• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Effie Caldarola
          • John Garvey
          • Father Ed Dougherty, M.M.
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
  • CR Radio
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe

What’s for dinner? Just wait and see.

July 10, 2017
By Rita Buettner
Filed Under: Blog, Open Window

When I came home at the end of a full day, our children were stalking the kitchen, looking for food. And I had no idea what I would be making for dinner.It’s a good thing I always have chicken in the freezer, I thought.

As I pulled it out, though, I noticed the date on the package. Hmm.

I called my mother.

“How long can you keep chicken in the freezer?” I asked. “If it says May 2016, is it too old?”

She was still laughing as we hung up.

So chicken was out. Daniel was pleading with me to make soft pretzels from a box mix, and I didn’t have a better idea. We mixed the dough and set it to rise for a few minutes, and I went back to looking for something that seemed a little less like a snack.

In another part of the freezer, I found a package of Italian turkey sausage I bought just a few weeks ago. We happened to have a few leftover hot dog rolls. I pulled out a pan and cooked the sausage with the last onion in the house.

Just when I was trying to convince myself that maybe mustard could count as a vegetable, I remembered we had some cucumbers and carrots in the fridge. I cut them up and threw them on a plate. But as I carried it to the dinner table, I realized our sons were playing an energetic game of Life covering every spare inch. It would take ages to clear that away.

So we ate outside instead—our first dinner on the deck since last summer. It wasn’t the best dinner I’ve ever cooked, but it definitely wasn’t the worst.

Everyone ate.

Everyone had enough.

After dinner, as we were clearing the plates, I thought of how I had felt I was starting with nothing. But of course, there’s almost always something in the freezer or the pantry. It might not be our favorite food. It might require a little more effort than we want to put into it. We might wish we had something else to go with it. But we always have what we need. And I am so grateful for that.

That’s true of life, too. We always have more resources than we realize. Somehow, some way, no matter what problem we come up against in life, God helps us find strengths and talents and energy within ourselves we didn’t realize were there.

And somehow I have faith we’ll put dinner on the table again tomorrow.

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

Rita Buettner

Rita Buettner is a wife, working mother and author of the Catholic Review's Open Window blog. She and her husband adopted their two sons from China, and Rita often writes about topics concerning adoption, family and faith.

Rita also writes The Domestic Church, a featured column in the Catholic Review. Her writing has been honored by the Catholic Press Association, the Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association and the Associated Church Press.

View all posts from this author

| Recent Commentary |

7 Lessons I Learned at Disney World

A miracle at a Sunday Mass in Connecticut

Question Corner: How can I contribute to every charity that asks?

Praying for healing for our pet

An invitation from God

| Recent Local News |

Ellicott City resident named president of Catholic Charities D.C.

Men urged to be on fire for faith at Catholic Men’s Fellowship of Maryland conference

Maryland entrepreneurs get support for start-ups at local Catholic universities

Cathedral of Mary Our Queen to host world premiere of Passion setting

RADIO INTERVIEW: 52 Masses – Quest Complete

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • 7 Lessons I Learned at Disney World
  • Líderes católicos expresan su dolor e indignación por las decenas de inmigrantes muertos en un incendio
  • Pope hospitalized for respiratory infection, Vatican says
  • Don’t treat Jesus as an idea, invite him into your heart, pope says
  • Ellicott City resident named president of Catholic Charities D.C.
  • El Papa Francisco reza por los migrantes muertos en un ‘trágico’ incendio cerca de la frontera entre México y Estados Unidos
  • Nashville shooting was ‘senseless act of violence,’ pope says in telegram
  • Pope Francis prays for migrants killed in ‘tragic’ fire near U.S.-Mexico border
  • Catholic leaders express sorrow, outrage over dozens of migrants killed in fire

Search

Membership

Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2023 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED