Oh you know you have them too. Those evenings you get home from work, shuttling kids, crushing the chores, and all that you do just to realize “Oh shit, what’s for dinner?”
If only we had a magic fairy that was home taking care of that all day everyday.
Alas, we need to be our own damn fairy.
I love it when I am all organized and have all my meals planned out for the week and shopped for. I actually enjoy preparing nourishing meals when my day allows for it. However, the reality of working, having a family, and a life of my own is why some nights I completely space dinner until we walk in the door after dark, famished, with little eyes looking at me like I know what to do.
Luckily, I have a back up plan for those nights that usually works (and I am not talking about pizza delivery, ok, well not always anyway).
Feeding my family nutritious food is crazy important to me. I know how it directly impacts our hour to hour health as well as our long term resilience, mental capacity, and vitality So, I have a back up system in place for these nights so we can keep our meals nutritious and avoid the inflammatory white food nutrient depleters.
Although not perfect or optimal, I always have a few things on hand in the house that allows me to cook a nutritious and delicious dinner when I totally space it.
I always prefer fresh foods but emergency staples to always have in the cupboard for last minute dinners- non bpa canned beans (black, garbanzo, kidney, pinto, lima, etc), organic brown rice, quinoa, pasture raised grass fed chicken bone broth (lots!), organic coconut milk, ghee, dried herbs/spices, jarred tomatoes, jarred artichokes.
Emergency perishables I try keep in abundance- onions, garlic, ginger, celery, carrots, eggs, nuts/seeds. avocado.
I also always make extras at meals to have Quick leftovers for lunch, dinner, and oh shit moments.
So, tonight this was my miracle recipe.
- Extra virgin olive oil to sautee
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 4 celery sticks diced
- 4 carrots diced
- 4 cloves of garlic diced
- about 45 ounces of bone broth
- 1 28 oz can organic garbanzo beans drained
- 10 ounces of organic canned diced tomatoes
- left over diced chicken from last night
- left over roasted asparagus diced
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- sea salt and pepper to taste
- Seeds to sprinkle on top (I keep salted and roasted pumpkin and or sunflower seeds on hand)
Directions- Sautee onions, carrots, celery for a few minutes in the olive oil on the stove in a stainless steal pan. Add the garlic and sautee a couple of more minutes. Take a moment to enjoy the smell:) Add the spices, broth, beans, and tomatoes. Cook together about 20 minutes until veggies are soft. Add the pre-cooked chicken and asparagus for the last few minutes to warm up. Ladle into your favorite soup bowls, gather around the table, sprinkle with pumpkin seeds if desired and enjoy a quick but nourishing Heck Yes This Is For Dinner meal.
Note- all ingredients can be exchanged for other similar ones you have one hand. The basics are onion, garlic, celery, carrots, bone broth, protein, veggies, and herbs/spices. You can add brown rice or quinoa if you have them too.
Boom! Way to rock it, last minute unplanned dinner fairy.
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