with Britt Reints
Forget the 9 to 5; Full Time, All the Time is a blog about the mobile working life - when you have the freedom to work from anywhere and the responsibility of always having your smartphone turned on. Britt Reints works as a freelance writer while traveling fulltime in an RV with her husband and two kids. She explores balancing real-life bills with an unconventional work life, and finding time to maintain relationships with family and friends.
You can also find Britt at InPursuitOfHappiness.net.
Categories: 20 minute meals, balance, the juggle, working mom
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Whenever I tell my coworkers that I cook dinner everyday, I am often met with shock and awe. It’s as if I get to be “Mother of the Year” by being a full-time working mom that can cook a meal. And while I don’t mind getting total respect for being SuperMom, it’s an overstatement. I do cook a meal nearly every night (I throw in a couple of left over nights to ensure that we are not wasteful). For me it is cheaper AND faster to cook at home than eat out.
It’s not like I am cooking 5-course meals every night. Dinner is not fancy or gourmet. I cook simple, wholesome foods. My only requirement to a dinner recipe is that it is balanced and takes less than 20 minutes to prep, cook, and get on the table. After all, the whole family is hungry when we walk through the door at the end of the day. None of us had much patience or enough blood sugar left to wait for a meal. I do save my longer-to-prepare meals for the weekend or weekdays when I work from home. Instead of cooking veggies or having a salad, I keep cut-up veggies in containers in the fridge and throw a few varieties on a plate. Served with home-made Ranch dip and we all eat a ton more veggies than we would if I cooked ‘em.
My 20-minute meals have become my comfort go-to meals. Periodically, I’ll share one of my favorite recipes. Be sure to share yours in the comments. I’m always looking for new ideas.
Shrimp Quesadillas
Ingredients: Low-fat burrito-size flour tortillas, shredded cheese, 1tablespoon taco seasoning, pound uncooked shrimp with shell/tails off. All the standard fixings (sour cream, salsa, guacamole) are optional.
Toss the shrimp in a bowl with a tablespoon of oil and the taco seasoning.
Throw onto a hot skillet (high heat!) until lightly pink on each side (1-2 min per side). Remove from skillet onto cutting board. Wipe out the skillet and lower heat to medium.
Quickly cut up the shrimp into bite-sized pieces.
Add tortilla to skillet and toss on some cheese (add as much or as little as you like). Add some shrimp. When the cheese is melted, fold in tortilla in half.
Plate the quesadilla and start on the next one. I use a pizza cutter to cut the quesadilla into four triangles.
Tip: I make my son the first one so that it is cooled by the time the other quesadillas are finished.
Makes 6 quesadillas (or more if you are skimpy on the shrimp).
Photo credit: The Food Network
Love your blog. Always trying good quesadillas recipes and will try this one.
susan | July 11th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
It sounds like you and I do basically the same thing during the week. I cook alot on the weekends, but during the week I cook quick dinners. We have raw veggies and dip at least 3Xweek along with quick pasta dishes. And we are big on tacos and rice. As long as the meal’s nutritious and can be done in under a half hour we’re good!
BlapherMJ | July 12th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
I cook almost every night after work, too. Thanks for the recipe! My family loves shrimp.
Daisy | July 13th, 2008 at 9:46 am