Dinner - Plan ahead, and improvise

Dinner on a work night. Sort of feels like the fourth quarter when you're down by two touchdowns. Can you pull it out?

I've been doing it for 33 years and, like Brett Favre, sometimes I pull it out, sometimes I don't, often it's a spectacular success, and more often than I care to mention, I fall flat on my face.

I survive by planning ahead - to a point - and improvising.

I grew up with a mom who was so organized we knew what we were having every night of the week: meatloaf one day, on others pork chops, liver and onions, fish, chicken, etc. A simple way to organize, and I envy the predictability. I can only predict what we're having one night a week: Friday. My husband picks up take-out after depositing his paycheck.

My menu is driven more by:

1. What's on sale
2. Who gets home from work first
3. Where do we have to get the kids tonight? (And now, that our nest is emptying, who is home for dinner and who will want leftovers after work?)
   
4. What can I defrost, cook, and get on the table in an hour?

So how do I plan ahead? Stocking up on staples I know can be used to make a quick meals. And then improvising based on answers to the above.

Last night, for example, my daughter found a package of chicken thighs in the freezer. I defrosted it in the microwave, then - because there were three of us and only four thighs - cut it into small pieces. Put it in the cast-iron skillet with chopped onion and cooked on high until done. Tasted delicious over the rice my daughter had made. Fast, Frugal, and Fit!

More to come....