I’ve been accused of being a Domestic Goddess. Yup, you caught me…

I’m no goddess. I’m not even Martha Stewart. It’s taken me about a year, but I’ve finally figured out how to streamline dinner. I’ve kicked my beloved Coke® to the curb {sorry, Precious,} and I’ve made a renewed commitment to feed myself and my children better food. “Better food” means little or no processed things…no more boxed potatoes…chicken nuggets…fish sticks… I don’t know about you, but by the time my children descend upon my kitchen they are RAVENOUS. How, then, do you eat healthier, ultra-mega yummy food ready in about 30 minutes? Here are some tips:

PLAN AHEAD!
Maybe it’s because I’m pretty much always thinking about food, but planning ahead has helped me A LOT. I used to come home and spend 20 minutes scouring the freezer, cupboards, etc for a hodge-podge of anything edible. We’d end up eating overly processed “food” that was tasteless and unhealthy right before bedtime. By thinking about what I want to make for TOMORROW’S dinner, I can make sure I have all the ingredients together. If I need to swing by the store to pick up a piece of dinner, I can. 10 minutes at the grocery store on the way home is STILL less than the 20 minutes I used to spend hunting for something to throw together.

DEFROST, DEFROST, DEFROST!
I can’t stress it enough. Nothing is more aggravating and wastes more time than having to stop to run hot water over some chicken that has confused its mass with that of an ice-brick. Or, heaven forbid, you stick it in the microwave for the quick defrost and dry it out. YUK! Nobody wants to try to saw through dried out meats.  My best practice is this: get the chicken {beef, turkey, pork, fish} out of the freezer the evening before and let it sit in the sink for a few hours. Frozen food comes back to life best when it can defrost gradually. Before I go to bed, I put the package in the refrigerator. By the time dinner comes around the next day, the meat is perfectly thawed and ready to go. {The only time this DOESN’T WORK is if you’re defrosting something huge, such as a whole chicken or turkey. Those birds generally take 2-3 days in the refrigerator to defrost after being completely frozen.} PS: Meats should not look fuzzy or fringey; this isn’t the 70s. Moist meat should cut well, have perfect, defined edges, and have some sort of juice squirt down your chin when you stick it in your face. Amazing meat will literally fall off the bones and can be cut with a fork.

GARLIC
Fresh garlic makes “meh” AMAZING. It takes two minutes to chop. No excuses! Start chopping, Nancy.