I know that people are always curious to see what a foodie eats on a night they don’t feel like cooking. Since being in the paper from time to time, I definitely notice that people look in my shopping cart or basket. And I’ll tell you, when they see mac-n-cheese, a box of Popsicles, and a jar of pickles, I feel all sorts of embarrassed. But some nights I just don’t want to cook a big intensive meal. The easy thing would be to hit a drive-thru, or to open a box of shells-n-cheese. And I will confess right up front that both of those very things happened this week. Monday night was a shells-n-cheese type of night. And Wednesday night, rather than pile something into the crockpot, I opted for a drive-thru and dinner on the drive home. Sometimes the convenience is totally worth it. But last night was more of a typical weeknight dinner. It uses some convenience products, but by golly, this is another area totally worth it.
We love tortellini in our house, and cheese tortellini has become a staple. We all like pasta, but there’s just something about tortellini. We all clean our plates on tortellini night. And last night, rather than go through the trouble of making some marinara, I picked up a bottle of our favorite bottled sauce of the moment- Bertolli’s Tomato & Basil Organic pasta sauce. It takes about 10 minutes to heat the sauce, and the tortellini, once dropped in the boiling water, cooks in just 5 minutes. How can you beat that? And last night, about 10 minutes before I was to make dinner, my mom stopped by with some fresh asparagus from her garden. Quickly steamed and drizzled with melted butter, dinner was a 15 minute affair- tops. And of course, I always make a little extra so that I can have tortellini for lunch the next day. Although today, I’m contemplating doing something with the few asparagus spears that are leftover…
What’s your idea of a default dinner in the spring? Does it change with the seasons? I know ours does, as the fresh asparagus and salads make up more of the dinner plate than the meats and pastas do. I’d love to know what you’re eating right now on these busy nights.