couple of pieces of toast, and I'm set.

Erin said...

My go-tos are tacos, spaghetti, grilled cheese (if I have pepperoni on hand I will put some in it and have "pizza sammies")...um... hm.. My absolute favorite on the list is my cheesy chile chicken tacos... Cube and cook boneless skinless chicken breasts in a tbsp of olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. When they are almost done add a small can of fire roasted green chiles (I think it's a 4 oz can) then top with a bunch of cheddar cheese. While that's all cooking, fry some corn tortillas (flour are good too). Fill your torts with the cheesy chicken stuff and add salsa. Oh, it's so good.