This weekend's work

Some weekends I am really on top of things and get a lot of good food prep done.  This was one of those weekends.  I will recap for the sake of offering suggestions and encouragement to others and to remind myself of what things work for me.

The first good news is that the gluten free mix I make myself and store worked wonderfully in our standby pancake recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook that is a tradition in our family.  This good news goes perfectly with the other good news which is that I found and used the griddle attachment to our stove top which has been sitting in the garage since we moved in two years ago.  (You know some of those pancakes went to the freezer for after school snacks during the week)  To continue with the gluten-free theme, my daughter made a batch of iced cookies that just really hit the spot, and now we are both so excited to continue experimenting with our homemade flour mix in other dessert items.

So I got out my biggest pot, bought a 105oz (or so) can of tomatoes, an almost ridiculous amount of tomato paste, and 4 pounds of ground beef.  I stirred a pot of tomato sauce for a few hours on Saturday to achieve 4 portions of meat sauce for the freezer. Some for lasagna and some for spaghetti dinner.  I'm really excited about those.  That was a lot of meat sauce.

Another exciting adventure was making yogurt with one of my daughters Friday night.  It was a success and we are all enjoying the yummy yogurt even though it is not very thick.  I hear this is a common issue in homemade yogurt. Still working on that one.

To continue, I boiled and shredded a chicken breast to be dressed up and used for lunches, stocked up on fruits, veggies, and a few obligatory salty snack foods for the kids' lunches this week. 

I found a few recipes for the crockpot and made one of them.  It was a sesame chicken recipe that turned out kind of plain.  No one is going to ask for it again, but in a bind I could use it.

That's a lot of cooking and food handling.  Throw in a trip to Costco and Safeway, and we should be good for a while!  Tonight, Monday, there will be leftovers from the not-so-great sesame chicken plus some leftovers from the lunch restaurant we ate at.

Chicken Salad

Tasty Chicken Salad

4 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded or cubed
3 green onions sliced thinly
handful of pecans, chopped
craisins to taste (if desired)
2 or 3 celery stalks, chopped
3 Tbsp mayonnaise
3 Tbsp plain yogurt
Season with 1/4-1/2 tsp curry powder, salt and pepper.

You could just do the mayo and curry if you're not into the extras!

Day 15's Crock Pot dinner

Right in the middle of my monthly meal experiment and things are going swimmingly.  Even though I'm not going in the exact order of the list, I am still following it along.  Yesterday I made the meatloaf that was originally slotted for the 9th, and today I got out the chicken leg quarters for the BBQ Chicken Pieces in Crockpot which was for day 10.  The leftovers of the meatloaf went to work with  my husband, and we still have a little bit left. 

When I was ready to assemble the meal, I realized I was going to use a new recipe for this BBQ chicken in the crock pot, but I couldn't remember where I saw it.  I started looking things up on my pinterest board and on the homeschool forums I frequent (and from where I got this terrific idea).  I couldn't find it.  But that was OK with me because I know my family has had enough BBQ flavored food (they're not hot on it in the first place), so I browsed pinterest (more specifically, the blog of the lady who cooked for 365 days in her crockpot) and decided to sprinkle the leg quarters with a packet of dry italian salad dressing like this one:

I added a little more garlic powder and onion powder, about a cup of water, and turned it on high.  Once it started to smell good (not longer than an hour later) I decided to put some veggies in.  I put some cut carrots (like 6 big carrots since my peeps like 'em).  I walked out to the garage where I have a big bag of reddish potatoes from Costco sitting in the cool temperature and grabbed only 3 of those because my peeps aren't so in to those.  So I just cut those up in big pieces and threw them in.  Then I whipped out my new BFF, remember who that is, yes, my rice cooker!  Set that baby up for 6:40pm and got ready to head out for the afternoon.  Oh, my 10yr old and I made a tray of brownies first, so we all had a little yummy snack before finally walking out the door. :)

Verdict: the chicken was falling off the bone when we got home at 7pm.  Rice was steaming hot.  The seasonings and spices were fantastic and we all loved it.  I used two forks to take the meat off the bone, but I did not add it back to the crockpot.  I kept it on the side and then we just served the rice, then chicken, and a spoon of the saucy vegetables.  It was great, and I'll make it again. 

Adventures in my new meal plan

The paper listing the January meals hangs on the fridge.  It's a delight, really.

A funny thing happened.  January 1 came.  We happened to have a lot of leftovers that I did not want to throw out, so I made everyone eat them without cooking the meal listed on day 1.  Turns out nobody really felt like trying Koshari which was scheduled for that day, so we just went ahead to day 2 the next day which was Zesty BBQ Chicken Sandwiches.  Maybe I'll try the Koshari next month.

Since it was the first time to try this, and it was the new year, and I wasn't really on my game, I forgot to actually pull the frozen chicken out of the freezer on that day.  I also kinda thought I might be making that Koshari anyways, but I wasn't, so why I didn't pull the chicken out, I don't know.  However, a few hours in a bowl of cold water defrosted those little bird breasts in no time, and I was able to put them in the crock pot around 1:30pm.  My crock pot cooks really hot, so I wasn't worried about a few skinless, boneless chicken breasts getting cooked in time for dinner.  I followed the recipe exactly, and I had to just help myself to dinner shortly after 5pm (instead of waiting till 6) because it looked and smelled too good! (if you do the math, you'll see that I did not cook the chicken the recommended 6-8 hours on low)  It was a treat for me.  I've been craving something with BBQ flavor, so this shredded chicken really hit the spot.  By the way, I just pulled out two forks and shredded the chicken right there in the pot.  The sauce mixed in with it perfectly and wasn't too messy once in the buns!  Sadly, my husband wasn't too impressed, but I will be making it again whether for lunch or maybe as a backup on a "leftovers" night if we have a little bit of this and that but not enough for everyone.  Look at my picture below.  See how un-messy the kitchen is? It's beautiful.  We had some salad in the fridge from the day before, in case you're worried about the lack of greenery.  Also, I often serve raw carrots with meals since some of my kids prefer raw veggies to cooked ones.  No problem!

Briefly before bed...

If you like the taste of mexican food, here is a quick family dinner you can make (and alter) easily:
5-6 chicken breasts, cubed
1 cup salsa
1 pkg taco seasoning (I don't use that,so I put chili powder, garlic powder, cumin, salt, pepper, and 1T or 2T tomato paste.)
2 cups water
1 can black beans (optional)
Cooked rice

In a large skillet, cook chicken in about 1 T oil til it's white.
Sprinkle with seasonings, add salsa, water. Bring to boil, reduce and simmer, covered for 15-20 minutes. You can add the beans towards the end.

I serve with cooked rice, but another way is to put some minute rice in the skillet and let it cook with it. Top with cheese if you like.

On the menu for the next few days:
Homemade Hamburgers
Fasulieh (Arabic dish with green beans and cubed beef)
Chicken Paprika
Maybe a grilled something or other on the weekend.