Easy Roasted Carrots

updated 6 years after first posting--we're still eating these but now we use our CSA carrots!

Try these for a nice change from glazed carrot dishes. They're also an alternative for recalcitrant carrot eaters--they look and taste similar to roasted sweet potatoes. Plan these for a night when you'll have the oven on at 400 degrees for something else (cornbread, muffins, whatever). You can also roast them at 450 degrees, and they'll be done in less time. The picture shows the lovely white carrots I get in my CSA box from the Colvins. Yum!

Easy Roasted Carrots
From Joy of Cooking (1997 ed.)

• 1 1/2 pounds carrots, peeled (can leave whole or chop into equal size pieces)
• olive oil
• thyme
• salt and pepper

Place carrots in 13X9-inch baking pan. Drizzle with olive oil. Toss to coat lightly. Sprinkle with thyme, salt, and pepper. Roast at 400 degrees for about an hour, or until carrots are tender. Stir them once in a while; carrots will blacken in some areas like other roasted vegetables.

Serves 4

Tuesday's Toddler Tidbits #2

(See here for an explanation of Tuesday's Toddler Tidbits)

We spent the second half of the week out of town vising my parents, but things were pretty similar to normal I suppose. Serving sizes, where applicable, in parentheses. Remember, these are my offerings to the little toddler tummies...when food offered is not consumed and I know they've eaten it in the past, I assume the tummies are still full from the last offering. Here's the lineup:

Sunday:

• Breakfast: 1 hard-boiled egg per toddler, 1/3 sliced large banana, 1/4 cup cheese cubes, dry Life cereal, milk
  
• Lunch: (animal crackers in car on way home from church) chopped broccoli (1/4 cup each), chili dog pie (1/3 cup each), sliced grapes (1/4 cup each), milk
  
• Dinner: 2 large pb&j sandwiches split 3 ways, pumpkin yogurt with applesauce (~1/3 cup per toddler), 2 large Ryvita fruit crisp crackers split 3 ways, milk
  

Monday:

• Breakfast: scrambled eggs (4 eggs for 3 toddlers), 1 large banana split 3 ways, cereal medley, milk
  
• Lunch: fruit salad, Goldfish crackers, cheese cubes, ham lunch meat, water to drink
  
• Afternoon Snack: none; water in their sippy cups
  
• Dinner: milk, chopped cooked broccoli (finally done with those leftovers!), rice, Creamy Peanut Chicken--my toddlers INHALED this, so I'll definitely be posting the recipe. It's also a freezer meal--bonus!
  

Tuesday:

• Breakfast: cottage cheese pancakes (1/3 recipe each!), 1 can mandarin oranges in juice split 3 ways; milk
  
• Lunch: peas and carrots, cheese pita (no one ate much--still full from breakfast no doubt), milk to drink
  
• Afternoon Snack: just a cup of water (oldest toddler snacked all afternoon--trail mix, grapes, etc.)
  
• Dinner: fancy spinach (split 3 ways), leftover peas and carrots, leftover rice from last night, milk
  

Wednesday:

• Breakfast: cereal medley, juice, eggs (can't remember exactly)
  
• Lunch: chicken nuggets, milkshake, mandarin oranges, water/milk (Wendy's!)
  
• Afternoon Snack: 3 animal crackers/toddler; water
  
• Dinner: green beans (1 per kid--they don't like them much), turkey, rice and gravy, milk to drink
  

Thursday:

• Breakfast: strawberries, dry Cheerios, scrambled eggs, milk
  
• Lunch: hot dogs, grapes, cheese toast (slice of cheese melted onto hot dog bun or other bread)
  
• Afternoon Snack: animal crackers (trail mix for oldest toddler)
  
• Dinner: pork roast, sweet potatoes, broccoli, something else--can't remember! milk to drink
  

Friday:

• Breakfast: cheese cubes, pancakes, strawberries, milk to drink
  
• Lunch: cheese and crackers, juice, trail mix for oldest toddler, grapes (we were at the zoo)
  
• Dinner: leftover pork roast, leftover sweet potatoes, fancy spinach, leftover broccoli, cantaloupe, crackers, milk to drink (they were hungry from their day at the zoo!)
  

Saturday:

• Breakfast: leftover fancy spinach (believe it or not), dry Cheerios, grapes, yogurt for oldest toddler, milk to drink
  
• Lunch: 2nd Saturday in a row for Cracker Barrel! 1 Sunrise Sampler split 3 ways: biscuits, hashbrowns, apples, scrambled eggs, sausage, water to drink
  
• Dinner: 1/2 peanut butter and jelly sandwich, milk, 2-3 doritos per kid
  

Linguine with Sweet 100 Tomatoes, Basil, and Cream

My husband and I discovered this recipe a few summers ago--before we even really appreciated fresh, home grown tomatoes. It is simple, elegant, and the epitome of late summer. Pair it with a big salad and a nice glass of white wine, and sit out on the porch. It's worth growing your own tomatoes and basil for this dish.

From Gardeners' Community Cookbook

2 T. butter
2-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 c. Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes, rinsed and left whole*
1/2 c. heavy whipping cream
1/2 c. packed fresh basil leaves
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
3/4 pound fresh linguine or fettuccine, cooked, drained, and kept warm**
1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese

1. Melt butter in a large nonreactive saute pan. Add the garlic and saute over medium-high heat until wilted but not browned, about 1 minute.
2. Add tomatoes and saute until softened, about 2 minutes. Stir in cream, bring to a boil, and simmer briskly until slightly thickened, 1-2 minutes.
3. Stir in the basil, salt, and pepper. Pour over the pasta and serve right away, accompanied by Parmesan on the side.

*If Sweet 100s are not available, other cherry tomatoes can be used. If using larger ones (actual cherry-sized), cut in half so they melt into sauce quickly without overcooking.
**Dried pasta may be substituted.

Serves 4-6

Basic Tomato Sauce

My cookbook says this is a "quick-cooked" tomato sauce, but it still has to cook for at least 45 minutes. It's not the ultra fresh tomato sauce some make, but it EXCELLENT with fresh/vine-ripened tomatoes and served over pasta (especially cheese-spinach ravioli like we had last night for dinner). I'm not sure I'd run to the store to buy a bunch of tomatoes for this sauce, but if you have a garden or stumble onto a good deal for very fresh tomatoes, this is a great way to use them up. It's also a good recipe if you're looking for a very fresh tasting sauce that's sort of the main point of dinner (i.e. not the quick spaghetti dinner most of use as the old standby after a busy day). The fresh herbs and the garden-fresh tomatoes really make the sauce; I don't recommend substituting. I halved the recipe and had more than enough to sauce 1 pound of pasta. Mmmmm....

Recipe from Gardeners' Community Cookbook

5 pounds tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped, juices reserved
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 small green bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped
2 T. chopped fresh basil leaves (1 T. dried)
1 1/2 T. chopped fresh oregano leaves (2 t. dried)
2 T. chopped fresh parsley
1/4 t. grd. ginger
1/4 t. grd. allspice
1 1/2 T. brown sugar
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1 1/2 T. red wine vinegar
1/2 c. tomato paste

Place all ingredients in a nonreactive pot and stir to mix. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer gently, stirring once or twice, for 45 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft. Use right away or cool and refrigerate up to 1 week. You can also can in a boiling water bath (15 minutes) or freeze.

Makes 7 cups

Green Bean Salad with Feta

This always gets rave reviews when I serve it or bring it to a cookout. I think people enjoy a cold green bean dish when it's hot outside--a green bean dish that isn't the syrupy sweet "three bean salad" so often seen. If making ahead, reserve the walnuts until just before serving. In addition, if made too much in advance, the red onion will start to turn everything just faintly pink.... If you need to make it much ahead, it's best to blanch the beans, chop the onion, and mix the marinade ingredients; hold separately until an hour before serving. Then, combine and chill together for the last hour. Leftovers hold, but won't be as pretty.

From The Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook

3/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 pounds green beans
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1 (4-oz.) package feta cheese, crumbled
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted

1. Combine first 5 ingredients; whisk until blended.
2. Trim stem end of green beans; cut or snap beans into thirds, if desired, and arrange in a steamer basket over boiling water. Cover and steam 10-12 minutes or until crisp-tender (mine take less time). Immediately plunge beans into cold water to stop the cooking process; drain and pat dry.
3. Combine beans, onion, and cheese in a large bowl; toss well. Cover and chill, if desired.
4. Pour oil mixture over bean mixture; cover and chill 1 hour. Add walnuts, and toss just before serving.

Makes 8 (generous) servings

Dilled Cucumber Salad

Another cucumber salad to make ahead! This is a delightful, refreshing salad and is creamy rather than simply marinated.

From The Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook

2 large cucumbers, unpeeled and thinly sliced
1/3 cup thinly sliced onion
1 T. fresh dill or 1 t. dried dillweed
1 T. white vinegar
1/2 t. salt
1/8 t. ground white pepper (I used black)
1/8 t. sugar
3/4 c. sour cream (or plain yogurt)
lettuce leaves

Pat cucumber slices between paper towels. Combine cucumber, onion, and next 5 ingredients in a bowl; toss gently. Fold in sour cream; cover and chill up to 3 hours. Serve on lettuce leaves.

Makes 6 servings.

Fattoush (Pita Salad)

Like all fresh vegetable salads, this is best made with summer's produce (from your own garden or a farmer's market, preferably!). This is quite inexpensive if you have a garden or access to a good farmer's market. I've made up the vegetable part and toasted the pita chips ahead of time and combined them all at the last minute. Don't make it more than a few hours ahead of time for optimal flavor. This is a Mediterranean specialty and is a great side dish with a simple Greek or Mediterranean chicken dish.

From Joy of Cooking (1997 ed.)

1 small cucumber, peeled if waxed, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 t. salt
3 medium ripe tomatoes, chopped (I took the seeds out, too)
1 small green pepper, diced (optional)
6 scallions, white and tender green parts, finely chopped
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley (do not substitute dried)
2 T. chopped fresh cilantro
1 T. chopped fresh mint
1/3 c. olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/4 t. salt
2 7-inch pita rounds, split open

1. Combine cucumbers and 1 teaspoon salt in a colander. Let sit for 30 minutes.
2. Toast pita on a baking sheet at 350 degrees until crisp and lightly browned. Break into bite-sized pieces.
3. Press excess water out of cucumbers, rinse quickly, and blot dry. (I skipped this-just shook them well.) Combine with tomatoes through mint.
   
4. Whisk dressing ingredients (olive oil through 1/4 teaspoon salt) together and pour over vegetables. Just before serving, add pita toasts and toss gently.

Serves 4

Tuesday's Toddler Tidbits

(See here for an explanation of Tuesday's Toddler Tidbits)

We had company in town for a good bit of this week's eating, so we ate out more than is usual. The toddlers (in triplicate) were also all recovering from a bad cold and didn't have much appetite. I suppose this is not a very glowing nutritional week with which to begin. Oh well! Serving sizes, where applicable, in parentheses. Remember, these are my offerings to the little toddler tummies...when food offered is not consumed and I know they've eaten it in the past, I assume the tummies are still full from the last offering. Here's the lineup:

Sunday:

• Breakfast: can't remember
  
• Lunch: can't remember
  
• Dinner: Mexican pizza (homemade; 1 small piece per toddler), strawberries, milk
  

Monday:

• Breakfast: hard-boiled egg (1/toddler), strawberries and bananas, blueberry muffins (1/toddler), milk
  
• Lunch: grilled cheese (2/3 sandwich per toddler), cantaloupe chunks
  
• Afternoon Snack: Animal crackers (4 per toddler), water with small amount of juice
  
• Dinner: milk, chicken nuggets (3/toddler), cantaloupe chunks, saltines (grownups had fancy dinner); oldest toddler had small piece of chocolate cake and ice cream
  

Tuesday:

• Breakfast: cantaloupe chunks, toast, hard-boiled egg, milk
  
• Lunch: leftover sweet potato chunks, 2 peaches split 3 ways, leftover Mexican pizza, water
  
• Afternoon Snack: ?
  
• Dinner: 2 child's meals (hamburger and hot dog) split three ways (with fries); oldest toddler had Sprite
  

Wednesday:

• Breakfast: Yogurt, cereal medley (dry cereal--Life, Oatmeal Squares, and wheat puffs this week), cantaloupe chunks
  
• Lunch: cheese toast (made with leftover hamburger bun), leftover hamburger patty cut up and split 3 ways, cantaloupe and banana chunks, milk
  
• Afternoon Snack: 3 animal crackers/toddler; water
  
• Dinner: cheese toast, water (oldest had Sprite); small bit of ice cream (at restaurant)
  

Thursday:

• Breakfast: Toast with butter and jelly (2/3 piece per toddler), scrambled eggs (1/toddler), mandarin oranges in juice (1/3 can/toddler), milk
  
• Lunch: Macaroni and cheese (1/4 box per toddler), 2 peaches cut up and split 3 ways, 1 square graham cracker with peanut butter (per toddler), milk (Oldest toddler had some trail mix, too)
  
• Afternoon Snack:
  
• Dinner: steamed broccoli, sauteed chicken, roasted potatoes, leftover roasted sweet potatoes
  

Friday:

• Breakfast: milk, yogurt (1/3-1/2 cup per toddler), cereal medley (dry cereal--Life, Oatmeal Squares, and wheat puffs this week)
  
• Lunch: milk; broccoli and cheese pita (warmed in toaster oven until cheese melted; 1 whole pita split three ways); peanut butter and honey pita wedges for those who finished their broccoli and cheese and were still hungry.... (oldest toddler also had 3 dried apricots and 4 small pretzels)
  
• Dinner: Chili Dog Pie,
  

Saturday:

• Breakfast: pumpkin yogurt with applesauce (1/3-1/2 cup/toddler); 2/3 piece buttered toast; milk
  
• Lunch: 1/2 grilled cheese, 1/4 c. limas, 1/4 c. mac-n-cheese, milk (animal crackers while we waited on our food--at Cracker Barrel)
  
• Dinner: 1 large square spinach and cheese ravioli with tomato sauce, 2 T. chopped cooked broccoli, milk
  

Marinated Cucumbers

Easy, quick, and yummy! I sometimes throw in tomato wedges and a splash of olive oil at the last minute; don't let the tomatoes sit in the vinaigrette long. I think this salad is best within 24 hours.

Marinated Cucumbers
From Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook, 11th edition

1/4 c. vinegar
1-2 T. sugar
1/4 t. celery seed
1 large cucumber, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced (~3 cups)
1 small sweet onion, thinly sliced

Combine marinade ingredients in covered container and add cucumber and onion. Toss to coat. Cover and chill for 2 hours and up to 5 days.

Serves 6

Cooking from the Harvest

Whether or not you have your own backyard garden, chances are good you're having no trouble rounding up fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, green beans, and peppers these days. This week, I'll post some of our favorite recipes for simple dishes which use this late summer bounty. I've already posted Green Beans with Tarragon Butter--superb with freshly harvested green beans. We're experimenting now with tomato sauces using fresh tomatoes (as opposed to canned) and have eaten a slew of tasty, varied cucumber salads in the past weeks. Mmmm.....

In-a-Pinch Cucumber Salad

According to the cookbook author (Deborah Madison), this is a good candidate for a winter salad if your market is low on appealing fresh vegetables during the colder months. That's true, if you want hothouse cucumbers. It's also a great use for the plethora of small, pickling cucumbers most often grown in home gardens and appearing on roadside stands.

From Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone

2 regular cucumbers, 1 long hothouse/English cucumber, or 3 small pickling cukes
salt and freshly milled pepper
2-3 t. olive oil
fresh lemon juice
1 t. fresh dill or several pinches dried
(feta cheese--my addition; optional, but adds a nice touch)

Peel cucumbers if peel is thick and/or waxed. Cut in half length-wise, scoop out the seeds, leaving a nicely shaped shell with smooth sides, and thinly slice. Toss the cucumbers with a few pinches of salt, pepper to taste, and enough oil to coat lightly. Add a few drops of lemon juice and the dill. Sprinkle a little feta on top if desired.

Serves 4

Quesadillas

Quesadillas are essentially the Mexican version of grilled cheese sandwiches. Because my children like anything with cheese, they scarf these little goodies down no matter what the filling is. (evil laughter... ha ha ha).

Seriously, the following are some sample fillings--my kids even know that broccoli sometimes occurs and they still eat them. I lay one tortilla down in the skillet, sprinkle some shredded cheese on it--lightly, spread on/sprinkle on another filling if desired, and top with more shredded cheese. Lay another tortilla on top, grill as for grilled cheese, and cut it three ways for my three kids. Perfect lunch.

Mixed cheeses, including cream cheese
Beans--slightly mashed pintos and black beans work great
Refried beans
Finely chopped cooked broccoli and/or cauliflower (leftovers of course)
Finely chopped cooked chicken or beef (leftovers of course)
Mild salsas (spread very thinly or it will get too soggy)

Tuesday's Toddler Tidbits

Lots of my friends ask me what I feed my toddlers, so I'm introducing a new category: each Tuesday, I'll post what my toddlers were fed the previous week. I do make a menu for the whole family every week and shop accordingly, but the menu adapts constantly for the toddlers. Toddlers seem to do best with lots of variety and small servings--really, they just need a lot of tidbits! So, I save those leftovers and put them to good use in the following days' breakfasts, lunches, and dinners.

Since I currently have three toddlers, I'm getting to be an expert in toddler meals. One of the undeniable realities of toddler eating is that they seem to pick--AT RANDOM--what they do or don't like for any given meal. Don't sweat the details. Just move on. If you're moderately concerned with nutrition and offering healthy food, they won't die of malnutrition and will most likely develop good eating habits. Remember--you are the best source of good eating habits; what you model will be what they learn.

My pediatrician once told me to attempt to balance a toddler's diet over the course of the week instead of every day. You will notice this attempt: depending upon availability, any given toddler's appetite, and amount of prep. time, the meals will fluctuate throughout the week. When I notice my toddlers haven't consumed many veggies in the past couple of days, I'll whip out the old faithfuls and let them consume several servings' worth at once. (A toddler's serving size is roughly 1 tablespoon per year of age--not much! Therefore, when a toddler wolfs down an entire baked sweet potato, he or she has just consumed 5 or 6 servings.)

We offer our toddlers the same dinner we eat unless it is something they aren't physically capable of chewing (or is very spicy). My youngest two toddlers have no molars yet, so we don't expect them to eat salad, other raw vegetables, nuts, and things like that. Otherwise, they generally get the same offerings the adults get. If they don't like it, too bad!

We also try to stay away from much refined sugar, try to avoid an overconsumption of hydrogenated oils/trans fats (but I haven't found a way to live entirely without crackers!), and try to eat lots of whole grains, lean meat, and fruits/vegetables. We certainly don't have perfect nutrition and often go with "what works," but I do try to offer healthy meals most of the time. Since I'm feeding three toddlers, "what works" gets pulled out a bit more often than it did when I was only feeding one toddler. But I try! For instance, our peanut butter and jelly is natural peanut butter and whole wheat bread.

All in all, here's a short list of tips for successful toddler feeding:

• Be creative
• Use up all those leftover tidbits (toddlers don't know what should or should not be eating for breakfast)
• Offer a variety (texture, cooking style, type of food, etc.)
• Be prepared (get it ready ahead of time if necessary)
• Eat with your toddler(s)
• Offer a combination of foods with "staying power" (proteins with carbs, complex carbs with simple carbs, etc.)
  

Hope you enjoy the series and it sparks some creative thinking on your part if you're feeding toddlers! I love new suggestions, so comment on a week's post and let me know your successes!

Texas Sheet Cake

This is the cake I grew up eating for my birthday every year; it's my dad's birthday cake, too, so we had it twice a year. Mmmmm..... It's my grandmother's recipe--my grandmother (dad's mother), my dad, and I were all born in Texas, so we come by the name of this cake honestly. It's a common enough cake, but yummy and easy enough to recommend here! In addition, in honor of our emphasis this month on meals that freeze well, this cake freezes wonderfully, iced and everything!

1 stick butter
1/2 c. crisco or oil
4 heaping T. cocoa
1 c. water
2 c. flour (sift with sugar)
2 c. sugar (sift with flour)
2 eggs
1/2 c. buttermilk
1 t. soda
1 t. cinnamon
1 t. vanilla

Combine butter, oil, cocoa, and water in saucepan. Bring to a boil and pour over sifted flour and sugar. Mix and add remaining ingredients. Pour into greased and floured 13 x 9-inch pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean from center of cake.

Ice while warm (I usually begin the icing when I take the cake out of the oven--don't ice the cake when it's piping hot or it might fall).

Icing:
1 stick butter
4 heaping T. cocoa
6 T. milk
1 box powdered sugar

Combine and bring to a boil butter, milk, and cocoa. Remove from heat and add powdered sugar. Beat by hand until smooth. Spread/pour icing on warm cake. Let cool. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Serves 20 easily.

Easy Adjustable Menu for a Crowd

Let's say, hypothetically of course, that your husband calls you some morning and tells you the dinner count that evening will be 12, including you and your husband. (Actually, I knew ahead of time that a crowd would be a possibility but didn't know how many--5 people? 9 people? 12? I found out the exact number around 10 a.m.)

Here's an easy, crowd-pleasing menu that can be quickly customized to number of people expected. It also involves no last minute steps or any high-maintenance cooking.

Grilled chicken marinated in Italian Dressing
Crudite with Ranch Dressing
Easy Roasted Potatoes
Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Bread or Rolls
Homemade Texas Sheet Cake
Ice Cream

Steps 1-3 can be done before lunch or even the night before if necessary.
1. Marinate chicken in bottle of Italian dressing: dump bottle of dressing into big ziploc bag (or two) along with chicken in the morning.
2. Cut up crudite (or buy a tray already assembled). Reserve bottle of Ranch dressing.
3. Make chocolate cake and let it cool.
4. Cut up potatoes (unpeeled) and sweet potatoes (peeled). Place enough of each in two separate pans. Cook covered or uncovered, depending on your time frame and crispy preference. I usually only add salt and pepper to sweet potatoes (skipping onion powder and garlic salt).
5. About an hour before guests are due to arrive, throw the potatoes in the oven and start up the grill. (Stir the potatoes every 20 minutes or so)
6. Grill the chicken for about 45 minutes over the cold side of the grill (turn burners off on that side); don't keep checking on it because you'll let some of the heat out!
7. When the potatoes are done, pop the bread or rolls in the oven (adjusting temperature if necessary). Gather the crowd and bless the food!

Enjoy!

Raspberry Brownies

It's hard to find a homemade brownie recipe that delivers the taste/texture we have come to expect from the better boxed brownie mixes without also requiring a million different steps during the recipe process. This recipe delivers great taste and texture using a very simplified method that is nearly as quick and easy as a boxed mix.

Recipe from back of raspberry chocolate chip bag (Hershey's)

1 10-oz. bag raspberry chocolate chips*
1/4 cup butter
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
powdered sugar (optional)

*raspberry chips are often in the stores around the holidays. You can substitute 1 2/3 cups regular semisweet chips.

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 8-inch square baking pan. Combine raspberry chips and butter in medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until melted. Remove from heat. Add eggs and vanilla (I tempered my eggs a bit by adding a little of the warm chocolate to the eggs before adding them to the chocolate/butter mixture); stir until well blended. Add flour, sugar and baking powder; stir until well blended. Spread batter in prepared pan. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. Sift powdered sugar over top, if desired.

About 20 brownies, according the package. We NEVER get that many brownies out of an 8 x 8-inch pan!

Cooking Day Lineup: Meals for my Freezer, round 1

Part of the Meals for a Month series.

So, on my first big batch cooking day, what did I cook? I thought some of you might be interested to see my line-up. I'll post recipes when I can of the more interesting specimens. (This is from memory--I feel like I'm leaving something out.)

Ground Beef (since I hit a big sale; we don't usually eat much red meat)

• 3 Beef and Potato Pies (not shepherd's pie--this one is a little different)
• 2 Mexican Pizzas
• 2 Ginormous Meatloaves
• 2 recipes Cincinnati Chili

Chicken Dishes

• 2 Chicken Tucsons (Mexican "lasagna" sort of)
• 2 White and Green Lasagnas (split up into smaller pans)
• 3 Chicken on Cornbread recipes (similar to chicken pot pie, but on cornbread)
  
• 3 Creamy Peanut Chicken recipes
  
• 2 Fragrant Sticky Chicken recipes (marinade)
• 3 Citrus Glazed Chicken recipes (marinade)
• 1 Sticky Roast Chicken (marinade)

Pork Chops (3 pairs of pork chops in honey/mustard sauce)
Fish (3 recipes Thai Fish on Rice)

Meatless Dishes

• Many Bean Chili (2 recipes split up into 4 meals' worth)
• Black Bean Lasagna (2 recipes split up into 4 meals' worth)

I'll post my potential line-up for the next go 'round as I get closer. I know I'll be doing Mediterranean Salmon Cakes, Chipotle Cheddar Chicken Cakes, and Skinny Chimichangas (to be posted soon)--all great recipes for those of you who don't have a whole day to devote to freezer cooking and would like to just double or triple recipes here and there. I'll post the complete list at some point--I'm trying to think of things that will be in season in a couple of months...which reminds me... our favorite soup freezes wonderfully. You'll have to wait and see what that's like! In the meantime, I'm going to make up a big batch of the incredibly easy Tomato Basil Soup to use up some of my basil. Another item in season this fall will be apples and I've been told my mother-in-law's AMAZING apple dumplings freeze well. Mmmmmm.....

Happy Cooking!

Enjoyable and Hospitable: benefits of cooking for your freezer

Part of the "Meals for a Month" series.

We really enjoy practicing hospitality at our house, but with three small children, that enjoyment sometimes is eclipsed by stress. When I have a freezer full of meals, hospitality is so much easier and more fun! We have friends coming in town twice this month to stay with us. I made sure I had a couple of full-sized lasagnas, a big meatloaf, and lots of marinated chicken to grill as part of my cooking day line-up. Entertaining will be easy, kid-friendly (one couple has twin 5-year-old girls), and I won't be spending the whole time in the kitchen.

Having my freezer full also enables me to take a meal to someone who's sick or just had a baby without adding a huge ordeal to my day. Again, with three small children, it's often hard for me to whip something up at the spur of the moment (and NO trip to the store is quick with them).

I really enjoy cooking. When I got to spend a whole day (or two) on just cooking, it was so much fun! I really had a good time. It was kind of a rush getting to fix so many great-looking meals without worrying about an immediate deadline (that night for instance) or dealing with sibling squabbles while trying to throw something together.

*Since writing this originally, we have hosted the couple with the twin girls. I made one meal while they were here and used a great meatloaf from the freezer for the other--it was a huge success and I didn't have to spend much time cooking!

Money Saver: a benefit of cooking for your freezer

Part of the "Meals for a Month" series.

Cooking a big batch of meals for your freezer can save you money in several ways. It usually requires a big initial expenditure on the cooking day itself, but you won't have to buy as much food the rest of the month. How does it save you money?

1. Buying in bulk quantities: If you are tripling a recipe or simply cooking several recipes that use the same types of ingredients, then you can buy a giant jar of spaghetti sauce, a 10 pound tube of ground beef, or a huge bag of onions at your local warehouse club. This is especially effective with products that might spoil normally in that quantity (like cottage cheese).

2. Weird/exotic ingredients: There are several recipes we like which might use 1/2 cup of coconut milk or 6 sheets phyllo dough...the remainder of those ingredients frequently dies a slow death in the back of my fridge. Tripling a recipe that uses the coconut milk enables me to use up the entire can at once. I can pick several recipes which use phyllo dough and make them all the same day to freeze.

3. Taking advantage of sales: This is especially true of meat which might go on a serious sale. Sometimes dairy products are on a big sale; make up lots of baked pasta dishes for your freezer that week if you have time.

4. Far away stores: There are lots of stores which might have a slightly cheaper price on certain things but which I don't frequent because they're not as close as my normal grocery store (or I just don't enjoy shopping there as much). The best example for me in this category is Wal-Mart (hate going there!). But, if I know I'm planning a big batch cooking day and only have to go there 1 time in order to buy ingredients for 30 different meals, it's both more worth it to drive a bit further and I can grin and bear it one time instead of many. I can take advantage of their cheaper prices on some things, buy the large quantity I might need, and then content myself with Kroger on the off weeks (frankly, I can frequently do as well at Kroger when the items I need are on sale). But I digress. We'll save my irritation with Wal-Mart for another time!

5. Eating at home v. eating out: Obviously, you will save money by eating at home more often than eating out at restaurants--even the fast food variety. Having your freezer stocked makes it that much easier to eat in. You'll be less tempted to call for pizza or Chinese takeout or head to the nearest burger joint at the end of a long day.

Happy Cooking!

Time Saver: a benefit of cooking for your freezer

Part of the "Meals for a Month" series.

We love efficiency here in America. Henry Ford would be so proud of this assembly-line method of cooking!

That's a large part of what cooking a lot of meals in one day is all about. You prep all the meals assembly-line style. This saves you time in the chopping (get out that big food processor and let it go to work), the steps in a recipe (brown a bunch of ground beef and onions at once, then divide it up for different recipes), and the clean-up (cleaning the pan you cooked a giant box of pasta in and the colander it all drained in one time instead of each night for several different occasions).

Another time-saving benefit that most people forget about is this: if you do a huge grocery run for your ingredients for the big cooking day, then your grocery trips for the remainder of the month will be greatly reduced or shortened. Add to that one big shopping trip the non-dinner related items you'll need (peanut butter and jelly, deodorant, whatever), and you will be able to zip in once a week for a few items of produce, some bread, and a gallon of milk. Easy! In and out! You'll use a good bit of that grocery budget up front, but your weekly expenditures should be greatly reduced.

Happy Cooking!

What's for Dinner?

School days are just around the corner! Many moms work these days, but even if you don't, chances are good that you are just as swamped with homework help, running errands, and taking care of your family; it seems that almost everyone needs help with healthy, affordable meal planning.

If you don't want to utilize the drive-thru, the processed grocery store food, or take out, what are your options for quick meals? You can cook for you freezer like I've been discussing here at full tummies. Or, you can opt for a service that tells you what to cook and gives you your shopping list. These two websites are worth checking out if you're interested in a prepared menu and shopping list:

Saving Dinner (See my earlier review)
E-Mealz (Not tried yet, but intrigued by its link to grocery store deals!)

However you choose to go about it, feeding your family healthy food is important, but not the only thing in life. Try to find a plan that enables you to enjoy dinner time with your family, not spend all day in the kitchen, and works for your budget. Sometimes, shortcuts are worth paying for--especially if you are in a major life transition (new baby/babies, new job, recent move, etc.).

Happy Cooking! Stay tuned for more lunch ideas and freezer meals.

Less Stress: a benefit of cooking for your freezer

Part of the "Meals for a Month" series.

Anyone with young children knows that dinner time is usually the most stressful time of the day. The mom or dad is frantically trying to get something on the table which the kids will eat, and the children are whining because they are hungry. Or, perhaps both adults work. With or without children, that scenario is stressful. When both arrive home tired from a long day's work, often the last thing they would like to be doing is cooking up a nice, healthy meal from scratch.

Enter cooking one day a month and stocking your freezer: the rest of the month, you can simply pull out something the night before and it's ready to go at dinner time the next night. Steam some broccoli, throw in some sweet potatoes to bake while the entree reheats, and dinner is ready with minimal thought or effort! I wish I'd tried this more when I was working--it would have been worth taking out a Saturday once a month or so to cook. If you're cooking for an entire family, you will obviously have to prepare more meals than someone cooking for one or two people. However, as I'll point out in a later post, you can double or triple meals easily enough, simplifying your cooking day.

Another stress reducer is fewer/shorter trips to the grocery store. Especially if you have to lug small children along or do your grocery shopping on the way home from work (or both!), fewer and shorter trips to the grocery will only be a blessing. Once your entrees are pretty much taken care of, you can simply run in, grab the dairy products for the week, pick up the produce on sale--or whatever you're in the mood for, grab some bread, and hit the express lane! This is also an easy list for hubby to pick up on his way home from work if you're home with the aforementioned small children and want to avoid the grocery at all costs.

Happy Cooking!

Tuna Salad Sandwiches--for the Freezer!

With school looming just around the corner, those of you packing kids' lunches (or your own) might be interested to learn about sandwiches you can make up ahead of time in bulk, freeze, and pull out in the mornings before heading off to school or work. One of my friends does this with peanut butter and jelly, but I haven't tried that yet. This recipe below is great and can be used for chicken as well as tuna. The sandwiches are low in calories and packed with bits of vegetables; make sure you don't substitute mayonnaise for Miracle Whip because mayo doesn't freeze as well.

Recipe from Meals for a Month

• 9 ounces cream cheese, softened (I've used Neufchatel cheese, too)
• 6 T. Miracle Whip
• 3 6-ounce cans chunk tuna, drained (we also throw in an extra 7-ounce pouch of tuna)
• 3/4 cup chopped green onions
• 3/4 cup shredded carrot
• 1 red bell pepper, minced
• 3 T. lemon juice
• 6 T. butter, softened
• 24 slices whole wheat bread

1. Combine cream cheese and Miracle Whip; beat (by hand) until smooth.
2. Add remaining ingredients except bread and butter. Blend well (by hand).
3. Spread bread thinly with butter. Add tuna salad.
4. Wrap each sandwich individually (in freezer wrap or ziploc bag). Bag several sandwiches together in gallon ziploc bags. Label and freeze!
5. Sandwiches should thaw by lunchtime if removed from freezer in the morning; no need for an ice pack to keep it cold!

Makes 12 sandwiches

White and Green Lasagna

This is a yummy "white" lasagna (no tomato products). The green comes from the spinach. My children and husband DEVOURED this delectable creation. And you know what? I simply pulled it from the freezer the night before and popped it in the oven when hubby called to say he was headed home from work. Not bad, eh? This is one of the meals I baked in a big batch for my freezer, and it was worth every penny and bit of labor (this being one of the more costly and labor-intensive freezer meals). It will be great to pull out a big pan of it for our company later this month (and knowing that I didn't have to slave away in the kitchen while they were with us!).

Recipe from Meals for a Month

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup shredded Monterrey Jack cheese
• 1/2 cup grated Romano cheese
• 3 cups cooked, cubed chicken
• 1 box frozen spinach, thawed and drained well
• 2 cups ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 (4-ounce) jar sliced mushrooms, drained
• 9 lasagna noodles*
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

*the recipe only has you layer this lasagna twice, so I only ended up using 6 noodles....

1. In large skillet, heat olive oil and butter. Add onion; cook and stir until crisp-tender, about 4 to 5 minutes. Sprinkle flour over onion; cook and stir until bubbly. Add broth and milk; cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Add Monterrey Jack cheese, Romano cheese, and cubed chicken. Mix well and set aside.
2. In large bowl, combine ricotta cheese, egg, first quantity of Parmesan cheese, drained spinach, and mushrooms. Cook lasagna noodles until almost done, according to package directions. Drain well and rinse with cold water.
3. In 13 x 9-inch dish (or two 8 x 8-inch pans), place 1/2 cup (or 1/4 cup) chicken sauce. Top with three lasagna noodles, then with half of spinach mixture. Then top with more chicken sauce. Repeat layers, ending with chicken sauce. To eat right away, sprinkle remaining cheese on top and bake at 375 degrees for 20-30 minutes, or until cheese begins to brown and casserole is bubbly. To freeze, chill in ice-water bath or in refrigerator, wrap, label, and attach small bag with remaining Parmesan cheese; then freeze.
4. To thaw and reheat: Thaw overnight in refrigerator. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Sprinkle lasagna with reserved cheese. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until casserole is hot in center, cheese is brown, and sauce bubbles.

Serves 6

Tricks of the Trade: tips for cooking for your freezer

Part of the "Meals for a Month" series.

I'll keep discussing the many benefits of cooking a big batch of meals for your freezer, but for those of you already motivated enough to consider it, here are some tricks of the trade, so to speak:

1. Assortment of methods: Pick recipes which include a variety of preparation techniques. You don't want to have to cook 10 casseroles or lasagnas on the same day. Instead, pick a couple of casseroles, some marinated meat recipes (for which you simply need to mix up a marinade), some stove top recipes, and a soup or two. There are also crock pot recipes you might consider--you will need to assemble ingredients, but not have to do much else.

2. Assortment of ingredients: This is especially important if you are really planning to eat everything up within one month. No one wants meat loaf 8 times in one month--or even chicken every single night. We eat chicken mostly, but I threw in some beef and pork--even a fish dish! We also eat lots of vegetarian meals, so I froze two vegetarian recipes. This will provide variety.

3. Multi-task those recipes: Here's an example. We like chili, so I made up two batches of chili (one meatless, the other beef and bean). I have a great recipe for Chili-Dog Pie which calls for hot dogs and 2 cans of chili as the base (cornbread on top). I packaged some of my homemade chili into appropriate sizes for the base of this casserole and the rest in an amount that we might eat as regular chili. If you need lots of chicken stock and also need to cook lots of chicken, consider boiling the chicken and using the resulting chicken stock.

4. Space savers: What if you don't have a nice, big, stand alone freezer? There are some ways around this. If the whole dish freezes, then a portion of that same recipe should freeze. So, make the most labor intensive portion and freeze in a ziploc bag. Ideas: the fillings for lasagna, manicotti, stuffed shells, and so forth. Just cook the pasta on the day you want to serve the meal, add the thawed filling, and bake! Same thing holds for Mexican dishes: freeze the fillings for chimichangas, burritos, enchiladas, etc. On the actual day, the hard part is done and you simply assemble. You can also double or triple meals you cook on a semi-regular basis and keep a steadily rotating supply in your freezer on hand for those busy days when you can't cook.

5. Time savers: Meals you don't have to actually cook on the big "cooking day" will of course save you time that day. This includes mixing up marinades, assembling recipes you will cook later (freezing separate bags of sauces, raw meat, veggies, etc. that will all combine into one meal later), and recipes like chili or soup that don't involve many separate steps (the "dump and cook" variety).

6. Wrapping/Labels: I like to line my baking pans with foil and then pop the frozen casserole out and put the whole thing in a ziploc bag or rewrap with another layer of foil. I prefer ziploc bags for nearly everything else. Make sure you use freezer quality wrapping; use 2 layers of wrapping for best freezer burn protection. Label everything! I made up little labels with thawing/cooking directions on them and made another double set for my kitchen (computer--printed them out). Then, I can see at a glance what will be baked to reheat, what will be simmered, etc. before I head to the freezer to open that crucial door (and let all the cold air out!). I make my decision with the door closed, then open the door and quickly grab the meal of choice. One thing I learned from my sister is to package up smaller amounts in quart-sized ziploc bags (or even gallon sized if quart isn't big enough). Then, put ALL the ingredients for the meal (the extra cheese for instance) into another gallon ziploc bag. All the parts of the recipe are in one place and the larger bag acts as that crucial second layer of freezer burn protection (it's also clear so you can see what you're grabbing).

7. Don't overanalyze this: Just pick some recipes and commit. This doesn't have to be the world's most amazingly coordinated month of meals. Pick some things that interest you and don't sweat the details. The point here is not necessarily to cook the most healthy or the most economical, but to feed your family a variety of reasonably healthy and cost-effective (and tasty) meals with reduced stress and a more pleasant chef at the table :). You'll no doubt learn as you go and become better and better at big batch cooking.

8. How to save money: You can plan for a cooking day perhaps a month away, plan your recipes, and gather your shopping lists. Then, you have a month in which to watch for sales on your chosesn ingredients. You can also shop stores like warehouse clubs, but not everything is cheaper just because it's in a giant container. Add up the amounts you need (all the ounces of salsa for instance) and figure price per ounce. Is that giant 67-ounce bottle of Pace Picante really cheaper than the store brand at your local grocery store? Warehouse clubs typically have very reasonable prices on meat and cheese, especially if you're wanting to get the show on the road and don't have time to wait around for a good sale to hit your local grocery store. Know what's typically on sale during the time of year you plan to cook. My next attempt will be sometime in late summer/early fall. Apples will definitely feature into the day's list (did you know apple dumplings freeze?). If you're going to be cooking closer to Thanksgiving, plan some turkey related meals because turkey will be on sale. You should also consider the sizes typically available for your ingredients: would it be most cost effective to double or triple a recipe? If a recipe calls for 1/2 a bag of chocolate chips, then doubling it would be more effective than tripling.

9. Where do I put the hot pans? This was the quandary I found myself in after I'd baked a huge amount of chicken breasts. Every square inch of my counter top was devoted to other meal prep tasks. Thankfully, my dining room table was cleared off (wonder of wonders), so I was able to trivets out and put the pans on those. Next time, I'll make sure my tables are cleared before I start in case I run into that problem again!

10. Keep a running survey: When you pull out the meal of the day, ask spouse and/or kids what they think. Do they like it? Any requests on their part for the next round?

Happy Cooking!