Just to give you a background, I am a working housewife. Yes I work from 9 to 5 and then go home to my night job which is from 5 to when I go to bed. It has gotten easier since my kids have grown, but it was tough getting to this moment. When kids are young they need more attention and care. Now I need attention and care 😂 I am not at that point yet but its around the corner. 😁At one point I was considered part of the sandwich generation. What is that you may ask , because I know the first time my boss referred me as part of the sandwich generation I was confused. The sandwich generation is a person who is caring for their elderly parent and young children at the same time. It makes sense because you feel like your being squeezed by both wanting and needing your attention. As much as it was hard to deal with, I would give anything to go back and relive every moment I had. Ok getting back to the task at hand, which is, what am I cooking tonight?
Today is Wednesday. I now go through my head and make a list of what I have already made this week, because god forbid I should make something twice in a week. I made pasta Sunday so that is out. Monday I made Taco's. My mother never in her life ate a taco. She never had an urge to make taco's. If my mother was alive she would probably say since when do you make taco's? To her it was like betraying my Italian heritage. I was born in Italy and in our house we only ate Italian cousin. Just the other day I was telling my daughter, I don't ever remember ordering take out as a kid. My mother cooked everyday. She woke up at 5 in the morning made coffee, made my father lunch to take with him. Got us up, made our lunch and then she went off to the factory. Ok back to my dinner plans.
Wednesday is my day off so I run around like a chicken without a head. Don't know why I use that expression, but it definitely describes how I feel. I walk around not knowing where to go first, I feel like I have to beat the clock. I have to get everything done before everyone gets home. Again my mother in my head, "you should get home so your there when your husband gets home." That would not fly now, not sure why I let it fly, 😲 Anyway getting back to the chicken, I went to the grocery store with the intention of buying chicken cutlets. I usually buy the thin sliced cutlets without antibiotic. I try to buy organic when I can. I looked for them on the chicken isle and of course today they only had the tenderloin in the brand I like. So chicken is a no go. I walked over and got some pork chops, they were so thin, almost like cutlets. I also picked some peppers for a side.
Cooking is not as hard as people make it seem, take it from someone who never cooked until she was 40. My mother was amazed I could cook, she would tell people how amazed she was, since I never cooked at home. My response to my mother was "how can I cook in a kitchen I can't use" The kitchen was my mothers domain. She was a total control freak over the kitchen. Back to the pork chops. If you have some idea of what you want to make you can build on it. Most of the time I just use the same ingredients over and over. I am a creature of habit. I rarely use a cook book unless I am doing something special. Like my mother I wing it.
What do you need to make porkchops, salt, garlic powder, milk and breadcrumbs. My mother would beat an egg in the milk but I would rather not. You take a pan, put tin foil on it, drizzle some oil so your meat doesn't get stuck. Shake the salt and garlic on the meat. Dip the meat into the milk and then drag the meat in the breadcrumbs. Place the meat on the pan and bake it in the oven. I bake it for a half hour at 420. turn them after 15 minutes. That wasn't so hard right?
Now you just can't have meat, you have to have something else to go with your main dish. Making diner is like buying an outfit for going out. You buy a dress but you can't just wear the dress without shoes. While I was out picking up my meat I also picked up zucchini, red peppers, and green peppers. $125 later I went home. Ridiculous how much everything costs. I hold my breath at the cash register as if that's going to help the blow. Ounce I got home I took a frying pan put some olive oil in the pan. I chopped up a half of a sweet onion and threw it in the frying pan. while the onion gets soft, I chopped up just one zucchini, one red pepper and one green pepper. Next step just throw it all into the frying pan to join the onion.
