Domestic Goddess

I have a love/hate relationship with Martha Stewart. Basically, I want to be her (without the felony record of course). I love how she effortlessly manages to do anything around the home- - cook, decorate, sew, housekeeping, scrapbook, etc. Did you know Martha started her empire by building a successful catering business from her Turkey Hill kitchen (yes, I know the names of all Martha's properties). I buy her books on just about every subject but never get to the implementation stage. On the other hand, I hate her because her seeming perfection and ability to "do it all" only feeds my inferiority complex. Feeling somewhat overwhelmed by my current inability to accomplish anything, my relationship with Martha is now leaning more towards hate.

But who says I can't be Martha Stewart and fix my family a gourmet/home-cooked meal every night? I seriously think I have managed to pull this off for the past five days without turning on the stove.

Monday night--A lovely cut of beef with a gorgonzola sauce, garlic mashed potatoes, asparagus, and bread. How? Our Kroger is in the course of a massive renovation and one of the new items they are adding is a hot food bar. You show up for dinner starting at 4:30 pm and, for $5.99, you get an entree, two sides, and some bread. And it's not like you have one or two choices--they give you around 6 or 7 entrees, 3 or 4 starches, and 3 or 4 veggies from which to choose. With Ned gone, one meal is all we need to feed me and both kids. (Jack of course is supplemented with baby and/or age appropriate food). I am a huge fan.

Tuesday night -- Chicken nuggets (the kind you nuke); broccoli and rice (also the kind you nuke). Not gourmet but certainly not the worst thing I've ever put in their mouths. Plus, not too bad for having worked in Bluefield all day.

Wednesday night -- pasta, marinara sauce, and steamed broccoli. Ok, it looks like I lied because I did have to turn on the stove to boil the penne. However, I boiled the pasta while I was doing work on the computer (a work from home day). Bear loves pasta and broccoli so this night was a big hit. Jack likes both too.

Thursday night -- A well-rounded meal from Kentucky's Finest Chicken (KFC). The children's laptop meal consisting of all-white meat chicken strips, mashed potatoes and gravy, and green beans. I also opened some pineapple for Bear.

Friday night -- Back to the Kroger food bar for chicken and grapes cooked in a tarragon wine sauce, a saute of corn and endame, mashed potatoes and sliced bread.

Ok, now that I've gone back and read this post I'm not quite as proud of myself. I've noticed a definite lack of variety (too much chicken, broccoli, and mashed potatoes). Plus, I know Martha would be horrified. Heck, even Rachael Ray would be disappointed. But I'm not going to beat myself up too much - - at least I didn't feed them junk food all week.

Ned comes home tomorrow.

Love,
Allie