The Kitchn Archive: Mar 20, 2014

We’ve all been there: it’s 5pm and you have no idea what you’re going to do for dinner. You might wander around the grocery store after work or school without a real recipe in mind and choose a whole bunch of stuff for a “salad”. You might even skip the grocery store altogether and just order take-out or eat cereal straight from the box. Well, this doesn’t need to be you any longer!

Day 14: Thursday, March 20 Assignment: Pick 1 new dinner recipe and shop for ingredients The Cooking Cure: See all assignments so far here New dinner goals? Check! New dinner recipes? Check! Now it’s time to spring into action. Tomorrow, we’ll be in the kitchen making a new recipes so that means that today we need to shop for ingredients. Think you can spare a few minutes to run to the store this afternoon?

Today’s Cooking Cure Challenge comes from me! I have the hardest time remembering to take meat out of the freezer to thaw ahead of time. Can you relate? I’ve seen the same woes in many comments during the Cure. Do you have any good tips for remembering or thawing meat quickly? Here are a few from our archives. In a Hurry: 3 Defrosting Tips for Super Fast Results Freeze Individual Portions For Expedited Defrosting Any other tips or smart ways to remember to take the meat out?

I encourage my children to shower before we eat, because I enjoy dinner, and nothing ruins the taste of a good meal like an unwashed soccer, tennis or basketball player. If I can smell them from ten feet away, the meal I’ve prepared loses its appeal. But before they get home, when I’m cooking that meal, I use my sense of smell to decide what the dish needs, without the risk of ruining the dish with a seasoning that just doesn’t work. How?