Jitterbugging Through Life, Week Two

Antarctica Chicago Ice on the inside of our home

If there’s one thing I learned this week from being essentially home bound during the Polar Vortex of 2019, it’s that I’m not good at relaxing in the traditional sense. I think I get my “jitterbug” personality from my beloved Grandma Rose, who not only tried to coerce me as a kid into literally jitterbug dancing with her while at the Elks Club, but who set an example by spending the last quarter of her life working full time and dining out each night (and even sometimes dancing!) with a bevy of friends. And she did it all in 3” heels, to boot! She had very little “down time,” as I recall, and I can only imagine she was like that when my mom was growing up, too. Mom has told me Grandma got everyone off to school and work then spent the day sewing (as a side job), cooking, and baking for her family. Every night they had a homemade dessert. Can you imagine?! Grandma must have passed this down to my mom, as well, as she is always on the go. Thus, I have been raised with the potentially mixed up notion that a “free day” should be filled with projects. And upon reflecting on that this week, I decided I feel so much better about myself when I’m accomplishing things and being productive. After two snow/cold days off work on Monday and Wednesday, I decided that Thursday was my day to lay on the couch and watch movies. I woke up in a bad mood, potentially because I had nothing on my to do list, and after about an hour on the couch I got restless and started sewing with Marin’s new sewing machine.

I know some people will think I’m nuts for not being able to “relax.” But to me, relaxing is doing something that makes me feel content with myself. And boy am I therefore grateful for this new family cooking project, for the blog opportunity, and to those of you who are reading it. That being said, I’ve got no problems spending endless hours laying by a Vegas pool or on a Florida beach, but until I can do that again, this family cooking thing will be a good, “relaxing” stand in.

Here was our menu for the week:

Sunday: Marin chose her meal that morning out of the Jan/Feb issue of the Food Network magazine - Rigatoni with Cabbage and Fontina. Her friend, A, came over in the afternoon and stayed for dinner, so the girls ponied up to the cutting board and lent an ear as I walked them through dicing (Costco’s delicious, nitrate-free turkey) bacon and cheese, thinly slicing onions and savoy cabbage, and heating oil in the pot. I pulled out the parsley and held it up to the girls’ noses. “It smells so good and fresh!” A said as she took in big whiffs. She followed up with, “I’m learning so much about cooking today!”

When M chose the recipe I had doubts about the cabbage, but it was surprisingly delicious! Additionally, I had never worked with fontina cheese before, but the addition of it to the hot pasta and cabbage made the dish super creamy and indulgent. All five of us took second helpings of this meal--proof it’s a keeper!

Epilogue: Both of the boys’ recipes this week required shredded chicken, so I made a big batch in the Instant Pot on Sunday night. I haven’t gotten too adventurous with the IP since I received it last Christmas, but I have figured out how to make pretty flawless IP shredded chicken:

**Place boneless chicken breasts (I had five) in the bottom of pot and add one cup chicken broth. Sprinkle with salt and garlic powder. Manually set pressure for 10 minutes. It should take about 10 minutes to heat up. Once the timer beeps, just let it sit (the IP community calls this “natural release,” but once I looked it up I realized no action is required on your part) for five minutes. Then, turn the release valve and do a “quick release” until all the steam has dissipated. Shred the chicken and use right away or store in fridge for the week’s recipes!

Monday: The Abuelos (my in laws) were in town for a few days, so we met them out for dinner near their house. :)

Tuesday: It was a busy day for Chef N - school, babysitting ‘til 5:30, then home to cook. He was thankful for the quick meal of Chicken Parm Sliders. As we were assembling it, I found myself barking “No, no, no!” multiple times, so we had a lot of learning opportunities about how to chiffonade basil (and not hack at it like a butcher), how to stop the salad spinner before lifting the lid (“NOOOOOO!!!”), and how to use a microplane for the garlic (“N, what does the prefix “micro” mean?...That’s right! So it’s a small grater”).

Sidebar: I realized he takes after his dad in his ability to locate kitchen items. When I told him to get the whisk (a tool he is familiar with), he opened the drawer, stared at its contents, looked at me and said, “I can’t find it.” 🙄

Our cooking session ended after he made our family’s favorite salad, which we learned from “our Jennie” (my dad’s partner), to accompany the sliders, and we were gathered for dinner 40 minutes after he started cooking. A quick, easy, and yummy meal!

Jennie’s Salad

1. Chop and wash some romaine lettuce (sans E. coli).

2. Sprinkle it with about three tablespoons of grated parmesan.

3. Make dressing: in a plastic container, combine the juice of one lemon, a pinch of salt, a few grinds of black pepper, one to two cloves of finely chopped garlic, and about two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Put the lid on and shake, shake, shake (booty optional).

4. Dress and toss salad. Croutons optional.

Wednesday: Mark’s meal must have been on his mind early in the day because he prepped all his ingredients before heading out to a movie in the afternoon. When the kids and I returned around 6 P.M. from a visit with some friends, The house was filled with the scent of Shortcut Chicken Chili. We loaded our big bowls of this warm, hearty goodness with shredded cheese, sour cream, and cilantro. As we filled the kitchen with comments like, “Daddy, this is DELICIOUS!” and “This is the perfect dinner for a cold night like tonight,” Mark humbly remarked, “Yeah, this isn’t bad. I’m surprised I made this!”

Thursday: Now that four days have passed, I have no recollection of what we did on our second cold day home, but this Giant Turkey Meatball was definitely a highlight. It took about 75 minutes to bake in our oven, and I did check the internal temp with a digital read thermometer. It’s probably not a great mid-week dinner if you work, but it was the perfect snow day meal. Covered in sauce and melted mozzarella, it prompted M to say, “Good job, Mom!” And N actually thought to ask to take a picture of me! If your family is anything like mine, Mom is always the one taking the pictures. I frequently have to say, “Can someone please take my picture/a picture of me and the kids?” Apparently N now equates cooking with snapping pics. :)

Here's hoping your weekends were relaxing in whatever way suits you best!

Update: A's mom just texted me this, and I am over the moon!