The adage goes: the family that eats together stays together. We typically achieve it with take out or delivery; not the most healthy or budget friendly option. The cheat? Carefully chosen canned goods. A well stocked pantry.
After a long day a work, husbands in sitcoms from the 1950s and 1960s come home to a piping hot, fresh from the oven or stove top dinner. The table is set and the kids are either waiting or sliding into their seats. Not so in our house.
Flash to today and the home of a family trying to live the good life. The wife comes through the door with baby and fresh vegetables from a local farmer's market (or her co-worker's garden). The husband opens a bottle of wine and pours two glasses. The couple plays with the baby or reads to her depending on how awake she is and then puts her to bed.
The couple retreats to the kitchen for dinner. Working together the couple can have a tasty chicken or salmon pasta dish on the table in under half an hour.
The secret? A pantry stocked with canned chicken and canned salmon. Toss in sauteed fresh, in season local vegetables and you have a tasty meal. Most people won't know you didn't roast the chicken or bake the salmon yourself. And no one needs to. It'll be our secret.
In the last three weeks, cubes and I have cooked together twice. Not quite to our goal of once a week, but decidedly better than our previous streak of once every a month and a half.
What tricks do you have for getting dinner on the table on a week night?
Bon Appetit!
Eden