Since I have been doing infusions on Wednesdays, Thursdays have become my get-it-done days because I am almost guaranteed to feel awesome on Thursdays (after having a hellish headache and sweaty hotflashes all night long). My face is puffy on Thursdays and it looks and feels like I have a sunburn, but I just pretend I just got back from Mexico and then I feel fab.
Anyway, in my race to make the most of the steroidal energy, I do a big cook-ahead thing now. I have always tried to freeze extra dinners or dinner ingredients since dinner is the nemesis of my domestic life, but I’ve got a good thang goin’ now. Here’s what I have been doing:
I buy +/- 1lb lean ground beef, a big bag of boneless skinless chicken breasts (with at least 12 pieces in the bag), and a bunch of fruits and veggies (along with all the other shelf-stable stuff like tortillas, Country Farms stone ground wheat bread, cereal, oatmeal, pasta, beans, rice, water chestnuts, bean sprouts, sauces, etc., and I do indulge in big costco bags of pre-grated cheeses, tortilla chips, and sour cream).
So Thursday morning after the kids and daddy are off to school and the kitchen is clean, I break out the aluminum foil and heat the oven to 325 and start Cooking-Ahead. I make little foil packes for chicken breasts— 4 chicken breasts in teriyaki or sesame ginger sauce, 2 in Italian Dressing, and 6 in medium Pace Picante Sauce. I just lay the frozen breasts out on the foil, pour ½-1 cup of the sauce on top, fold up the foil and throw the three packets into the oven for about 3 hours.
Meanwhile, I chop 1 yellow onion, a bunch of green onions, carrots, broccoli, celery, mushrooms, cabbage, (and I always have jars of minced garlic and ginger and a tube of cilantro) and freeze them in zipoc bags. James helps until he gets bored, and then I make the TV babysit him with Thomas the Tank Engine or Little Einsteins. I wash all the apples, grapes, and lettuce and put them back in the fridge for later with a couple of bell peppers, plum tomatoes, and avocados. At the same time, I brown the ground beef with a bit of onion, garlic, and salsa, then drain it really well and freeze it in a ziploc bowl to use in crock pot chili later. When the chicken is done, I let it cool a little then open the packets and slice the chicken into thin strips and store them in the fridge according to flavor. I also shred three of the salsa-flavored chicken breasts for tacos or tostadas.
SO—then I am ready (or pretty much ready) to make any of the following dinners the rest of the week:
Chicken-Ramen Oriental Salad
Chicken Stir Fry with Brown Rice
Left-over chicken stir fry Egg Rolls with fried Brown Rice
Chili and Cornbread/ Chili-ritos
Chicken Alfredo with salad and breadsticks
Chicken-Bacon Pasta Salad
Chicken-Caesar Salad and breadsticks
Chicken Tacos
Taco Salad
Chicken Tostadas
Chicken Enchilada Casserole with Salad
Tortilla Soup with chicken and avocado
On Sundays I usually make a pork roast with veggies, and use the left overs for shredded pork tacos or stir fry on Monday.
Let me know if you want to try any recipes or you want a shopping list. I’m trying to get this down to a science, while working in some more vegetarian/ camping/ food storage meals, too.
9 comments:
You are brilliant. You are coping so well. If I were having health stuff like you, I would have been cooking the one or two nights a week, then doing takeout the rest of the time like a wimp. I am totally going to print your methodology and try it.
oh, we do take-out often enough, my dear. it's a huge thorn in my hubs' side how often i make us eat out when he can count on his digits how many times he ate out growing up. his mom can still run circles around me, but ya play the hand you're dealt, right?
I would like to know how exactly do you "shred"? I love to eat that with BBQ sauce or whatever but I don't know how to.
Is that dumb? Probably.
Not dumb! You just cook your meat for a long time (covered, to keep in the steam), then you take two forks and pull it apart! it should be tender enough to just call to pieces, esp. if you use a crock pot or a foil packet in the oven! (we do that sometimes, too--just good ol' pulled pork with good BBQ sauce on a bun with corn on the cob on the side...YUM!)
Those are really good ideas, Jaime. I should copy you. I really should get some things like that into the freezer before baby shows up. I am pretty sure Jess and the kids will still want to eat then!
Right on Jamie! Your ready for work in a restaurant. We'll give you a call when we finally open a place of our own!
Jamie, I would love the recipe's for the things you listed. I've been really wanting to get more organized in the cooking department. It really isn't one of my fav. things to do. There is a cool website : http://www.30mealsinoneday.com/ and they have books/recipes/software to help you cook 30 meals in one day. I thought that sounded awsome and I got the books and software, now I just need to find some time to sit down and go over it all and try it. The software is cool you can choose which recipes you want and it will print you out a shopping list and make menus for you. You can even enter your own recipes or alter the ones there. It will adjust recipies too. Like if something makes enough for 4 and you want to adjust it for 13 people, it will automatically alter the proportions properly so your output is right. Cool. Anyway, I at least have aspirations of doing it. I like the food ideas you listed, so send over the recipies if you have them conveniently typed up or something.
You are Superwoman.
Jamie, I would love your recipes and shopping list, could you e-mail it to me. I think you have my e-mail.
Linda
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