sometimes planning ahead is completely unscheduled

The cooking was done and I had nearly finished the dishes when it dawned on me: “This would be a good post. I mean, I am planning ahead. Why not write about this?”

Most times I answer my own question: “Well, it’s not very ExCiTiNg, now, is it?” But often it’s the little things that get us through, so here’s what happened yesterday that made me realize I was planning ahead for meals. I heard my mom’s in my head: “All that’s made for this family is a pack of gum.”

Yup. The family of five I live in now sees some of the same things the family of five I grew up in saw. The world is built around even numbers.

Table for four and someone squeezes in. Booth for six and the kids get shoved on one side. Recipes generally yield an even number of servings. (Do I make just enough or will they eat the leftovers?) And, as was the case with yesterday’s cooking, the grocery store sells hamburger patties in packages of two or four.

But a pack of gum … well … a pack of gum has FIVE sticks. Hence Mom’s mantra.

So I was there at the counter getting ready to make salisbury steak with three superfluous patties that couldn’t be re-frozen. “What will I do with these?” I thought, as the first five sizzled in the frying pan. “They can’t just sit in the fridge uncooked.” As soon as I remembered what I had done last time, the Foreman was on the counter warming up.

Plain burgers with good ol’ Kraft singles, a can of green beans and some tater tots. That’s what happened to the three extra burgers last time. So Tuesday I will pop them in the microwave and make the side dishes and the three kids won’t be able to complain about dinner. I had the motivation and the ingredients, so I made two dinners at once.

Sometimes planning ahead is completely unscheduled!

Whatever you have planned this weekend I hope you have a great time. Everyone here has Monday off, so I think I’ll take that day off, too. But I’ll leave you with a recipe and something I found reading a string of quotes I’d never read before, some quotes that … as so many of his words do … brought tears to my eyes.

“Life’s most urgent question is: ‘What are you doing for others?”’

“The time is always right to do what is right.”

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)

Salisbury Steak
(off the top of my head)

5 hamburger patties, about a half-pound each
Non-stick cooking spray
2 14.5-oz. cans cream of mushroom soup
2 4-oz. cans mushroom pieces and stems
Milk
Garlic powder
Worcestershire sauce

Cooked white rice or cooked broad noodles
1 15-oz. can green beans or peas

Coat frying pan with non-stick spray. Sprinkle both sides of patties with garlic powder. Brown both sides of the patties. While patties are cooking, put condensed soup in a large bowl or measuring cup. Drain juice from mushrooms into soup can. Add enough milk to fill the soup can. Stir this liquid into condensed soup, adding Worcestershire sauce to taste. (I bet I use 2-3 Tbsps.) Reduce heat and add mushrooms and sauce to fry pan. Cover and cook over low heat about 45 minutes until meat is done through. Serve over rice or noodles. (My guys mix the veggies into the sauce and noodles.)