It is 5:42 p.m., and the kitchen light feels like it’s the last place you wanna be. You are standing in front of the open refrigerator, bathed in its cold, just staring at a drawer of vegetables that feel more like a demanding chore than a promise of nourishment. Not to mention, the sun is shining perfectly on your appliances, showing the fingerprints you haven’t Windexed off because you have been so busy. I immediately have to bust out my spray can of glass cleaner and wipe them off before I could even focus on what to make for dinner! Ha! Facts.
The mental math of adulthood is never heavier than at dinnertime. After a day spent answering emails, managing schedules, and making a thousand micro-decisions, the simple question of “what to eat” feels like a hostage situation.
Can’t someone please ground me and send me to my room!?
Man, what I wouldn’t give to be a carefree kid again and let my momma up to the cooking. Those were the days.
Your mind loops through the predictable, exhausting checklist:
What do I have? How long will it take? And, crucially, how many darn dishes will I have to wash afterward?
When you are just mentally drained, recipes feel like the enemy. They ask for precision, dicing, and multi-step transitions. (Listen, you are asking a lot from me this week.) They demand that you care. But if I don’t want to care tonight!? Unfortunately, that darn hunger doesn’t give a crap about your exhaustion; it just waits!
You look past the crisping drawer. You bypass the raw chicken that requires safe handling and immediate pan-searing. Plus, you didn’t get it out in time to even thaw.
Instead, your eyes settle on easier things like eggs, bread, and peanut butter, or honestly picking up the phone and ordering a pizza!!
There is an underappreciated art to the “tired meal.” It is cooking stripped of its performative joy, reduced entirely to pure laziness and comfort. You don’t chop an onion, you grab the garlic powder. You don’t make some fancy sauce for your pasta; you mix in some butter and sprinkle some parmesan on that bad boy!
Sitting down at the table, the first bite brings a wave of quiet relief. It isn’t a culinary masterpiece, but it doesn’t need to be. It is warm, it is salty, and it requires absolutely nothing of the energy you have left from the day.
Sometimes, feeding yourself isn’t about creating an experience. Nope, it is simply about getting across the finish line of the day. I’ve learned every night doesn’t need to be a three- to five-course meal. These past two weeks especially were those days. (But with good reason! Trust me.)
We went out to eat too much the first week, and this week my crockpot seemed to really come in handy. I had my ranch pork chops in the freezer, ready to throw into a crockpot quickly. I typically use egg noodles with this recipe but didn’t have any. I saw I had three boxes of cheese tortellini in our chest freezer, so that’s what I used.
Honestly, it was so good! I don’t know why I didn’t think to do this before. Now, pay attention to this quick, easy recipe for later.
Another night consisted of putting some hot sausage in a crockpot with a jar of tomato sauce and my fresh-grown peppers with some sliced onions. (Cook on high for four hours.)
Then the other nights got filled in with Red Baron personal pizzas and leftovers! Listen, it’s OK to have weeks like this.
I am gonna be upfront right now and tell you what I meant by leftovers. You know those ranch pork chops and hot sausage sammies I made? Well, we had three pork chops left and four hot sausages. I grabbed another box of cheesy tortellini out of our freezer and chopped up all the meat I had leftover. I sautéed them in a little olive oil spray to heat them in a skillet, boiled some tortellini, added the pasta to the meat with 4 tbsp of butter, then sprinkled parmesan. BOOM. There was a concoction thrown together and actually tasted really good! My family went nuts over it and asked for seconds. You guys just pretty much got three easy recipes in one week. You’re welcome.
Who doesn’t love a good leftover night? The older I get, the better it sounds.
*Raises a glass*
Here’s to lazy dinner nights and leftovers.
*Cheers!*
Other easy meal ideas:
Pesto Pasta: Toss hot pasta with jarred pesto, a handful of spinach, and cherry tomatoes.
Egg Tacos: Scramble eggs and wrap them in a warm tortilla with salsa and cheese.
Quesadilla: Melt cheese between tortillas and add canned black beans or leftover chicken.
Grilled Cheese: Because why not?
Crazy Leftover Concoction
(photo shown)
Ranch Pork Chops
(Adding the Hot Sausage to these Ranch Porkchops!)
Ingredients:
• 4 uncooked pork chops about 1/2 inch thick
• 1 envelope of dry Hidden Valley ranch dressing packet
• 2 cans (approx 10.5 oz) Cream of Chicken soup (Don’t add any water)
• Egg noodles (or cheese tortellini!) prepared when ready to eat. Follow directions on the bag for cooking instructions.
Directions:
Put all ingredients in the slow cooker and cook on low for 4-6 hours.
When ready to eat, place pork chops and dressing over cooked egg noodles, or top egg noodles with butter and shaker parmesan cheese.
To freeze Ranch Pork Chops: Put all ingredients in a gallon-size Ziploc freezer bag, label with date/instructions (freezes for up to 6 months). To prepare, thaw overnight, then pour everything into a crock pot, and cook on LOW for 4-6 hours.
