Thursday, April 23, 2009

Dinner for a practice.. a.k.a. - what to make when your kids have sports at 6 p.m.!


I have officially joined the leagues of parents whose children have after school activities at "dinner time". Besides the fact that I don't understand why softball has to be practiced during the time that dinner, homework, baths and books should be occurring, I can't beat 'em, so I'm joining 'em.

I now have to make dinner that can be 1- eaten in the car, 2-eaten at room temperature and/or 3- eaten both before and after softball practices.

Here's tonight's dinner:

Oven roasted potato wedges, chicken drumsticks and steamed broccoli.

Potatoes:
Preheat the oven to 425. Peel 1 or 2 large potatoes. Cut each potato in 1/2 lengthwise then into 6 wedges total. Place wedges on a Silpat lined cooked sheet and drizzle with olive oil, Adobo seasoning salt and garlic salt.

Chicken:
Place 6 chicken drumsticks in a casserole pan and drizzle with olive oil, the juice from 1/2 a lemon, a pinch of Kosher salt and a good sprinkling of Greek Seasoning or dried oregano. Bake in the oven with the potatoes until chicken skin is crisp and golden, about 35 minutes. Chicken can be baked a couple hours ahead and served at room temperature.

When chicken is cooked, wrap each drumstick base with aluminum foil so kids can eat the chicken easily.

To pack potatoes:
Make a cone out of wax or parchment paper, and add a few potato wedges. Kids can easily eat their wedges from the parchment cones.

Steamed broccoli:
Cut 1-2 heads of broccoli and steam in 1 C. of chicken stock for 3-4 minutes or until bright green and still crisp.
To serve: Skewer 3-4 broccoli crowns on bamboo skewers, easy for kids to carry and eat.

If you have any great dinner ideas for your practice nights, I'd love to have them.

2 comments:

eastcoastmom said...

Our kids actually have a really early dinner instead. They are starving when they come home from school, so I have dinner ready before 4 PM. This works perfect for our kids.

Then at 7 they have some cold cereal and milk and fruit.

Kris Mulkey said...

I love this idea. Nice and easy for working parents. Plus kids love fries and any food served on a stick. Thanks!!