View Full Version : February Cook at Home
Today's lunch: I cooked some potatoes in the pressure cooker and then stuffed them with mashed potato (mashed with just the cooking water/garlic), small broccoli florets, and some mozzarella, and baked to reheat/melt the cheese. DD and DH scarfed them down.
Dinner tonight will be a kai lan (Chinese broccoli) stir-fry. Went to the Asian market last week.
Yesterday we had a lentil daal with salad.
treehugger
2-11-13, 3:31pm
We coasted on last week's chili mac for quite a few days. Leftovers: what would I do without 'em? I didn't cook again until Saturday because we took MIL out for dinner Friday for her birthday.
Saturday, I made pizza with the whole wheat olive oil dough that was in the fridge (new recipe, from Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes), with pesto sauce (the last of last fall's batch, from the freezer), salami that needed to be used up, CSA mushrooms, and the last of the shredded mozzarella that was in the freezer. I will definitely make this dough again, but DH and I both thought that the whole wheat would be better with red sauce. It overwhelmed the pesto a bit.
Yesterday was kitchen project day. I made a Korean red pepper paste marinade for some organic chicken legs; that went into the freezer for cooking at a later date. I defrosted a pork shoulder and the last container of last summer's salsa verde, threw both in the crockpot, and now have chile verde in the fridge waiting to have the fat skimmed. That will be dinner one night this week (need to make tortillas) and the rest into the freezer. I made a brown sugar pear bundt with spiced maple glaze to take to a friends' for dinner last night (we had raclette, yum!), from a new recipe that is definitely now a keeper (from Dorie Greenspan's Baking).
I went through a few cookbooks that I want to utilize more and made a rough menu sketch (I do not menu plan :)) for the next few weeks, based on what we have on hand and what I know is coming in the produce box tomorrow. As a separate project, I also started going through old cookbooks that I haven't used in a long time, to see if I want to keep them. Have already added a few to the "sell at Half Price Books" pile.
Kara
Yesterday I made pancakes and eggs fro breakfast and chicken lasagna for lunch. Supper was waffles in my new waffle iron--so good! DH took leftover pizza for his lunch today while DD and I had fruit and cheese and crackers. We'll probably eat leftover chicken lasagna for dinner.
DH has been sick, so we've just been doing simple meals--leftover chicken lasagna, ham sandwiches, soup from a can, etc. I am really getting tired of chicken, though, so tomorrow I am putting a pork roast in the crock pot so I can make BBQ pulled pork. If DH thinks the smell of meat cooking will make him feel even more sick, then I will do one more day of sandwiches, I guess! ;-)
Last night, DD and DH had linguine with Bolognese sauce (made a big batch of sauce last month and froze half), and steamed broccoli.
I had some leftovers.
Tonight I'm making vegetarian borscht. Yum. Red soup for Valentine's Day.
I'm trying to do even more cooking at home than we usually do, so I'm going to join in on this thread to help keep myself on track!
My dearly beloved is in NYC for work for the next few days, so today I am having my administrative assistant over to my house so that we can co-work for the day. We're going to make nachos with black beans for lunch -- okay, not the healthiest meal, perhaps, but oh so good! We'll add avocado and homemade salsa so that we get some vegetables in there. :D Tonight's dinner will be leftover butternut squash soup.
Rosemary--I always wanted to try making borscht!
cdttmm--I love nachos!
I put a crock pot in the slow cooker this morning. I am going to make BBQ pulled pork out of it along with some baked fries and mixed veggies for DD and I tonight. This will allow me to use up a bunch of sale items from the freezer: a pork roast, some buns, the fries, and the veggies. The BBQ is from my pantry and was bought on sale as well. DH is still sick. He will probably just sip on some Sprite and have a few saltines for dinner. Maybe we'll try oatmeal!
My MIL will be here for lunch today. I am thinking of making ham sandwiches out of some ham I got on sale and maybe some cottage cheese or chips (also bought on sale).
I don't mean to brag, but I've been doing a pretty good job planning meals based on what's on sale lately. >8)
treehugger
2-14-13, 1:57pm
I don't mean to brag, but I've been doing a pretty good job planning meals based on what's on sale lately. >8)
Brag away. That's a vital skill! This is actually the biggest disconnect that I see when people are complaining about spending too much at the grocery store. IMO, to rein in the budget, the biggest change to make is to look at what I buy when, rather than resigning myself to eating only poor quality food, or bemoaning the lack of coupons for whole foods.
Taking advantage of the sale ads at a few different stores dramatically decreased my grocery spending. Of course, that means I have to be willing to cook with what's on sale, but honestly, I don't find that difficult in the slightest. It's just about changing my expectations and habits of what we eat regularly.
We've been eating chile verde (made overnight in the crockpot with a pork shoulder and salsa verde that I made last year), brown rice (from the freezer), and pinto beans for a few days. Tonight, I will defrost the chicken legs that I put in the freezer on Sunday with a Korean-style marinade, and cook that with the gorgeous rainbow chard that came in the produce box on Tuesday.
Kara
I've planned grocery purchases around the sales since I was a grad student. It definitely helps to keeps the budget in check. Coupons aren't much help for me, as I buy very few packaged groceries. Not many coupons for broccoli.
Kat - the borscht recipe I loosely follow is here: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2009/02/dinner-tonight-vegetarian-borscht-recipe.html
I omit the sour cream, and vary the quantities of vegetables depending on what I have. I really love this soup.
Brag away. That's a vital skill! This is actually the biggest disconnect that I see when people are complaining about spending too much at the grocery store. IMO, to rein in the budget, the biggest change to make is to look at what I buy when, rather than resigning myself to eating only poor quality food, or bemoaning the lack of coupons for whole foods.
Taking advantage of the sale ads at a few different stores dramatically decreased my grocery spending. Of course, that means I have to be willing to cook with what's on sale, but honestly, I don't find that difficult in the slightest. It's just about changing my expectations and habits of what we eat regularly.
...Kara
That's long been my strategy. I buy what's on sale and fill in with staples from my trusty Grocery Outlet, which always has reasonably-priced goods. I've never made a price book a la Amy Dacyzycn, but I regularly compare prices and use Costco and ethnic markets to my advantage.
I have Asian-inspired shirataki soup on the menu, roast turkey breast with cranberries and cauliflower, and ground-beef stuffed bell peppers coming up.
treehugger
2-14-13, 8:37pm
Grrrr. Someplace between work and home, I lost my grocery list. That's no big deal. Big deal: on the back of the list I had written the recipes I wanted to make in the next week or so. Somehow, I just don't have the energy to recreate it. Luckily, I do know what to make tonight, because I posted it above. I guess now I should always make sure to record my menu ideas here, so they can't get lost. *sigh*
Kara
treehugger--I hate when that happens! I end up buying a bunch of stuff and then don't remember what I was going to do with it! I do eventually use it all up, though!
DH is still sick, so it's just DD and I eating mainly. We've had a couple of meals of fries and BBQ pork, but I will probably freeze the rest of the pork since DD and I will never get through it all alone! Yesterday we had soup and sandwiches for lunch and homemade waffles for dinner. We had leftover waffles for breakfast and will probably have soup and sandwiches again for lunch. Trying to keep things simple and easy since DH won't be joining us and isn't able to watch her while I cook dinner. Cooking in a small kitchen with an 18 month old is crazy!
fidgiegirl
2-16-13, 2:47pm
We are doing really well with eating at home. I should do our tracking from last month and see how much our restauranting went down. I think we only went out twice . . . that's an improvement. But we'll see if my memory fails me.
I seasoned some beans with a taco mix I made here at home. I don't buy packet mixes anymore because of hidden gluten. I was following a recipe I had printed off online to mix up a small jar of GF taco seasoning, and it was time to make more today, but we had run out of about half the spices. So then I started to eye some of the seasonings we never use, like Cajun and Jerk. When I looked at the ingredients, they were fundamentally the same as the ones that go into the taco mix. So anyway, I used some of that and made a passable taco seasoning.
I love knowing that all my years of following recipes is starting to lead into being able to be more flexible in my cooking. A few years ago, I would have run out and bought everything the recipe called for. Now I am comfortable enough to root around in the cupboard and find something close enough. Score!
Agreed, Kelli, on years of practice making cooking so much easier. I rarely follow recipes now, even though I have several shelves full of cookbooks. I do use the books for ideas and comparisons... and I can't remember the last time DH complained about anything I make. Last week he even made a comment about not going out for Mexican because what I make is better. I'll just say... we've come a long way!
Yesterday I went to a large Asian market (locals: Shuang Hur in St Paul). I'd been there before, but the produce section seems to have been beefed up and wow, there were some really screaming deals on vegetables & herbs. Made me happy since we're all suffering from late-winter broccoli fatigue. Tonight, we'll have a shiitake-snow pea-red bell pepper-tofu stir-fry. I also bought a huge chunk of ginger and pureed it to freeze in ice cubes. Really speeds up making Chinese or Indian food, plus the ginger adds more flavor when it's pureed vs minced.
fidgiegirl
2-16-13, 5:20pm
I'll have to check out Shuang Her. We have made a few trips to Dragon Star but Shuang Her would be closer. Plus Dragon Star has been packed every time we go there and nuts for parking, but maybe Shuang Her is the same.
I love knowing that all my years of following recipes is starting to lead into being able to be more flexible in my cooking. A few years ago, I would have run out and bought everything the recipe called for. Now I am comfortable enough to root around in the cupboard and find something close enough. Score!
+1
I, too, feel pretty confident in my substitution abilities when it comes to making dishes and discovering that I don't have *exactly* what is called for in the recipe.
Tonight will be a tomato and avocado salad of some sort because I have a lone tomato and a lone avocado that need to be consumed. My dearly beloved won't be home until tomorrow night so I'll plan to actually cook again starting then! :D
(For Twin Citians)
The remodeled Dragon Star is still about half-again the size of Shuang Hur, but that still leaves room for lots of stuff. I like the produce at both; some better deals at DS, I think, but I like the meat/seafood department at SH a little more. Parking at both is a hassle depending on when you're there, though weekends seem to be the absolute worst.
ObCookingAtHome: we managed to work through almost everything we had left over before we leave for vacation. Only some leftover butternut squash (which, truth be told, was not that good to start with; gotta stop buying Stahlbush veggies because they disappoint me more often than not). I'm pretty proud of that. Usually getting out of here for a vacation resembles the fall of Saigon. I hate that, though our compost heap thanks me profusely. :|(
I'm doing pretty well for February. Even managed to have the kids home for a full week without ordering them food! They're staying with inlaws for a few more days so I'm on my own for about a week. have decided to try Atkins-style eating as my weight has creeped up to an uncomfortable point. Made a frittata for breakfast yesterday and will have that for breakfast most of the week. Had ham/cheese/hardboiled egg for lunch because I was feeling lazy and the stuff I got out of the freezer hadn't defrosted yet. Made a salad with some soon-to-go-bad lettuce and leftover spicey chicken for dinner -- that was actually really yummy! Made a batch of chicken broth with bones I had saved in the freezer. Today I plan to make a gumbo type thing with a bunch of shrimp that have been in the freezer for ages, and I have a bunch of frost-bitten fish thawing to make a baked fish dish. Also going to make some smashed cauliflower to go with it -- need to get to the store first. I'll probably pick up a whole chicken to roast on the way home tomorrow or Tuesday. That plus the veggies I'll get today should keep me fed the rest of the week until kids/DH come home.
It was really interesting to watch how my appetite/cravings developed yesterday. I clearly have a carb issue. I wasn't hungry AT ALL after my 100% protein based lunch. But after I had that salad for dinner I found myself getting carb cravings a couple of hours later.
lhamo
Oh yum, the stir-fry was fabulous. I made hot and sour soup as well. Good reviews all around. DD was happy when I said she could have some of the leftovers for breakfast if she wants.
In my last post I was touting my ability to substitute in recipes successfully. Perhaps I spoke too soon! :D
Last night I made a pasta dish with a blue cheese sauce. Well, the two different recipes that I perused used things I didn't have on hand: heavy cream or mascarpone cheese. I was not about to run to the store for either of these items since we don't use them regularly. So I decided I would try a combo of whole milk and jarlsberg cheese instead. Ha! The sauce turned out smooth and creamy, but -- wow -- it was a bit too blue cheese-y for my tastes! My dearly beloved didn't say that outright, but come to think of it, he didn't say much. He ate it pretty much without comment, which makes me think that this is not going to become one of his favorite dishes any time soon! Oh well, it was edible and there is only one small serving of leftovers in the refrigerator, so I'll have to find something else to make with the remainder of the blue cheese. In case anyone is wondering, I made this with gluten free pasta and added frozen peas and frozen spinach to the sauce. I actually think that it would have been quite good had I used mascarpone or ricotta in the sauce in the right ratio with the blue cheese!
At least we managed to eat one more meal at home and not resort to either running to the grocery store at the last minute or going out to eat. Hooray! :cool:
treehugger
2-18-13, 12:48pm
Usually getting out of here for a vacation resembles the fall of Saigon. I hate that, though our compost heap thanks me profusely. :|(
This made me laugh because I have the same challenge. Sometimes I use/freeze up all the perishables...and sometimes I don't. Good for you for doing well this time. Have a great vacation! Where are you off to?
Friday: last night of chile verde burrito leftovers.
Saturday: Korean-style sauce stewed chicken legs, spinach, rice. New recipe from Cooking Light magazine. Very tasty and easy. Will make again with a few modifications.
Sunday: Spicy tofu with veggies. New recipe from William-Sonoma Weeknight cookbook. Great! Will definitely make again. Sauce was 1/4 cup water, 1/4 cup oyster sauce, 1/4 cup soy sauce, and 1/4 cup rice vinegar, with Sriracha, sesame oil, garlic, and ginger. All things I always have on hand, easy to put together, very flavorful. The recipe called for frozen peas, which I also always have on hand, but I also had fresh carrots and broccoli from the produce box, so I used those instead (cooked them longer than the peas, of course). Keeper!
Kara
treehugger, we are cruising. San Juan tomorrow and a couple of other Caribbean ports before we come back. It's nice to enjoy some warm air and see some plants which are really green!
I tried making roasted broccoli with the chicken I made yesterday.
Steamed/boiled broccoli is not going to be happening much in my house anymore :-) It was really good.
treehugger
2-18-13, 2:58pm
treehugger, we are cruising. San Juan tomorrow and a couple of other Caribbean ports before we come back. It's nice to enjoy some warm air and see some plants which are really green!
Sounds lovely. I really enjoy cruises, but have never been to the Caribbean, only Alaska and Mexico (Pacific side). Enjoy!
Kara
Since my last post, I made a big batch of cheesy potatoes in the crock pot along with some asparagus. Then DH wanted mac n cheese and hot dogs for dinner last night, so I made that along with some Normandy-style veggies. Also made DH's valentine treat--a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. DD had a blast putting on the sprinkles.
Tonight I think I will make some chicken and veggies. Need to use up some cottage cheese, so maybe I will serve that with some fruit, too.
This evening I am making a beef and Bok Choy stir fry. It is one of my tried and true recipes that is always good. Once you get everything chopped, it goes together very quickly.
Tonight, a lentil dal with vegetables that I made and froze a few weeks ago, along with salad and roasted polenta triangles.
Last night, mu shu vegetables with egg.
Previous 2 nights, DD and DH had pork goulash and steamed cabbage; I had leftovers of a snow pea, red pepper, tofu stir-fry.
Tonight I made home made pizza for the first time - using leftover bread dough. It was totally delish and I feel an idiot and that I have been ripped off all the years I have been buying commercial pizzas - home made was much tastier, juicier and much much cheaper. I estimate I spent less than a pound on ingredients compared to £2.99 in a supermarket.
treehugger
2-20-13, 5:33pm
I feel the same way about homemade pizza. It is much better tasting and far cheaper than anything I could get delivered. And while it may be more work, it's certainly not difficult, and, start to finish, it doesn't take any more time than waiting for delivery (I use a dough recipe that I make a head and keep in the fridge).
Kara
We made Mexican rice and pinto beans the other night -- covered in Monterey Jack cheese. YUM!
Tonight is penne with cauliflower in a cheddar cheese sauce. It's the first time I'm making this so I hope it's good -- I figure, what can be bad about pasta smothered in a cheese sauce?!? :D
DH didn't feel like chicken last night, so I didn't make it. But I HAVE to make it today or it'll go bad. So that is what he is getting whether he likes it or not. Haha! Looking into the weekend, I am thinking about making some applesauce in my crock pot and some blueberry sauce for homemade waffles. I will also probably make a batch of mini meatloaves, roasted potatoes, and rice krispy treats to share with a relative who is ailing.
I made the chicken yesterday for lunch since DD was so happy sitting in her highchair coloring. I steamed some peas for a side--it was delicious! DH came home for lunch and was so pleased to have a hot meal. Last night we had waffles with the blueberry sauce. Very good, but a little sweet for my liking! Served with some Cool Whip bought on sale (67 cents), it was practically dessert for dinner! ;-)
I am thinking about making the applesauce today along with a pizza casserole. That should (in theory) be easy enough. Will have to see what kind of mood DD is in!
Vietnamese chicken soup for lunch yesterday, leftovers in packed lunches for the next few days. Dinner was tacos, using up the last of the napa cabbage that I bought for the mu shu vegetables (we use shredded, raw cabbage on our tacos after learning this was traditional to at least one part of Mexico, from a taco shop in AZ).
Well, I managed to get the applesauce made, but not the pizza casserole. So we had grilled cheese and applesauce for dinner Friday. Yesterday we went out for lunch (planned date), but we came home and made pizza, jello, and popcorn for dinner and a snack. Saturday is family movie night around here. :-)
I think today I will make tuna and noodles for lunch and maybe grilled cheese again for dinner (DH's request). Pizza casserole will have to be made some time next week, I guess!
My dearly beloved is sick with a bad cold so I was tasked with making dinner last night. I opted for nachos, which allowed me to use up the remaining vegetarian chili that was leftover from the other night. Not sure what tonight will be...
Tonight we had the last of the taco filling and tortillas, and I made some Spanish rice and a pot of soupy pinto beans to go with it. DD and DH will take rice and beans for lunch tomorrow, with little containers of grated cheese, salsa, and green onions. I took a lasagna out of the freezer, made it about a month ago, that will be their dinner on a couple of busy nights this week... I'll have some leftover soup, also out of the freezer, as I have a mild wheat allergy.
Our fridge has gone from stuffed to nearly empty but I've probably got enough to get through most of this week, so I'm going to put off shopping for now. Freezer and pantry are fairly full - mostly fresh veggies that are low, but I've got 1/2 a cabbage and a cauliflower still.
HomemadeChange
2-24-13, 9:40pm
Just finished devouring chicken tacos with DH after a long day at work (for me) and cutting up a fallen tree (for him). I made the chicken earlier this week in the crockpot. I used oinion, garlic, chipotle peppers, brown sugar (in moderation), salt (in moderation) and black pepper. We ate the chicken breasts the night I cooked it. DH took lunch to work via the drumsticks and then I shredded what was left for tonight mixed with other veggie leftovers for tacos. Took only a few minutes and NO money spent--YAY!
DH and I went out for lunch yesterday with a buy-1-get-1-free deal at a local restaurant we like. Going out for lunch when DD is in school is a much cheaper date option for us as there is no babysitting cost. The portions were huge and combined with leftovers in our fridge fed all 3 of us for dinner.
DD absolutely loved the beans and rice I made so I'm going to add a batch of beans to my regular keep-in-the-fridge items - a much better snack than typical snack food (which we don't really have in the house anyway, so I need to keep foods prepared for after school, which is like a mini-dinner for her).
So I'm soaking some beans to cook later. Dinner tonight will be some chicken brats, potatoes, and cabbage, cooked 'eintopf,' one-pot, the peasant food of my ancestors.
I ate up half of the pasta leftovers from lunch the other day. I added some cream cheese to "dilute" the blue cheese sauce and it seemed to work fairly well and I added some frozen peas. It was definitely an improvement over the first iteration. I'll do the same with the last batch of leftovers on Friday. I've learned from this little experiment that, although I do like blue cheese, it's not suitable for making a cheesy pasta sauce, it's just not a taste combo that I'm in love with.
My significant other requested nachos for dinner tonight so that we can use up some fresh cilantro that we have on hand. I'll never say "no" to nachos! :D
Man, all this taco talk is making me want tacos. :-)
Last night we had fish sticks and fries per DH's request. Tonight will either be pizza casserole or pigs in a blanket. I am getting really tired of the "kid food" DH has been asking for--hot dogs, mac n cheese, fish sticks, etc. So I think I may make the pizza casserole just because even though it isn't the height of culinary genius, at least it isn't something gross and processed from a box.
I stocked up over the next two days, so there's cooking in my future. Lots of cauliflower that will turn into salad, pork fried "rice," and maybe some Indian-spiced mash or Kung Pao chicken over "rice." And I have everything I need for kim chee. We'll see how that goes.
SteveinMN
2-28-13, 10:42am
Last night's dinner was Belizean Fish. It's a firmer-fleshed fish (of your choice) poached in coconut milk with grated green-banana "fritters". I used tilapia filets since they were $3.50 a pound cheaper than the other fresh fish on offer. And it was a hit. Sometimes fish dinners at our house are consumed more out of duty ("it's good for me") than flavor. Not the case this time.... I served it with broccoli (also on sale) and rice. The plate was a little monochromatic, but it was well-received.
We had the pigs in a blanket last night, so I made the pizza casserole for tonight. It's already assembled and in the fridge, so DH won't be able to persuade me to make something else. :-) It allowed me to use up a ton of stuff from the pantry and freezer--meat, cheese, veggies, canned sauce, etc. all bought on sale. We've also been doing a good job of using up our food so it doesn't go to waste. We had the last of the homemade apple sauce last night, and I made some pudding with some milk that was nearing its expiration date. We'll have that for dessert tonight along with some Cool Whip leftover from the blueberry waffles we had earlier in the month. Tomorrow I am planning on making sour cream chicken enchiladas. I took the meat out of the freezer today so it will be ready to go. I hate defrosting meat in the microwave!
Yesterday was a long day for me (I spent 7 hours on the train going to and from NYC) so we made a quick and easy dinner last night: vegetarian chili from the freezer with tortilla chips.
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