1461 Dinners - Night 7

 We have reached the part of the school year where all the things my kid signed up for at the beginning of the year that seemed so doable are all happening, simultaneously. 

Sigh.

Because I had a doctor's appointment, Kid 1 drove Kid 2 to practice while I made dinner. I am still not back in my real groove with cooking so I kept it simple and made a sausage sauce and tortellini for the kids and I made myself sausages and peppers with zucchini. 

The best part of making sausage and peppers and (onions) is that it's absurdly simple. I slice the bell peppers and onions very thin. I put them in a hot pan with oil and start them BEFORE the sausages because I like the onions to get caramelized. Plop the sausages in and cook till they are done and brown on all sides. I like bangers for sausages or sweet Italian sausages if I can't get those. Any type of sausage you like though, beef, chicken, or even vegetarian sausages will work. Sometimes I only use peppers and onions, sometimes (like last night) I throw in some sliced zucchini as well at the end. then I deglazed the pan with some marsala wine and chicken broth. You can even use just water or water with a splash of apple cider vinegar in it. 

This can be served over greens, rice or noodles if you wish, I skipped that part entirely and topped it with a sprinkle of feta cheese. It's my favorite. 

Everyone ate, not at the same time, because rehearsals and meetings and such, but hey. Still counts as far as I am concerned. 

I literally cannot take a good food photo to save my life, trust me this was delicious. 

#KeepGoing

1461 Dinners- Nights 2 and 3

 Decided to use some frozen chicken and pasta meals I had in the freezer rounded out with an extra artichoke stuffed chicken breast from the other night and some broccoli and cauliflower I roasted because it needed to be used up. 

Do you ever stare into the refrigerator and think... "I know I bought food but I'll be damned if I can think what I was going to do with it."

When I see ingredients but I can't remember the plan I just prepare them. On this day with only the mandate, "these must be used immediately", I chopped up the head of cauliflower and the head of broccoli and put them on a sheet pan. I covered them in oil and then sprinkled them heavily with a seasoning blend that had salt, pepper, onions and garlic in it. Then I roasted the vegetables for 20 minutes at 375ºF. They looked not as brown as I wanted so I gave it all a good stir and threw them back in for another 5 minutes.

Later that night as I was driving kid 2 from sports practice to theater rehearsal I called my husband and said, HEY, there's a plan for dinner after all. Take the frozen chicken and pasta meals out of the freezer, cut up, add the leftover artichoke chicken, and toss in the roasted veg I did earlier.  

It made such a huge amount we had it for dinner again last night.

Tonight's dinner will be refrigerated tortellini and sauce with salad and a take-and-bake bread loaf served with olive oil and balsamic glaze. 

That will be 4 nights, down. 

The aforementioned roasted veg. 

Do you have any vegetables languishing in the fridge? Go ahead and roast them.  They can work as a side dish or depending on what you have can be pureed into a soup or sauce. Tomatoes, bell pepper, and onion work particularly well as a sauce or a soup. 

#KeepGoing 

1,461 dinners - Night One

Dinner Tonight: 

Heat and Eat Chicken stuffed with artichoke from Aldi.

Heat and Eat Mashed Potatoes. 

I sautéed an entire bag of spinach with half an onion. Salt and Pepper.

When life gets tough take whatever shortcuts you need to to keep body and soul together. Life is hard and days are long, you need food and rest.

#KeepGoing

Greens, Potatoes and Chicken

I was having one of those days, one of those weeks actually, where meal planning goes out the window and all your best intentions get wiped out once you hit the front door. Work has been very hectic lately, my husband has been ill, the kids have been in a mood, even the dog decided to wake me up every half hour on the hour last night. So as I drove home talking to my husband via cell phone he told me the closest he had gotten to starting dinner was defrosting some chicken thigh fillets. He offered to go pick something up for dinner.

As tempting as that was, we have been eating out way too much and that's not good for our health or our wallets. I knew I had some sad vegetables in the fridge that needed to be cooked or tossed STAT so I told him to meet me at home.

I started finishing the defrosting of the chicken in the microwave while I surveyed the vegetable situation. A 16 ounce bag of collards that had seen better days, several onions and a cereal bowl full of white creamer potatoes. I formulated a plan for a one pan meal that would hopefully feed my family of 4.

I rinsed and sorted through my sad collards, some of them were wilted beyond salvation, but most of it was fine. I put it in a sheet pan. To that I added one thinly sliced onion, and I halved lengthwise all of the creamer potatoes. I tossed them all with generous slugs of olive oil (maybe 1/4 C all together?) some sea salt and some black pepper.

When the chicken was good and defrosted I opened up each fillet and seasoned them on both sides with salt, pepper and paprika (mostly for color). I placed the chicken thighs on top of my oily, salty veggies and then placed aluminum foil over the whole thing and put it an oven set at 450 degrees. I let the chicken cook covered for 20 minutes. When that was up I checked the chicken and vegetables and decided to roast everything uncovered for another 20 minutes to get some color and finish cooking.

When I pulled the pan out of the oven everything was browned and crispy. Even some of the fronds of collard greens had turned crisp! I took the chicken and placed a piece or two on every plate, then I tossed the hot vegetables together in the pan one more time to coat everything in pan juices and served the green and potatoes alongside the chicken pieces.

Variations of recipe:

You could toss the vegetables with a mixture of olive oil and bacon fat if you had some on hand. You could even add bacon pieces to the pan and let it cook with the chicken.

You could add a 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes to the greens as well for a nice kick of heat.

You could use a good baking potato cut up into one inch pieces in place of the creamer potatoes, or you could use turnip greens and turnip pieces in place of collards and potatoes.

Instead of using boneless, skinless chicken thighs you could use chicken leg quarters, but I'd separate the drumstick from the quarter and add more time for cooking. Maybe an additional 10 minutes?

Quick and Easy Lower Carb Dinners

My husband's reached the point in hie diet where he can start adding in some whole grain carbs so I'm trying to introduce them slowly. I made two dinners in that vein and I'd like to share them with you. Tuesday, I made a veggie-packed tomato sauce with all meat meatballs. Sautee up some chopped bell pepper, half an onion diced, 2 cloves of garlic, smashed and chopped and a can of diced tomatoes (with or without Italian seasoning.) I added a half cup of pureed pumpkin I had made over the weekend, plus half a cup of leftover vegetarian spaghetti sauce from the freezer. I added some frozen meatballs to the sauce and let that all simmer while the water boiled for the whole grain pasta. When the pasta was cooked I drained it quickly and served the kids pasta and sauce, hubby got the meatballs and sauce over wilted spinach and I ate mine with pasta, wilted spinach and sauce over all. I also steamed a large bunch of asparagus to serve as a side dish. The next day I still had pasta leftover and asparagus, so I decided to make a "Hamburger Helper" type recipe using them. I chopped up one whole orange bell pepper, half an onion and 2 cloves of garlic and cooked them in olive oil. I added 1 pound of ground turkey meat when the veggies had gotten soft and seasoned the meat with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. I let the meat cook while I whipped up a quick cheese sauce. In a separate pan I made a quick roux and thinned it with milk. I added about 1 cup of shredded cheese (I used a 5 cheese blend) to the pan and stirred and melted it in. I added 1/3 C of my leftover carrot soup to the cheese sauce, just to add some orange color and nutrition. I chopped the asparagus into bite sized pieces and added it to the meat and veggies in the pan. When that was heated through I added the leftover pasta and the cheese sauce overall and stirred it together. Dinner was ready to serve in big bowls, some lovely orange and green veggies, whole wheat pasta, lean protein and calcium all on one dish.

Chicken Quesadillas

Quesadillas of all kinds are a healthy, quick dinner for nights when no one wants to cook much. You can go vegetarian by just using cheese and perhaps sauteed vegetables like peppers and onions or even roasted corn. You can have a vegan quesadilla by using vegan cheese of course (many tortillas are already vegan). You can have any type of thinly sliced and cooked meat inside of course, but I love a good chicken quesadilla. Here's how you make them. Heat a pan over medium high heat and add 1 TB of oil to the pan. Take strips of chicken and season them with adobo or if you lack that then use salt, pepper and cumin. Place them in the pan, not too many at one time or they will not brown properly. You can do the chicken in batches if you like, just do not crowd the pan. When the chicken is cooked through (will not take long since the chicken is cut up into strips, maybe 5 minutes. Do not stir the chicken, simply turn it over when it gets brown on one side. Set chicken aside when cooked and place sliced bell peppers, sliced onions, thinly sliced strips of carrot. If you'd like to add sliced fresh mushrooms, cook them last and cook them separately so they can get browned, taking care again not to overload the pan. Cook all the vegetables until they get some brown color on them and are uniformly soft. Turn down heat to medium and wipe out the pan and place a tortilla in it. Quickly add some shredded cheese to the center of the tortilla, add some chicken strips and cooked veggies, top with more cheese, but do not overload the tortilla or it will be difficult to flip. Add another tortilla to the top and let the bottom tortilla brown and cheese melt, then flip and let cook on the other side. Serve with pico de gallo, sour cream or plain yogurt, and a simple mixed green salad. YUM! As far as amounts go for my family of 4 we need about a dozen tortillas (we use the smaller 6 inch size), half an onion, one bell pepper, half pound of mushrooms (if using) 1 carrot thinly sliced, 1 C of shredded cheese and about 1 good sized chicken breast, pounded flat with a rolling pin and cut into thin strips.

Cheese-filled Tortellini and Garlic Bread

Last night was a Friday in Lent (so no meat) and the night before I headed out to the grocery store for some awesome stocking up. I was making the most out of a trip to the big city Costco so I was low on just about everything. I pulled a package of pre-made tortellini from the freezer and let it thaw in the fridge. This is a super fast dinner and this is how I made it.


Ingredients:

For Tortellini
1 package refrigerated tortellini
Can of tomato sauce (I used a garlic and onion flavored one)
Chopped seasoning veggies, like garlic, onion and celery
1 tsp of dried Italian Seasoning

For Super-Fast Garlic Bread
Sliced crusty bread (Mine was homemade*)
Very soft butter
Garlic powder
Sprinkle of Italian herbs

Step One: put the pasta water on to boil, make sure to salt it.

Step Two: Heat skillet, add teaspoon of olive oil and chopped seasoning veggies, possibly adding chopped sun dried tomatoes if you like. When veggies are soft and fragrant add sauce and herbs and heat through.

Step Three: When water boils, cook tortellini according to package directions.

Step Four; While tortellini is cooking mix butter with garlic powder and herbs and perhaps a sprinkle of salt. Spread sliced bread with butter mixture and place on cookie sheet.

Step Five: Put bread under broiler on high, cook until brown and fragrant.

Step Six: Drain pasta and serve immediately. Top with red sauce and if you like a sprinkle of freshly grated parmesan. Pull bread from oven and place a slice on each plate.

I know this is a very basic dinner idea but the reason I am using it is because EVERYONE cooks this way once in awhile and busy parents cook this way a lot. Some of my friends have expressed to me their discomfort with even basic recipes and the fact that too many "FAST EASY" dishes depend on a level of knowledge that they do not yet have. So here it is a fast and fool-proof dinner that hopefully spells out step by step a way to get dinner on the table.

*Homemade bread, I have said it before and I will say it again, the book Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day changed my life. I can now have fresh bread and pizza dough basically on demand. Buy it now!

Tonight's Menu: Sauteed Chicken breasts, Whole Wheat Penne, Tomatoes and Green Peppers

Happy First Day of March!

Here was tonight's quick simple dinner with step by step instructions.

For the pasta you will need:

* 1/2 of a box (13.25 oz) of whole wheat penne pasta (I used Barilla)
* 2 roma tomatoes, chopped
* 1 green pepper sliced into strips, strips cut in half
* 1 clove of garlic, chopped
* 1 TB of olive oil or canola oil
* 2-3 TB of fresh grated parmesan
*2 tsp of dried Italian Seasoning
* Salt

For the chicken you will need:

* 6-8 thinly sliced chicken breast pieces
* 1/4 cup of flour
* TB of butter
* TB of oil
* Salt and Pepper to taste

Start large pot of water to boil, adding salt to the water, when water boils add the half box of pasta and stir. Place oil in a skillet over medium high heat. To this add the chopped garlic and cook until fragrant, but not burnt. Add chopped green peppers and cook for 4-5 minutes. Then add chopped tomatoes and a generous pinch of kosher salt. When tomatoes begin to break down you can add the Italian seasoning. Cook the vegetables until the pasta is done about 9 minutes. Drain pasta and toss back into cooking pot with sauteed veggies and the grated parmesan. Taste and season if desired. Cover with lid and place on the back of the stove, off the heat.

While veggies are cooking, quickly salt and pepper some thinly sliced chicken breasts and dredge in a handful of flour. The chicken breasts I used tonight had been sliced in half horizontally so they cook incredibly quickly. One could also use chicken tenderloins or regular chicken breasts that had been pounded very, very flat. Cook the breasts in a mixture of oil and butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. The sliced breasts will cook in less than 5 minutes per side.

To serve place a chicken piece on a plate with a generous amount of pasta and a small green salad or sliced pears.

Quick Sauteed Chicken Breasts and Green Beans

You know how to cut your cooking time in half when making chicken breasts? Flatten those suckers! When it comes to chicken breasts, bigger is certainly not better. My preferred method for fast flattening is to cover the thawed breasts with plastic wrap and pound them with my hand held lemon juicer, the nice heft and round shape keep the meat from tearing (which is surprisingly easy to do with a traditional meat tenderizer.) Pound the thickest part of the breast till it is the same thickness as the thinnest part of the breast and you have a piece of meat that will cook quickly and evenly. I seasoned with meat with salt, pepper and just a sprinkle of BBQ rub and then heated some olive oil in a heavy bottomed skillet on medium high heat. I added the meat and let it sit undisturbed till it was nicely browned on one side. If the meat is sticking to the pan don't freak out! Go against your instincts and let it sit there till it comes away easily. Flip your chicken after 5 minutes or so and brown the other side. Meanwhile have some frozen green beans steaming in the microwave with a tablespoon or two of chicken broth and some salt and olive oil. When the other side of the meat is browned remove it from the pan and add about a tablespoon of butter, some minced onion, a teaspoon of dried Italian herbs and a bit of salt. When the onion is translucent add about a cup of chicken broth plus any juices that come from the resting breasts and cook all until reduced by half. Add the breasts back to the pan, turn down the heat and spoon the juices over the breasts repeatedly. I made a simple green salad to go with dinner and we were ready to eat in about 20 minutes all together.

Pantry Tomato Soup and Sandwiches

This is one of my favorite quick dinners, to make the tomato soup simply open two cans of soup and dilute with 2 cans of water, add one package of french onion soup mix and one can of diced tomatoes with the juice. Heat the soup over medium high heat and when it is hot finish the soup with half a can of cream or half and half. YUMMY and so fast and easy.

Meanwhile I set out sandwich fixings, people had their choice of sliced ham or chicken with cheese.

Tonight was busy because the kids had gymnastics so we didn't get home until after 6. Also I am preparing for the Veterans Day celebration at my school tomorrow so I had extra shopping to do. Great easy, busy night dinner.

Last Week's Recipe Wrap-up

Last week was strange. We had 5 straight days of rain so severe that schools and government buildings were closed for two days due to dangerous flooding and concerns about wind going over the bridges. The rain came up pretty high and we had a little trouble with one of our cars that sits very close to the ground. My husband was alert enough to the rising water that he moved the car to higher ground before it got flooded. Anyway, I hadn't gone grocery shopping in awhile so dinner got to be sort of challenging since I couldn't get to the store.

Meatless Monday was a treat though, I still had cabbage to use so I decided to let the "Joy of Cooking" give me some ideas. I made the "Bean Soup with Vegetables or Garbure" recipe because it called for cabbage as well as navy beans, potatoes, carrots, and onion all of which I had on hand but it also called for turnips, leeks and a ham bone, which I lacked. I subbed in some extra potatoes and carrots for the turnips and chopped up some green onion to replace the leeks. I added a bit of "Liquid Smoke" seasoning and extra salt to take the place of the hambone. The recipe calls for water as the soup base, but if you are making the vegetarian version of this recipe I highly recommend you use your best veggie broth for added flavor. The soup was delicious and hearty and made excellent leftovers for lunch for the next couple of days. Add some fresh cornbread muffins and this is a pretty kick-ass dinner and a healthy serving of veggies to boot.

Tuesday I took advantage of the coolness the house due to the rain and I roasted a chicken and made some veggies. I love roasted chicken! When I was a broke and starving actress in Los Angeles I would sometimes splurge on an entire rotisserie chicken at the local bargain grocery store. They were three dollars a piece so sometimes I would have to dig change out of the couch to make the money, but I would walk home with my warm chicken and just smell it and try not to drool on my shoes. Anyhow, when I make chicken myself (roasted or rotisserie) I always try to make it as delicious and juicy as that 20 year old found her precious little grocery store chicken. I remove any giblets from the chicken cavity and sprinkle the inside with salt and pepper, I rub seasoned butter under the skin over the breasts and salt and pepper the chicken all over. I usually place some vegetables or a pierced lemon in the cavity of the chicken prior to roasting for additional flavor. I also like to thickly slice some onions into rings and cover the bottom of a roasting pan with them. I then put the chicken on top of the onion rings and roast the chicken at 375 degrees until the drumstick moves freely and the thigh juices run clear when pierced. You can pour off the pan juices into a sauce pan and cook over medium high heat till it reduces to make a delicious sauce as well.

Wednesday, still trapped inside our house I made some fresh bread and we had leftover soup and chicken. It was all very tasty.

Thursday, the rain had slowed enough that we could get to the store, so we bought some ground beef and taco shells and my husband made a delicious homemade salsa from the book, "Salsa Cooking" by Marjie Lambert. It was very tasty and went together in about 20 minutes.

Friday was beautiful, the kids played outside from the time they got home from school until it was well after dark. We had breakfast for dinner and the kids had fruit and yogurt. Exhausted from a week of intensive family time, housecleaning, flood worries and extra cooking (I got a lot of baking done) I fell asleep at 8:30 and slept until 7 the next morning.

Saturday night we had a friend of our elder daughter's over for a sleep over. I made the kid-friendliest meal I could short of driving them all to Mickey D's, meatloaf, mashed potatoes, roasted acorn squash, and steamed corn niblets. To make the meal more kid-friendly I sliced the acorn squash in half, removed the seeds and then cut the halves into slices which I drizzled with maple syrup, a pat of butter, salt, pepper and a dash of cinnamon. I let it bake at the same time and temperature as the meatloaf. I tinted the mashed potatoes green with food coloring and let the kids taste it and see if they could identify it. Some squealing and cautious licking of forks later they started laughing and said, "It's mashed potatoes!" I countered that in late October it was actually Monster Mash. The meatloaf was pronounced "delicious" by our guest who ate it uncomplainingly even though it was stuffed with spinach, onions and carrot. All in all a success.

Sunday night we ate a very simple meal of hotdogs, baked beans and macaroni because I had neglected to defrost the roast I had planned on making. Maybe next Sunday!

Wednesday Dinner

Add up 2 chicken breasts, plus 1 bag of frozen "soup veggies" plus a frozen quart of homemade chicken broth and that equals dinner tonight. I love bags of mixed vegetables, some are stir-fry style, some are for fajitas, some are soup or gumbo mixes like the one I am using tonight. They are already washed and cut up so they are very convenient and since I got these store brand veggies for Buy One Get One free so they are also inexpensive.

If you are what you eat then I am cheap and easy.

Well, that sounds wrong. I am hot and satisfying? I'm quick and tasty? You know, I'm just moving on now.


I only partially defrosted the chicken breasts, because if they are still slightly frozen in they are very easy to cut up. I seasoned them all over with adobo seasoning and threw the pieces in a stock pot with some olive oil and a tiny bit of leftover bacon drippings. When they got browned on all sides I added my frozen veggies and my defrosted chicken broth, added a bay leaf and let it simmer.

I almost always have some frozen chicken broth on hand because whenever I make bone-in chicken I boil the bones with carrots, onion, celery and garlic. I always have carrots, onion, celery and garlic on hand because when I cut off the ends of carrots or onions or the tops of celery I store those pieces in a plastic bag in the freezer. Any tiny cloves of garlic, the kind that are really too small for cooking, also get thrown into the bag. When the bag is full I make my stocks, either chicken, beef or plain veggie stock and then freeze it in tupperware containers. Easy peasy and super thrifty.

How was your dinner tonight?

Monday and Tuesday

Meatless Monday was a tasty veggie chili, I chopped an onion into a rather large dice, plus 3 carrots plus sauteed them in a little olive oil. I added 2 Tb of chili powder and some minced garlic and let that get fragrant and lovely. I opened a can of chopped tomatoes with green pepper added. Then I added 2 cups of freshly cooked red beans and 1 Cup of broth from the beans and and stirred it all together and let it simmer and reduce a bit. When it cooled off I had about a quart of chili to put in the fridge for Monday. When reheating it the next day you can add a cup or two of frozen corn niblets if you like.

Tasty Tuesday we made what I called Bacon and Egg Spaghetti for the kids, AKA Spaghetti Carbonara. You'll need fresh grated parmesan, raw eggs (one per person at least), some chopped and fried bacon, salt and pepper. I made some whole wheat angel hair and when it was done I drained it through a strainer I had positioned over a stainless steel mixing bowl. I let the boiling water heat up the bowl and then dumped it out. I tossed the pasta with fried bacon pieces, 2 TB of bacon fat, grated fresh parmesan cheese and 4 raw eggs. I stirred and tossed it all together till all the ingredients made a sort of sauce. Who knew carbonara was that easy? Anyhow take a taste of it and check and see if you need salt and pepper.

I have no idea what I am making for dinner tomorrow. Weird Wednesday... I am just not feeling very weird. Which is in itself sort of weird for me.