April 24, 2025 • 20 mins
We've all been there before. That feeling of dinner dread when you just don't feel like cooking even though you still have to make it. In this episode, I dig into a few different ways to help you get out of this rut when it inevitably hits you.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hi, everybody. I'm Kelsey Nixon and this is Kitchen Prescription,
the podcast you listen to when you don't know what
to make for dinner. Today's episode one hundred and twenty
five how to Pull Yourself out of a dinner rut.
As we transition into one of the busiest times of
the year for moms, you know, the last four to
six weeks of the school year, when all of the
performances and assemblies and field trips are happening, I am
(00:27):
convinced it's one of the hardest times of the year
really to cook dinner consistently. So many of your routines
are being upended all at the same time. And to
be quite honest, this episode topic of pulling yourself out
of a dinner rut was totally inspired by an instagram
DM I received that simply read, what am I supposed
to do when I really just don't want to cook?
(00:49):
And as I read that comment, I felt like I
immediately knew her and sympathized with the daily dinner grind.
So that's what we're going to talk about today, how
to pull yourself out of a dinner rut and tackle
the feelings of dinner dread. If you feel this, this
episode's for you. I feel this every so often because
I'm a normal person. But you shouldn't have to feel
(01:10):
this way all the time. So we're going to run
through a couple of really simple tips where you can
start small and hopefully have some big shifts in the
way you think about and approach cooking regular dinners. But first,
let's do what we always do and tackle a few
dinner ideas to throw on your meal plan for the week.
Just a friendly reminder that mapping out your meals is
so worth it. If you dread it, attach it to
(01:31):
something you enjoy, like listening to a podcast or having
a show on in the background. So this week, for me,
first up for our family is we are having the
Korean beef and rice bowls. I'm on a big ground beef,
chicken turkey kick right now. I just love how quickly
the protein comes together, my kids eat it. It's so
easy to incorporate in things. And this Korean beef and
(01:52):
rice bowl is so delicious. I do pickled cucumbers with it.
We serve it over rice. It's really good on the go.
Like I have these rubber made brilliance like portion containers
that I'll put like my car dinners in and I
don't even mind eating this like not super hot, it's
it's best hot, Like if you're going to do a
(02:13):
traditional dinner, you should do it that way. But the
flavor in the beef is so good that I will
eat this on the go happily. So so so good.
So I'm excited to be making those. Are my baked
feta and chicken with veggies. This is a take on
a recipe that went viral on TikTok for baked feta.
(02:33):
You kind of put the feta in the center, the
chicken and veggies around the sides, and then you kind
of mix it all together and it is delish, so good,
perfect for spring. And then finally we have Sinco de
Mayo coming up, and so I'm going to make my
favorite taco recipe, my Carnita's Tacos with my pickled onions.
Of course. It is just it's it's the most flavorful
(02:57):
pork I've ever made. It has couple of unique ingredients
in there. It's got a ton of lime juice, some
orange juice. It's got a bunch of different spices, and
the way you cook it and I have instructions for
cooking it in the slow cooker, the instant pot, or
on the stovetop. All are great, but you literally cannot
beat that carneada's meat. It's so good, all right. They
(03:19):
are your recipes for the week. You can find and
print them all in Recipe Club individually or in our
weekly meal plan with an easy to follow shopping lists
broken down by recipe. I create a recipeae Club to
fix all of the things that drove me crazy about
getting recipes online. I know you know what I'm talking about.
The banner ads, the long blog posts, the drawn out stories.
I just wanted to create a place where you could
(03:39):
get just the recipes you need to help you meal
plan quickly and get dinner on the table with as
much easy as possible. And because I'm a fan and
have always been a fan of cooking from a printed
recipe rather than my phone or computer, I love having
printed copies of my favorite recipes in my recipe binder
my kitchen bible. If you feel similarly, make sure you
(04:00):
check out our recipe Binder, which is the perfect foundational
piece for creating a place where you can store and
cook from the recipes you make most often. You can
find more details about Recipe Club and the Recipe Binder
at recipe club dot com or Kelsey Nixon dot com.
And don't forget, when you bundle those two together, you
save twenty bucks. And if you're listening to this the
(04:21):
actual time, it's our Mother's Day sale, and our Mother's
Day bundle is just that it's the same price as
our regular bundle, but we're throwing in an apron and
it is so cute. It's very giftable. But no one
said you can't buy this gift for yourself. So if
you've been thinking about Recipe Club, do it now. Get
the annual membership, the binder, and the apron, and it
will be the perfect way to reset your dinner routine
(04:44):
before you head into such a busy time of year
and this summer. All right, let's jump into the back
half of the podcast and discuss how you pull yourself
out of a dinner rut. We've all been there, feeling
like you just can't when it comes to cooking dinner.
(05:05):
In fact, i'd say this ceiling is one that almost
everyone can relate to, whether you have kids or not.
And if you can't, you are a cooking unicorn, because
even as someone who has a deep passion and love
for cooking and spends my full time job coming up
with solutions to help people get dinner on the table,
I still feel this. I feel it deeply. So first
(05:26):
and foremost, don't feel bad for feeling this way. It's
completely normal to fall into a dinner rut. I don't
care how much you love to cook, and what I
want to offer today are a couple of ideas you
can turn to so that when you inevitably fall into
a I hate cooking slump, you can quickly pull yourself
out of it. All. Right, here we go. First, don't
(05:48):
do it all when you don't want to cook. Think
about how you can rely on a favorite local spot
to make dinner happen. For a minute, I would I
had like a note in my phone called Restaurant Rescue Dinners,
which really sounds like the name of a Food Network show.
But Restaurant Rescue Dinners. I can't help myself for loving alliteration.
(06:09):
But here's an example. Order pizza and make a salad.
Something about even just making a side dish helps to
elevate the meal a bit, and it kind of reminds
me that, oh yeah, I don't hate cooking if I'm
not in charge of the entire meal, and I find
it far more enjoyable. So we did this not too
(06:29):
long ago, and I made my Italian subsalad, which is
a five ingredient recipe and recipe Club. I tossed that
thing together. It's like I can't can't with the meal,
just go pick up a pizza. I threw this salad
together and it was like just that confidence I needed
to be like, oh yeah, I don't hate this. Other
ideas are grabbing burritos from Chipotle and making walk at home.
(06:49):
Just think about can I how can I divvy out
or as sign out or delegate out the main dish
to make something little too go with it. I think
if you're truly in a slump and you need a
reminder that you actually do like to cook, don't start
by cooking some epic and elaborate meal. Just start small.
So for the sake of examples, here are here mine
(07:13):
pizza and the Italian subsalad. I've also done the bow
tie Caesar salad in Recipe Club, which is super simple.
Start to say caesar salad kit, you add cooked bote
pasta plus some grape tomatoes and some parmesan cheese and lemon,
and it's delicious. Chipotle burritos, homemade walk or pickled onions
at home. Maybe you're just one, you know, recipe of
(07:35):
pickled onions away from remembering that you actually do like
to cook Chinese takeout with like a cucumber mango salad
or slaw. But when you identify like these kind of
have these dinners, these restaurant rescue dinners, it's so important
to write them down, write them down in your phone
on a sheet of paper where you tape it to
the back of a cabinet, just somewhere where you can
(07:57):
easily reference it, so that when you know you don't
have it in you that night, it can be like, Okay,
what can I do? That's not a full like just
drive through dinner, but it's somewhere in the middle. Right. Second,
you need a greatest Hits list, which is a list
of the recipes you make that are so familiar to
(08:17):
you that you barely need a recipe. You know that
everyone will eat them and that it's going to be
hit every single time. I find that one of the
things that is the most annoying about cooking while you're
raising kids is when you go to the effort to
make dinner and nobody eats it, So you need a
few recipes you know will always be a home run.
Then you do your best to stock up what you
(08:39):
can in your pantry to make those recipes happen. That's
why you'll see ten jars of Rao sauce in my
pantry at all times. If you've never made a Greatest
Hits list like this before, my suggestion is to propose
it to your family members and see what they come
up with. Ask your twelve year old, ask, great, what's
your favorite thing that I make? And hopefully they don't
(09:01):
just say ramen or macaroni and cheese, but if they do,
put it on the list. But in my family, it
would be like the cheap pan chicken palm, the bake zd. Obviously,
my son loves the Carneta's tacos. I just made this
new recipe that he I am so Frialty liked it
(09:21):
because as sweet potatoes in it, which is like we've
introduced a new ingredient that we love, so we're putting
that on the Greatest Tits list. But write them down,
keep them in the same place that note is your
restaurant rescue dinners, or on that piece of paper taped
to the back of the cabinet, so that you can
easily reference them when you're low on brain power. Because
(09:41):
I have said forever and ever that the hardest part
of making dinner is the decision fatigue. So any way
we can create less friction around the decision or that
they are the decisions we have to make when it
comes to dinner. We want to help ourselves out in
as many ways as possible, So when you find out
a solution, don't keep it in your head, put it
(10:03):
on the paper, put it in the phone so that
you can reference it and have help. A few other
favorites of my family that live on our Greatest Hits
lists that I didn't mention are my apple bacon grilled
cheese sandwiches with tomato soup. I definitely keep those things
on hand, and my five ingredient tortilla soup with rice.
I also almost always have all of the ingredients on
(10:25):
hand to make that, So those are a few more
off of my personal Greatest Hits. Liss Third, consider having
themed cooking nights if you're looking for more of a
system that you want to put into place, but you
know that has to be simple. Think about assigning a
theme to each night you typically cook. For example, on Monday,
we have salads or bowls. On Tuesdays we do something Mexican,
(10:49):
whether it's tacos or enchiladas. Maybe on Wednesdays you do
a slow cooker or a one pot. Maybe every Thursday
you do a five ingredient recipe. And maybe you just
always do Friday pizza night like we do for us.
Saturdays are always left over shrout as well. I really
rarely cook on Friday and Saturday nights, and I feel
great about it. Having kind of these themed nights can
(11:10):
make meal planning infinitely easier and reduce the amount of
decisions you have to make. Fourth batch cook proteins and
use them throughout the week. Now I have a slow
cooker cheat sheet for this. My slow cooker cheat sheet
shows you how to batch cook proteins both in your
slow cooker and your instant pot so that you can
easily pull from them for shredded beef, pork, or chicken.
(11:34):
And then on that cheat sheet you're gonna see three
recipes where you can use those shredded proteins things like sliders, quesadillas, rice,
green bowls, and soup. So that is like the pain
of just batch cooking something once, whether it's Saturday, Sunday,
however you want to do it, But then it gives
you so much freedom throughout the week, so that you
(11:55):
really do kind of get a break from cooking a
recipe start to finish because you've already cooked the most
the most complicated part. So if that's something that appeals
to you and thinks might help you out, make sure
you get my slow Cooker cheat sheet because it will
be so helpful to you. Fifth, my final tip, take
a night off and assign it to somebody else spouse, partner,
(12:17):
older child, maybe by eliminating even just one night of
cooking or having to decide what to make. This is
just what you need for things to feel more manageable.
If you know you never have to worry about dinner
on Thursday nights because your husband's got it great or
your fourteen year old's got it. That's a great idea.
But I have found that like even on Tuesday nights,
(12:41):
my son plays baseball in a league that's far away,
and like it's just a night that we usually aren't
home for dinner, and so my husband knows he's in
charge of dinner for him and my son that night,
and I just do the girls. And when I just
we get really clear about expectations and knowing that I
get a little bit of a break on this night
or that it can be so so helpful. All right,
(13:04):
that's it for this week. A few tips sending you
all of my positive vibes, is you pull yourself out
of a dinner raret and find a simple system that
helps you enjoy this daily to do just a bit more.
Because it doesn't matter how much we think we dislike it.
You will be making dinner for the rest of your life.
So it's better to just find a system that works,
(13:27):
find a way to like it. And really, I'm convinced
it's not the cooking you hate. It really isn't. It's
the deciding what to make. So all of these things
really help to support less decisions around dinnertime. All right,
let's finally finish with my weekly gimme five. These are
five things make my life easier or more enjoyable this week.
(13:47):
And I would say it's a little bit of Vacation Edition.
I'm getting ready to go on my I'm gonna call
it the final trip to celebrate turning forty. I turned forty,
I don't know, six months ago, but it's just like
when everybody gets married at the same time. It feels
like everyone. All of my close friends have turned forty
this year, and there have been so many parties and
(14:08):
celebrations and some travel, but it's kind of been a lot,
especially for someone like me who likes to be a homebody.
That I am going, I'm going with my best group
of friends from college. There's sixteen of us. It's a
huge group and we have been planning this trip for
two years, so we're going to Tulu, Mexico. It's going
to be so fun. But one of the things I
(14:29):
quickly realized after doing a bit of math, is that
I was going to be on my period for this trip,
and I was not about to let that ruin my trip.
So after a light Google search, I found a product
called wisp that allows you to put a pause on
your period and it's so cool. It is essentially progesterone tablets,
but the way it works is you have a quick
(14:51):
online consult you privately message a licensed medical provider about
delaying your period, and after they review your information, they
will prescribe you these progesterone tablets and they come. Mine
came in two days, and you begin taking those three
days before your period is supposed to start, and it
totally delays. It. Isn't this the most brilliant idea. I
(15:14):
was so stoked when I found this because nothing. I
was like, No, I've been waiting two years for this trip.
I am not. I do not want to feel bloated, uncomfortable.
I'm gonna be in a swimsuit all week. So here
we go. It's called the wisp. Another one of my
friends also going on the trip did the same thing.
And I've got my medication getting ready to start it
in just a few days, and I should have a
(15:35):
much smoother vacation as a result. Okay, another thing we're
doing on this trip is we're doing a Favorite Things
edition of our fortieth trip, and so everyone's bringing a
favorite gift under forty dollars to do a gift exchange,
and I am taking my favorite. Well, I'm actually taking
two things, so this will be number two and three.
(15:56):
I might give me five lists. Two my favorite dish
washing brush, which I've mentioned it before, but it is
from a company called Curio Home, and it is a
magnetic dishbrush. So it comes with this little landing pad
where it's magnetized on the bottom of the dishbrush and
a little strip. And who knew that a little magnet
(16:17):
could make such a big difference. But I actually, I
think I talked about it on here. I invested in
their more luxurious one that holds three brushes a couple
months ago. That's a little more expensive. I cannot tell
you how much I love it, but just the concept
of the magnetized dishbrush. So if you buy this singular one,
it's under forty dollars and I love it so much.
(16:41):
I'm so excited to give it to someone. Hopefully they're
not disappointed as people are getting makeup and cozy sweatshirts
that I actually brought my favorite dishwashing brush. But I'm
also going into to include one other thing. So my
favorite thing to clean my dishes and my favorite thing
to clean my face, and that is something that I
(17:02):
recently got or I re upped on the sephorasail and
they are okay, they are the doctor Dennis Gross daily
facial peel pads. So I guess I'm not cleaning my face,
but I'm like exfoliating my face. I'm telling you, it
is like a mini facial. It's like two minutes to
smooth beautiful skin. It's the best thing I've used to
(17:25):
see an instant improvement in the tone and texture of
my skin. And so it like comes in this little thing.
They're like two little tear off pouches and one you
put on first that's like the acid, and then the
other one is like cooling and smooth afterwards. But it
really does make such a difference. So I'm taking that
(17:46):
as well. So hopefully someone's not disappointed that they're getting
a dishwashing brush. But we're a bunch of forty year
old women. That is thrilling, Let's be honest. That is actually,
you know, it's not the worst thing, all right. Number
four is the made well woven tote I feel like
this bag is kind of having a moment right now.
(18:06):
I have seen so many people with it. It's the
perfect size and shape for a tote bag. It's got
this really pretty like it's like leather and braided and white,
and it's very pretty comes in a couple of different colors,
but my mom and my mom had mentioned that she
wanted it to my dad and he got it for her,
but she didn't realize that he'd gotten it for and
(18:28):
so she bought it for herself anyway, she couldn't return it.
All long story. She came for Easter and she was
so kind to bring me her extra bag and say
thank you so much for hosting Easter. Here is this
ma woven tote and I've owned it for four days
and I'm obsessed with it. It's such a good bag.
It's a bag I'll have forever. It's classic. I have
(18:49):
it in the navy color, but it comes in brown
and black and all of the classic colors. So made
well will Wolven tote to go to church on Sunday,
put all of our stuff in. It's perfect. And then
finally Mother's Day Bundle. In Recipe Club, we just launched
our Mother's Day Bundle, which is an annual membership with
a recipe binder and a waste apron. It is such
(19:11):
a great gift for mom. If you're buying for your
own mother or if you are treating yourself, it is
the exact same price as our regular bundle when you
combine an annual membership and a recipe binder, but you
get this really beautiful apron. And I was so picky
about sourcing the apron. I wanted it to be a
waste apron. I wanted it to be thick, nice material fabric,
(19:33):
and I wanted it to be a classic pattern. And
I feel like we really accomplished that. So if you
are looking for a Mother's Day gift for your mom
or mother figure in your life, or for yourself, please
check it out. We have very limited quantities. They will
go fast. I anticipate that will sell out within the
coming days, and I would love for you to get
one if you're interested. All Right, that's it for today.
(19:54):
You guys, make sure you're subscribed to the podcast so
that you never miss an episode. This podcast is meant
to be a quick time, twenty minute listen while you
map out your own meals for the week. You guys
all know that I like to listen to a podcast,
but I meal plan. It's always been part of my
own simple dinner system, and so I try to put
out something that's a really good fit for that each week.
Subscribe to the podcast so that you never miss an
(20:15):
episode and it just automatically pops up for you. Thank
you so much for listening today. I'm so glad you're here.
Until next time, happy cooking. I'm Kelsey and I look
forward to chatting with you next week
Hi, everybody. I'm Kelsey Nixon and this is Kitchen Prescription,
the podcast you listen to when you don't know what
to make for dinner. Today's episode one hundred and twenty
five how to Pull Yourself out of a dinner rut.
As we transition into one of the busiest times of
the year for moms, you know, the last four to
six weeks of the school year, when all of the
performances and assemblies and field trips are happening, I am
(00:27):
convinced it's one of the hardest times of the year
really to cook dinner consistently. So many of your routines
are being upended all at the same time. And to
be quite honest, this episode topic of pulling yourself out
of a dinner rut was totally inspired by an instagram
DM I received that simply read, what am I supposed
to do when I really just don't want to cook?
(00:49):
And as I read that comment, I felt like I
immediately knew her and sympathized with the daily dinner grind.
So that's what we're going to talk about today, how
to pull yourself out of a dinner rut and tackle
the feelings of dinner dread. If you feel this, this
episode's for you. I feel this every so often because
I'm a normal person. But you shouldn't have to feel
(01:10):
this way all the time. So we're going to run
through a couple of really simple tips where you can
start small and hopefully have some big shifts in the
way you think about and approach cooking regular dinners. But first,
let's do what we always do and tackle a few
dinner ideas to throw on your meal plan for the week.
Just a friendly reminder that mapping out your meals is
so worth it. If you dread it, attach it to
(01:31):
something you enjoy, like listening to a podcast or having
a show on in the background. So this week, for me,
first up for our family is we are having the
Korean beef and rice bowls. I'm on a big ground beef,
chicken turkey kick right now. I just love how quickly
the protein comes together, my kids eat it. It's so
easy to incorporate in things. And this Korean beef and
(01:52):
rice bowl is so delicious. I do pickled cucumbers with it.
We serve it over rice. It's really good on the go.
Like I have these rubber made brilliance like portion containers
that I'll put like my car dinners in and I
don't even mind eating this like not super hot, it's
it's best hot, Like if you're going to do a
(02:13):
traditional dinner, you should do it that way. But the
flavor in the beef is so good that I will
eat this on the go happily. So so so good.
So I'm excited to be making those. Are my baked
feta and chicken with veggies. This is a take on
a recipe that went viral on TikTok for baked feta.
(02:33):
You kind of put the feta in the center, the
chicken and veggies around the sides, and then you kind
of mix it all together and it is delish, so good,
perfect for spring. And then finally we have Sinco de
Mayo coming up, and so I'm going to make my
favorite taco recipe, my Carnita's Tacos with my pickled onions.
Of course. It is just it's it's the most flavorful
(02:57):
pork I've ever made. It has couple of unique ingredients
in there. It's got a ton of lime juice, some
orange juice. It's got a bunch of different spices, and
the way you cook it and I have instructions for
cooking it in the slow cooker, the instant pot, or
on the stovetop. All are great, but you literally cannot
beat that carneada's meat. It's so good, all right. They
(03:19):
are your recipes for the week. You can find and
print them all in Recipe Club individually or in our
weekly meal plan with an easy to follow shopping lists
broken down by recipe. I create a recipeae Club to
fix all of the things that drove me crazy about
getting recipes online. I know you know what I'm talking about.
The banner ads, the long blog posts, the drawn out stories.
I just wanted to create a place where you could
(03:39):
get just the recipes you need to help you meal
plan quickly and get dinner on the table with as
much easy as possible. And because I'm a fan and
have always been a fan of cooking from a printed
recipe rather than my phone or computer, I love having
printed copies of my favorite recipes in my recipe binder
my kitchen bible. If you feel similarly, make sure you
(04:00):
check out our recipe Binder, which is the perfect foundational
piece for creating a place where you can store and
cook from the recipes you make most often. You can
find more details about Recipe Club and the Recipe Binder
at recipe club dot com or Kelsey Nixon dot com.
And don't forget, when you bundle those two together, you
save twenty bucks. And if you're listening to this the
(04:21):
actual time, it's our Mother's Day sale, and our Mother's
Day bundle is just that it's the same price as
our regular bundle, but we're throwing in an apron and
it is so cute. It's very giftable. But no one
said you can't buy this gift for yourself. So if
you've been thinking about Recipe Club, do it now. Get
the annual membership, the binder, and the apron, and it
will be the perfect way to reset your dinner routine
(04:44):
before you head into such a busy time of year
and this summer. All right, let's jump into the back
half of the podcast and discuss how you pull yourself
out of a dinner rut. We've all been there, feeling
like you just can't when it comes to cooking dinner.
(05:05):
In fact, i'd say this ceiling is one that almost
everyone can relate to, whether you have kids or not.
And if you can't, you are a cooking unicorn, because
even as someone who has a deep passion and love
for cooking and spends my full time job coming up
with solutions to help people get dinner on the table,
I still feel this. I feel it deeply. So first
(05:26):
and foremost, don't feel bad for feeling this way. It's
completely normal to fall into a dinner rut. I don't
care how much you love to cook, and what I
want to offer today are a couple of ideas you
can turn to so that when you inevitably fall into
a I hate cooking slump, you can quickly pull yourself
out of it. All. Right, here we go. First, don't
(05:48):
do it all when you don't want to cook. Think
about how you can rely on a favorite local spot
to make dinner happen. For a minute, I would I
had like a note in my phone called Restaurant Rescue Dinners,
which really sounds like the name of a Food Network show.
But Restaurant Rescue Dinners. I can't help myself for loving alliteration.
(06:09):
But here's an example. Order pizza and make a salad.
Something about even just making a side dish helps to
elevate the meal a bit, and it kind of reminds
me that, oh yeah, I don't hate cooking if I'm
not in charge of the entire meal, and I find
it far more enjoyable. So we did this not too
(06:29):
long ago, and I made my Italian subsalad, which is
a five ingredient recipe and recipe Club. I tossed that
thing together. It's like I can't can't with the meal,
just go pick up a pizza. I threw this salad
together and it was like just that confidence I needed
to be like, oh yeah, I don't hate this. Other
ideas are grabbing burritos from Chipotle and making walk at home.
(06:49):
Just think about can I how can I divvy out
or as sign out or delegate out the main dish
to make something little too go with it. I think
if you're truly in a slump and you need a
reminder that you actually do like to cook, don't start
by cooking some epic and elaborate meal. Just start small.
So for the sake of examples, here are here mine
(07:13):
pizza and the Italian subsalad. I've also done the bow
tie Caesar salad in Recipe Club, which is super simple.
Start to say caesar salad kit, you add cooked bote
pasta plus some grape tomatoes and some parmesan cheese and lemon,
and it's delicious. Chipotle burritos, homemade walk or pickled onions
at home. Maybe you're just one, you know, recipe of
(07:35):
pickled onions away from remembering that you actually do like
to cook Chinese takeout with like a cucumber mango salad
or slaw. But when you identify like these kind of
have these dinners, these restaurant rescue dinners, it's so important
to write them down, write them down in your phone
on a sheet of paper where you tape it to
the back of a cabinet, just somewhere where you can
(07:57):
easily reference it, so that when you know you don't
have it in you that night, it can be like, Okay,
what can I do? That's not a full like just
drive through dinner, but it's somewhere in the middle. Right. Second,
you need a greatest Hits list, which is a list
of the recipes you make that are so familiar to
(08:17):
you that you barely need a recipe. You know that
everyone will eat them and that it's going to be
hit every single time. I find that one of the
things that is the most annoying about cooking while you're
raising kids is when you go to the effort to
make dinner and nobody eats it, So you need a
few recipes you know will always be a home run.
Then you do your best to stock up what you
(08:39):
can in your pantry to make those recipes happen. That's
why you'll see ten jars of Rao sauce in my
pantry at all times. If you've never made a Greatest
Hits list like this before, my suggestion is to propose
it to your family members and see what they come
up with. Ask your twelve year old, ask, great, what's
your favorite thing that I make? And hopefully they don't
(09:01):
just say ramen or macaroni and cheese, but if they do,
put it on the list. But in my family, it
would be like the cheap pan chicken palm, the bake zd. Obviously,
my son loves the Carneta's tacos. I just made this
new recipe that he I am so Frialty liked it
(09:21):
because as sweet potatoes in it, which is like we've
introduced a new ingredient that we love, so we're putting
that on the Greatest Tits list. But write them down,
keep them in the same place that note is your
restaurant rescue dinners, or on that piece of paper taped
to the back of the cabinet, so that you can
easily reference them when you're low on brain power. Because
(09:41):
I have said forever and ever that the hardest part
of making dinner is the decision fatigue. So any way
we can create less friction around the decision or that
they are the decisions we have to make when it
comes to dinner. We want to help ourselves out in
as many ways as possible, So when you find out
a solution, don't keep it in your head, put it
(10:03):
on the paper, put it in the phone so that
you can reference it and have help. A few other
favorites of my family that live on our Greatest Hits
lists that I didn't mention are my apple bacon grilled
cheese sandwiches with tomato soup. I definitely keep those things
on hand, and my five ingredient tortilla soup with rice.
I also almost always have all of the ingredients on
(10:25):
hand to make that, So those are a few more
off of my personal Greatest Hits. Liss Third, consider having
themed cooking nights if you're looking for more of a
system that you want to put into place, but you
know that has to be simple. Think about assigning a
theme to each night you typically cook. For example, on Monday,
we have salads or bowls. On Tuesdays we do something Mexican,
(10:49):
whether it's tacos or enchiladas. Maybe on Wednesdays you do
a slow cooker or a one pot. Maybe every Thursday
you do a five ingredient recipe. And maybe you just
always do Friday pizza night like we do for us.
Saturdays are always left over shrout as well. I really
rarely cook on Friday and Saturday nights, and I feel
great about it. Having kind of these themed nights can
(11:10):
make meal planning infinitely easier and reduce the amount of
decisions you have to make. Fourth batch cook proteins and
use them throughout the week. Now I have a slow
cooker cheat sheet for this. My slow cooker cheat sheet
shows you how to batch cook proteins both in your
slow cooker and your instant pot so that you can
easily pull from them for shredded beef, pork, or chicken.
(11:34):
And then on that cheat sheet you're gonna see three
recipes where you can use those shredded proteins things like sliders, quesadillas, rice,
green bowls, and soup. So that is like the pain
of just batch cooking something once, whether it's Saturday, Sunday,
however you want to do it, But then it gives
you so much freedom throughout the week, so that you
(11:55):
really do kind of get a break from cooking a
recipe start to finish because you've already cooked the most
the most complicated part. So if that's something that appeals
to you and thinks might help you out, make sure
you get my slow Cooker cheat sheet because it will
be so helpful to you. Fifth, my final tip, take
a night off and assign it to somebody else spouse, partner,
(12:17):
older child, maybe by eliminating even just one night of
cooking or having to decide what to make. This is
just what you need for things to feel more manageable.
If you know you never have to worry about dinner
on Thursday nights because your husband's got it great or
your fourteen year old's got it. That's a great idea.
But I have found that like even on Tuesday nights,
(12:41):
my son plays baseball in a league that's far away,
and like it's just a night that we usually aren't
home for dinner, and so my husband knows he's in
charge of dinner for him and my son that night,
and I just do the girls. And when I just
we get really clear about expectations and knowing that I
get a little bit of a break on this night
or that it can be so so helpful. All right,
(13:04):
that's it for this week. A few tips sending you
all of my positive vibes, is you pull yourself out
of a dinner raret and find a simple system that
helps you enjoy this daily to do just a bit more.
Because it doesn't matter how much we think we dislike it.
You will be making dinner for the rest of your life.
So it's better to just find a system that works,
(13:27):
find a way to like it. And really, I'm convinced
it's not the cooking you hate. It really isn't. It's
the deciding what to make. So all of these things
really help to support less decisions around dinnertime. All right,
let's finally finish with my weekly gimme five. These are
five things make my life easier or more enjoyable this week.
(13:47):
And I would say it's a little bit of Vacation Edition.
I'm getting ready to go on my I'm gonna call
it the final trip to celebrate turning forty. I turned forty,
I don't know, six months ago, but it's just like
when everybody gets married at the same time. It feels
like everyone. All of my close friends have turned forty
this year, and there have been so many parties and
(14:08):
celebrations and some travel, but it's kind of been a lot,
especially for someone like me who likes to be a homebody.
That I am going, I'm going with my best group
of friends from college. There's sixteen of us. It's a
huge group and we have been planning this trip for
two years, so we're going to Tulu, Mexico. It's going
to be so fun. But one of the things I
(14:29):
quickly realized after doing a bit of math, is that
I was going to be on my period for this trip,
and I was not about to let that ruin my trip.
So after a light Google search, I found a product
called wisp that allows you to put a pause on
your period and it's so cool. It is essentially progesterone tablets,
but the way it works is you have a quick
(14:51):
online consult you privately message a licensed medical provider about
delaying your period, and after they review your information, they
will prescribe you these progesterone tablets and they come. Mine
came in two days, and you begin taking those three
days before your period is supposed to start, and it
totally delays. It. Isn't this the most brilliant idea. I
(15:14):
was so stoked when I found this because nothing. I
was like, No, I've been waiting two years for this trip.
I am not. I do not want to feel bloated, uncomfortable.
I'm gonna be in a swimsuit all week. So here
we go. It's called the wisp. Another one of my
friends also going on the trip did the same thing.
And I've got my medication getting ready to start it
in just a few days, and I should have a
(15:35):
much smoother vacation as a result. Okay, another thing we're
doing on this trip is we're doing a Favorite Things
edition of our fortieth trip, and so everyone's bringing a
favorite gift under forty dollars to do a gift exchange,
and I am taking my favorite. Well, I'm actually taking
two things, so this will be number two and three.
(15:56):
I might give me five lists. Two my favorite dish
washing brush, which I've mentioned it before, but it is
from a company called Curio Home, and it is a
magnetic dishbrush. So it comes with this little landing pad
where it's magnetized on the bottom of the dishbrush and
a little strip. And who knew that a little magnet
(16:17):
could make such a big difference. But I actually, I
think I talked about it on here. I invested in
their more luxurious one that holds three brushes a couple
months ago. That's a little more expensive. I cannot tell
you how much I love it, but just the concept
of the magnetized dishbrush. So if you buy this singular one,
it's under forty dollars and I love it so much.
(16:41):
I'm so excited to give it to someone. Hopefully they're
not disappointed as people are getting makeup and cozy sweatshirts
that I actually brought my favorite dishwashing brush. But I'm
also going into to include one other thing. So my
favorite thing to clean my dishes and my favorite thing
to clean my face, and that is something that I
(17:02):
recently got or I re upped on the sephorasail and
they are okay, they are the doctor Dennis Gross daily
facial peel pads. So I guess I'm not cleaning my face,
but I'm like exfoliating my face. I'm telling you, it
is like a mini facial. It's like two minutes to
smooth beautiful skin. It's the best thing I've used to
(17:25):
see an instant improvement in the tone and texture of
my skin. And so it like comes in this little thing.
They're like two little tear off pouches and one you
put on first that's like the acid, and then the
other one is like cooling and smooth afterwards. But it
really does make such a difference. So I'm taking that
(17:46):
as well. So hopefully someone's not disappointed that they're getting
a dishwashing brush. But we're a bunch of forty year
old women. That is thrilling, Let's be honest. That is actually,
you know, it's not the worst thing, all right. Number
four is the made well woven tote I feel like
this bag is kind of having a moment right now.
(18:06):
I have seen so many people with it. It's the
perfect size and shape for a tote bag. It's got
this really pretty like it's like leather and braided and white,
and it's very pretty comes in a couple of different colors,
but my mom and my mom had mentioned that she
wanted it to my dad and he got it for her,
but she didn't realize that he'd gotten it for and
(18:28):
so she bought it for herself anyway, she couldn't return it.
All long story. She came for Easter and she was
so kind to bring me her extra bag and say
thank you so much for hosting Easter. Here is this
ma woven tote and I've owned it for four days
and I'm obsessed with it. It's such a good bag.
It's a bag I'll have forever. It's classic. I have
(18:49):
it in the navy color, but it comes in brown
and black and all of the classic colors. So made
well will Wolven tote to go to church on Sunday,
put all of our stuff in. It's perfect. And then
finally Mother's Day Bundle. In Recipe Club, we just launched
our Mother's Day Bundle, which is an annual membership with
a recipe binder and a waste apron. It is such
(19:11):
a great gift for mom. If you're buying for your
own mother or if you are treating yourself, it is
the exact same price as our regular bundle when you
combine an annual membership and a recipe binder, but you
get this really beautiful apron. And I was so picky
about sourcing the apron. I wanted it to be a
waste apron. I wanted it to be thick, nice material fabric,
(19:33):
and I wanted it to be a classic pattern. And
I feel like we really accomplished that. So if you
are looking for a Mother's Day gift for your mom
or mother figure in your life, or for yourself, please
check it out. We have very limited quantities. They will
go fast. I anticipate that will sell out within the
coming days, and I would love for you to get
one if you're interested. All Right, that's it for today.
(19:54):
You guys, make sure you're subscribed to the podcast so
that you never miss an episode. This podcast is meant
to be a quick time, twenty minute listen while you
map out your own meals for the week. You guys
all know that I like to listen to a podcast,
but I meal plan. It's always been part of my
own simple dinner system, and so I try to put
out something that's a really good fit for that each week.
Subscribe to the podcast so that you never miss an
(20:15):
episode and it just automatically pops up for you. Thank
you so much for listening today. I'm so glad you're here.
Until next time, happy cooking. I'm Kelsey and I look
forward to chatting with you next week
Host
Kelsey Nixon
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