by Kelli Bowen
As we come flying into last few weeks of school, spring soccer, baseball, softball, and planting, it seems our little family is going every which way but home.
My car is packed with lawn chairs, umbrellas, sunscreen, snack bags and sporting equipment. Depending on the evening we might in a theater, at a ballpark, driving to another town, or sitting along the sidelines cheering for that-night’s favorite sportsball player.
We seem to default to pizza, beige-food (anything you can cook at 400 degrees for 12-18 minutes), and breakfast-for-dinner on the nights where we are heading our separate directions. In an effort to be healthy, I pick up canned veggies to have at-the-ready, but somehow miscalculated, and now have two and a half cases of green beans in our pantry.
I do have a couple super-simple crockpot recipes to help break up the string of last-minute dinners.
Carrots, potatoes, seared beef, and broth make a quick stew. I just leave the ingredients in the crockpot all day and then toss in a bag of peas a half hour before dinner.
Frozen chicken and a can of rotel, throw on low all day, shred the chicken and make enchiladas, tacos or just eat in a lettuce wrap.
Chicken, carrots, celery, onion and broth all day on low and then add some egg noodles or dumplings in time for dinner is a great way to chase the chill from a rainy May day on the soccer field.
Among the field trips, banquets, graduations, carnivals and spring-flings, there are not a lot of opportunities for downtime, so trying to make the most with why little-to-no time we have is imperative. When you see a disheveled, out-of-place parent this next few weeks, be gentle: it’s May.