Update on Twice a Week Cooking

Jul20

My big cooking day was last Monday, and it was mostly a success.  Other than the fall and the swollen knee, I mean…..

My plan was to make 14 dishes so we would have 2 weeks of dinners, but it turned out more like 10 dinners.  Two of my dinners weren’t made because the chicken thighs I bought at WalMart the day before were ROTTEN!  I was so angry!  Instead of chicken breasts, I decided to buy boneless, skinless chicken thighs for my pasta and soup dish.  They were cheaper than the breasts and I think the dark meat has more flavor.  When I opened the package Monday afternoon to cook the meat, the smell of decay was overwhelming.  I was out $7.  I know I should have returned the package for a refund, but I don’t live near WalMart and my kids had already interrupted my big cooking day several times so I didn’t want to leave the house again.  ARGH!  I really hate it when I spend money on rotten meat!  I generally try to but my meat at Costco, and I really should have bought a whole chicken and boiled it for the meat and broth – that’ll teach me!

To get a jump on things, I put a beef stew and pork tacos in my crock pots the night before.  If I learned one thing from this adventure, it is to crock pot anything you can the night before.  Then all you have to do is cool the food to room temperature, label and freeze it!  I instantly had 4 meals done – one stew, 2 pork tacos, and meatballs for subs because I also got ambitious and baked 21 meatballs and threw them in the freezer, too.  Well, I froze 20 of them and used the “extra” for a taste test.  It was the best meatball I have ever made!  And I’ve made some bad meatballs!  Next time I will make a double batch.

I realized the morning of my big cook day that I had to take my daughter to cheerleading for 2 hours.  Ugh!  Then my son wanted me to take him and a friend to Laser Mania.  Then the kids needed lunch and so on….so I really didn’t get started until 1:00.  I won’t be doing that again.  It was way too late in the day to start something this big.

Many other blogs and websites recommend that you brown all your meat and do all the chopping first.  For the most part I did that but I’m glad I had the presence of mind to remember that my mini meat loaves would need formed meat, not crumbled meat.  It would have made me really mad if I’d browned it all and ruined my meatloaves.   I also made sure I had room in my freezer and all the containers and bags for freezing, including freezer tape and a sharpie for labeling.  Another blogger suggested having a sink ready with soapy water to quickly clean frequently used items, such as measuring cups and spoons.  This was a great idea, and I also made sure I had an empty dishwasher, ready to go.  These two tips made my cleanup so fast and easy!

I didn’t feel confident to cook 2 dishes at once, so I did them one at a time.  That really slows things down.  Next time I’ll be braver and use my digital food thermometer to make sure the dishes are done.

I ended up making:

Baja Pork tacos x2

Beef Stew

Asparagus & Mushroom Quiche – Looks highly suspicious.  I’ve never had a Quiche with so little egg

Chilli

Spaghetti Beef Casserole

Sloppy Joes

Ground Beef Spiral Bake

Mini Meat Loaves (these look good but I think there is not enough meat and too much crispix)

I ended up using the disposable, foil casserole dishes – as I feared they weren’t entirely stable and I’m not sure I will use them again.  It was a challenge to get them in my freezer without the bottom buckling.  After all my hard word, it was infuriating to see my beautiful dishes being ruined as they finally made it to the freezer!

Today is Friday – I used my freezer dinners every night but tonight.  I had purchased the ingredients for chicken enchiladas (I changed from turkey enchiladas) and really wanted to try the recipe.  Since I was off of work early today, I decided to cook fresh.  Here is what we have eaten so far:

Monday:  Baja Pork Tacos

Tuesday:  Ground Beef Spiral Bake

Wednesday:  Meatball subs

Thursday: Beef Stew

Friday:  White Chicken Enchiladas

Everything  turned out terrific!  Only 2 of the dishes have been really frozen – Monday we ate the pork tacos fresh and I kept the Tuesday dinner in the fridge since it didn’t make sense to freeze it. I thawed the meatballs by cooking in spaghetti sauce for about 10 minutes and I let the stew partially thaw on the counter, then heated it on the stove top.  I am anxious to see how long it takes to cook one of the frozen casseroles once it has been in the fridge to partially thaw overnight.

I will post of the recipes of the dishes that come out well.

Baja Pork Tacos

3 pound boneless pork sirloin roast (I used a shoulder roast)

5 cans of 4 oz each green chilies.  (I used 3 cans and it was more than enough)

2 tablespoons taco seasoning

1 tablespoon cumin

24 corn tortillas warmed

3 cups shredded lettuce

1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese (6 ounces) (I used cheddar/jack)

Put the roast in the crock pot and mix the green chilies and seasoning.  Pour over roast and crock pot all night.  Shred with a fork in the morning and stir well.  Serve on tortillas with the lettuce and cheese.  Use about 1/4 cup pork, 2 tablespoons lettuce and one tablespoon cheese on each taco.

Ready for Freezing!

Meatballs 

I got this off of All Recipes.  Click here to go to the link.

Beef Stew

I had a McCormick mix so I just used that plus 2 pounds of stew beef plus potatoes, carrots and onion in the crock pot.  I paired it with biscuits from my mix I’ve mentioned in previous posts.  This time I added 2/3 cup of shredded cheddar cheese and cut them an inch thick.  They were tender and delicious.

Ground Beef Spiral Bake

This was nothing special.  I wouldn’t make it again.  This is for 2 casseroles.  I only made 1 and I am glad.  Maybe it needs to be doctored up or something.

16 oz spiral pasta

2 lb ground beef

2/3 cup chopped onion

1 tsp minced garlic

2 jars (26 oz) spaghetti sauce

2 TBL tomato paste

1 tsp each dried oregano and basil

10 oz (4 cups) shredded mozzarella cheese

Cook pasta according to directions.  Brown the meat and onion.  Add garlic and drain if needed.  Add spaghetti sauce and spices.  Bring to a boil for about 5-10 minutes.  Combine pasta and sauce and combine between two 9×13 inch dishes.  Top with cheese.  Bake for 25-30 minutes.  Eat one and freeze one.

Nothing Special Casserole

White Chicken Enchiladas

This recipe came from Pinterest.  It was good.

White Chicken Enchiladas

  Oh yeah, about my fall.  I was putting together a tuna rice casserole that looked and  smelled just awful.  It already had 2 cups of mayo ,2 cream soups, some tuna, some rice and some celery.  It already looked like a soup, so I was stunned when the directions said to add a cup of melted butter.  Really?  The small amount of pre-cooked rice was never going to soak up all that liquid! I decided to cut my losses and toss it.  As I was carrying the mess out to the garbage, I stepped on a piece of wet bread my daughter left on the sidewalk.  It was like stepping on an oil slick.  My foot when out from under me and down the pan of glop and I went.  Of course I screamed as loud as I could and all the neighborhood kids came running. I landed right on my knee, but my bigger concern was my right shoulder.  I have a torn rotator cuff that needs to be repaired and I worried I tore it more.  My shoulder seemed to be ok, but getting up with an injured knee and shoulder on the same side was an adventure.  To add insult to injury, there were big glops of tuna mayo slop all over my driveway.  My knee swelled and I could hardly walk for a day.

What did I learn from my first, mass-cooking experience?

  • Triple check to make sure you have all your ingredients
  • Don’t have too many ground beef dishes
  • Start early so you can end early
  • Expect your kids to beg to eat each dish as you prepare it – everything looked and smelled so good!
  • Use low fat options when you can – pasta heavy, cheesey cream soup casseroles are full of fat and calories!
  • Be brave and cook more than one dish at a time
  • Foil dishes are made of…foil….and are not stable
  • Chicken parts are more expensive than a whole chicken
  • Wet bread is a hazard

Salsa Cheese Dinner Rolls (Quick Yeast)

Jul14

Reblogged from Trkingmomoe's Blog:

Click to visit the original post

This week I bought two jars of salsa on sale and some corn chips. I put one jar in the cupboard and opened the other one for the chips. Well someone opened the other jar so I had to think what was I going to do with all this salsa now that the chips were gone. While I was contemplating, I remembered a I had a bread machine recipe book.

Read more… 680 more words

I'm definitely making these. I wonder if they freeze well? We'll eat half and freeze half and I'll report how it goes.

Twice A Month Cooking

Jul13

This weekend, I’m going to TRY to prepare enough dinners to last us 2 weeks.  I’ve been interested in once-a-month-cooking for some time now, but haven’t been organized or motivated enough to try it.  Really looking at how much we spend eating out has been terrific motivation!  The bill for a family of five can easily run $75-100.  I absolutely cringe to think of how much we have spent eating out this year.  It has become far too easy to grab take out or pick up the kids and go out for a meal rather than cooking one from scratch.  Plus I am concerned over how much sugar, fat and salt we are eating.

While I want to have easy, homemade meals to serve my family, I also don’t want to be rehearing ground beef/noodle/rice/cheese/cream-of-whatever dishes.  That gets old fast.  I also want to mix in some meatless dishes, but I think in the beginning there won’t be as many of these.

To prepare my 2 week menu, I bought a Taste of Home Ultimate Freezer cookbook I saw in Wal-Mart.  A Google search will also yield several hundred results.  I found one site I think is pretty neat -and it’s free!  Check out Once a Month Mom.  They have new menus each month, and even recipes for special needs like vegetarian, gluten-free, etc.  I wish I had seen this site before I bought my cookbook.

Here is my first 2-week menu, husband approved:

  • Meatball Subs
  • Chicken Bow Tie Pasta
  • Verde Turkey Enchiladas
  • Pork Tacos
  • Lasagna
  • Mushroom and Asparagus Quiche
  • Beef Stew
  • Tuna Noodle Casserole
  • Sloppy Joe’s
  • Ground Beef Spiral Bake (maybe)
  • Chicken Noodle Soup (maybe rice instead of noodles)
  • Spaghetti Beef Casserole
  • Mini Meat Loaf

It’s still a little too “beefy” but I have to start somewhere.  Plus I plan on mixing the ground beef with some of my soy crumbles to cut down on the fat.  I may still trade out the spiral beef casserole for  something else – something meat and pasta free.  The order isn’t exact, either – I won’t be doing 2 chicken dishes or 2 Mexican dishes in a row.  Heck, I could delete a couple of dinners since I’m sure we’ll have leftovers.

I made my shopping list and categorized it according to food type.  I have a program that does this on my iPhone, but quite frankly, sometimes I just need to write things out!  My next step is to clean up my kitchen and clean out my freezer.  I have read a lot on how to freeze the food, including freezing it in the pan, then removing it from the pan so it is “free-standing” so to speak.  I worry about doing that, so I’m buying those disposable foil baking pans.  I hate to since it is wasteful, but I’m going to see if I can be careful and reuse them.

My oldest son turns 15 tomorrow, so I will be spending most of the day with him – at least until he is sick of me and decides to hang out with his friends.  I will likely do my cleaning and shopping late tomorrow.  Originally I was going to cook on Sunday but my husband just reminded me that we are going to my MIL’s for her birthday.  She lives 45 minutes away so basically the whole day is gone.  Oh well, she is worth it.  My cooking day will have to be on Monday!

It’s hot out there….

Jul10

I took this pic of my car’s dash at about 3:15 this afternoon:

Yes,that really says 114 degrees

I know that many parts of the country have been unseasonably hot this summer, but this is typical for southern Utah.  My husband’s car registered 122 when he got in at 5:00 today.  The good news is that relief is in sight – it will be 88 this Saturday and raining.  Yeah!  That’s also my son’s 15th birthday and he will really enjoy running around in the rain.  It’s one of his favorite things to do.

Sheperd’s Pie

Jul8

For dinner tonight I made my first Shepherd’s Pie.  It came out pretty good!  The family loved it and the kids had seconds.  I served with biscuits made from my homemade Bisquik (see previous post) and salad.  The recipe:

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 medium onions, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1 pound lean ground beef
  • 2 medium carrots, sliced or diced
  • 1/2 c frozen garden peas
  • 4 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
  • 1 cup beef stock
  • salt and pepper to taste

 Topping:

  • 4 large potatoes, peeled and diced small
  • 1/2 stick butter
  • 1/2 cup grated sharp Cheddar cheese
1. Preheat the oven to 350
2. Heat the oil in pan, add onions, garlic and beef; cook stirring, until meat is browned.
3. Add carrots, peas, paste, parsley, stock, salt and pepper; simmer covered for about 20 minutes or until the carrots are tender.
4. While this is cooking, boil the potatoes and mash with butter and cheese.
5. Spoon meat mixture into an oven-proof 9×13 dish. Top with potato-cheese mash.
6. Bake the cottage pie uncovered, for 30 minutes, or until cooked through and golden brown on top.
I meant to take photo of it when it was in the pan, but once again I forgot.  You’ll have to settle for a blurry pic of my second helping.

Like my fancy china?

You could  use any ground meat, like pork or lamb.  Even the veges can be varied.  This would be easy to make using any frozen veges and is ideal for freezing.

My Potato Harvest

Jul7

I started seed potatoes in the early spring.  I cut them and calloused the ends as directed. The vines grew beautifully and once they died, I quit watering the container and let them sit a couple of weeks.  Tonight was the big night – the potato harvest!  I called out my entire family to witness the event.  I think it is important for your kids to see where their food comes from, and had already planned out some yummy potato recipes.  I pulled out the container and dumped it in the wheelbarrow:

The Bounty of Dirt Seeds

 

Do you see what I see?  Dirt.  Soaking wet dirt.  And no potatoes.  Apparently the container WAS being watered by someone other than myself.  My 10-year-old daughter apologized – but I said it was no big deal.  After all, soaking wet potatoes would have rotted but there would still be evidence that they had existed.  My 14-year-old son said, “Mom, did you plant any dirt seeds”?  Uh…my kids really need to learn where their food comes from!

Zucchini Bread

Jul7

Look at the Zucchini’s I harvested from my garden!  They were hiding under the leaves, so I didn’t see them until they were really big.  In fact, I wasn’t the one who found them – our neighbor girl called me and said I had huge cucumbers in the garden!  I was shocked since my cats dug up my cucumber bushes and my vine died.  She was disappointed that the cucumbers were really zucchini.

Bounty From My Garden

I made a delicious zucchini bread, which I took to my parents house along with dinner.  I meant to take a picture of it, but I forgot!  This picture was taken by someone else who made the same bread.  I found the recipe on Allrecipes.com.

Moist and Yummy!