"weeknights" news and stories

After a four-and-a-half month hiatus, Slashfood in the Kitchen is back! (I'm sure that you have leaped out of your seat and are cheering upon reading this). This time Scott and I make a quick weeknight dinner that is easy to throw together, tastes pretty darn good and is relatively healthy to boot. We start out with an easy pasta dish much like the ones so many of us grew up eating (pasta, bell peppers, onions, ground beef and tomatoes) and finish things off with some sauteed Swiss Chard (one of the quickest cooking veggies around). Best part of it was that it made enough for two nights' worth of dinner (if you have more than two people in your household, your mileage will vary).

We'd like to thank Mastercard for sponsoring Slashfood in the Kitchen. They'd like us to remind you that whether you're an art-lover, a traveler, or a connoisseur of fine dining, search and you could win priceless prizes beyond compare.

And, if you missed them, you should check out the first two episodes we made last fall. You know you want to learn to roast brussels sprouts and make apple sauce!

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Just about every new cookbook recommends cooking extra food over the weekend to have on hand for weekday lunches and weeknight meals. There are entire cookbooks dedicated to the idea of a slow Sunday brunch. The theory behind this cook-on-weekends advice is that people have more free time on the weekends. And that they want to spend it cooking.

In theory, it's a great idea to use the obligation-free weekends to cook. On Sunday, you probably have a more leisurely morning than on the average Monday, and if you cook ahead, you don't have to worry about food during the generally busy work/school week. The problem is that weekends are not obligation-free and can be just as busy as the week, with errands, events and, if you have kids, everything from music lessons to soccer games. When you're running around from one place to another for 10 hours straight, there isn't much time or energy left to cook for one night, let alone 6 others.

Now, I do cook on the weekends, and I love the idea of a long Sunday brunch, but I do not wait until the weekends to cook. Instead, I try to cook most days, not "saving" the work until it needs to take up one massive chunk of time to get it done. But is it actually easier to do it this way? Cooking as much as you can at one time? I can't say. But if you are someone who is able to plan out a whole week at once like this, I would love to hear about how you manage it in the comments section below!