Mom vs. the Dot: Making it COUNT!

( Here is as "from scratch" as we get.  Pre-made pizza crusts, open  sauce bag then squirt on crust, add cheese and toppings, bake. ) Have you ever made a meal based not on ingredients, trendy new recipes or international genre, but on the amount of dishes it will dirty? I had to laugh when a friend posted something similar on Facebook the other day: "I find myself planning meals based on which pots and pans I don't feel like washing that day. I should really write a cookbook based on this method. The Dish Washing Avoidance Cookbook, or Meals for Those Who Hate to Scrub. Something like that." I guess I never thought about it before, but this is what I do, too. When I see Pinterest posts about how to make a month's worth of dinners in a day, I think, "Good for her.  She's so organized - and look at the variety of foods their family will eat!" Crock pot divas, I salute you!  (This one comes from www.eatingonadime.com ) ...

Dear Day Gone Awry, You and I were getting along so well!  The sun was shining.  I was full of energy and ambition. I was able to clean and organize so many things today.  I put away last summer's clothes.  I mopped the floor (first time in months)...due to an apple juice spill, but still.  That's besides the point.  We went to the library.  We visited grandparents.  It was glorious! I was feeling so good about myself and all I had accomplished today.  As the sun set and I closed the back door, I told myself I would make an easy dinner and check Facebook while it cooked.  I hadn't heard the stealthy "Bwahahaha!  That's what you think!" from you until it was too late! To continue my super-efficiency and awesomeness from the day, I plopped a piece of firewood and some cardboard boxes in the woodstove.  Little did I know that the whipping winds outside were consipiring to blow all the smoke my nice idea for a fire righ...