Call It What You Want...

I made another 30-minute recipe last night, though this one was not out of Cook's Illustrated's book I used before but off the internet, and I have some observations about them and their relationship with me and my home.

1. Decent 30-minute recipes take that much hands-on time. Yes, it's done at the end of that time, but they require that time to be spent in front of the stove and prep counter, working. They work a lot better when someone else is around to look after the kids. Or PBS Kids, in a pinch. Mark is getting to think "Between the Lions" is pretty funny. Grandmas and Grandpas are entirely preferable. The time Tim's folks were here, it was easy to do the 30-minute recipes because no one bothered me, and the kids had someone to play with!

2. Decent 30-minute recipes need to be planned for ahead of time. How often do I have all of those ingredients around the house? Last night I just happened to have a can of artichoke hearts sitting around (purchased at Thanksmasgiving time and forgotten when we intended to use them). I balk at menu-planning (I HATE IT) but it would make it more likely that I would have the stuff on hand.

3. Decent 30-minute recipes need to be served when they're done. It sort of spoils the effect of a lovely Lemon-Artichoke chicken with fettuccini to sit around for an extra half an hour. But a 2-year-old (who liked the corn better -- yes, he ate more veggies) can't wait until 6:30 to eat (nor can his borderline hypoglycemic mommy), and his daddy can't teleport home from work.

For these reasons, you can be assured that, while rather more elaborate recipes will make appearances at my house, meals that involve ground beef and some tomato product and a decent amount of time ignored are not to be forgotten.

[In a completely unrelated side note, yesterday Mark showed off some great counting skills again:
"One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six...
Nine, Ten...
Elijah...
Fourteen!"
He was very proud of himself. I was amused...]