By School ends Thursday. I keep thinking I should feel something about this — relief, maybe, or dread, because summer means all five of them home all day and me without the scaffolding of the school schedule that has been holding my weeks together since September. Instead I feel a flat, practical kind of preparation, like checking the weather before a long drive. Summer is coming. I need a plan. Plans I can do. Plans are numbers and lists and structure, and the accountant in me reaches for structure the way other people reach for prayer.
I signed Ethan up for a basketball camp at the rec center — two weeks in June, mornings only. Olivia wanted swim lessons, so swim lessons. Mason is doing a church day camp that runs the last week of June. Lily starts a half-day preschool enrichment program because the kindergarten teacher recommended it and I trust the kindergarten teacher more than I trust myself right now. Noah goes where I go, which is mostly the grocery store and therapy, and he is cheerful about both.
Wednesday night I made my mother's sloppy joes. This is not a recipe that belongs in any cookbook — it's ground beef, ketchup, a little brown sugar, a little mustard, salt, and whatever Denise Cooper intuition she poured into it that I've never been able to replicate exactly. I brown the beef, drain it, add everything else, simmer for ten minutes, serve on hamburger buns. It feeds six for under five dollars. The kids love it. Brandon loves it. I love it because it takes fifteen minutes and fifteen minutes is the maximum amount of effort I can give to dinner right now without the effort feeling like a performance.
Ethan asked for seconds and then asked, casually, as if he were asking about the weather, whether we could go to the cemetery this weekend. He meant Grace's grave. He hasn't asked before. I said yes without hesitating, because hesitation would tell him the question was wrong, and the question wasn't wrong. The question was brave. My eleven-year-old is braver than I am — I haven't been to the cemetery since the burial, because the cemetery makes it geography, makes it a pin on a map, a place where the thing I can't accept is literally in the ground, and I am not ready for the ground. But Ethan asked, so we'll go. I'll go for him. I'll make sloppy joes again on Saturday as a reward for both of us — for him, for asking, and for me, for saying yes.
I’ve been leaning hard on ground beef this season — it’s fast, it’s cheap, and it doesn’t ask anything of me that I can’t give on a Tuesday. This Philly cheesesteak skillet is the natural next step from my mother’s sloppy joes: same forgiving base, same fifteen-to-twenty-minute window, but with peppers and onions and melted cheese that feel like a little more effort than I actually put in. On a week when Ethan asked a brave question and I said yes to something that scares me, I needed dinner to be the easy part — and this skillet was exactly that.
One Pan Philly Cheesesteak Skillet (Low Carb — 20 Mins)
Prep Time: 5 mins | Cook Time: 15 mins | Total Time: 20 mins | Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef (80/20)
- 1 green bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 4 slices provolone cheese (or American cheese)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Instructions
- Brown the beef. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef and cook, breaking it apart, until browned and cooked through, about 6–7 minutes. Drain excess fat and set beef aside.
- Saute the vegetables. In the same skillet, add olive oil. Add the sliced onion and bell peppers and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly caramelized, about 5–6 minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook 30 seconds more.
- Combine and season. Return the ground beef to the skillet. Stir in Worcestershire sauce, smoked paprika, salt, and black pepper. Toss everything together and cook for 1–2 minutes until heated through and well combined.
- Melt the cheese. Lay the provolone slices over the top of the skillet mixture. Reduce heat to low, cover with a lid, and let sit for 1–2 minutes until cheese is fully melted.
- Serve. Scoop directly from the skillet into bowls. Serve as-is for a low-carb meal, or spoon over hoagie rolls or rice if preferred.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 340 | Protein: 28g | Fat: 22g | Carbs: 7g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 480mg