• 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
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Bishop Robert Barron
          • George Weigel
          • Question Corner
          • Effie Caldarola
          • John Garvey
          • Father Ed Dougherty, M.M.
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Suzanna Molino Singleton
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Paul McMullen
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Father T. Austin Murphy Jr.
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
  • Advertising
  • CR Radio
  • Printing
  • Subscribe

What’s for dinner? Your guess is as good as mine

Rita Buettner January 13, 2021
By Rita Buettner
Catholic Review
Filed Under: Blog, Commentary, Open Window

Weeknight dinners come with their own challenges and joys. As wonderful and fun as cooking can be, it can also be hard to find the energy to bring to making a meal after a long day. Mileage definitely varies.

That’s been true this week.

~Monday~

Let me take you back to Monday. It was a busy day, but my lunchtime work meeting was canceled. So, I decided to seize the moment. I took a quick break, found a crockpot recipe online, dredged boneless chicken in flour and herbs, sautéed it, put it in the crockpot with onions, carrots, and chicken broth, turned the knob up to high, and let our dinner cook all afternoon.

I even loaded the dishwasher before starting back to work for the rest of the day. I’m not sure what it says about me that I consider loading the dishwasher to be a gift of self-care, but here we are.

In the evening, my husband arrived home from work to find the house smelling delectable. We ate a warm, satisfying meal, and we each took turns referring to “herbs de Provence,” which I had used in the recipe.

It felt a little French and more than a little fancy.

~Tuesday~

Tuesday started in its own whirlwind, and I never emptied the dishwasher that had run overnight. By the time my husband came home from work, the sink was overrun with dishes from throughout the day.

I suggested we order carryout, and he didn’t disagree. I fumbled my way through an online ordering system—and somehow ordered his meal incorrectly. We were able to salvage it, and we made it through.

But I was struck by the difference between the two days. One day the dishwasher hummed, and the crockpot steamed. On the other, the dishes piled up in the sink, and I fumbled an online food delivery order.

That’s not just a weeknight dinner, but a weaknight dinner.

~Wednesday~

I can’t take any credit for Wednesday’s dinner. My friend Katie delivered our Christmas gifts along with an exquisite, delicious chicken pot pie.

I can’t think of any greater gift than an unexpected dinner. The pot pie was glorious, too.

~Thursday~

Now, I know just what we’re having for dinner on Thursday: leftovers. Leftovers are a gift beyond all telling, the gift of beginning the day without a worry about ingredients or time or anything dinner-related.

On leftovers nights, as you open the fridge and discover fully-prepared dishes you didn’t even recall you had on hand, you can practically hear the angels sing.

~Friday~

What will we have on Friday? I can’t say. We will eat on Friday, but let’s take this a day at a time.

~

Weeknight dinners. They’re not always creative or tasty. It’s rarely something everyone wants to eat. It might come together in different ways, but we always have enough. God always provides what we need. And then He gives us the extraordinary gift of getting to start all over again the next day.

Copyright © 2021 Catholic Review Media

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

Rita Buettner

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

Does Holy Name Society still exist?/ Praying for all the dead

Names for public spaces matter

Cookies from a friend in heaven, losing the lottery, and more (7 Quick Takes)

A saint’s two crowns

Christ ‘descended into hell’/ Holy Family: Egypt or Nazareth?

Recent Local News

Ibram X. Kendi speaks on antiracism at annual Loyola University MLK Convocation

Sister Marie Dolores Beck dies at 85

Baltimore Archdiocese’s Life is Beautiful Mass honors Alvaré, Clarksville couple

Father Bonadio, Sulpician known for pastoral warmth, dies at 83

High school athletic directors calm coaches, players, parents through pandemic layoffs

Catholic Review Radio

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

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
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Nine Catholics nominated to Cabinet-level jobs in Biden administration
  • Does Holy Name Society still exist?/ Praying for all the dead
  • Names for public spaces matter
  • Ibram X. Kendi speaks on antiracism at annual Loyola University MLK Convocation
  • Sister Marie Dolores Beck dies at 85
  • U.S. bishops’ pro-life chair calls plan to codify Roe in federal law ‘tragic’
  • Poet Amanda Gorman is a light to us all, parishioner says
  • Baltimore Archdiocese’s Life is Beautiful Mass honors Alvaré, Clarksville couple
  • Bishops say order on LBGTQ equality has implications for religious liberty
  • God’s word is ‘a love letter to us’ to be read every day, pope says

Search

Membership

Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2021 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED