Dinner in a Flash!

Last week Mike had been out of town pretty much the whole week. He came home once to spend the night and then catch another flight, so I got to enjoy seeing him for one night. This is pretty much how our relationship goes though with his job. He is always traveling and I am busy with work. I was excited last Friday for him to return home, and I couldn't wait to cook him up a delicious meal! I was so busy that week with work and getting everything ready to head to Florida I didn't have much time for prep.

Here is how my Friday schedule went:

-Work from 8:30-3 (we get off early on Fridays!)

-Meeting with Chef Gabby at 4 (yep not so early for me this Friday)

-Pedicure on my lunch break (ummm I couldn't go to Florida without one!)
-Headed to target around 5 for groceries

Mike's flight was scheduled to land at 6! I wanted to have dinner pretty much ready for him when he got home, and I wanted it to be good! As I said I had no time for prep, I was grocery shopping at 5 when his plane would land at 6!

Here is what I did:
I decided to actually go with a meat pre prepped for me, ahhhhh! It was not something I was proud about but I had time constraints! So I tried one of those archer farms stuffed chicken breast. This one was the chicken stuffed with swiss and ham, cordon bleu style, which I knew Mikey liked. Then I picked up some potatoes and carrots. He loves cheesecake, it's pretty much the only dessert besides strawberry cake that he likes. So I grabbed a small premade cheesecake and picked up some strawberries to go on top. After picking up all the other groceries for the house I checked out around 5:50 just as Mike was texting me that his flight was landing!! So I booked it home!

I went into speedy mode, threw the chicken in the oven, chopped up the strawberries put them in a bowl with sugar so they could sauce up, peeled and chopped up the potatoes for mashing, peeled and chopped off the skinny ends of the carrots and threw the larger portion in the pot. Go Go Go, Cook Cook Cook!!! I felt like I was in a timed competition lol

Mikey walked in the door to a house that smelled of deliciousness, just what I wanted!:) It only took me about 10 more minutes to present him with this...

Mmmmmmm it was yummy:)

I feel like People don't think to add carrots often to their meals. It's a very pretty color to add to your plate and is very good for you. So here is what I do if you would like to try it out, super simple~

I rinsed and cut off the stems, then peeled and cut off the skinny end of the carrot. Then I throw the larger half of the carrot into a pot of salted boiling water. Boil for about 12 minutes, unless you like them to be really soft then boil longer. I like mine to be cooked through but I like for it to still have a little bite to it. Plus this texture goes well with the seasoned butter that I do. I melt down some butter, and the amount will vary according to how many carrots you use so do what you think is best. I squeeze about half a lemon into it, add garlic salt, pepper, and a dash of extra virgin olive oil. I do not have measurements I'm sorry, so do everything to your taste. Once the carrots are cooked I drain them and cut them into bite sized pieces. I enjoy them this way so try it out and see what you think!

The Archer farm stuffed chicken was actually really good! I tried my best to throw it off to Mikey that I made it but once he saw the netting left on the pan it was over. He said "So you want me to believe that you were able to put a netting like that on the chicken?" I of course couldn't contain my laughter as I tried to tell him yes lol. The only thing I would add to the chicken next time is I would make a sauce to go over it. Their product has good reviews in my book. The premade cheesecake and prepared chicken really helped me in my time crunch!

We enjoyed our dinner, and it just goes to show that no matter how limited in time you are- you can still create a special sit down dinner to catch up with the ones you love!

Hope you all have a Great weekend!

ttyl~Misty