Have you ever seen the movie Hancock?

Do you remember the scene where the family has him over for dinner and they tell him they make spaghetti every Thursday night, every Thursday night they make spaghetti, etc. and then Hancock grabs a huge meatball between with his fingers and takes a huge bite?

That gave me an idea. I started making the same exact meal after church every Sunday, every Sunday after church now it's Chicken Alfredo.

I'll buy a can of alfredo sauce, a package of alfredo noodles or ziti and a bag of frozen, sliced pre-cooked, grilled chicken.

We get out of church starving. We so want to stop for Subway or Wendy's or Taco Bell, but we make it home without giving in to those temptations because (and only because) I have a workable plan for lunch.

When we get inside the house, I go directly to the kitchen and wash my hands. I start heating up the chicken in a skillet with a little bit of water in the bottom, I start boiling the water for the pasta and I heat the sauce in a sauce pan. I keep an eye on all this while I brew the sweet tea and set the table.

Lunch is usually done in about fifteen minutes, just enough time for everyone else to have settled in, removed their shoes and washed their hands.

I was reading about how to organize my kitchen and I came across this suggestion today. This professional organizer says to "Make Monday night chicken" meaning to do the same thing I saw in Hancock and the same thing I do on Sundays: make basically the same meal on the same day of the week at least once a week.

It's a good idea. You should try it.

Pick a recipe that you don't mind having once a week or pick a day that you need to keep things simple and I promise it will work wonders for your stress level.