I grew up with dinner on the table at 5 p.m. sharp. I mean, dinner was at five! My mom did not always stay home, she was during my childhood, a counselor, a graduate student, an office manager for my father’s medical practice, and heavily involved in church and community….yet…dinner was at 5 pm. Homemade. By Mom.
Now that I am the Mom, I realize just how much easier my life is as an adult because I had a mom who cooked, sewed, and did the “mom” activities when I was young. The thing is, I cook out of self defense. My friends often tease me about being “Martha” where dinner is concerned, because I prefer the table to be set, napkins to be used, I prefer the meal to be homemade (not premade). It is not snot factor, its simply survival. I have learned that my children and our blended family do best when we share meals together….it is the time of days they are willing to share their lives with us….if we listen. As far as budget…well, dinner is survival there too….when I make our meals, we can do groceries on $75 a week or so for a family of six including 5 dogs food….when we go out, that can happen in a meal. It is health too (though its not my forte reasonsing…I’m salt sensitive, so not eating premade food often is important if I don’t want to feel like a sponge filled up) Napkins can be washed, and reused, and more importantly don’t create trash for me to fuss at a son for emptying more of….when he’s barely getting out what is already!!
This was true when I taught school as well. My system was to cook up on Saturday or Sunday afternoon or evening (that mean have 3 meals in the oven at once) or to grill up meat for several nights. For me, its about 1/2 the week at a time, get the main courses down, then heat vegetables or cook fresh, add salad and breads. Plan the quick and easy meals on church or ballgame night. Dinner isn’t always elegant, but its always dinner. Twice a week I try my hardest to include a baked dessert, but Madison thankfully has a love for baking, so its her realm now! In the summer its all about grilled dinners, in the winter its all about crock pot dinners. Bottom line, if I take the time to line out the dinner meals based on what is on sale for meat at the store or what is in my freezer if it wasn’t a good week to buy meat, then dinner is a breeze.
Yesterday was an example. I started bread dough in the bread machine for rolls. After the machine did the messy parts while they were getting ready for school, then I rolled out the dough and cut round rolls, brushed them in butter and folded them in half to make Parker rolls. They were set aside to rise for 20 minutes while the hubbub went through the kitchen. Meanwhile I put chicken breasts (that had been on sale for .99) in the crock pot at 2:00 p.m. to go with the rolls. Farmer’s market had provided okra and green beans the day before so at 4:30 I put them both on a simmering pot in the kitchen (clean vegetables, add water, a little onion and bacon to the beans) The okra was ceremoniously stripped of its healthiness in milk dip and breading and fried to my children’s delight. Five o’clock calls….everyone checks in as they are coming home (leaving practices, etc) and sure enough, with dinner’s menu announced, they all get home speedily by 5:30 with knees under table.
Thursday night is family night at our home. It is also Chef night. We started this when our step family was brand new and I wanted each of the children to get 1:1 attention and time with me. I was teaching then so family night was a big production because I felt like we had to literally tag a night “family night” to create ours!! One of the children or teens and a friend decided the menu on Sunday and they come early enough to work with me to do “their”menu. Thursday nights last year often included a pack of eight teenaged football players who for want of better reasons figured out “hey Arkansaw cooks!” because Son2 was making meat and potato meals after football practice and it turned into the frenzy feed every Thursday night as we fed bottomless pits and enjoyed their company for the evening. It turned into dinner and a movie, or dinner and a devotion and we learned to love these tough to the bones football guys….I always want our table to be open to whom ever is there, sometimes that means entrees are split or a sandwich is served to overcome entre’s being split…but it’s all good.
Dinner? Time with all of our heads bowed praising God for His goodness to us…..20 minutes of sitting together, hearing about a new school for son2, son1’s day at work, Dh’s teasing daughter about Star Trek, and daughter sharing she’d signed up to win a horse and tack. Mom smiling quietly to herself as she realizes that dinner didn’t take forever and yes, it is worth it.
