I’m not much of a grocery shopper. Though I’d heard about curbside pickup prior to the pandemic, I fell in love with it during March 2020. Prior to that I honestly thought it was for the elderly or people who couldn’t get around the store or whatever. No. No, friends. IT IS FOR EVERYONE! That’s my story and I’m sticking to it or so the song is sung…

My version of the story: I do at least one Dillon’s pickup order each week. Sometimes it’s two and sometimes there’s a Walmart pickup in there too. (Side note: I frequently joke that our son, Nate, needs a personal assistant. He’s not alone!) There for half a hot second, the stores charged you $5.00 for the pickup service which made me pause for half a hot minute, but let’s discuss: This is the best $5.00 I spent every week. Now, luckily, both Dillon’s and Walmart are waiving that fee in our current reality. Thank you, Jesus!

I know there are people who like to pick out their chicken breast or hand-select their tomatoes, but friends, I’m just not one of them. That ship has sailed! Though I’m very much a type-A control freak, I’m gonna let go and let God Dillon’s do this one for me.

Mostly I’ve had good results, but this week, I got burned… or so I thought.

It’s a big week at our house! Our son is one of the leads in the high school musical (just like his mama was before him – just ask me, I never once didn’t want to tell that story). We have family coming in from Texas, Florida, and around the state. I’m planning some rather large meals! I’m excited about it more so this year than previous years because we’ve invited our Family Dinner kids to join us. I don’t know if they’ll all go to the show or not, but we hope they’ll come meet our family and friends from out of town and join us for these extra-special meals.

Today, I did a pickup order at Dillon’s. A neighbor of ours, who regularly brings my order to my vehicle, commented that he was surprised to see me again so soon. I typically do orders on the weekend – Tuesday isn’t my usual to say the least. I’ve been watching the sales and working on my menus for about a week, so I was very disappointed when he told me the store was out of the discounted chuck roast I’d ordered. Granted I’d ordered four of them, but still. I was planning to serve French Dip sandwiches the first night of the show, so I needed 8-10 pounds of roast for the group I’m feeding. To add insult to injury, the bakery didn’t make the sub sandwich rolls I’d ordered today and that order was unfilled as well! Are you kidding?!? What was I supposed to do for my opening night meal?

Feeling grumpy, I opened my weather app just to remind myself of what I’d noticed last week: The forecast for Saturday predicted the coldest weather and thus coincided with my plan for soup for dinner that day. BUT WAIT! The forecast changed! I know you’re surprised because I live in Kansas… 😆

The updated forecast slated Thursday as the coldest night for my Musical Marathon of Meals! Turns out, I can serve the soup on Thursday! Every ingredient for soup was included in my order, unlike of ill-fated French Dip. The menu is SAVED! Imagine my elation… no seriously. (I called three people just to make sure the new plan worked.) I know the shoppers employed by the store can be annoying, but I’m truly grateful for them. I’ve been using the pickup orders for more than three years now and Creating Family Dinner wouldn’t be possible without the work of these wonderful people.

So next time one of them is in your way at the store, take “half a hot second” to remember me and my gratitude. Each of us needs something a little different in this life to make the carousel keep spinning. Even when God’s plan is better than mine… okay, always… when God’s got a better plan, I hope I choose to be grateful. It may not be my default, but it’s way more than two steps forward and never includes a step back.

If you ask my immediate family, I think they’d tell you that side dishes haven’t ever been a strong suit of mine. I like making main dishes: roast, pork chops, hamburgers, pizza. That’s honestly what’s great about a casserole. I can make a casserole, open a sack of salad, maybe heat up some rolls or broil some Italian bread, and we’re good to go.

Our Family Dinner kids would tell you that I’ve made sautéed green beans for them about 75% of the times they’ve come to my house. Green beans seem to complement most dishes. (If you’ve never made sautéed green beans, I’m sharing the recipe below.) Unless I’m making Mexican food, I typically think green beans work for most of the dishes I prepare. When I first made the sautéed green beans for Family Dinner, I was making 5-6 cans at a time and sometimes running out. That being said, enough is enough. I sense that the Family Dinner kids are tired of this and I need to try something new!

The other side dishes I make are unexceptional to say the least. Tater tots, baked beans, corn casserole, and sack of salad haven’t taken me very far to date. Each week I try to make something they wouldn’t necessarily make for themselves or get from their dining dollars at the U. The absolutely pathetic picture of frozen sweet potato fries I overcooked yesterday probably speaks for itself. Side dishes are not my friend! I don’t know that they love every main dish I make, but they’re sweet kids. They always show up hungry and grateful; it’s a winning combination!

That being said, I need some help with side dishes! Let me create some context here. These kids definitely don’t love vegetables. I roasted broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots one night and exactly three kids tried them. I’ve had some success with fruit salad but again that can get old quick. What are your favorites? What are your go-to sides? Maybe it’s the thing you brought to your last potluck at church or the last March Madness party you attended. Maybe it’s the dish you bring to every backyard BBQ. I don’t know. Clearly. All suggestions are appreciated!

And since I said I’d share it, here’s the recipe for sautéed green beans. I give all credit for this recipe to my wonderful friend, Lisa, who first sent me the TikTok that showed me how to make these.

Sautéed Green Beans

• 2 cans green beans
• 4 slices of bacon cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1/4 of a white onion, chopped
• Garlic salt to taste

In a skillet, sauté bacon and onion over medium high heat until bacon is crispy. (Drain off some grease if you’re worried about the calorie count or leave it for the flavor it adds.) Open and drain both cans of green beans and add them to the skillet. Leaving the heat at medium high, stir regularly for 10 minutes until green beans are somewhat browned. Remove from heat and serve.

One of my favorite things we do with family dinner is celebrate birthdays! The first one we ever celebrated was for Keyan. The girls who come to dinner with our daughter went all out. They came super-early to blow up balloons, hang a birthday sign, and fix an extra dessert (don’t worry; we also had cinnamon rolls). Because of a football game, the boys couldn’t go home for the weekend, so the girls wanted to make sure Keyan still had a special celebration. He was appropriately surprised and thus started a new tradition. Within a month or two, we’d started our family dinner group chat (I’ll tell you about that another time) and everyone shared their birthdays. Now, I make it a point to text the birthday person the week of their special day so I know what they want for their birthday dinner. They regularly request pasta – that’s always a favorite – and I’ve learned to make new pasta dishes based on their requests. It’s an adventure in cooking when they ask for something I’ve never made. Pinterest is my friend!

Tonight was Shawn’s birthday dinner and he requested hamburgers and brats. Though I lost my last grandparent a year ago this week, I find joy in using my family’s recipes with our Family Dinner friends. My mother’s dad, whom we affectionately called Pop, loved to grill. Burgers were his specialty! Luckily, we shared dinner with my aunt and uncle over the summer, and I made careful notes as my aunt whipped up her dad’s amazing burgers. The secret is in the cracker crushing… not even kidding here. Pop would evenly place Saltine crackers in a large Ziplock bag and proceed to systematically crush them with a rolling pin. It’s both an art and a science. My dad used to give him hell but no one could beat his burgers, so it must have worked!

Both my grandmothers were fabulous hostesses and I think of them regularly when preparing family dinner. I hope I honor them as I use utensils and crockery from their kitchens left to me upon their passings. The kids probably don’t realize why the crockpot they see on my counter says “McClain” or why one of my casserole dishes says “McCandless” but those permanent markers tell a story. Feeding people isn’t just a blessing for those filling their plates.