I work, I mother, I’m a working mother. Mr. Mary Tyler Mom works, too, and longer hours. What that means is that I’m still responsible for dinner. Doesn’t matter if I left the house at 7am and got back at 5pm. Doesn’t matter that when Mary Tyler Son sees me at the end of a work day he wants to SEE ME, not be babysat by the iPad as I contemplate dinner.
I’ve been in a bit of a fog the past month or so. Mr. Mary Tyler Mom, God love him, has been coming home and throwing something together so we can eat. Most of the time I’m so tired I don’t even have an appetite, so the thought of cooking falls flat. Flatter that Kate Middleton’s British arse. Now that’s flat, folks. Food is just not doing it for me right now. I’ve not a spot of interest. I would be happy eating what Mary Tyler Son eats: Kraft dinner, pb and j, cream cheese slapped on a slice of ham and rolled up, cheerios smothered in yogurt. Yeah, not so nice for the husband.
So hence my plea: Imma looking for quick summer meals. Something to get me out of my rut and back into the kitchen. Key ingredients should include speed, ease, and a recipe that involves only things one has in a kitchen that serves a toddler. Here’s what I’ve got so far:
- tacos – – love ’em as the veggies are present and accounted for
- BLT’s – – ditto what I said about the tacos
- tuna salad
- chicken breasts over spinach
- pork chops and egg noodles
Ideally, I would pick up Mary Tyler Son, play and love on him until Mr. Mary Tyler Mom gets home, he tags in and I get into the kitchen. Voila! 20 minutes later simple dinner on the table.
Can you help a sister out? Let me know what you do, working moms – – we gots to stick together!
Mary Tyler Mom 
A facebook friend just turned me on to http://www.e-mealz.com. Whoa. My prayers have been answered. Just signed up for weekly meal plans and grocery lists for the whopping price of $5/month. Will let you all know how it works out. COOL.
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Oh I hear you sistah! We are big take out eaters because I don’t even have anyone to tag in in the evening. The local Mexican place does a side of black beans, a side a rice and a tortilla for about $3 and my little one makes his own burrito. I’ll get a rotisserie chicken and cut it up with pasta for the boy and on salad for me. Usually there is enough for me to take for lunch the next day. We’ll munch on raw veggies like carrots and cukes while I slap together dinner. I’ll grill marinated sirloin steak tips – nice and quick. But we do have pasta a lot and repeat dinners. I’m not above getting take out sushi.
There is a place near me that does something called Savory Suppers, where you put together your own meals there with all the ingredients, take it home and keep it in your freezer. All you have to do is take it out with enough time to thaw (that’s often the hardest part) and it cooks up in 30 minutes at the most. There must be someplace in that fancy Chicago you live in that does something like this. Email me and I’ll tell you more about mine. I’ll go with a friend every so often and make like 5 meals (that for the two of us is doubled) and then I feel fancy when I thaw and make them.
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Btw – MAMom is your favorite Massachusetts mom friend. The one who would need you for shoe shopping. xoxo
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I don’t know how fussy you all are about what you eat, but once a week, I cook basic throw-together-at-the-last-minute stuff. Rice or pasta. I cook hamburgers, cool, wrap, and stick in the freezer. Bacon and chicken breast, too. And just plain hamburger, broken up and cooked. Then I can take it out, thaw in the microwave, and make burritos, mix with gravy or sloppy joe sauce and serve on buns, or spaghetti sauce over pasta, or alfredo sauce (the chicken). But we’re pretty low-rent and are meat eaters. There are always the prepared Hormel entrees in the refrigerated section of the grocery – beef and gravy, beef tips in au jus, chicken and gravy. There’s pulled pork in BBQ sauce, too. I can’t see getting expensive takeout all the time.
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I love my crockpot! Start something cooking away in the morning and have it ready to eat when I get home! Stews, roasts, soups, yum! When my daughter was a toddler, quesadillas were one of my go-to meals as I could prepare them while balancing her on my hip in the sling.
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