Dinner is always a struggle for me. I enjoy cooking. I love finding new recipes and spending the time in the kitchen cooking. But I don’t like grocery shopping. I don’t like staring at the fridge with no dinner plans hoping something will jump out at me. I don’t like pulling frozen chicken out at 7:00 after a long day with no plans as to how I am going to cook it. There is no reason why you can’t add some class to your everyday meals. Whether you are looking for the best dinnerware sets for everyday use or special plates, you are probably going to find something very useful here laurelandwolf.com.
It’s days like that that I would happily skip dinner. What if I just ate this apple and then convinced my body that it was not hungry anymore? I don’t know what it is about dinner that can be so daunting and hold such high expectations. Every. Single. Night.
I am going to assume that I am not the only one that has these crazy anxiety issues when it comes to planning dinner. Does this text look familiar? It’s probably the most common text sent between 4 and 5.
So this is the beginning of a weekly blog post where I will share dinner ideas, things I have made, new recipes, inspiration etc. Since I obsess with making dinner, I might as well share some of my solutions to the never ending question, what’s for dinner?.
First up is going to be this beet salad I made a week ago. Yes, this might be more of a side dish than main meal but it’s still going on the plate at dinner time.
Up until now I don’t think I could tell you what beets taste like. I know I have had them before mixed in with something else. And I know what they look like but their flavor… not sure. (Spoiler alert: they kinda taste like dirt).
I recently bought a spiralizer and found this recipe that makes it look so easy. It ended up being way too difficult to spiral cut and it was squirting bright red juices EVERYWHERE. I was worried about the staining so I ditched the spiralizer and cut my beets into slices. I toasted the pecans in the over for a few minutes before putting them in the salad. Added feta cheese and a little bit of olive oil and that was it! It was delicious! Yes, beets taste “earthy” but I liked it. Pass me some more roots, I’m into it. Definitely a salad I will make again.
Bonus… or maybe warning… beets make your pee pink. Nope, that’s not blood it’s just the beets. Super weird side effect but it happens. I also suggest using a plastic cutting board because my wooden one is still a little pink from cutting the beets.
Bill Volckening says
Looks delicious, must try!
Lauren says
Thanks! It’s a great salad.
Aubrie LeGault says
Interesting. I’ve never been a huge fan of beets (that’s probably why I didn’t know about the whole pink urine deal) but maybe I will give this recipe a whirl.
Lauren says
Maybe add a bunch of arugula or spinach into it if you are not a huge fan of beets.
Pech says
I like how you gave the warning… I remember the first time I had beets I freaked out later! Thank goodness I first went online to search before taking myself to a dr.
Lauren says
It it very unnerving!
Rachel says
This looks super tasty!
Lauren says
It was! I am definitely going to make it again. Maybe next time I’ll actually spiralize it.
Catherine says
Many nights I end up staring into the fridge and having zero inspiration for dinner—then eating a bowl of cereal instead. I feel you!
Lauren says
It’s the worst!
Adventures in Dressmaking says
I totally know the feeling of, aaack, what am I going to make tonight? Luckily we buy cow and hog shares so there’s always high quality protein in the freezer, at least – so I just have to plan a day or so ahead to let it thaw in the fridge! At least I don’t have to stop at the store on the way home much, cause that usually stresses me out!
Beets are great! We get them in our CSAs a lot so I’ve gotten very creative with them. Very creative. 😉
I wrote about our grocery shopping and how I’ve managed meal planning with local food and bulk purchases in Macey’s online magazine, here! http://incompletemagazine.com/how-to-shop-for-a-balanced-real-food-diet/
Lauren says
Cow and hog shares is a great idea! Takes out a lot of the stress. I should look into that.
Great blog post on Incomplete Magazine! I am going to use some of those tips. Thanks for sharing.