“The discovery of a new dish does more for the happiness of mankind than the discovery of a star.”
―Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
and here is the new dish that i discovered this week in my cooking for *monday night dinner....
pioneer woman’s sweet rosemary acorn squash wedges.
i had never cooked acorn squash and i have never been a huge squash lover but it was DEEEEELLLLLLIIIIIOOOOOOOUUUUUUUSSSSS. and it has convinced me that i need to invest in some good knives (do NOT send the knife salesmen to my house, i don’t want to spend that much money on knives). but i do need to buy a nice chef’s knife. hmmm, what kind of message would it send if adam bought me knives for christmas? we have the same unsharp cheap knives that i received as a wedding gift. and now that i am doing a lot of new and different cooking (with older children and more time it is easier to really do some COOKING), i am discovering that i need some items that would make cooking easier. like sharp knives.
and i also desire this little item. who doesn’t need a $324 dutch oven? in some cool color. like flame. or cobalt blue. or lime. i can’t decide. good thing i can’t decide. because i also can’t afford to decide. but i can dream about the roasted chickens that would come out of this dutch oven. yes, a girl can dream about roasted chicken.
monday night dinner is dinner on monday night. ha. it is the one night a week i cook a BIG dinner. meat, two or three veggies, bread, and dessert. the kind of meal my mom and grandmom made EVERY DAY but i can only really muster up the whole meal deal once a week. the rest of the week is leftovers, church supper, crock pot meal, soup, sandwiches, salads, and other “easier” fare.
monday night dinners include our family plus the three greene girls, jeffrey (when he likes the menu, not this week because he did not want the squash and he missed out on that yumminess), edub, my dad, this week we added the lovely eva (blog stalker), and sometimes there are various and sundry other people who show up because they smell good things cooking.
it is the night i experiment with new dishes almost every week it is something new and different. sometimes i break out an old favorite, but since monday is my grocery day it is the day when i dedicate almost the whole morning to cooking and preparation of this meal and other meals during the week. the afternoon is pretty busy with picking up kids, but i do most of the prep work in the morning. and i enjoy it. i love a challenge of something new to cook and learning new techniques. and i love being prepared for meals all week.
i have found that this one morning of pre-planning and prep can set us up for good meals all week and a lot less stress on me around 5:00 every evening. i am learning that every 15 minutes i can spend in planning and preparation saves me HOURS of time later and saves us lots of $$$ as well. our family commitment to not spending $$ eating out or on fast food has required me to be a lot more prepared with meals for our family. i make it my daily goal to know by 10 a.m. what is for dinner that night. because if i don’t figure it out early... it sneaks up on me and we end up eating cereal or driving through chick-fil-a.
okay, that was your new dish for the week. it is almost like i discovered a new star. and much tastier than a new star.