What's for Dinner???

If you are a mom, you've heard this dreaded question before. Summer days, school days, weekends, doesn't matter. At precisely 3pm every day, the kids ask, "What's for dinner?" Even my husband texted me at work the other day to ask that very question, like I can wave my magic wand and have a 5 course meal on the table in seconds, covering all of the food groups as recommended by the illustrious "food pyramid".

With the busy schedule that I have...and really we all have, dinner must be a planned event in order for it to take place. If not planned, then it's mac and cheese (thanks, Kraft) or frozen pizza (thanks Red Baron), etc. I have to plan dinner at 8 in the morning, before I even have enough caffeine in my veins to make me quasi-human. I know with absolute certainty that someone will ask about dinner long before dinner time, so I'd better have a plan.

Today is Sunday, the day of rest. Not in this house. I could already hear "what's for dinner?" ringing in my ears at 11am. So, I did what any working parent, with a house to run, a job, sleep deprived, adrenaline-running mom would do: I searched the internet!

I knew I had chicken breasts and thighs chilling, oh so long in the freezer, screaming to be cooked. Tired of the same 5 chicken recipes that cook themselves, I googled "crock pot chicken recipes" and found an amazing recipe. Having picky kids, I'm always a bit leery of trying new things. However, I had all of the ingredients on hand, it would only take 30 minutes to defrost the chicken and mix it all up, so I figured, "Why not?" It's worth it for a bit of sanity on what I was hoping would be a quiet Sunday. If someone didn't want to try it, they could starve.

Let me tell you: It was one of the best things I've ever made! Seriously! The kids loved it, my husband loved it, and I was ready to just lick the crock pot clean of all of the extra sauce (I resisted though). This is a keeper, so I'm sharing the BBQ/Teriyaki recipe with you.

I showed the recipe to my 13 year old daughter, prior to cooking. She is always hunting up recipes on the internet (don't know where the cooking gene came from, cuz it's surely not from me!) While she was unimpressed from the start (she watched me throw 2/3 cup ketchup into a bowl to start barbecue sauce) she saw me add other ingredients to the boring ketchup to transform it into something totally different. She was impressed. I actually impressed a 13 year old. I even modified the recipe a bit by adding a bit of honey, just because I had honey in the house. In the end, she helped me by stirring up the sauce. Her involvement gave her some pride in the final outcome and that alone was worth it.

I was able to dodge the "what's for dinner?" battle and have dinner cooking all day for the family to see and smell...and look forward to. That was the bright spot of my day.

Until Next Time..
Holly