In the Kitchen: Last minute dinners

Last night's last-minute dinner battle.

Ever have those nights when you come home from work to a nearly empty refrigerator or pantry? Last night was one of those nights. We have our first CSA delivery (so excited) coming today so I have been holding off on going to the grocery store which has been economical but leaves us with very few ingredients for dinner.

It is these times where I do something dorkier than most. I play "Iron Chef" in my head. You may or may not know that one of my dreams in life would be to judge and Iron Chef (Original or American...I'm not picky) competition. I know. Nerd alert. Now you know one of my deep, dark secrets.

Anyways, last night I decided I had two bell peppers, brown rice, an onion and some frozen spinach. So I cooked up the rice, caramelized the onions and then when both were done threw in the spinach, salt, pepper, and some olive oil. I halved the peppers, put the rice mixture into them and then popped them in the oven at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes.

It was a fly by the seat of my pants kind of dinner but in the end the Judge's Council ruled it a success. And by Judge's Council, I mean Ben.

I would love to know, if you care to share, what you do when you are in a crunch at dinner time. Do you throw a few things together or have some go-to meals that you always on hand? Or do you just say "the hell with it" and order take out? I'd love to know!