NO COOK FRIDAY

It's Friday! I woke up happy, know we're going out for dinner tonight with our sisters and brothers-in-law, so the dreaded "what are we going to have for dinner" question was not even going to be an option! AHHHHH! YES!

Until the daughter got up. "If you guys are going out, what are we going to have? Pizza?" Well, no. Pizza will be tomorrow night. So now I have to figure out what the kids are going to eat since we will not be here. The husband said "cook something up" to the daughter. She was not amused.

So the question remains out there. We'll probably go pick them up something because if we get to enjoy a meal out, then why shouldn't they?

Everyone have a great weekend and treat yourself to meal out. Toast the fact that you are NOT cooking when you do!

Cheers!

Spaghetti for Dinner tonight

Remember NO JUDGING

Phew! It's the age-old stand by - spaghetti. And I'm going to reveal an embarrassing personal fact. My favorite spaghetti is the box of Kraft. Yes, you heard me. We started eating these in Chicago 17 years ago and I have loved this meatless dish ever since. When I was a kid, my mother would make a pot of homemade sauce full of meat that people LOVED. I would eat plain noodles in butter. I was THAT pain-in-the-ass kid. Meat was definitely not my thing. So I enjoy this spaghetti with a small salad and light garlic bread. A cup of this is only 5 ww points. Unfortunately I often overcook the noodles, so now I'm just waiting to see if Doug gets home in time to make it for us...

Parent's Mag on Today Show with packaged food recommendations

I'm not a health food nut. We eat packaged foods and while we try to be thoughtful about good choices, I don't get hung up on it. However, I found it timely and a bit coincidental that the Today had an editor from Parent's Magazine on this morning with suggestions about more natural ingredient based frozen and packaged foods. I think we'll try the Oiko's yogurt dip and the greek yogurt tubes! Here is the video from Today.com:

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Dinner results

Olive Oil OR Margarine?? DO NOT GIVE ME A CHOICE TO MAKE!

SOOOOO I was working when my husband got home. He took my son to TKD, so then I was left to sort of pull the rest of dinner together. This freaked me out. I was trying to make the Vigo rice he always makes (which calls for THREE ingredients) and I didn't know if he normally uses Olive Oil or margarine (the package gives you both options) and I texted him. I didn't hear back right away and chose margarine, which was the wrong one. It would have been ok if I had not left the rice on the burner too long after the timer went off and it burned a little on the bottom. In addition to that, the chicken was a little dry because I cooked it on high for too long. Plus I managed to overheat the oil for the sauteed chicken. SEE WHY I HATE COOKING???? I'm no good at it. I lose interest before it's done. And it makes me nervous. However, we all ate it and actually ended up enjoying it. I put mine over rice and salad, my husband and daughter put it in Toritllas (husband added some jalepeno salad crispies and sriracha). Here are the picts. Better luck to me next time!

First Blog Post: BFF Crockpot Chicken

I had to get a shower so we could take this picture.

HELLO! First, let me start by saying that I really don't have time for this. REALLY. I have two kids (elementary and high school) and I run all over hell and back EVERY. DAY. Seriously. I spend hours in the car each day. Plus I am the partner of an indie t-shirt brand (One Less Nemesis). Plus we've started another company with a completely different line of products. And at one time, I was an avid online book club organizer and blogger. But this is what I need right now, prompted by a Facebook friend's post about wanting dinner suggestions that are ready when she gets home from running her kids around. I have needed this for a long time.

I'm starting a food blog and I hate to cook. I HATE IT. For reals. There is no joy in it for me and it makes me kind of sick to my stomach and nervous when I'm asked what I have in mind for dinner. Because I have nothing in mind. In fact, I was hoping YOU (the asker) was going to do it for me. Or really, ANYONE ELSE. Fortunately, my husband loves to cook and does it a lot. A really lot. But he gets sick of it too. Plus he works a lot. So if you're a foodie, this blog is not for you. Run away. Fast.

Also, I'm a Weight Watcher. I have been for years, but I really got down to business this past year and lost about 20 pounds. I haven't told anyone this online before now, but I reached goal the week after Christmas. I was on a mission and I'm pretty proud to say I did it.

So what the hell am I rambling about? This friend on FB had a lot of great people give suggestions for dinner ideas. Unfortunately it all looked really complex to me, involved lots of cooking and freezing or lots of sauces and things my family won't eat. So here's what I'm doing. I'm going to start by posting the very easiest, go-to recipe one of my BFF's told me about. I still think it's too much work, but I can force myself to do it about every other week. I won't use her name in case it would freak her out, so we'll call this BFF Crockpot Chicken.

It's so easy and still I hate the 15 minutes it takes me to put it together. Frankly, I don't like touching raw meat. (see how cooking phobic I am) But it's a necessary evil. And I wash my hands about 20 times because I am raw meat/germ phobic.

Here's the recipe:

About 2 pounds of Chicken breast, all the icky stuff trimmed off to within an inch of it's life.
A bottle of Kraft Tuscan Italian dressing (BFF uses Zesty Italian)
A crockpot

Put chicken in the crockpot, cover with 3/4 bottle of dressing and set to high for 6 hours, or low for longer.

When it's cooked through, we shred it up and serve it on salad (bagged! Or lettuce lasts forever in salad spinner) and on flour or corn tortillas with lettuce, cheese etc. Or we eat it with our favorite Vigo yellow saffron rice that takes awhile to make, but husband always cooks it so I'm OK with that.

Chicken breast I trimmed and thawed. Still a pain in my ass.

Cubed chicken to sautee later (hopefully husband will do it) because my son won't eat the saucy chicken. NO JUDGING.

 

Add about 3/4 of bottle, make sure to shake it well so you get the good stuff in the crockpot.

That's it! I'll post our dinner pictures later tonight, if I remember and get the dishes and laundry done at 10 pm when I finally get everyone home and fed and winding down.

I can't promise I'll post a lot but I'm going to do it when I'm inspired and having fun! Thanks for joining me and if you have great, SUPER EASY and delish recipes I can try, just email me at shelley@onelessnemesis.com.