We all know that for speedy suppers that are big on flavor and low on prep time, we should plan ahead for leftovers. For instance, roast an extra chicken for a quick casserole later in the week, or saute a second helping of vegetables to toss with tomorrow night's pasta.
If this plan-ahead idea appeals to you, then you'll want a list of a few foods that work well this way. Rice is a perfect example. Leftover rice makes a great one-dish meal--Fried Rice--when time is at a premium. Use a combination of chopped cooked chicken and ham, or substitute leftover beef, pork, or shrimp; simply adjust the ingredients according to what's on hand. If you prefer a spicier version, bump up the heat with another teaspoon of chili-garlic sauce. Available in the Asian section of most supermarkets, it's a fiery-hot blend of ground chili peppers and garlic that also adds fast flavor to marinades and pasta sauce.
All this said, let's do FRIED RICE 101:
Heat 1 Tbsp oil in large skillet over medium-high heat Add 2 lightly beaten large eggs, and gently stir 1 min., or until softly scrambled Remove eggs from skillet; chop and set aside Heat 2 Tbsp oil in skillet Add 1/2 C diced onion, 1/2 C diced bell pepper; stir-fry 3 min. Add 1 C chopped cooked meat, poultry, or shrimp Add1/2 C frozen sweet green peas; stir-fry all for 2 min. Add 3 C cooked rice, 1/4 C soy sauce, 1 tsp chili-garlic sauce Stir-fry all for 3-4 min., or until heated through Stir in scrambled eggs Sprinkle with sliced green onions and sliced almonds
This serves 4, takes about 10 min. to prep and about 10 min. to cook. And what a terrific use for leftover rice!
Can you suggest other leftover foods that you've found work well into next-day dishes? Please comment with your ideas. We're all in this together, so let's help each other out. And until next time, happy cook'n!
Forget to plan supper? Only an hour before the gang arrives? Then it's time to take advantage of those magnificent, but often ill-used convenience food products. Spur-of-the-moment anxiety will become spud-of-the-moment satisfaction (is that cute, or what!). And best of all, no one will know dehydrated, canned, or frozen potatoes helped you out!
Here are some of our favorite potato recipes that have fed and dazzled folks at the Osborne table. They're not just tasty, they're easy to make, and draw on ingredients pretty common to most pantries. Try these out and let me know what you think. Also, please comment--I'd love to know what recipes have bailed YOU out when time was short. We're all in this together, remember, so let's share the good stuff. And until next time, happy cook'n!
SALISBURY SKILLET SUPPER (serves 4; this makes great leftovers) 1 1/2 lb lean ground beef 1 can (5.3 oz) evaporated milk, undiluted 1 egg, slightly beaten 1 C soft bread crumbs (2 slices) 1/2 tsp salt 1 Tbsp onion flakes 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1 can (16 oz) sliced potatoes, drained; liquid reserved 1 pkg (10 oz) frozen peas 1 can (4 oz) sliced mushrooms, undrained 1 envelope ( 1 5/8 oz) onion soup mix
Combine beef, milk, egg, bread crumbs, salt, and onion flakes in large bowl; blend thoroughly. Shape into 4 large 1-inch thick oval patties. Heat oil in 10-inch skillet on moderate heat. Add patties; brown on both sides. Drain, if necessary. Add enough water to reserved potato liquid to equal 1 cup. Add potatoes, peas, mushrooms, soup mix, and 1 coup potato liquid to beef mixture. Heat to a boil; simmer, covered, 20 min., stirring once during cooking, to blend. REALLY good.
QUICK SAUSAGE-VEGGIE STEW (serves 6) 2 Tbsp cornstarch 1 Tbsp instant minced onion 1 tsp instant chicken bouillon 1/2 tsp basil 1/4 tsp salt 1 can (16 oz) stewed tomatoes, undrained 1 can (8 oz) sliced carrots, drained 1 can (8 oz) french cut green beans 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce 12 oz cooked Kielbasa, cut into 1/2-inch slices (or substitute 1 lb of cooked and crumbled breakfast sausage) 1 can (16 oz) sliced potatoes, drained 1/4 C chopped celery 1 Tbsp minced parsley 1 can (7.5 oz) refrigerated buttermilk biscuit dough, separated Sesame seeds
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease a 2-qt casserole; set aside. Combine cornstarch, onion, bouillon, basil, and salt in large saucepan. Stir in tomatoes with liquid, carrots, green beans, and Worcestershire. Cook and stir until thickened. Add sausage, potatoes, celery, and parsley; heat until bubbly. Turn mixture into prepared casserole. Quickly arrange biscuits on top with sides touching. Sprinkle on sesame seed. Bake for 12-15 min., or until biscuits are golden brown.
GARDEN POTATOES (serves 3-4; an unusual combination that is very good) 1 can (16 oz) whole potatoes, undrained 1/4 C peeled, chopped cucumber 2 Tbsp minced green pepper 3 medium radishes, thinly sliced 2 Tbsp sliced green onions 1 Tbsp minced parsley 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp sour cream
Heat potatoes in 1-qt saucepan; drain; set aside and keep hot. Combine cucumber, green pepper, radishes, onions, parsley, and salt in small saucepan. Stir in sour cream. Cook on low heat, stirring constantly, until heated through; do not boil. Pour mixture over hot potatoes; stir to coat.
Combine 2 1/2 C water, onion flakes, bouillon, and garlic powder in saucepan. Bring to a boil; simmer 5 min., or until bouillon is dissolved. Stir in potato flakes. Slowly stir in milk. Add Worcestershire, cheese, and bacon. Cook on low heat, stirring constantly, until cheese is melted; do not boil. Garnish each serving with parsley.
HOT TIP: Buy a pound or two of bacon. In a large pot, fry it all up; drain off fat. Freeze some strips in a plastic freezer bag for use later on BLTs; crumble the rest, place in a plastic freezer bag for use later in this soup and lots of other recipes. Time spent on the front end can save tons of time on the back end!
Looking to add a little spizzazz to dinner? One way to do it is with cheese. Historically, human beings LOVE cheese. It adds beauty to the dish and flavors that can't be matched any other way. And if we're careful--all things in moderation--we can indulge.
I'm cheese-talking because I just found a little treasure. I was flipping through one of my late Aunt Annie's magazines and found a recipe leaflet, "Great Meals Begin with Cheese." Simply stated and never more true. So I thought I'd share a couple of these with you. Try them and let me know what you think. Meanwhile, if YOU run on to a good recipe, please put it in the comment section and I'll be sure to feature it in a post with your name attached. We're all in this together, remember. So until next time, happy cook'n! Now, let's go make a great meal...
SOUTH OF THE BORDER CAESAR-SALSA SALAD (serves 4)
8 C romaine and radicchio salad mix (I like Fresh Express) 2 C cheddar cheese, shredded (divided) 1 ripe avocado, diced 1/2 C black beans, rinsed and drained 1/4 C frozen whole kernel corn, thawed 1/3 C Caesar salad dressing 1/4 C prepared salsa 2 tomatoes, each cut into 8 wedges 1 C croutons
In large bowl, combine lettuce, 1 C cheese, avocado, beans and corn. Combine dressing and salsa; mix well. Pour over lettuce mixture; toss well. Transfer to 4 serving plates; arrange tomatoes on plates. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and croutons.
THREE CHEESE ROASTED VEGETABLES (serves 6)
2 medium russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces 2 medium carrots, pared and cut into 1/2 inch slices 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1 tsp basil, crushed 1 tsp oregano, crushed 1/4 tsp salt 1/4 tsp pepper 1 lg zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch pieces 1 large red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces 2 cloves garlic, minced 3/4 C Parmesan cheese, grated 3/4 C Cheddar cheese, grated 3/4 C Monterey jack cheese, grated Fresh basil sprigs as garnish (optional, but why not--so easy!)
Place potatoes and carrots in greased 13x9 inch baking dish. Drizzle with oil; sprinkle with basil, oregano, salt, and pepper. Toss lightly to coat. Bake at 425 degrees for 20 min. Add zucchini, red pepper and garlic; stir vegetables. Return to oven and bake 20 min. or until veggies are tender. Sprinkle with cheeses; return to oven about 2 min. more or just until cheese melts. Garnish with basil sprigs. This is fantastic with a crusty bread and a fresh fruit cup.
As Spring approaches I start to get a little nervous--warmer weather means more demands on my time (gardening and yard work for instance), and I already feel like I'm spread thinner than a drink of water. I still want to be able to provide healthy, budget-wise, and yummy meals for the family, so how do I manage with less and less time at my disposal?
Behold the slow cooker--the busy cook's best friend (wouldn't you love to be the guy that invented it?). I thought just for drill, I'd do a little research to see if anyone had suggestions for different ways to use their slow cooker. Boy did I come up with a boatload of ideas. For instance:
Soak beans in the pot overnight, rinse them in the morning while making breakfast, and then cook them all day. When you get home from work you have beans ready to go into anything.
Slow cookers are a fantastic way to make oatmeal. Use Scottish or Irish-steel-cut oats for the most nutrition and best flavor. Put water and oats in the cooker before you go to bed, and wake up to a great breakfast base in the morning. Add milk, maple syrup, dried cherries, raisins, or craisins, chopped nuts, some cinnamon, coconut...the list can go on. This is amazing!
The easiest way to cook a vegetarian meal in the cooker is to throw everything in at once (grains, cooked beans or lentils, veggies, water, oil, or spices. Then cover and cook for 8 hrs. Add any salt at the very last of the timing (salt toughens legumes and slows the cooking process).
Roast or bake vegetables (which can be done without oil or herbs). No water is needed because the veggies have enough of their own, and they won't dry out in the cooker like they do in the oven. Using a digital time to turn the slow cooker on at the right time is the best way to prevent over-cooked veggies. You can bake a large or medium yam on low in four hours, or on high in two hours. Root vegetables or potatoes cut in big chunks take less time. A good idea is to coat them in oil.
There are some clever ways to extend cooking time without hurting the integrity of the meal. Using the aforementioned digital timer is the first place to start. Say that you leave the house at 8:00 am and return at 7:00 pm. The slow cooker recipe you want to start before you leave, will be done five hours before you get home. So just plug your cooker into the timer; set it at 1:00 pm, and supper will be perfectly ready when you arrive. There are several digital timers to choose from on the Internet.
Another way to extend cooking time is to go with a cold start. Pull a container of soup or stew out of the freezer in the morning, put in the cooker on warm or low; set the digital timer to cook for however long you want.
Finally, start the day before: Add the ingredients for a one dish meal to the crockpot the night before, put it in the fridge, then start it cold in the morning. This will add another hour or two to the cooking time.
Now for more drill, let's try a recipe. This is very easy and quick, so the idea here is to make it ahead of time, freeze, and place it in the cooker frozen, and cook on low for a few hours (I don't have a timer yet, but I think 6 hours would be OK).
MRS. DASH'S BAKED ZITI (serves 8)
(This recipe is courtesy of Cook'n, edited to accommodate the slow cooker approach)
8 oz pkg ziti pasta (uncooked)
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 C chopped onion
2 C sliced, fresh mushrooms
1 tsp Mrs. Dash garlic and herb seasoning
2 tsp Mrs. Dash extra spicy seasoning
1 Tbsp fresh rosemary (or 1 tsp dried)
2 Tbsp shredded Romano cheese
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
2 (14.5 oz) cans stewed tomatoes, no salt added
1/2 C grated Parmesan cheese
In med. saucepan, saute onion and mushrooms in olive oil until onions are translucent and mushrooms release their juice. Add seasonings, rosemary, Romano, and pasta and toss to incorporate flavors.
Line cooker pot with heavy-duty tin foil so foil goes up the sides of the container (you want enough left over to fold over top of casserole to make an airtight seal); shape well to cooker; grease foil well. Place all ingredients except stewed tomatoes in foil lined container. Then pour stewed tomatoes over top, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Fold foil over contents and seal well, then place container in freezer. Watch closely and as soon as contents begin to freeze (where it all holds the shape of the cooker), remove, and lift contents out of cooker pot. Return food to freezer.
On cook day, run foil covered casserole under hot water to loosen the foil; remove contents from foil and place in cold cooker. Set on LOW; you might add 1/2 C water. Cover and cook for 8 hrs. Serve with more shredded cheese, crusty french bread and tossed salad.
Now, do YOU have a suggestion for slow cooker use? Please share--we're all in this together, remember. Let me know what you think of this recipe, should you try it, and until next time, happy cook'n!
Every cook (foodie or not), needs a break once in awhile. Hence the reason to store up lots of fast and easy recipes. Thumbing through my 40-year-old recipe box, I ran onto a very easy dinner my seven children just loved. We called it "Fritos Banditos" and the thing I liked about it most, was that the kids were so jazzed we were having it, that they were more than happy to help with the preparations.
Here's the recipe, then let's talk...
FRITOS BANDITOS (serves 10, unless I'm at the table, then it serves 5)
3 C corn chips 1 lb ground beef 1 pack taco seasoning mix 2 C water 1 onion, chopped 2 C shredded cheese 1 head lettuce, shredded 2 tomatoes, diced 1 can ripe olives, chopped or sliced 2 C sour cream
Cook and stir ground beef and onion, until beef is brown. Drain off fat. Stir in seasoning, water, and onion. Heat to boil; reduce heat, simmer uncovered 10 min. Spoon mixture onto corn chips. Top with remaining ingredients. We liked to add homemade guacamole, too, but this is delicious without it.
OK, now let's talk. Here's the deal: If you really want to easy-atize (not a word, I know) your cooking routine, get in the habit of keeping "gravels" in your freezer. "Gravels" are pre-cooked/pre-chopped/pre-shredded food that's been set out on cookie sheets, frozen, then repackaged into freezer bags or containers. Hamburger and sausage gravel, diced chicken gravel, shredded cheese gravel, chopped onion gravel, chopped celery gravel, chopped green pepper gravel...you get the idea.
Can you see how super easy it is to get dinner on if first, you're using an EASY recipe, and second, most of the ingredients are already prepared? So sometime soon (maybe not this weekend, cuz we're getting ready for Super Bowl Sunday, right?), but some weekend, devote some time to cooking up a whole lotta ground beef, Italian sausage, chicken breasts; shred some cheese, dice some onion and other veggies, freeze, and package it all up. If you're not inclined to tackling the preparing of 30 meals in one day as a means to saving time, this "gravel" approach will still do the trick.
Do you have an EASY recipe you could share? We're all in this together, remember, so let's share the good stuff. Until next time then, here's to saving time and energy by goin' EASY, and happy cook'n!
Who likes to "wander and ponder" the grocery store aisles on the way home from work, trying to figure out what's for dinner? I've done this enough times to know I don't like it at all. I am lucky enough to have a few incredibly organized friends, and after my moaning and groaning about this all-too-frequent recurring problem, Kristin told me how she now avoids this pattern:
She makes a menu, she shops around her menu, and on a specific day, she makes as much of her meals that she can, ahead of time and freezes them until time to serve. Whoa! THAT'S one brilliant idea, I thought to myself! Oh, I know the idea's been around for a long time, but you know how things sometimes don't register until you need 'em?
Anyway, I'm going to follow her lead, starting this weekend. And in case you like the idea as well, or are just looking for a great recipe to make ahead, here's an easy and superior chicken dish you'll want to try out:
CHICKEN NEWBURG (serves 6) 2 Tbsp minced onion 3 Tbsp butter 3 Tbsp flour 1 tsp salt Dash pepper 1/4 tsp tarragon 1 C chicken broth 1/2 C half'n'half 2 C diced cooked chicken 1 egg yolk, beaten 1 Tbsp lemon juice 1/4 C minced pimiento 1 avocado, cubed Steamed rice
Cook onion in butter until tender. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and tarragon. Gradually add brother and half 'n' half. Cook over low heat, stirring, until mixture thickens. Add chicken; carefully blend in egg yolk, lemon juice, pimiento and avocado. Serve over steamed rice.
Now, if you aren't inclined to make entire recipes ahead, at least consider this: Notice the diced cooked chicken in the recipe. And how many other recipes do you like to make that also call for cooked chicken? Here's an idea--cook chicken breasts ahead of time, dice, lay out on a cookie sheet to freeze. When frozen, put pieces into freezer containers and freeze until needed for a recipe. Just this little step will save you a lot of time over the long haul as well.
Do YOU have tips or ideas to share on make-ahead meals or recipes? Please comment--we're all in this together, remember. So here's to making life easier with make-ahead meals, and until next time, happy cook'n!
All this said, let's do FRIED RICE 101:
