I'm not sure how long grocery shopping takes you, but I tend to meander, compare prices, study the nutritional labels, go back and forth between the aisles for that forgotten item a few aisles back...so it takes me a few hours to get all my groceries. By the time I get home, it's nearing dinner time - and I gotta start cooking.
Some days are more food productive than others. Recently, I got this brilliant idea of throwing together several side items and calling it a meal - tapas-style, a.k.a. lazy dinners when it's too difficult to think about a coherent meal! (For some reason, this feels like less effort on my part...hmmm, arguable!)
Here is one example, which is more Italian-based than Spanish:
- Steamed artichoke with lemon (lemon-butter sauce for dipping)
- Pan-fried calamari and brussel sprouts (lemon and marinara for spritzing/dipping)
- Crab rangoons (sweet and sour chili sauce with green onions)
[Looking back, this meal was a little fry-heavy!]
I think the tapas-style meal that happened after this one included the artichoke again, chorizo, whole grain pita chips and hummus, some nice crusty bread, and 1 or 2 more things.
Btw, does anyone else smell a bit of crisp Fall air lately? Time to use the last bit of charcoal sitting mournfully in the garage...Maybe I'll grill this weekend!
