Yes, I like to cook things that are a stretch — some new ingredient or a new technique or something complicated that dirties up 10 pans. But Not Every Day. I have a full-time job and sometimes I work late. Sometimes I don’t get to the grocery store. Sometimes I eat cereal for dinner, or grab fast food on the way home, or order in pizza. I am NOT an ambitious cook 7 nights a week!

So what’s in an everyday meal? First of all, I try to keep my pantry well-stocked with non-perishable and slow-to-perish staples. I try to have some sort of long-life protein in the fridge (breakfast meats) or else in the freezer for quick thaw (shrimp) or overnight thaw (roasts). I also try to keep some versatile frozen veggies like broccoli or green beans. These plus pasta or rice makes up that American standard – meat + starch + veg, right?

So we recently returned from the West Coast on a red-eye. We went to bed immediately and slept until early afternoon. Nobody wanted to go to the store, so I looked to the pantry for inspiration. I had some diced pancetta, so that plus eggs, shallots, cheese, and olives yielded a simple but substantial fritatta. I had some cranberries and dates in the fridge, so those plus basic baking stuff became a not-too-sweet cranberry-date-nut bread (and I took half of the loaf to the lovely neighbors who picked up my mail because the post office screwed up and delivered it anyway).

Last night was Date Night, but since we’re about to go on travel again, pickin’s were slim. I had some baby bok choy, cilantro, and 1/3 of a red pepper left over from a very successful Filipino-inspired pancit earlier in the week. I had some corn tortillas in the pantry. And shrimp and some random pineapple in the freezer. So I quick-thawed about a pound of the shrimp and then marinated them for about an hour in the fridge in a tablespoon EACH of tequila, lime juice, and olive oil. The evening before (so SOME thinking ahead!), I had prepped a quick salsa with the pineapple (prob 1/2 cup crushed in its own juice), a small shallot, the last of that red pepper, some of the cilantro, lime juice, and SALT. So when ready to eat — preheat oven to 375F, throw the shrimp on a foil-lined pan and sprinkle with some taco seasoning, then roast off the shrimp for 5 to 8 minutes (more detailed instructions here). Warm your totillas in a dry skillet or the microwave. Dress them with thinly sliced bok choy (or cabbage or lettuce), shredded pepper jack cheese (or monterey or cheddar), the hot shrimp, the pineapple salsa (or bought salsa or hot sauce), and some cilantro (or not).