Dealing with the Dinner Demon

True confessions.

I have a bad habit of buying more than we can eat in a week.  I throw out way more food than I should.  I end up running to the store at 4 in the afternoon for the missing ingredients in the recipe I’m making.

And it’s stressful work deciding what to have for dinner day by day.  When I ask Jim what he’d like, he tosses out ideas like “steak and lobster”  or “rack of lamb”.

He obviously doesn’t feel my pain.

We often end up having one of those emergency dinners I was talking about,  burritos or eggs.  Which is, of course, an emergency of my own making.

I’m tired of the uncertainty.  It’s time to face my demons and deal with the dinner dilemma.

I’m diving in…  I’m going to create a weekly plan and thereby save time, money, and aggravation.

I’m keeping  it simple and low-tech.  A piece of paper, and I’m good to go.  From my research, I’ve gleaned a few important tips:

1. Start with dinners.  At our house, many of our other meals emerge, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, out our evening meal.  Breakfast burritos from leftover beans and rice, ham sandwiches from pork roasts for lunch.  You get the idea.
2. Take stock of what you’ve got. I’ve checked out the contents of our cupboards and refrigerator.  Is there something I’m overlooking that has a best buy date that’s nearing expiration?  What about that head of week old cabbage in the crisper?
3. Check the calendar.  Is there anything that might impact dinner plans?  Like the fact that Jim will be out of town Tuesday night for work.  That’s a good night for pizza since he’s not a big fan.  And Friday we’re going to see a Christmas play so we’ll probably grab a quick bite at a friend’s house.
4. Write it down.  Choose where to begin.  I’m starting with 5 days. That seems doable.  I’ll pencil in breakfast and lunch as well.  Luckily it’s not in stone because there has to be room for flexibility.  It’s a framework for meals, not a life sentence.
5. Make a grocery list.  Looking over the meals, I can see what I’ll need to get at the store(s).  The saving money part comes when I stick to the list.

Wish me luck.

Using up an old planning book from my teacher days.

Are you a planner?  What do you do to get dinner on the table night after night, keep money in your pocket and your sanity intact?

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Dinner Improv

And now, for the main event, presenting the star of the show….

Old vegetables?

Well, yes.  It was dinnertime–again.  It rears its ugly head, well, every night.  Once again, I was caught with my  apron off.  What to cook for dinner?

It was a dark and stormy night.  Why not soup?  Split pea soup to be exact.  We had some of those. There were even the remains of a hunk of ham from one of last week’s meals.

We’d had that ham as the featured entrée.  We had it the next day in ham sandwiches. One night we even snacked on it as an appetizer with good, homemade mustard.  Soup was its final incarnation.

Honestly, soup doesn’t have to be the end of the line, but it often is.  That’s why it’s a good improvisational, or throw together meal.

Tonight’s Split Pea Soup

• carrots, diced
• celery, diced
• onion, diced
• olive oil
• vegetable or chicken broth, 4 cups or more if you like thinner soup
• tomatoes, chopped
• beet greens (or some other type of leafy green), chopped
• ham, diced
• salt to taste
• fresh ground pepper
• 1 cup split peas

I realize there are no measurements for anything except the split peas and broth. That’s why it’s improvisational.  I used everything on the plate above with the exception of the biggest tomato.  Use what you have.  You won’t need a lot.

Saute the first three ingredients in oil for about 10 minutes.

Add split peas and water or broth, tomatoes and ham.

Bring to boil.  Then cover and simmer on low for the first half hour.

Uncover and cook until the peas are creamy.  Season with salt and pepper to taste. Toss in chopped greens in the last half hour of cooking.  If you think you might get resistance to greens in the soup, chop it smaller so it’s less noticeable.  It works at my house…

Serve with crusty bread or grilled cheese sandwiches and sliced fruit.  Feel the love. You’re eating healthy, it tastes divine, and you’ve earned a merit badge for kitchen economy.  Bon appetite!

What will you improvise tonight?

Kids in the Kitchen–He Does it Again!

Long day.  I’ve washed dishes three times.  Done two loads of laundry.   Cleaning floors was harder than usual considering all the Thanksgiving food that ended up underfoot. Not my favorite way to spend the day, but since the big event was at our house this year, the place was a disaster after all the merrymakers disappeared.  So yes, I’m tired.

A little help with dinner, please.

But dinner is already almost done, and I do have help.  Leftovers in the fridge–plenty of turkey for sure.  I whipped up a salad, and Sam volunteered to roast the cauliflower I picked up at the market.

If you’re not already familiar with roasting as a cooking technique, then you’re in for a treat.  Fall and winter are the perfect seasons for roasting all sorts of seasonal vegetables. Roasting concentrates flavors, and the resulting caramelization banishes bitterness by bringing out the natural sugars in vegetables.

Roasted Cauliflower

• 1 head of cauliflower
• 5 or 6 cloves of garlic still in paper
• 1 yellow onion, cut in wedges
• olive oil
• fresh ground pepper and salt to taste
• a couple of sprigs of rosemary (optional)
• small lemon, sliced (optional)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Wash and chop cauliflower into pieces of approximately equal size after trimming off leaves and removing the core.  Dry and place in a single layer in a roasting pan.

Add garlic and onion wedges to pan.  Pour a drizzle of olive oil over vegetables.  Grind fresh pepper over the top, and sprinkle with coarse salt.

Toss in pan with your fingers until evenly coated with oil.  Tuck in rosemary sprigs and top with lemon slices if using.  *This is where younger kids can help.

Sam’s Special Cauliflower Ready for the Oven

Roast for approximately 30 minutes or until cauliflower is soft and has plenty of browning.  Remove from oven and toss once again.  Serve.

Rules for roasting:

1. Cut vegetables into similar sized pieces for even cooking.
2. Create a single layer in your metal roasting pan.
3. Coat your veggies evenly with oil.  They say about 1-2 Tb. per pound of vegetables.  You can mix this right in the pan with your hands to really coat everything.
4. Use high oven temperatures–400 to 500 degrees.

Cauliflower is a member of the cabbage family, related to broccoli.  This is a great way to get your vegi-averse children (or spouse) to eat and enjoy their vegetables.  And Leftover roasted vegetables are a welcome addition to the lunchbox.  So make lots.  The kids will willfully eat them.

I promise.

Antidote for Strung Out Children

Halloween night.  The kids are as high as kites on candy and the intoxicating freedom of running out on the streets after dark.  Late night and, if you live in our school district, school the next morning. (What were they thinking when they came up with that calendar?!) 

Some parents limit candy consumption others not so much…  In our house, the sweets eventually get sucked into some black hole or other, and we can get back to life as usual–without all the sugar-coating. 

Several years ago we joined our home school group for a Halloween potluck before heading out for treats.  This is my take on the recipe given to me by the party host, and it has been a fall favorite ever since. 

Butternut Squash and Carrot Soup with Yogurt “Cream”

• 2 Tb. olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 1 butternut squash, halved and seeded
• 3-4 carrots, chopped
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 1 1/4 tsp. cumin
• 3/4 tsp. turmeric
• 3/4 tsp. coriander
• 5-8 cups stock or water, whatever will just cover all the vegetables
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup plain, low fat yogurt
• 1 Tb. water
• salt to taste
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• a good squeeze of fresh lime juice to taste

For simplicity’s sake (lazy cook that I am) I roast the squash in the oven at 400 for about 30 minutes or until a fork slides easily into the flesh.  Put it cut side up in a roasting pan in an inch of water.  Then it is simply a matter of just scraping the squash out when it’s soft.  Doing this early in the day or even the night before will make things even easier.  If you prefer, you can peel and chop–or get the pre-cut kind at the market, and cook with the carrots in the next step.

Saute onion in olive oil until soft, maybe 5 minutes or so.  Add carrots and saute for 5 more minutes.  Add spices and saute for yet another 5 minutes.

Add water/stock and bring to boil.  If using water, I’ll often throw in a bouillon cube.  Reduce heat and add roasted squash at this time. Simmer until vegetables are soft, about 30 minutes.  Remove from heat and allow to cool until you can safely blend soup. 

Puree until desired texture is achieved.  For me, that means slightly chunky. Transfer to a pan and thin to desired consistency with additional water if needed.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Stir in cilantro and lime juice.

For yogurt “cream” whisk water into yogurt and season with salt.  Add some  finely minced jalapeno for added flavor if you like.  To serve, ladle into bowls and drizzle with yogurt.  Garnish with more cilantro.

This beautiful, colorful soup is loaded with vitamins A and C and is a good source of beta-carotene, magnesium, manganese, calcium and potassium.  Serve this, or any other wholesome, vegetable laden soup or stew, the night after Halloween to counteract the sugar demons.  A good night’s sleep wouldn’t hurt either.