Jen Hatmaker Changed How I Make Dinner

I’ve changed my approach in how I make dinner.

I was pretty convicted on how much excess we have in our fridge and pantry at all times after reading 7 by Jen Hatmaker.  Read it, it’ll mess you up in the best way.  Since then, I’ve been pretty aware of our consumption, and waste.  Due to shifts in schedules and shopping habits, I noticed us wasting more food than we typically do.  So I switched up how I plan dinner until we get our waste in check.  Instead of what sounds good, the mindset is: what can I use up?  I’ve made a commitment to try to limit my trips to the store unless there really is NOTHING to eat, and not just nothing I WANT to eat.  Waste is bad, being resourceful is good.  So here’s a little insight into how I process what’s for dinner these days, and how I figured out what to make for dinner the other night.

I had friends over to watch Jen Hatmaker’s new show on HGTV, My Big Family Renovation.  I really like Jen Hatmaker.  After sweeping up a few stray crumbs (my friends did most of the cleaning up, aren’t they the best?!) and rehanging my daughters curtain rod (because despite having done this twice she still thinks they are a great place to hide and play in), I assessed the dinner situation.  The early morning plan had been tacos, but I had 5 pieces of quiche leftover (with GF crust!), fruit that a friend left, the right amount of fig jam for me to slather on the end of a baguette as a snack, half a log of goat cheese, and just enough salad for my husband and I for dinner.  Arugula salad with grape tomatoes, and shaved parmiggiana reggiana with balsamic vinaigrette.

Now for some families this would be sufficient, but I have two boys, and a daughter that eats like one.  One of my boys is weird about texture, and doesn’t do quiche.  So I needed a little something more.  My first thought was to do a quick tomato soup with croutons, but the one who doesn’t eat quiche doesn’t like soup.  This is why so many moms don’t like cooking.  So that goat cheese…already at room temp, perfect for spreading.  Eggplant, zucchini, and squash looking puny in the fridge, from when I was going to make ratatouille for a guest who was now gone.  Roasted red peppers in the pantry (endless uses!), garden tomatoes on the counter, but no bread.  Freezer check…still no bread, but hamburger buns (for the grilled teriyaki chicken sandwiches with pineapple I was going to make, but can’t due to the grill that needs to be replaced and thus need to be used), done!  Roasted vegetable sandwiches with goat cheese to round out dinner it was.

I sliced up the veggies and threw them out on a sheet pan that had been sprayed with olive oil.  Sprayed the tops of them with olive oil and sprinkled on salt and pepper.  Roasted them for 10-15 minutes at 425F.  You really could use whatever veg you need to use up on hand.  Roasted green beans, broccoli, mushrooms, spinach, carrots, all seem like good options to throw in the mix to me!

Roasted Vegetable Panini

1 medium eggplant

2 small to medium zucchini

2 small squash

2 medium tomatoes

2 whole roasted red peppers, sliced

Olive oil spray (I get mine at Trader Joe’s)

4 oz. room temperature goat cheese (a little more wouldn’t hurt you)

Good bread…or hamburger buns, whatever you have!

1 tablespoon butter

Preheat oven to 425F.  Slice vegetables (zucchini, squash, eggplant and tomatoes) in uniform thickness.  Spray sheet pan with olive oil, and layout veggies in a single layer.  You may need to use two sheet pans, but I just did two rounds of roasting.  Spray tops with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Roast for 10-15 minutes, watching carefully the last 5 minutes.

Spread one slice of bread with goat cheese and layer on the roasted veggies, and roasted red peppers.  Throw on some spinach or herbs if you happen to have any on hand.  Caramelized onions would be a great addition as well .  Place other piece of bread on top, and grill…just like a grilled cheese, with butter.