Crazy Mid May

It's been crazy here for the last 2 weeks- 2 birthdays, Mother's day and non stop rain for 2 weeks. And putting up a new ceiling in the kitchen.It's been a zoo.
So back on track again with the meal planning. I'll restart formally on Monday but for tonight, Black Beans and Rice for dinner.
It's pretty much my standby meal right now since it's a cupboard supper- I can make it from ingredients in the cupboard and freezer, though I always seem to have some fresh vegys around.
I'm consciously trying to include 1 or 2 vegetarian meals per week- I vegan and one cheese or egg based to combat both rising prices, and global warming.

I'm testing canned chicken later tonight since I just found this at Target. I have used tuna forever but it's the first time I have seen the chicken. If I can make a decent salad or filled tortilla, I will add this to my cupboard suppers.

The Lime Pudding as Lime Curd or Crepe Filling

Last night's dessert of Lime Pudding was a quick dish, but very intense and somewhat filling. This morning I made crepes for breakfast as usual. Daughter spread a bit of the lime and banana dessert on her crepes and wow! was that good. It was pretty good on toast too. I think the intensity of flavors is too much on its own-rather like trying to eat jam straight from the jar.

I will continue to use this condensed milk, citrus and banana mix as an instant breakfast topping and crepe filling rather than as pudding. It is soooo good that way.

Quick Crepes or pancakes

• Whisk 2 eggs, 1 cup of milk
• Add 3/4 cup flour, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp baking powder and whisk in.
• (For sweeter crepes, add 1 to 2 TBP sugar, 1 tsp vanilla or a bit of cinnamon)
• (For savory crepes add 1 tsp favorite herbs.)
• Heat small frying pan on medium, run bottom of pan with butter , spoon in 1/4 cup max of batter and swirl pan until you get the thinest pancake passible. Pour out any extra back into batter bowl
• Cook for 20 seconds or until tan on bottom, then turn crepe and brown on other side for 15 seconds.
• put cooked crepes on a plate- but if you are making a lot, cahnnel your inner short-order cook:
• Flip 1st crepe on plate, butter pan, pour next crepe in pan, put filling in 1st crepe and roll up like a cigar, turn over 2nd crepe in frying pan, flip 2nd crepe on plate, butter pan, etc You'll be moving between filling the just done crepe and making a new one. This recipe makes about 10 7 " crepes and you can finish in about 6 minutes.

Stop- have a cup of coffe and a crepe and enjoy the morning!

Spaghetti and Meat Sauce for tomorrow Lime Pudding Tonight

We enjoyed the roast pork tonight with potatoes and salad. So now for tomorrow's prep. I'm making the tomato meat sauce. I make a simple one, but you can add more peppers, some mushrooms, more onions, zucchini, yellow squash. The vegys disappear into the sauce.
Root vegys like potatoes and members of the cauliflower family don't really go well in this dish. I do add diced carrots since it's a sneaky way to get them into the family.

Red Meat Sauce

• In largish pot, put in 2 TBP olive oil and heat to medium. Add 2 mashed garlic cloves, 1 minced carrot, 1/2 thinly sliced pepper, and up to 1 minced onion. Cook gently( do not brown the garlic as it will taste terrible. ) until beginning to turn color.



• Add 1 lb ground beef and cover with 1 can tomato puree. Add enough water to cover meat.



• Simmer gently , partially covered for 30 minutes until meat and vegys are cooked through



• Set any portion aside that you are planning to freeze now, BEFORE adding the herbs. Freezing changes the concentration and flavor of herbs.



• Add herbs like oregano, rosemary, bay or thyme . If the sauce is too acid, add small amounts of brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon at a time or add lemon peel or cumin- I have no idea why the lemon peel or cumin works but it does take that sharp taste away.

Tomorrow I will cook the spaghetti squash in the microwave. If you have never had one, it's a strange vegetable. The inside is filled with long , delicious edible strings that look like spaghetti. It's a nice change from the wheat kind.

Lime Pudding

Limes were cheaper than lemons at the Weis market this week.

• Open 1 can sweetened evaporated Milk into a bowl



• Add the juice of 2 limes with a bit of grated rind to the milk and stir. The mixture will thicken almost immediately.



• Layer banana slices and this pudding into 4 fancy stemmed glasses for a pretty and fast dessert.

The Quiche of Death

Okay all plans break down. Between daughter's AP exams, a trip to MVA and getting ready for a craft show, I've been swamped. Which is why I anted to have all these meals planned out already! Sigh, sigh,long west of Ireland sigh.
Back to the drawing board!
I did go shopping yesterday , spending about $75 for 1 IL 96% fat free ground beef, 1/2 lb Ementhaler cheese, 12 oz Landis brand frozen sliced beef tips, a 1/2 lb top round steak, a Spaghetti squash, a yellow squash, cucumbers, 2 packs of baby tomatoes, 3 lbs oranges, bruised bananas,2 apples,2 lemons and 3 limes, gallon of milk, a small container of cream, parsley, frozen spinach, filo dough, chicken livers, a pepper, and carrots, a can of black beans and a can of chick peas., 2 frozen pie crusts.
A review of last weeks dinners yielded the following: a little too much chicken, a little to much rice, not enough dessert. Yeah right!
As usual, I don't need to buy butter or eggs, and I have some romaine lettuce and herbs already in the garden. I still have a lot of tomato sauce in the pantry and meat in the freezer. I'm rotating through some more of the meat this week. Oh, I also have 4 cups of chicken stock from last week.
So for this week the plans are for

• 2 quiches: one plan cheese with the Ementhaler and and one with frozen spinach. One goes in the freezer for emergency dinner. Serve a salad with this.
• Roast Pork with potatoes and apples - Roast pork from freezer.
• Spanokopita- I have feta on hand as well as cream cheese and rice. Use the Filo dough
• Spaghetti squash with tomato meat sauce- tomato sauce on hand.
• Black Beans and Rice with tomatoes and Yellow squash - It was popular last week!
• Beef Pilaf with the 1/2 steak pepper, carrots, any leftover squash, lots of tomatoes, and small onions from the garden.
• Pork chops with lemon- I cu the chops off the pork roast before cooking it.

I'm working later tonight so I'm cooking now. I have the roast pork in the oven, since it is hot today and we like it cold as well. So I have today's dinner and tomorrows already done!

Quiche of Death

A very quickly made quiche that always turns out. Think about what you want to add to it- bacon, ham, spinach, tomatoes, crab. ALL these additional ingredients MUST be pre cooked so they are rather dry- if not, the juices running out spoil the texture of the quiche. Prep time 20 minutes- cooking 30 to 40 minutes. DO NOT use celery- it turns out awful.

• Pre cook 1/2 bacon or 1/2 pound crab meat or tomatoes or ham or fried onions or leftovers.
• Preheat oven to 400
• stab 2 frozen pie shells all over with a fork and bake in the oven for 7 minutes.
• While waiting, break 3 eggs into a bowl, add 2 cups of milk and whisk. You can substitute cream or cream cheese for some of the milk but the basic formula is 3 eggs to 2 cups of liquid. Add salt sparingly as the cheese is salty, but nutmeg and pepper are always good.
• In another bowl grate 1/2 to 1 lb cheese:Swiss and Ementhaler are traditional but cheddar. provolone and jack work fine- they are just kind of mild for this.
• Open the oven and slide out the rack with the pie shells. Add 1/2 the special ingredients in the bottom of each pie. Add 1/2 the cheese on top of the vegys, then pour the egg mix on top and slide rack back into oven.
• Lower the heat to 350 and bake about 25 minutes. Check if crust is browning too much, if so lower heat or add a foil strip to crust. Poke in center of pie and if knife comes out clean, the pie is done.

Friday Night's Dinner: Black Beans and Rice

I made another quick vegetarian dinner last night, since daughter was off to a friend's later that night. On Friday's I clean out the refrigerator, using whatever leftover vegys and cheese bits are left. This dish uses up all the non starchy vegys left.

Black Beans and Rice. I first learned of this dish under the probably pollitically incorrect name of Moros and Christianos when I lived in Spain. The black beans and white rice make a stark, moderne image on the serving plate. It's a very filling dish that can stand up to hot flavors and strong spices. Feel free to add more and different vegs to the bean mix. Add more hot peppers if you like them( I don't)
The basic recipe for 2 very large dinner servings or 4 side dish servings:

• Boil 2 cups water with lemon peel and 1/2 tsp salt
• in frying pan or largish pot, heat 1 TSP olive oil on medium and add 1 clove garlic, some spring onions, 1 tsp turmeric powder, red pepper flakes, 1/2 small diced zucchini, yellow squash or handful of spinach. You want a quick cooking veg here that will absorb the yellow color. Cover and cok until garlic is cooked.
• Add 1 cup rice to boiling water, lover heat and set timer for 13 minutes
• remove garlic turmeric mix to a small bowl, Set aside
• Into the frying pan, place one can rinsed black beans, and a cup of quick cooking vegs such as 1/2 of a small zucchini, yellow squash or spinach cut into large chunks, or 1 cup of cherry tomatoes,or 1 can of rinsed peeled tomatoes, or 1 cup of corn. Cover and lower heat to cook vegies and heat beans through.

Make a ring out of the rice on a serving plate. Spoon the black beans and veg in the middle or the ring. Top with the bright yellow turmeric and minced vegs.

Snazzier versions:

Sausage

Cook strong flavored chopped sausage or baked ham chunks in low heat. Add chopped red, green and yellow peppers. Add some hot peppers as well. Add the black beans to this mix. Add cherry tomatoes. Heat through and serve over rice with the turmeric sauce.

Thurdsday Night Dinner- Mac and Cheese

Well, really it was whole wheat spaghetti with a cheese sauce and peas and ham. Make the sauce while the spaghetti cooks, and voila, dinner in under 30 minutes.

• Put water on to boil for spaghetti, add salt
• Chop a few slices of ham, grate 2 TBS Locattelli Romano or 1/3 cup soft cheese like Swiss, Jack, cheddar for the sauce
• in sauce pan, melt 2 TBS butter on medium heat
• add 2TBS flour to melted butter and whisk until completely blended. Cook for 3 minutes stirring constantly until the mix thickens and flour no longer tastes raw
• add 1 cup milk a bit at a time whisking between adding to make a smooth paste, then a smooth thick sauce. Add enough milk to make a slightly thick sauce- the cheese will thicken it further.
• Water should be boiling so add the spaghetti, set timer for 10 minutes.
• Into sauce, whisk in 2 to 3TBS grated Locattelli brand Romano cheese. This brand usually melts in completely; other brands remain gritty. Salt to taste. Add other seasonings such as nutmeg, mustard, pepper, chili pepper seeds, oregano depending on the cheese used and your tastes.
• By this point the spaghetti is almost cooked. Add some snow peas to the water to heat through.
• Drain pasta and peas, mix into the sauce, add some chopped ham and serve to kudos.

Notes

I find milk and cheese sauces to be a bit heavy in flavor. A drop of hot sauce or mustand seems to cut the milkyness, but not everyone here agrees.

You can put this mix into an oven safe casserole dish, top with additional cheese and bake the next day. We never seem to have enough left over for that.

Pennsylvania style Dutch egg noodles cook even faster- 5 minutes tops.

chicken Nuggets and Rice tonight- Mac and Cheese tomorrow

For tonight's dinner-Cut up chicken breasts breaded and fried, with plain rice
Okay, I'm putting lemon peel, and butter in the rice and will garnish with fresh parsley.
For tomorrow, it's mac and cheese with ham bits and peas. It's not really a make ahead dish since my version takes only 15 minutes.

Fallafel Dinner and new Lemon Custard

So last night,as planned Fallafel and fancy rice for dinner. Cliced cukes with Rosemary for a salad. Lemon pudding was an afterthought.
The first thing I always do when cooking is put the water for rice or pasta to boil. That's what takes the longest time.

Frangrant Rice for 4

put 2 cups of water to boil. add 1/4 tsp salt
when boiling , add 1 cup rice, 2 TBSP chopped dried apricots or white raisins to pot , lower heat to simmer, cover and start timer.
at 10 minutes, add handful of snow peas into pot, 2 chopped scallions, chopped lemon peel
heat 2 more minutes, turn off heat but leave covered. Rice is done in 2 additional minutes,.

Fallafel for 4

• soak 1 lb dried chick peas in water overnight ( done last night)
• process plumped peas with 1 bunch of parley (or spinach or mint) in food processor
• place wet mix in bowl, add 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking powder and about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of bread crumbs
• add enough bread crumb ( or flour) to be able to shape 2 " patties
• Fry in 1/4 inch of oil turning when medium brown.

Lemon Pudding

Okay this turned out to be a weird recipe, but it works.

• Pour one can of sweetened condensed milk into a bowl
• Add the juice of 2 lemons, about 1/3 of a cup. Mix the 2 well

This mix will get firmer and firmer as you stir it. It's very lemony and very sweet at the same time. I saw this recipe as a pie filling in the 1970's Joy of Cooking and tried just the filling part. It's very very very rich. If serving as a pudding, I'd serve 1/4 of a cup with some whipped cream, maybe a bit of cream cheese or chopped mango on top. I'm going to play with this recipe since it was so easy. I wonder if it works with orange juice or does it need more acid that that?

Prepping tonight: Fallafel and Lemon Rice

Fallafel is ground chic pea and herb balls that are fried. I need to put the chick peas in water to swell.
Fragrant rice just needs lemon, scallions and some apricot jam to make a tasty mix. Salad will be cucumbers with vinegar and rosemary. An easy prep tonight.

Tonight's Chicken Casserole and Egg custard.

Dinner went off without a hitch, which is good since we were hungry! Dinner was in 20 minutes. Chicken casserole in the oven at 350, some raw carrots for the veg and a quick stove top custard for dessert.
Okay, dessert was not part of the plan but... it's really nasty outside and custard is so homey.

Egg Stovetop Custard
in top part of a double boiler mix over boiling water

• 2 cups of milk
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup of sugar
• pinch salt
• tsp of vanilla or other flavoring

Whisk constantly for about 6 to 10 minutes until the custard thickens. DO NOT let this get really hot, 'cause then the egg bits poach and you have a wet sandy texture to the custard.

You can also put these in custard cups, place these in baking pan filled 1/2 way up the cup sides with water and bake for a while in a 300 degree oven . I don't usually do that. My favorite quick custard is a cornstarch one made in the microwave. Each microwave oven is different so you have to record the times the first time you make it to get the recipe perfect.

Microwave Blancmange

The trick to this recipe is to make a cornstarch paste with NO lumps in it before adding all the milk

• whisk together in a microwave safe bowl 1/3 cup of cornstarch and 1/2 cup of sugar.
• measure 2 cups milk and 1 tsp vanilla or orange flavor.
• add very little of the milk, maybe a Tsp to the starch and mix very well. Get rid of the lumps
• Keep adding milk very slowly-and mixing until you are sure there are no lumps left at all then whisk in the rest of the milk

Microwave at full power for 2 minutes, then check the pudding. If the mix is not yet hot, microwave at 1 minute intervals until pudding starts to set on one side of the bowl.. Record the time it took. Whisk pudding and return to microwave at 30 second intervals. The pudding is done when it is thick and no raw cornstarch flavor remains. Record this time too.

Pour into pretty cups and refrigerate until firm. It tops well with fresh fruit or with chocolate syrup drizzles.

Notes

When you make the pudding again, set the timer for the time it took to start setting. When the buzzer sounds, whisk the pudding, return to microwave for second time interval.

In my first microwave, the times were 3 minutes, stir and reset for 1.30 minutes. In my new one, it takes 5 and 3 minutes. Go figure.

I like it best with orange flavoring. My nephew prefered this as a warm drink rather than letting the pudding cool in the fridge.

Tomorrow's Chicken Casserole Done

I boned the cooked chicken, and since I was there... I cooked rice in some of the stock, and cleaned up the kitchen. While the rice was cooking I made a simple white sauce:

• 1TBSP Butter whisked with 1TBSP flour on a medium hot pan
• add about 1 cup hot stock a little at a time whisking constantly
• herbs and spices and salt to taste

I mixed the slightly undercooked rice with the chicken, about 3/4 cup of chopped tomatoes and the white sauce in a greased casserole dish, then covered everything with crushed saltines.

Tomorrow when I come home, all I have to do is pop this in a 350 oven until warmed through, boil some water , then drop in some sliced carrots, and as soon as the carrots are soft, drop in a handful of snow peas. Dinner is done!

A few notes

I love leeks! The green made a nice ingredient in a stock. The all white part just dissolves in soup , so you can get a really nice leek and potato cream soup.

All this can be done with canned chicken stock- I just usually make my own since - well, I have the chicken bones right there anyway.

I was going to make the casserole with potatoes instead of rice, but well, I didn't feel like peeling potatoes again today. I'd made Spanish potato omelets for lunch.

Snow peas are hellishly expensive, but we like them. Usually in a casserole like this I use frozen mixed bagged vegys. They are good, nutritious and reasonably priced. The only drawback sometimes is that the combo of carrots, corn , peas and green beans I like can sometimes be a little sweet.

Finally, I don't mention how I spice things up. I tend to like herbs more than fiery spices , but any of these recipes can take the addition of hot spices and more herbs. In this case I used a lot of Rosemary for example, since that's what I have on hand. It goes well with chicken.

Small glitch but back on track. Pork Chops today; Chicken casserole tomorrow.

So I did what I set out to make last Friday: we had a cold collation, I made a rhubarb cobbler for dessert, and I prepped the potatoes for Saturday's pork chop and potato dinner. What I forgot was that the family was going out to dinner Saturday to celebrate a wedding.

Great time had by all, and several of us tried fried pickles( not I as I loathe pickles) and pronouced them wonderful.

So back on track today.

Took the kids to the movies at 3:30 so dinner had to be on asap when we returned. As the potatoes were peeled and in the pot, it was quick work to cut up some apples as a side dish, as well as make a salad. Dinner in 35 minutes. After dinner , on to prepping tomorrow's meal.
As I type now, my chicken stock is boiling merrily away.
I cut up a whole chicken, saved the breasts for chicken nuggets later in the week. I put the rest of the bird, including the 2 legs , in a pot with leek tops and some carrots.
So now I'm reducing the stock while letting the chicken cool in the fridge.

Begining tonight!

Off to work again with a 1 1/2 hour commute and people to feed when I return home. And though it's nice to be able to afford fancier ingredients, well, I don't have the time to shop for those special items.
So here's the plan: find a way to cook for us that gets a meal on the table in 20 minutes, consists only of things available at the supermarket, takes advantage of seasonal fruits oh, and is relatively cheap!
Organization to the rescue. If a large restaurant can manage to feed hundreds of starving guests each night, without knowing exactly what each customer wants, then I should be able to imitate their success for my small family. After all, my customers have to eat what I put on the table!

So here's the first go at organizing the meals. I wrote out a quick cooking meal list for the week
We're having

• Chicken and potato casserole with assorted vegy


• Macaroni and cheese with ham and peas


• Pork chops with apples and potatoes


• Cold collation( a picnic to the rest of you :-)


• Falaffel with rice and salad


• Spaghetti with meatballs and salad


• Chicken nuggets with rice

It's pretty balanced- there's pork, chicken, beef, cheese and chickpeas for protein; potatoes, pasta and rice for carbohydrates; one tomato based dish, several salads and the unmentioned vegys in the mix. I know the casserole takes longer than 20 minutes, BUT, it can be made ahead.

I picked up the chicken, deli roast beef and ham, pork chops, rice, rhubarb, eggplant, squash, strawberries, mango, lemons, cukes, carrots, bread, cheese sticks, flour, potatoes, pasta and a can of black beans for about $45. I have milk, eggs and butter on hand( I stockpile butter on sale and I have laying hens) as well as tomato sauce, chickpeas, frozen mixed vegys, and hamburger.

Since I just finished the grocery shopping, here's the first trial effort.

Tonight , since it's almost 80 degree and my daughter is off to a play tonight, we're having a picnic supper of Deli roast beef, good bread, cucumbers with rosemary salad, and a quick -ish rhubarb cobbler for dessert. The cobbler cooks while we eat and will be done by the end of supper.
Recipe for Rhubarb Cobbler

1. Wash, trim and dice 1/2 lb of rhubarb and strawberries
2. Add 1/2 to 3/4 cup of sugar, 1Tbsp of flour . Let sit for up to overnight
3. Preheat oven to 450F
4. Butter or use Pam in an 8" ovenproof dish or pan
5. Place fruit in dish
6. In new bowl mix 1 1/2 cups of flour, 1 tsp salt, 3 tsp baking powder, 1 tablespoon of sugar and some grated orange rind if you have it
7. Cut up 4 TBSP ( 1/2 a stick ) of butter into really small pieces and drop into flour mix. Work it with your fingers until you get a sort of mealy texture.
8. Add 3/4 cups of milk and mix quickly. This will look pretty icky.
9. Drop this rather stiff batter on top of the fruit
10. Bake for 25 minutes. you can put some melted butter over the batter to keep the crust soft, but I usually forget.

When we return tonight, I have to prep the chicken and potatoes for tomorrow's dinner.