A Disaster and Nothing to Brag About

Jim went out of town for work, so I was on my OWN with my two daughters for 3 days!! I decided to stock up for the week at Trader Joes to find some semi-prepared cheater dinners and LOTS of snacks for our girl party OR when mommy loses it and needs a time out with sugar. I have a tradition of going to TJ's when Jim goes out of town because he claims he doesn't like their food (lie - he loves it when I bring it home. Ask him where all those crispy mini chocolate chip cookies go when I bring them home..)

Here are some of the highlights of what I bought at Trader Joes:
* Frozen Veggie Lasagne (I got a 'meh' from Big C on this)
* Eggplant Hummus and lightly salted pita rounds
* Frozen Sweet & Sour Chicken
* Triple Cream Brie (I love that they have cheap brie there...)
* Swiss Milk Chocolate Bar (because...you know...)
* Joes O's Cookies & Cream ice cream - FABULOUS!!

Here is how my week went cooking-wise and why you haven't been hearing any posts this week:

Monday: Jim got home from work at 7pm and we had spaghetti with frozen meatballs. This should be easy, since it involves ONLY the tasks of boiling spaghetti and letting frozen meatballs simmer in a sauce on medium heat for about 20 minutes. However, in order not to go crazy waiting for Jim to come home (late) I took big & lil c outside and had a tea party with them while we waited for Jim to come home. In the meantime, the meatballs were burning and the spaghetti was overcooking. What?? This meal is so easy that my kids could make it. literally. However, peobably because I just started a blog about cooking or perhaps just because I got lost in tea party world, I could already smell the meatballs burning when we finally came in to check on dinner (see picture). Jim got home just as I was cursing (though no explitives overheard by little ears). To make up for our sh--ty dinner, I also half-heartedly attempted to steam some fresh green beans for a side. To do this, I put a bunch of trimmed green beans (from our CSA box) into a saucepan with a 1/2 inch of water for a random amount of time on medium-high heat. I let them boil a while until I remember that they're on the stove and say, "Oh Sh--!". I check on them and they are magically done. Then I slather them in butter & throw in a large pinch of kosher salt. Everyone was fine with the meal except me, because hey - everyone likes spaghetti & meatballs. Kids aren't usually bothered by things like quality (example: any kid's menu mac & cheese. Why do we let our kids eat that stuff? I can barely test it to see if it's too hot because it's nasty! If Big C will eat that, she certainly won't quibble about eating burned meatball sauce on carbs. The fresh CSA green beans were harder to sell her on).
* Tuesday: TJ's frozen veggie lasagne (eliciting a 'meh' from Clara accompanied with bribing her to take four bites in order to get dessert), eggplant hummus with pita chips and also sliced plums. None of that really makes sense together to me, but it was somewhat balanced (protein, fruits & veggies) and I was tired after being up all night with lil c and trying to knock myself out entertaining both kiddos all day. How do single moms do it? Luckily both girls fell asleep before 9 (which is a miracle) and I just had to get from 12am-5am for lil c. Wait - that doesn't sound like I got much sleep...
* Wednesday: "Fish Sticks" (breaded tilapia fillets from Costco, I cut them up into "fish sticks" for Big C), mini heirloom tomatoes (from TJ's) and boiled corn on the cob (from the CSA box). Who doesn't like corn on the cob? Clara was excited and it wasn't too hard to put together. lil c didn't sleep well the night before, so I was getting more tired...and adding extremely irritable to the mix. I thought lil C was doing the sign for 'more' because she kept wringing her hands after I fed her a bite of baby food sweet potatoes. I was all excited that she learned sigh language so early and I kept feeding her and feeding her. I think you know where this is going. Of course later she was superfussy with tummy troubles until she threw up in her crib. Eventually she calmed down but meanwhile Big C was upset because she wasn't getting enough attention, it was too dark and I was trying to make her fall asleep in a little 'nest' on lil c's floor, which she (understandably) didn't want to do. Tt was just hard to give them both what they needed and I was on hair-trigger B syndrome. I finally let Big C call daddy & talk to him & lil c fell asleep while she chatted about how dark it was, how grumpy I was, what happened that day and how loud lil c cried and that she did a barf. All was finally well, thanks to Jim. I think lil c slept better than the first night, but honestly by this point, I really don't remember.
* Thursday: JIM IS COMING HOME THIS AFTERNOON!!! I kept us busy all day, but we celebrated his homecoming by making frozen sweet & sour chicken (bake the chicken as you would nuggets and toss with sauce - TJ's) with steamed green beans (CSA) and Thai coconut basil rice (microwavable - TJ's) in bowls. Jim got home just in time for dinner and everyobe felt that all was right with the world. Jim really hit the ground running with the girls, too. Everyone wanted his attention at once and even after a long car trip, he gave everyone the attention they needed as we sat down to dinner.
* Friday: MOM'S NIGHT OUT!!!!! Daddy made hot dogs for the girls and I went out with my BFF for Thai food at a restaurant with cloth napkins, the sounds of softly clinking glasses of water and wine - yes, I had a glass - and someone else's kid was fussing and crying, but it wasn't one of mine, so I didn't mind and I got to talk about big-people stuff with a grown up WITHOUT having to spell anything. We capped off our MNO with a trip to Target. *Sigh!*

Whew! So glad that Jim is home and now, on to planning this week's meals! I have to do this week's planning on the cheap, thanks to my trip to Target, but it's all worth it...stay tuned : )