All posts by Nichole

menu plan Monday

A meal plan from the pantry

I’ve always cooked a lot of our dinners, but we’d gotten in the habit of eating out frequently. Well, we’re definitely not doing that these days. I’ve been cooking a lot. The big change here is that I’m planning our meals based on what’s in the pantry and freezer rather than just on what sounds good.

Monday: Tacos
I have some seasoned beef in the freezer already, so this is going to be an easy one.
Tuesday: Teigen chicken with fried rice
The first Chrissy Teigen recipe I ever made was her Lettuce Wraps, and it is still one of my favorites. I’m serving it with fried rice instead of lettuce this time.
Wednesday: Veggie curry
I’m going to use sweet potatoes, lentils and maybe some carrots.
Thursday: Grilled burgers
I’m crossing my fingers in hope that Aldi and Instacart will come through and bring me some hamburger buns later this week.
Friday: Pizza
Most likely from the freezer. I don’t have any dairy-free frozen pizzas on hand, though, so I’m not sure what I’ll have.
Saturday: Chicken noodle soup
I’m going to use the last bag of Krzysiak’s noodles in my freezer. I am equal parts excited and sad.

Hungry for more? Check out the Menu Plan Monday linkup at Org Junkie.

Family matters

Our daily schedule, more or less

Our governor issued a stay-at-home order for the whole state effective Monday afternoon. I’m not sure why it wasn’t effective Friday afternoon. I guess you’ve got to give the virus a little more time to get around. Anyway, I don’t think it’s going to affect us all that much. We’ve been staying at home for about 10 days already, but hopefully the people who’ve been going about their normal routines will cut it out now.

Our daily routine these days looks something like this:

  • Rockford gets up about the same time he used to. He showers and gets dressed, then heads to the dining room table or the sun room to start his work day.
  • I wake up around 7:30 or 8 or 8:30 and very slowly get out of bed, shower and get dressed. There’s a lot of “slowly” in that equation.
  • Pete is generally up around 8. He plays video games until family meeting.
  • Someone waked Poppy up around 9.
  • At 9:30, we gather at the dining room table for Family Meeting. The kids look at all their school assignments for the day, and Rockford tells us what time he’ll be available for lunch.
  • The kids do their schoolwork, Rockford does his work-work, and I …
  • We come back to the dining room table for lunch sometime between noon and 1, depending on Rockford’s schedule. It’s been nice having lunch together.
  • Once the kids are done with their schoolwork for the day, they play video games or watch TV. I’d like to say they do wildly constructive things, but that would not be accurate.

    • I still haven’t given my own day any structure, really. I’m reading, doing laundry, playing Scrabble with my dad on Facebook and making food. And spending too much time on social media. Maybe I’ll try to do something about that next week.I finished Emily St. John Mandel’s new book “The Glass Hotel” this afternoon. It was fine, but I didn’t love it as much as her “Station Eleven.” I usually read it once every few years, but seeing as it’s about people living in a post-pandemic landscape I’ll probably not revisit it soon.

    Diversions

    Just a few things

    Good things

  • Pete reading “Something Wicked This Way Comes” in the hammock.
  • A salad.
  • A beautiful sunset.
  • Zoe the cat requesting an intense scratching session.
  • Watching the finale of “The Good Place.”