Category: soup

Happy 100th Birthday to Julia Child!

Next Wednesday, August 15, 2012 marks the date that would have been JuliaChild’s 100th birthday. Restaurants around the country are doingspecial menus to honor Julia Child. PBS has lots of specials on TV among otherfun things on their website. Cooks and Bloggers around the country are writingand cooking to honor her memory. Here is one with 8 ideas on how to honor Julia from Robin Shreeves at the Mother Nature Network. I am going to try to make one recipe a daynext week from one of her cookbooks to honor her legacy. The French Chef was the first cooking show Iwatched on TV growing up. We watched a lot of PBS. She pioneered the era of cooking shows whichhas now exploded with popularity to a point I’m sure she probably couldn’t evenhave imagined. We all like to pretend we are cooking on a cooking show in thekitchen (don’t tell me you have never done it!) while making a meal and veryfew of us will ever get the chance to, but she made gourmet cooking accessibleto home cooks.

I have been reviewing Julie Child recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking to find some easyones and maybe one challenging one to make this week. If you are bored with your regular weeklymeals, picking a theme and sticking to it one week a month or however often youhave the energy for, can help spice things up (pun intended)! Or choose one night a week to make a newrecipe or make one of those hundreds you have pinned on Pinterest.
Pick a Julia Child recipe to make this week inhonor of what would have been her 100th birthday. Don’t beintimidated. You don’t have to pick sweet breads or duck, or a fancy multi-step,multi-ingredient recipe. Make a quiche, roast chicken, pork chops, boiledartichokes or buttered green beans. It’s still a Julia Child recipe. Her goalwas to make gourmet cooking accessible to home cooks.
These are some of the recipes I’m hoping to make this week:
Chocolate Almond Cake, p677. Supposedly one Julia’sfavorites.
Boeuf Bourguignon, p.315. I’ve never made it and think Iwill while watching Julie and Julia.
Potato Leek Soup, p.37. One of my favorites. I’ve never madeJulia’s recipe though.
Quiche au fruits de mer, p.149. Sounds really fancy, butreally is just eggs, shallots or onions, butter (of course), lobster, shrimp orcrab, cheese, cream, tomato paste, salt and pepper. She also adds Madeira ordry vermouth, but I don’t have those and don’t usually by whole bottles ofthings for a couple of tablespoons, so I’ll use something else like whitebalsamic vinegar. I might even buy the crust. Shhh…don’t tell.
Crepes, p.190. These are just fancy pancakes that my kidswill hopefully love!
Moules A La Mariniere, p. 227. This is one of the onlyrecipes that I am repeating. I’ve made it before and loved it!
Poulets Grilles a la diable (Chicken Broiled with Mustard,Herbs, and Bread Crumbs), p.265. I chose this recipe because I already haveeverything for this in the house! It is similar to how I usually make chicken,but with basting. I don’t usually baste. Maybe I’ll do it, if I can stop thetwins from reaching into the oven.
Roasted Pork marinated in Marinade Simple (Lemon Juice andHerb Marinade), p.376. I also chose this one because I have most of the ingredients.
Artichauts au Naturel (whole boiled artichokes), p. 424. Probablythe easiest of the recipes. We’ll see what the kids think of these.
I’ll probably pick a couple other vegetable recipes too.
If you don’t want to cook, go out and have some oysters anda glass of champagne and have a toast to Julia Child!
#CookforJulia

Recipe Resources and Easter Leftovers

After spending all day on the computer at work or because you just don’t like staring at a computer when you’re exhausted at the end of the day, where can you look for recipes? I like to look through cookbooks, magazines and get ideas from other moms. We are a great resource for each other.
Dust off some of those cookbooks on your shelves at home and look through them. Take pictures of the recipes you want to make with your phone or put a post it note on the page with the name of the recipe written so you can see it when the book is closed.  Then add those recipes into your menu plan. Don’t have any cookbooks that excite you? Go to the library! Libraries are a great resource. You can take the books out and then use your camera to take a picture of the recipe so you’ll always have it. My local library is great. Each time I take the kids, I swing by the cook book area and pick out a couple of books for myself. Here are some suggestions of books I have recently checked out:

Deceptively Delicious, Jessica Seinfeld.  Some of the recipes are bland, but gave me good ideas.

Double Delicious!: Good, Simple Food for Busy, Complicated Lives, Jessica Seinfeld
Feeding the Whole Family, Cynthia Lair. Great insight into making whole foods for your family
Great Easy Meals: 250 Fast & Fun Recipes, Food Network Magazine. A wide variety of recipes and a section on 10 minute desserts!
Kitchen Express, Mark Bittman. Seasonal recipes that are designed to be made in 20 minutes or less.
The new Mayo Clinic Cookbook. Great healthy recipes, sauces and ideas for making healthy taste good!
Wilmington 275th Anniversary Family Cookbook, 2004. Simple recipes with (mostly) less than 10 ingredients that are easy to find.
From my own library (which you could check if they are at the library and even if not at your local one, the librarians can order it for you if it is at another one):
Busy Moms Weeknight Favorites, Southern Living. I LOVE this cookbook, but I replace the cream for fat free half and half or skim milk and don’t add all the butter J BBQ muffins, broccoli, ham and cheese soup, cheeseburger meatloaf = comfort food at its finest! (See recipe for soup below)
Mom-a-licious, Domenica Catelli. Great info on feeding your kids healthy foods that taste good. I swear by her hummus recipe!
Cooking with Trader Joe’s Cookbook. If you are like me and love Trader Joe’s, this is a great cookbook with easy recipes that contain ingredients all found at Trader Joes.
Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook, 1996. This is a great cookbook to learn new techniques and cooking basics. It has really taught me a lot, like how to use fresh herbs v. dried herbs, how to select fresh fruit and veggies and what it means to beat an egg white until stiff peaks form. I love their Spinach Dip recipe, sauce recipes and basic meal plans that I can tweak for my family’s likes and dislikes.
Magazines are also a great resource. Parents magazine now has a section on recipes in every edition, Family Circle, Cooking Light, Vegetarian Times, etc. No matter what subject matter the magazine is, most of them now contain at least one recipe. Or try out that recipe you saw in the newspaper last weekend.
Talk to other moms about cooking or not wanting to cook because your 2 year old is throwing all the food you just spent your last bit of energy cooking. We are here to support each other and making food is one thing we all have to do.  I got a great tip from a fellow mom, Becca, at a recent Cooking Crew night (mom’s who get together once a month and have a potluck and exchange recipes) where the theme was Italian. She made an amazing Chicken Parmesan. The breading stayed on the chicken. She said the key was the bread the chicken the night before and put it in the fridge. Then cook it the next day. It was delicious! I never would have thought of that on my own!
Here is a recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks if you have some leftover ham to use up!

Broccoli, Ham and Cheese Soup
from Southern Living’s Busy Moms Weeknight Favorites. Great way to use up your leftover ham, potatoes, and vegetables from Easter Dinner!
 5 large baking potatoes, peeled and cubed (or 2-3 cups of mashed potatoes or boiled potatoes)
 1 medium onion chopped
28 oz of chicken broth
12 oz of diced ham (or beef, lamb or pork)
 1 1/2 cups broccoli florets
2tsp bottle minced garlic (or 1 small clove fresh garlic, minced)
 1/2 tsp of salt
3/4 tsp pepper (I often use lemon pepper)
2 cups of cream (I use fat free half and half or skim milk)
2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese (or you can use your leftover cheese from a cheese plate).
Add everything except the cream and the cheese to the slow cooker and cook on high for 1 hour and then reduce to low and cook for 6 hours. (I also cook it on the stove in about an hour or when the potatoes are tender). Process half of the soup mixture in a food processor (or use a hand held immersion blender) and then pour it back into the pot. Add cream and cheese, stir and serve!

Soups, Stromboli and Shredded beef

In an effort to continue moving forward, I am trying to continue my menu planning each week. Earlier this week I went to a lecture at the local library on menu planning. It was very informative. The librarian giving the talk is a home organizer and amateur cook on the side. Her home organizing company is called, tidylogic. She gave me some great ideas. The first, I had not thought of before. Start with organizing your recipes into one or 2 locations by type (and time, ingredients, etc as detailed as you have time for). This way when you sit down to plan your meals for the week, you can just write in recipes you want and then you have the recipes easily at your fingertips to find the ingredients to add to your shopping list. This way you also do not get stuck in the rut of make the same meals every week like I do sometimes!

There are many different programs out there either online, Iphone/Ipad apps, or through software you can purchase. Having tried a couple of them, I have realized that you just need to find one that works for you and can be customized. If it doesn’t work for you, then you are not going to use it for the long haul.

Doing this recipe organization (or starting to) has reminded me of recipes that I have had for a long time and have never made. My basic menu plan for each week is:

Monday
Breakfast – cereal and yogurt
Lunch – sandwiches and fruit
Dinner: leftovers
Snacks: chocolate zucchini bread, apple sauce, crackers with peanut butter, cheese stick

Tuesday
B: eggs and fruit
L: quesadillas and fruit
D: Pasta/Rice (this is where you would insert your favorite pasta recipe)
S: yogurt, fruit, whole wheat gold fish with craisins

Wednesday
B: toast and fruit
L: sandwiches and fruit
D: Tex-Mex night (this is where you would insert your favorite enchiladas, chili, quesadilla recipes)
S: wholewheat banana muffins, apple sauce, crackers with peanut butter, cheese stick

Thursday
B: oatmeal with fruit
L: sandwiches and fruit or leftovers
D: Baked potatoes/sweet potatoes with soup (slow cooker day)
S: yogurt, fruit, whole wheat gold fish with craisins

Friday
B: cereal and yogurt
L: chicken nuggets/fish sticks with sweet potato fries or peas
D: Pizza
S: apple sauce, crackers with peanut butter, cheese stick

Saturday
B: Eggs and fruit
L: leftovers/soup
D: Pasta/Rice
S: yogurt, fruit, whole wheat gold fish with craisins

Sunday
B: wholewheat pancakes with fruit
L: leftovers
D: Roast (slow cooker day)
S: apple sauce, crackers with peanut butter, cheese stick

Using this plan, I plug in recipes based on what I have already on hand and what is on sale at the grocery store.  For example, shrimp is on sale one week so I will make my pasta or rice dish on Tuesday with shrimp.

Last week I made a corn chowder for soup night, Stromboli for pizza night and a shredded beef with sweet potatoes, onions and brown rice for Roast/Slow cooker night.

The corn chowder was the same recipe as I made lobster chowder before, just minus the lobster pieces 🙂

The Stromboli was inspired by an episode of the Chew last week when Michael Symon made a pizza roll. I used Trader Joe’s garlic and herb dough with jarred tomato sauce, shredded mozzarella and turkey pepperoni. Tim, Paul and I liked it, but Neil did not (he’s not eating much of anything these days!) and Karina told me that next week we have to make a flat pizza because she doesn’t like the roll 🙂 This picture is not of the finished product. After I cut into it I saw the dough was still raw inside so I had to put it back in the oven. It definitely takes longer to cook this way.

For the shredded beef with sweet potatoes, onions and brown rice I put a London Broil steak frozen in the slow cooker with a can of healthy choice cream of chicken soup, couple of cups of water, Worcestershire sauce, a little vinegar and Trader Joe’s Everyday Seasoning. I diced the sweet potatoes and onions  and sauteed until mostly cooked then added a little water and closed the lid to let the steam finish cooking the sweet potatoes on low. I seasoned them with salt, pepper and Trader Joe’s Everyday Seasoning. I made the brown rice in the rice cooker with chicken stock. When the steak was read, I took it out to rest and then poured the liquid through a strainer and reduced it. To make a good gravy, I added a little brown sugar and a bay leaf along with the water and cornstarch for thickening.

I use the leftover sweet potatoes to add to grilled cheese sandwiches and quesadillas. Here is a good quesadilla recipe I found for black bean and sweet potato quesadillas. I used the leftover gravy to flavor the stock for lentil soup along with turkey bacon, onion and carrot. My husband also brought leftovers for lunch for a couple of days.

Today, Thursday is soup night, so I am making my old standby, Butternut Squash Soup. The only difference is I added a little ginger to it and when it came time to put the stock in I moved everything to a slow cooker to cook all afternoon and stay safe and warm while I go pick up Karina at school.

Lessons learned from Thanksgiving and cooking in the aftermath

Thanksgiving was wonderful! So much food and good times with family! I gave my brother a tray full of food but still had lots of turkey, lobster, mashed potatoes, stuffing, squash and cranberry sauce leftover. Everything turned out mostly like I wanted it to, except the gravy! I put too much vinegar in my brining liquid (I also noticed that I typed the wrong amount on my blog about Thanksgiving! It is now corrected.) The turkey tasted great, but the gravy did not, especially when I added the liquid and veggies from the oven bag I roasted the turkey breasts in. The lemons made it in and really added a bitter taste. So lesson learned is DO NOT put already roasted lemons in the gravy to reduce. To fix this I added some brown sugar and apple cider vinegar and extra stock to take away the bitterness. It was a long day prepping, which it always seems to be no matter how simple I try to make it, but it was fun. The kitchen is my happy place!

Prepping for mashed potatoes and roasting squash and sweet potatoes.

Turkey breasts ready to go in the oven!
Appetizers: meats, cheese ball with crackers, grapes, veggies and homemade white bean hummus. The hummus didn’t quite come out how I wanted, so I’ll post a recipe when I try it again. I tried to substitute sesame oil and peanut butter for tahini (because I forgot to buy it) and the flavor wasn’t quite right.
The table ready for food!


The lobster is ready too!

Plate of many of my favorite things!!

Rolls turned out to be the pita bread I attempted to make the day before. The came out more like rolls than like pita. I used the Grands Biscuits I bought then for a yummy appetizer recipe below. Win win!

Dessert 🙂 Store bought pumpkin pie (delicious!), my favorite Carvel ice cream cake with a turkey on it and pretzel – Hershey’s hugs bites (find here).

Leftover sandwich, yum!

I used the left over roasted squash and sweet potatoes and spinach from the salad to make these little quesadillas. Mix veggies with a cream cheese, shredded cheese, cumin and chili powder. Roll up in a tortilla and cook at 375 for about 5-10 minutes until cheese is gooey! So good and my kids loved it!

Lobster corn chowder was a fun way to use the rest of the lobsters and mashed potatoes. Sauteed 1 medium diced onion in a little olive oil until translucent. Then added mashed potatoes. Once I stirred that around a couple of times, I stirred in chicken stock until it was the consistency I wanted for the soup. Then I added a can of corn. After that, I broke down the rest of the lobsters (saved the shells to make stock) cut the meat into bite size pieces and threw it in the pot. Stirred, tasted for seasoning and added some thyme. Served with grilled cheese. Everyone except my 4 year old loved it! She is going through a non soup phase.

Last meal I made with the leftovers was from one of the Food Network specials I saw just before Thanksgiving. We had an old friend over for dinner and I made these. They were a hit. The only changes I made was to use shredded carrots instead of cucumbers, since I didn’t have any cucumbers and I added some fresh ginger to the cranberry hoisin sauce.

Now that Thanksgiving is over and the leftovers are gone, I am struggling with the energy to cook and be creative. We’ve been eating homemade pizza, pasta and quesadillas. Last night I finally got some energy from somewhere to cook and made pork chops, polenta and peas. Tonight may be another pasta night.

Pre and Post Thanksgiving ideas (with a potluck recipe thrown in)

Clearing out your fridge and freezer to make room for all the Thanksgiving goodies while saving your cooking energy for the big day can be challenging, but is doable. You will be happy that you have room in your freezer for some of the Thanksgiving foods that you don’t feel like eating or cooking with any more.

On Sunday I made a potato and kale soup to use up some onions and potatoes that I didn’t think would make it to Thursday and a 1/4 of a bag of frozen kale that I had left in the freezer.

Potato and Kale soup
 



3 Tbsp olive oil
2 small onions, diced (use whatever kind you have on hand or you could use leeks or shallots)
6-8 Russet potatoes, peeled and diced (use whatever kind you have on hand)

1- 2 teaspoons salt (add more to your taste)
1 Tbsp lemon pepper
2 Tbsp coriander
1 teaspoon garlic powder (you can use fresh, just add it a couple minutes after the onions)
6-8 cups of chicken stock (use veggie stock if you want to make this vegetarian)
2 handfuls of frozen kale (use a little more if using fresh kale)

 Heat soup pot on medium high. Pour in olive oil. Add onions and cook until translucent. Add potatoes and more olive oil if it looks like things are sticking. Add salt, lemon pepper, coriander and garlic powder. Stir until potatoes and coated. Cook for about 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Add enough stock to cover the potatoes and reserve extra for later.  Cook for about 15 -20 minutes or until you can easily smash a potato with a fork against the side. Stir in kale and cook for a couple of more minutes. Then puree using your favorite method. I use a handheld immersion blender and blend until potatoes are smooth. There will be pieces of kale throughout. If you use a blender or food processor, let the soup cool before pureeing.

TIP: This can also be done in a slow cooker by dumping everything but the kale in and cooking on low for 6-8 hours. Then add the kale and let it cook for about 20 minutes and then puree.

Keep it simple this week, make some pasta with jarred sauce or use baby food for extra veggies, do a make your own pizza night like we did last night or make some quesadillas.

Easy Flatbread pizzas




Flatbreads (store bought pizza dough or tortillas will work just a well)
jar of pasta or pizza sauce
shredded mozzarella (or whatever cheese you like)
Whatever toppings you have. Be creative! I used some leftover spaghetti squash (mix in with the cheese), leftover pesto and some sun dried tomatoes on mine. Husband had pineapple on his. Kids just had spaghetti squash.

Follow instructions on package as to how long to cook.

This is also the time of the year for potlucks at your kids school or at friends houses. Here is an easy pasta salad recipe (that does not have to be heated!!) that I recently brought to a family luncheon at my daughter’s pre school.

Caprese and Roasted Squash Pasta Salad

2 boxes of tri colored rotini
1 pint of cherry tomatoes chopped in half
about 6 oz of fresh mozzarella diced
about 10 leaves of fresh basic cut in a chiffonade (fancy word for rolling them up together and slicing)
1 Acorn squash, peeled and cubed (you can use whatever fall/winter squash you like)
Salt
Lemon Pepper
White Balsamic vinegar
Olive oil
Grated parmesan (I used the stuff that comes in the green can and it was great! but use fresh if you have it)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook pasta according to the directions on the box. Drain and put in a large bowl that you would use to transport the pasta salad. While the water is boiling for the pasta, prepare the squash and place it on a sheet pan tossed with olive oil, salt and lemon pepper. Roast in oven for about 20- 25 minutes or until edges start to brown. Take out and let cool. Put tomatoes, mozzarella and basil in a small mixing bowl. In another bowl add 1 part olive oil to about 1/2 part vinegar (depending on how much vinegar flavor you like add more or less). Mix in salt, lemon pepper and grated parmesan to your taste.  Add some of the vinaigrette to your tomato and mozzarella mixture and let sit. Add about 3/4 of vinaigrette to the hot pasta and mix. Cover both bowls and keep in fridge over night. Also cover vinaigrette and put in fridge. In the morning mix the tomatoes, mozzarella and basil with the pasta and taste. If needs more vinaigrette add more of the remaining until it tastes like you want it to.

Lastly today, here are some links for leftover ideas!

Scallion pancakes and crispy turkey from Sandra Lee. Here is the video. I’m definitely trying this one!
Turkey enchiladas
Other ideas

Pick up some of the groceries for these easy leftover meals when you do your thanksgiving shopping. That way you do not have to go back to the store!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Coconut Curry Sweet Potato Soup

This sweet potato soup was a huge hit in our house! Even my 16 month old twins could not eat it fast enough! I made it in the slow cooker, so our house was filled all day with a mild, comforting ginger and curry smell. Perfect for a crisp fall day!

Recipe:
3 medium sized sweet potatoes (peeled and cubed)
3 medium sized white potatoes (peeled and cubed)
1 small onion (sliced)
4-6 cups vegetable broth (err on the lower side, since you can always add more to make it thinner later. You can also use chicken broth if not making it vegetarian)
2 Tbsp freshly grated ginger
1 Tbsp of your favorite curry powder
1 can coconut milk (I used Trader Joe’s light coconut milk)

Dump all the potatoes, onion, enough broth to cover the vegetables, ginger and curry into slow cooker. Set on low, cover and cook for 5-6 hours or the potatoes are easily crushed with a fork. Then use an immersion blender or let cool and transfer to your soup blending gadget of choice and return to slow cooker. Once blended add can of coconut milk, stir and taste for spices. Add more ginger, curry, salt or pepper as you like. If soup is too thick, add more veggie broth. Let cook for another 30 minutes, at least and then serve!

Fall is in the air….

I LOVE the fall! Crisp, cool air, apple picking, pumpkin picking and the smell of the fireplace. I am spending my first fall in New England since I was 18 years old! I am very excited 🙂

We went apple picking this past weekend. It was so much fun. We went to Parlee Farms in Tyngsboro, MA, near the New Hampshire border. They let us bring the stroller on the hayride to get to the apple orchard. Awesome. When you have 15 month old twins who run in opposite directions and an (almost) 4 year old who gets jealous if mommy and daddy are each holding a baby, this is absolutely key to a successful outing. We picked MacIntosh and Cortlands and sampled lots along the way 🙂

Today Karina and I made whole wheat apple muffins and apple sauce. For the muffins, I use the recipe on the back of Aunt Jemima’s whole wheat pancake mix and add a little more brown sugar.


For the applesauce, I used a recipe from allrecipes.com and doubled it: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/sarahs-applesauce/detail.aspx. The smell of water, sugar, apples and cinnamon sticks in the slow cooker was intoxicating! This is absolutely delicious! If you are using tart apples, add a little more sugar.

Tomorrow night is the first butternut squash soup night this fall!! I can’t wait! I may try a different recipe next time, but this old fall favorite is such a comfort.

My favorite fall meal…

Tonight I am going to make my favorite fall meal = Butternut squash soup. It is just perfect for a cool fall day or night. I found the recipe years ago on the food network website and have reworked it a little bit.

Butternut Squash Soup

This will feed 6-8 people. I usually make 1 + 1/2 recipe. I also add coriander and cumin and little extra sage and before I add in the tomatoes I add in extra balsamic to flavor the onions (enough to cover the bottom of the pot) and let it cook down.

From Food Network Kitchens

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, smashed (I usually only use 2-3)
2 fresh sage leaves
2 teaspoons kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 medium canned plum tomatoes

1 medium butternut squash (about 2 pounds), peeled, halved, seeded, and diced
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth, veggie broth or water
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar (I use about 3 – 4 Tbsp)
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan, optional

Heat the olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, sage, 1 teaspoon of the salt and season with pepper, to taste. Cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until soft and fragrant, about 15 minutes. Raise heat to medium-high, add the tomatoes, and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, until the tomatoes break up and the onions brown slightly, about 7 minutes. Add the squash and the remaining teaspoon salt, and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the squash is tender, about 12 minutes. Add the broth, bring to a simmer, and cook, uncovered, until the vegetables tender, about 20 minutes. Set aside to cool slightly.

Working in batches, puree the soup in a blender, or with an immersion blender. Return the soup to the pot and reheat over medium heat. Stir in the vinegar. Serve the soup in warm bowls with a touch of parmesan cheese if desired.

This is a little time intensive, but so worth it!

Leftovers and trying to cut down the food budget…

So after a couple of months of menu planning, I’ve realized that it hasn’t cut our grocery bills. Ugh. So, now I am trying to do more “repurpose” cooking with less expensive items. Here is what my menu looked like last week to give you an idea:

Sunday
Mac-n-Cheese (Its good to make a big meal on Sunday that will work for lunches, and quick leftover meals for the first part of the week) I’m not sharing my recipe yet as I am entering the Tillamook Mac-n-Cheese contest. I’ll let you know when I win, or not 🙂

Monday
Turkey chili with Zucchini corn bread (I bought a large zucchini, as mine from my garden are not ready yet, at the farmers market and had defrosted some ground turkey over the weekend. First sautee about 1/2 onion in soup pot with some olive oil. When onions are translucent, add 1stp of garlic, 3 palms full of chili powder, dash of cumin, coriander, salt and pepper. Add ground turkey and cook through. Then add 2 small cans diced tomatoes and 1/2 can of tomato paste. Drain a can of black beans and add to pot. Add a handful of shredded zucchini. Let cook for about 15 minutes. If too thick add a little chicken stock until you reach desired consistency, if too thin, smash some of the beans up and then let cook until thick enough. Taste and add more seasonings as you need.

A friend of mine showed me the Zucchini corn bread recipe. It is so easy. I used the Jiffy corn bread mix and prepare as directed, but cut the liquid a little. Add 2 cups shredded zucchini, 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese and some salt, pepper and chili powder. Bake about 30 min. Sorry this isn’t more precise, one day I’ll measure what I thrown in 🙂

Great for lunches for my husband and Karina. She loves the bread!
Tuesday
Pot Roast with polenta and roasted summer squash – Recipes are here: http://mammascooking.blogspot.com/2009/01/post-holiday-pressures.html

With left over pot roast, I made a beef and brown rice soup. Pour left over gravy into a soup pot and add about 7 cups of beef broth (I use the boullion cubes as they are more cost effective) and bring to a boil. Either use 2 cups of left over rice or make some in the rice cooker while the broth is coming to a boil. I then added a handful of frozen carrots and chopped up the remaining pot roast. When the rice was done, added it in and let the soup cook for about 10 more minutes.

Wednesday
Leftovers

Thursday
Roast chicken with barley risotto and roasted corn. Barley risotto recipe here: http://mammascooking.blogspot.com/2009/02/my-new-finds.html

With the leftover chicken and corn I made soup. Similar to the recipe for beef above. Add the left over gravy to a soup pot and about 7 cups chicken stock. Bring to a boil and add about 1 1/4 cups orzo or other small pasta. Once the pasta is cooked (about 7 minutes) add leftover chicken (diced). I then added some more of the frozen carrots which I had diced and cut the corn off the cob that I had roasted. Add more seasonings as needed and you have soup!

Friday
Leftovers

Saturday
Dinner out – sushi..mmm (Have to splurge every once in a while)

My husband brought leftovers for lunch each day and Karina and I both had leftovers for lunch at home and we ate leftovers for lunch all this weekend. Tonight I’m making mac-n-cheese again (trying to perfect my recipe) and then will plan next week’s meals. I’m going to see if I can cook without going to the grocery store this week. We already have milk and diapers for Karina, so I think it should be possible. I’ll let you know.

I am searching for a good recipe using blackberries…We have a couple of pounds that we collected on a walk yesterday morning. Love fresh blackberries! If anyone has one, let me know!

My new finds…

Hi all. Sorry I haven’t blogged in a while. It’s been a crazy month. As I’m sure many of you understand, time is not always on our side. Even during this crazy busy time, I still have managed to cook for my family most nights. Although, we still order out or have eaten out of course once or twice a week 🙂

Especially with the economy the way it is right now, it is on all of our minds, how can I be more frugal? I have started meal planning for the week. This is something I never thought I would do. I used to be the one who went to the grocery store and bought what looked good and what was on sale regardless of what I had a home. Now I have taken stock of what I have in my pantry and freezer and decide on a menu for 5 nights, then I go shopping.

I also used a gift card my husband’s grandparents gave me for Christmas at Macy’s and spent one wondeful afternoon off in the kitchen section of Macy’s. I came across the Jessica Seinfeld cookbook, Deliciously Deceptive. It is amazing! Now, I have to admit I have a daughter who loves her vegetables, but mommy doesn’t always like to eat them 🙂 The recipes that I’ve tried so far have been big hits. One is tortilla cigars – mix cream cheese (I used the low fat neufchatel cream cheese), with some shredded cheese, carrot purree and sweet potato purree and whatever you have leftover, like chicken or pork. I also added some black beans. Roll in a wheat or multigrain tortilla and bake for 5-10 min. Soooo good! I cut them in half and Karina ate it all! She loves it.

Seinfeld’s cookbook just gave me alot of ideas. I also used a modified version of one of her recipes and made mashed potatoes but just added a cup of purreed cauliflower. Again, sooooo good! Another good tip is to add some purreed vegetables (I’ve been buying canned pumpkin) and adding that to soups. I made a chicken and brown rice soup the other day and just added a 1/4 cup of canned pumpkin to the broth. It adds flavor and nutrients, sooo good! Karina loved it!

The other new discovery I’ve made is barley risotto. Oh my. It was sooo good! I have become the person who makes risotto in my rice cooker because its easier, but I saw a recipe somewhere for using barley instead of aborrio rice and wanted to try it out by hand. I added some parmesan, sage and canned pumpkin. It used alot more liquid than aborrio rice, about twice the amount actually. Next time I’ll try the barley risotto in my rice cooker, but I don’t know if its big enough for all the liquid.

Don't miss a recipe! Follow me in any or all formats you like!