I first tasted Indian Butter Chicken when visiting dear friends in California a couple of weeks ago. I could not believe the deliciousness I was tasting!
It was the first meal I made for my family once I got back home to the midwest and boy, it was a hit! The leftovers, which although hard to imagine, are even better than freshly made and my family fought over them the next day. This recipe will be going into our rotation for us to enjoy on a regular basis.
{breakfast for dinner -local organic eggs, whole -wheat french toast, nitrate-free bacon & green smoothies }
If you follow me on Instagram, you already know I am a big fan of serving up our everyday family dinners buffet- style. It has been fun to share some pics of our simple family dinners with you. It sure is easy to quick grab my phone, snap an insta photo & post it. I get so much inspiration on Instagram and love having a place to gather and share our everyday moments.
{kale & lentil salad with coconut bacon, coconut crusted chicken, mango dipping sauce & pineapple}
I don’t know about you, but setting the table can get old and monotonous, especially on busy nights where just getting a simple homemade dinner in the mouths of my loved ones is a feat in itself. I have 3 teenage girls who often are coming and going, even at dinnertime, so it is nice to just set out a stack of plates, utensils, & cups; then quick set out the food for each family member to help themselves.
Oftentimes we ARE able to sit at the table and eat together, and even on these nights, I still like to have everyone come in the kitchen to help themselves buffet-style, then carry their plate, fork, napkin and self-filled cup to the table. I have a small glass table in our kitchen that is perfect for setting out food buffet-style, and a larger table in our dining room where we have room to sit and eat as a family.
~it keeps food mess in the kitchen where I already need to clean up from making dinner
~I don’t have to carry food into our dining room
~I don’t have to set the table
~everyone is responsible for getting their own drink from the stack of cups
~there is no clearing the table, except for each person bringing their plate back into the kitchen when finished
~if we have to eat at different times as a family, the food is in the kitchen, ready to be reheated for whomever is arriving late
~it keeps condiments close to the refrigerator, easy to grab, set out & put away.
{super simple noodles & sauce dinner–with a very naked salad! Super simple is ok!}
I’m all about keeping life simple and doing my best to live slow, but when it comes to getting dinner made and my people fed, I become all about fast, although still try to keep it simple. Really, efficient is a better word than fast, but I have become pretty fast at whipping up dinner!
There is certainly a time and place for making a great tablescape and slowly setting the table & presenting beautiful food for the ones you love; to pass & savor & enjoy. But I find during the busy teenage years, for most of our dinners, simple & efficient is good enough.
I do still love beauty when it comes to presentation, so even when setting food out buffet-style, I will light a candle and place my utensils in a mason jar, use pretty napkins & put a vase of live eucalyptus or dried flowers out. These are things I have set out anyway, so it really takes no effort at all, and as you can see from the above photo, I’m still not above serving food out of the pan & saving myself from having to do extra dishes. Even service from pans can be beautiful if served with love and a lit candle!
Doing things in a non-traditional way is ok. Simple is ok. Breakfast for dinner is ok. Using prepared foods (like the pancake puffs above) is ok. Serving from the pan is ok. Apples don’t have to be in cooked in a beautiful cinnamon sauce, just sliced and bare is ok. If you don’t have time for salad toppings, serving naked greens is a-ok! Oftentimes, the more simple the food the more healthy it is. A bowl of berries for dessert instead of berry crisp is easier, more simple and more healthy! I still love my berry desserts but tend to save them for the weekends while keeping things pretty pure and simple during the week.
Living simply for me is often a letting go of what is perfect or what I think the standard should be, and just being ok with what is. Right now, what IS for our family right now is this…I’m running my girls around instead of making cinnamon caramel sauce for my apples, and that my friends, is ok!