Hey honey, What’s for Dinner?

Hey honey, what’s for dinner? How many people cringe when this question is asked? This seems to be one of the most difficult questions we all deal with daily, regardless if you’re single or married. How do you answer it?

What do you want?
We could do leftovers…

Let’s eat out

Let’s go pick up something easy

Well, we have steak and Quinoa ready to go…
Is it ever so easy? For me and my family, this is always a tough question to answer because we have so many opposing forces. Some want to eat at home, some want to go out and some may not be hungry. How well does that steak look? It must have taken hours to prepare. It all comes down to prep, doesn’t it?
My wife and I try to prepare ahead of time. We prep our meat, veggies and leave the recipe out in the kitchen the night before. That’s the answer, right? That’s what all the experts say to do. Get all your prep done before the week starts. That works sometimes, but I question these so called experts. Do they have kids? Do they deal with the normal problems that we all deal with? I doubt it’s that easy for them or maybe we’re missing something. It’s really easy to sound high and mighty on TV or on the internet. What does their diet really look like? Being a trainer for 10 plus years I’ve learned what works for someone usually, does not work perfectly for someone else.
What does work? Chipping away at what doesn’t work and what doesn’t fit your goals is what works. That’s the key. Focus on your goals first and foremost. What are you doing that is hindering those goals? Whatever doesn’t get you towards those goals needs to be removed or changed. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? You should totally take all of those things out of your diet now and switch them out for things that do work. That should work. Right? In our experience, that does not work. Too many changes all at once usually lead to failure. So, focus on one change at a time. That’s the way to be successful. What is the number one thing you want to change?
There is a point to this post and we’re getting to that point but just not yet. That steak looks really good but we’re not there because I need to make a point first. We tell ourselves that it will take forever to cook a meal that will taste good. We tell ourselves that we do not have the skills to cook a meal that our family wants to eat. We use all these excuses but in reality, if we just started cooking 20 minutes ago the dinner would almost be done. Say what? That’s right, if you had started cooking when you started making excuses, then the dinner would almost be done.
The point of this post is the meal pictured took me 30 mins to cook, prepare and enjoy. Well technically it took me an hour or so but that’s because I only use charcoal while grilling. Another step I like to do is pulling the meat out of the refrigerator or freezer before I grill, at least an hour before it hits the grill. The meat should get at least 10 mins to rest after it comes off the grill. A perfect meal really shouldn’t be the goal. The goal should be a good meal that was cooked with love for the family. That’s all that really matters when it comes to feeding our families. In reality, I could have pulled that steak out, thrown it on a heated up grill and just cooked it as the side dish was finishing up. While we’re on the topic of side dishes…I completely forgot to mention the awesome side dish we had with the steak. We found these packets by chance and it hits the spot every time. All you need is boiling water, butter, and this packet. It takes 25 minutes to cook. So here’s the recipe that you could replicate easily.

Red Eye Rib Eye and Quinoa (que-knowa)
– 2-4 Rib Eye Steaks
– Salt
– Pepper
– Grill

– Quinoa Blend
– Boiling Water
– Butter or oil (I prefer grass fed butter)
Let the meat rest for over an hour on the counter after adding salt and pepper, if and only if, you have the time. For the side dish, follow the directions on the back of the bag. About 10 minutes into cooking the Quinoa blend put the steaks on the grill. I’m no chef but I love 4-6 minutes (2-3min/per side) over direct high heat then 6 minutes (3min/side) off the direct heat to the side.
Honey, what’s for dinner? Well tonight honey, we’re going to have a great grilled steak with some quinoa and brown rice side dish. At least now you have one answer for that question. The bigger picture here though is to remember we are all busy, tired and none of us want to cook at the end of our tough days. We are not alone in the struggle to change our habits for the better. What makes you different? It’s time for you to make a change for the better. Are you trying to change everything all at once? Stop trying to fix everything right now. Choose the most important one first. Focus on that one big change that will give you the biggest sense of accomplishment. Once you’ve got that down then move on to another habit that you’d like to change. If dinner is not your biggest priority then focus on the others first. If you’re like most people, like me and my family, then this is the biggest struggle. Remember, you’re not alone in these struggles, face those struggles head on and then you’ll be well on your way to a better you.