"Planning complex, beautiful meals and investing one's heart and time in their preparations is the oppostite of self-indulgence."
~Barbara Kingslover, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, page 288
(Yes, this is the book I was hesitant to tell you about. She has a different world view than I have, but she presents a very interesting look at her family's attempt to eat local food only, something I admire. If your library has a copy of this book, I'd say give it a go, but remember she is coming from a liberal perspective which I found crude a couple of times.)
Ouch! Here is a self-proclaimed feminist telling me that investing my time making meals for my family is the opposite of self-indulgence. I did not want to read this right now, but she is so right!
I know I am not the only one who I struggles with meals. I go between complete apathy and extreme guilt. I plan meals. I shop for meals. Yet, when it comes down to it, I tend to slap things together at the last moment or opt for the most easy meal, choosing instead to be self-indulgent. I have no excuses. I have my entire day to make time for meal preparation. Sometimes, we are busy during the day having fun and I leave myself too little time to prepare, that is true, but this should not be the case in general. (Thankfully, I tend to manage better during the school year.)
In my defense, I do try to think about early in the day what will be for dinner. I do try. My heart is in the right spot, but my lazy flesh rules most of the time, during the summer. It's a matter of over-coming the flesh. Maybe it is my summer mentality as well. I tend to let things go that I would not let go during the school year. It's funny becuase during the school year, I am always thinking, "If I had more time, I'd ....." When in reality, I would just sink into my pit deeper!
The purpose of this post is not to beat myself or anyone else up. I need to do better. Maybe you do as well. What I am going to do is try again to turn over a new leaf. Maybe others of you will too. Here is my menu plan for the rest of this week.
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Tuesday: Homemade maranara with whole grain spaghetti, farmer's market zuchinni. (We're going swimming, so this is going to take some effort. I'll make the maranara in the crock pot. The hardest part is dealing with the garlic press. I'll have to do some pep talking to get this done!)
Maranara Sauce
In your slow cooker add together the following...
1- #10 (huge) can of tomato puree
1/2 cup olive oil
1cup water
1 onion diced or 2tsp. onion powder
8 cloves of garlic, crushed
2tsp. salt
1/2tsp. pepper
1tsp. oregano, dried
1 tsp. basil, dried or fresh if you have it
Stir. Cook on high for 3 hours.
Usually, I freeze the excess for a couple other meals.
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Wednesday: Chicken stir-fry with vegetables and rice. (We have floors to clean at my mom's today. I will need an easier meal with stir-fry in a bag in the freezer.)
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Thursday: Chicken and dumplings, mixed vegetables. (I will take out a frozen roasted chicken from last week. I will need to make broth. I need to allow time for this.)
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Friday: Loaded baked potatoes (We are going swimming as a family to a state park that is only 45 minutes away. I will need to get the potatoes in the crock pot before we leave. )
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Saturday: Grilled chicken, roasted vegetables in foil (This is an easy meal. We'll have time between the parade and fireworks. I will just have to remember to maranade the chicken early.)
Bon appetit!
~Jenn | 
