Dinner

Remember before you had kids, when your dinnertime was a cherished time to unwind with your spouse, catch up on each other’s days, discuss the latest world events, and just be connected?

Or – let’s be real – a time to eat on the couch, watch TV, and play on Facebook next to your spouse while you both zone out after an exhausting day of work?

Dinnertime with a toddler is basically the same as that, if you did all of those things while wrestling a rattlesnake. Not only is it physically exhausting you from its surprising strength for its size, but you’re actually afraid for your life because it could bite you at any moment. But at the same time, you and the snake both gotta eat, so you’re just powering through and trying to get at least half the plate of food into your mouths before one of you completely breaks (and we all know which one of you it’s going to be).

The Instant Pot strikes again! The more I use this thing, the more I love it. It’s very quickly becoming a staple in my weekly menu planning.

One thing I’m trying to get the hang of is the “pot-in-pot” method, where you cook two different things at the same time by putting one item in the bottom of the main pot, and then a second item on a trivet, in a smaller pot (or a makeshift aluminum foil “bowl”) above it.

Fewer dishes + faster cook time = 🎉🍾🙌

So as it turns out, dinner does not cook itself, and with two working parents and a baby on a strict schedule, time for cooking is virtually nonexistent. Enter: pan-seared salmon. I always keep Costco Atlantic salmon in the freezer, so this is my go-to recipe when I’m on my way home from work and realize I made zero plans for dinner and have exactly 30 minutes to get something thrown together–which happens at least once a week. The husband and baby both love it (is it bougey that my baby eats salmon? I hope so), and it only takes 15 minutes to prep and cook. This recipe is also a one-armed-wonder, in that I’ve managed to make it one-handed while the baby terrorist demanded I hold him.