Sunday Supping

I'm a big fan of the fix-ahead.  Meals that can be a meal meal on Sunday, and then turn into lunches or dinners for a couple other days a week.

Enter the most cost-efficient three-meal purchase ever for a working couple:  the chicken.

The whole chicken.

Bought on sale for $6.99!  Feed a family!  For days!

I hadn't really attempted a roasted chicken before this year.  I still haven't perfected the roasted chicken.  But what have I realized?  It is really really really hard to screw up a roasted chicken.

Here's what you do.  Take said chicken.  Remove the bags of necks and gizzards, etc that are in the inside.

Cut one lemon in half and one large onion in quarters and stuff into the cavity.

Take 2 tablespoons of olive oil (or butter if you are feeling naughty) and massage it all over the chicken. 

Then mix up your favorite seasonings, I usually stick to salt, pepper, minced garlic and rosemary and massage more on top of your buttery massage.

Roast in a preheated 350 degree oven for 2-2.5 hours, looking for juices to run clear.  Baste occasionally with the butter or olive oil you used for the rubbing.

Chicken Before:

Chicken After:

Or you can crockpot it on low while you are at work!  Just put a couple of balled up pieces of aluminum foil in the bottom of your crock so it doesn't get greasy.   You won't get the crispy skin this way, but you also won't have to hang out for 2 hours waiting for it to cook.

And the fabulous thing about roasted chicken?  After you eat its falling off the bone deliciousness... shred the rest of the leftover chicken.  Use in quesadillas the next night.  And on top of salads for lunch the day after that.

THREEMEAL!

Something Fishy

I am a fish convert.

Still don't eat the white fish, or anything that comes in a Gorton's box.

But I avoided cooking fish, shrimp, crab, anything "stinky" at my home for the 1st 12 years of my independent living.  I didn't want the smell.  In my head, it was going to smell like that every time I walked in my door for the next 72 hours.

But I realized that no family can live on chicken and pork recipes alone.  Particularly no family that is trying to eat somewhat healthy

Enter, my foolproof "sweet chili salmon" recipe adapted from a recipe I cribbed from the Food Network site.  And the best part?  It involves buying a bottle of Frank's Sweet Chili Sauce, which I almost always have a coupon for, and is on sale once every four weeks at my grocery store.  (Remind me to tell you what I've learned about sales cycles and coupling them with coupons some other day).

What you need?
- Nonstick veggie oil
- half a bottle of Frank's Sweet Chili Sauce
- 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
- 1/2 tablespoon of ground ginger (or 1 tablespoon of fresh ginger, but that's too fancy for me)
- 2-4 salmon "logs" (I know they aren't called logs, but I don't know what else to call them)

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, spray with vegetable oil.

Combine sweet chili sauce, soy sauce and ginger and pour over the salmon.

Let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Turn on broiler.

Put salmon in. 

Cook 7-9 minutes on broil.

Eat with some green vegetable.

My recipes?  They are idiot proof.

The Most Important Meal of the Day...

My husband is quite often on (and off) the Atkins diet.  He's recently gone South Beach now that I've convinced him that there's nothing unhealthy about fruit. 

Breakfast is a tough one around here.  Both of us like to sleep until the last minute possible before having the great "who has to shower first" debate.  We have two bathrooms, mind you.

Before I was pregnant, I usually boiled a couple dozen eggs at a time, and we each had boiled eggs for breakfast.  Pregnancy has given me a boiled egg aversion... so I had to solve the great "what to make for breakfast that is marginally healthy and isn't an onion bagel" dilemma.

Solution:  a veggie frittata.

I had no idea what a frittata was.  I still don't know if it is spelled correctly.  Blogger says the word doesn't exist.  But I'd basically call it a crust-less quiche.

There's lots of techniques, thoughts, etc on the Internet.  Basically I was looking for something that is vegetable-packed, doesn't involve my washing the iron skillet, that I can cook and refrigerate on Sunday night, and reheats well through the week.  Here's what I came up with:

1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1/3 white onion, finely chopped
6-7 mushrooms
handful of baby spinach, shredded
1 Roma tomato
6 eggs (or one carton of egg-beaters)
1/2 cup of finely shredded cheese of your choice (I use cheddar)
salt, pepper, basil

Melt butter in a pan over medium heat.  Add white onion and mushrooms, and saute until onions are clear.  Add spinach, and salt and pepper to taste.  Cook together for another 2 minutes and take off the heat.

Beat 6 eggs with fork, and add a dash of milk, and salt, pepper to taste.  Add 1/2 tsp of basil, veggie mixture, finely chopped tomato, and cheese.

Mix together and pour into a lightly Pam-ed ceramic dish.  (I use my pie pan).

Cook on 375 for 25 minutes or until middle is set. 

Allow 5 minutes to cool and either serve, or store in pieces for breakfast through the week.

Voila.  Happy husband starting his day with some veggies!

Hot Pockets in a Pinch

I hate leftovers. Don't worry, I'm ashamed of my weakness. I'm frugal - I should LOVE leftovers, but I just can't do it. While I don't like reheating last night's green beans, I do love taking the green beans and turning them into something else.

Enter my own chicken hot pockets.


Earlier this week, while trying to avoid calling Bambino's Pizza for the third time, I realized I needed some groceries in our new house. Enter the Publix Rotisserie Chicken. While you might not have the greatest Southeastern grocery store in your neck of the woods, I'm absolutely sure you have a grocery store that has a smallish roasted chicken in a paper bag. It's brilliant. It's fast - and it's usually cheap.

We ate chicken and something (I'm pretty sure it was green) on Tuesday - and there was still some chicken left on the bone. And, voila! Chicken Hot Pockets! (No, seriously, it's that easy. I spent more time on the picture than I did making dinner).

Chicken Hot Pocket:
• Chopped Chicken (or shredded, or whatever)
• Half a block of cream cheese (I use the low-fat kind)
• Shallot (or onion), chopped finely
• Salt, pepper, garlic - season at will
• Crescent Rolls (low fat again, they get less greasy)

Salad Dressing:
• 2 parts Balsamic Vinegar
• 1 part Olive Oil
• Squirt of Dijonnaise (super high fallutin' over here)
• Salt, Pepper, etc

1. Mix chicken, cream cheese (helps if it's a little soft - or just put it in the microwave for a few seconds), and all of your seasoning stuff - onion, etc. Seriously, go crazy here - a little salsa works well, or artichokes, or spinach... The idea is that it's a thick mixture - too runny and it won't work.

2. Heat up your oven - usually crescent rolls like a hot oven, 400 or so. (Hint: look on the whomp can). While the oven is heating up, I popped a few pecans on a pan to toast them (think: salad).

3. Crescent Rolls. Ahhh, my secret helper. There are eight crescent rolls in a can, use two (and the nice little square they make) for each hot pocket. Spoon some of the mixture in the middle and fold the sides of the crescent roll up like a little purse. Pinch the sides so it's all closed. I usually squish them down a little too.

4. Bake the hot pockets for the length of time on the whomp can plus one or two minutes. You want the outsides golden, and everything inside warm.

5. While they're baking, mix up the salad dressing with your fork. Grab some greens - whatever you've got - and sprinkle the toasted pecans, a can of rescued mandarin oranges (seriously, I have no idea how these got into my kitchen), over the artfully prepared greens. Ha. Just cracked myself up.

About twenty minutes from when you started, you'll have a salad and a homemade hot pocket. And a very happy tummy!

Medi Terr... what?

So let's start with the fact that my husband's definition of greek food is from one of those diners that has a 20 page menu that he usually ends us deciding on some kind of pasta dish from.

Mix it with the fact that he'll eat anything I cook.  Stir in feta and the need to eat healthier.  And you have Mediterranean turkey burger at the Edwards house!

This is definitely my "I don't want to cook dinner tonight" go to.

We always have ground turkey in the fridge.  We always have feta.  Ditto on spinach and onions.

(And oh yes, as I start sharing recipes, please realize that I don't really follow recipes all that well.  I kind of eyeball things.  Maybe out of laziness.  Maybe out of the desire to cut down on dishes to wash.  Maybe it is just because of my awesome cooking instincts.)

So here we go. 

One package of ground turkey  (I used 99% FF last night)
One egg
1/4 of a yellow onion finely diced
salt and pepper to taste
oregano (1/2 Tablespoonish?)
some feta (probably about 1/2 cup?)

Take ingredients.  Mix up.  Form into 5 patties.  Grill on stovetop in a hot pan with some olive oil until no longer pink.

Cut patties in half, serve inside pita cut in half with some romaine lettuce, tomatoes, a little caesar dressing (I prefer Ken's Lite Caesar) and a sprinkle of feta. 

Add sauteed spinach on the side instead of chips so you don't feel bad about yourself.

Voila!  Dinner! 

Determined.

I'm moving. Actually, still in the middle of moving. So far this morning, I've unpacked coffee mugs, serving bowls and a silver tea set. While coffee mugs are super important to the success of my day, I really wanted to find silverware so I could eat a yogurt for breakfast.

What do you make for dinner when you're not sure where the plates are? That's my dilemma at the moment. We've had pizza and sushi (um, not together) and I'm looking for something I can pull together.

Any ideas?