Do You Want To Be A Millionaire?-The Dinner Edition

It was approaching 4:30 in the afternoon, I had been out running errands allllll day and had made absolutely NO preparations for dinner.  Why do I do this?  Don't I realize yet that dinner happens every night.  Every single night whether I've planned for it or not.

To make matters a bit more challenging, I had been, for the last week and a half putting off the dreaded trip to the grocery store.  We were getting down to the nitty gritty of ingredients.  I was well stocked with eggs and sticks of butter, but little else.  There was no ground beef, no chicken, I was out of sugar, Kool Aid, milk AND COFFEE.  I was even out of cooking spray. 

It felt much like "Do You Want To Be A Millionaire" for this desperate housewife.  I'd already used the option of eliminating the wrong answers:  no beef meant no Hamburger Helper, no chicken meant no chicken enchiladas, and no time meant nothing from the freezer.  Next was the Poll the Audience option but they were out in the yard recovering from being cooped up in the car all day. I knew to leave well enough alone with the Audience.

I was left with a final option:  Phone A Friend.  I picked up the phone and called my youngest sister, Sudeana, (click on her name to see her cute blog) who's usually good for an easy dinner suggestion or two among other things.

We have many of the same cookbooks, however, she actually knows what hers contain!

She suggested that I prepare Tangy Turkey Tenderloin.  "Is that your final answer?" I asked.

 ~Tangy Turkey Tenderloin~

Here's what 'cha do...

1.  Take your five-year-old and your one-year-old and throw them in the car.

2.  Next, drive like a crazy woman quickly, but cautiously to the nearest grocery store and purchase:

• One bottle of Kraft Tangy Tomato and Bacon Salad Dressing
• Rebuckle one-year old into grocery cart.
• One turkey tenderloin (or pork tenderloin)
• Call sister from meat aisle and see if pork will work in absence of turkey tenderloin.
• Remove five-year-old from lower rack of grocery cart.
• One bottle of Honey Mustard 
• Catch one-year-old in middle of attempted swan dive into the cookie aisle.

3.  As you are pulling the family van into the driveway, it is important to remember that your loving husband asked you no fewer than 37 times to remember to pick up check registers at the bank while running errands today.  
4.  Look at clock on dashboard and realize that the bank has closed 10 minutes ago, but hang on to the hope that today, which is really Thursday may, in fact, have turned into Friday at the bank, which would cause the closing time to be six o'clock and not five.

5.  Make a snap decision to make dinner and attempt a bank run while dinner cooks.  Mentally begin singing the Whitney Houston song, "I'm every woman, it's all in meeeeeeeeeee."

6.  Gather ingredients from plastic grocery bags:

7.  Mix mustard and dressing and slather on to pork or turkey loin.

8.  Shout, "Voila!" and throw into oven for 30 minutes.

9.  Load five-year-old and one-year-old into van again. Return to kitchen set oven timer, and make a hopeful trip to the bank.

10.  Pull into bank lot on two wheels and watch the tellers lock the doors and get into their cars.  

11.  Return home just ahead of husband.  Confess about the forgotten check registers, brag about paying the car taxes with four children in tow, and check on pork/turkey loin.

12.  When the oven timer sounds, remove loin from oven, (I like to check the temperature with a meat thermometer-- 155-160 degrees when done), cover with foil and let rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing.

13.  Think wistfully for a split second that you, too, would enjoy resting for about 10 or 15 minutes as you toss some frozen veggies into the microwave and pour the beverages for your adoring family.

14.  Slice the Tangy Turkey/Pork Tenderloin.

15.  Eat.  

Simple.  15 steps.  No big deal!  Not one bite remained.  Check registers obtained the next day.  All is right with the world...until dinner time rolls around again!


(Would you believe that Sudeana brought me extra check registers this weekend when we celebrated Mother's Day with our family?  That's just the kind of girl she is.)