I am gallivanting out of town for a few days. This is a column that ran a couple of years ago. Enjoy!
It’s cold and dark out there. Punxsutawney Phil was right. He called predicted this weather a few weeks ago from his burrow in gelid Pennsylvania. We have moved into another six weeks of winter, and my outlook is grim. We are stuck inside, with no promise of spring break in sight. The night is dark, and full of terrors: we need to prepare dinner yet again.
I am not in the mood to mince words, or garlic. I want the easiest, no-fuss, fewest-dirty-pots-and-pans kind of meals. I want everything to be ready at the same moment – numbers, timing, and patience not being my forte. Short of sticking a Stouffer’s Chicken Pot Pie in the oven, this seems to be the easiest, most nutritious option available: Sheet Pan Baked Salmon
A delightful new world has opened for me. Let the scales fall from your eyes, too. Sheet pan meals are the only way to go this winter. You can prepare your protein, your veg and your starch all in one place – and with the judicious use of foil or parchment paper, your clean-up is relatively painless. (Remember – you are the dishwasher – no one is going to help. ) Sheet pan cooking will leave you more time to rail about being cooped up and miserable. No, Gentle Reader. Use this new-found leisure time wisely: working on strengthening your core, or finally reading Moby-Dick. February might be the shortest month – it is is also the darkest.
With just a little more than a week to go before we can enjoy the gentle zephyrs of March, let’s consider the myriad possibilities:
February 20: Sheet Pan Chicken with Tomatoes and Mozzarella
February 21: Sheet Pan Jambalaya
February 22: Celebrate George’s birthday with a sheet pan cherry pie. It is quite beauteous. Cake is overrated. Sheet Pan Cherry Pie
February 23: Sheet Pan Eggs – because time saved in the morning can salvage your whole day! Sheet Pan Eggs
February 24: Radicchio Sheet Pan Panzanella
February 25: Roasted Vegetable Couscous
February 26: Sheet Pan Sausages and Brussels Sprouts
February 27: Warm Winter Vegetable Salad with Halloumi
February 28: Sheet Pan Fajita Bake
Remember, spring is just around the corner. Cheer up. Make something deelish and easy for dinner tonight. It’s nice and warm in the kitchen. Make yourself happy – every little bit helps.
“When spring came, even the false spring, there were no problems except where to be happiest. The only thing that could spoil a day was people and if you could keep from making engagements, each day had no limits. People were always the limiters of happiness except for the very few that were as good as spring itself.”
― Ernest Hemingway
Jean Dixon Sanders has been a painter and graphic designer for the past thirty years. A graduate of Washington College, where she majored in fine art, Jean started her work in design with the Literary House lecture program. The illustrations she contributes to the Spies are done with watercolor, colored pencil and ink.
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