Tips and Tricks for Busy People

I work from home now, so cooking is a lot easier. If I want to make something elaborate like lemon curd cupcakes with a blackberry cream cheese frosting, I can. But before the powers that be allowed me to work from home, I would get home at 7pm depending on traffic and be completely too tired to cook anything. So I basically, I ate fast food. It occurred to me that I should plan ahead, but on my days off, who wants to do anything resembling work? Not I.

Not everyone is a stay-at-home mom or dad, retired, or works from home. Some of you have to go into the office and not come home to a home cooked meal. So here are some tips and tricks to make your life a litter easier, a little bit healthier and a little bit of a food change.

• PLAN AHEAD
• Don't wait until the last minute to throw something together. Before you go grocery shopping, know what meals you are going to be making until your next shopping trip. Include everything. Including snacks. You don't have to make a schedule, but you should know what foods you are going to eat for the day, say on Tuesday.
• If you buy stuff like chips, baby carrots and other little snacks, separate your portions into a plastic baggy. Dedicate a section of your refrigerator and cabinet just for these little snacks. 
• Make for the week on your day off. I know, it sucks to do this on a day off, when you can be out at the beach having fun, but a little work during that day, can save you time for the rest of week. Make a batch of meat sauce (add in some carrots and zucchini) and freeze the entire batch. Make lasagna and put in the freezer uncooked. Season some boneless chicken breasts, bake, and chop them up, bag them up for quick chicken salads. Make a smoothie the night before so that you can drink on the way to work. There are tons of things you can do, to easy your work days.
• KEEP A WELL STOCKED KITCHEN
• Having the basics on hand means you can cook an easy meal in minutes. For example, the other day, I was just down to some frozen meat and the bare essentials, I was able to make a nice meal of blueberry pancakes from scratch because I had the basics. 
• Keep things that you can cook when frozen. For example, I love beef kielbasa and frozen mixed vegetables. I can chop up the frozen kielbasa and throw it in a pot in ten minutes I have a somewhat nutritious meal for lunch or dinner. 
• Freeze your leftovers. If you're getting sick of your leftovers, freeze them in single serving size containers. I save all of the sour cream, cream cheese, and other such containers just for these occasions. It's good for the environment, saves you money, and if something gets moldy, you can throw the container away without regret. 
• INVEST IN A CROCK POT
• I love my crock pot. I make soups and chili in it. I make overnight oatmeal in it. I throw a whole chicken in it, beef brisket, ropa vieja. The sky's the limit. The night before, I prep all of the ingredients so that in the morning before I've brushed my teeth, I can just dump them in, give a quick stir and set on low, and know that when I come home, a hot meal is waiting for me. 
• FYI: cooking in a crock pot is a great way to make a low fat meal. Make sure to use lean cuts of meat. Because the heat is low and the cooking is slow, the meat gets really juicy. With chicken, watch out, because when it's done, you can literally cut through the bone with a spoon.
• MAKE SOUPS AND SALADS
• Soups keep well in the fridge for about a week. They freeze well too. 
• You can cook up from chicken or steak on your day off. Slice them and freeze or refrigerate them. Add them to a salad. There are thousands of types of salads out there. I'm working on a recipe that involves watermelon and cilantro. Get creative. You can make your own salad dressings by experimenting with different types of vinegars and oils. I love fresh squeezed lemon juice and olive oil. 

Technique 1: Searing

You can learn a recipe and cook only that recipe and a few variations of that recipes. You can learn a cooking technique and create thousands of your own recipes. Searing is one of my favorite ways to cook a steak. It locks in all of the juices and I can finish up my steak in the oven.

You have probably seared meat before. Every time you "brown" a meat before cooking in another method, you are actually searing. Searing not only gives your meat a pretty color. But it takes more than simply throwing a slab of meat into a pan.

1. Your meat must come down to room temperature. This lets the meat's natural juices reabsorb into the muscle.

2. Season your meat with salt and pepper. You can also add other spices. The spices will create a really nice crust on your meat. If you are using a marinade, shake off the excess moisture. We do not want to saute or pan roast the meat.

3. Open a window and turn on your exhaust fan if you have one. Because it's going to get hot and smokey!

4. Make sure to use a pan that heats evenly and most importantly, make sure it is extremely hot. Medium-high or high heat! If your pan is too cool, you won't sear your meat it will be sauteing or boiling if you used a marinade. Make sure that pan is HOT!

5. Add a little fat to the pan to keep the meat from sticking. If you're cooking something that is fatty, you can skip the this step. Definitely add some fat to the pan if you're using lean meats. Do not use anything that has a low melting smoking point, like butter, extra virgin olive oil and so forth. Your butter will burn and the EVOO will really smoke.

6. Add your meat to the pan and watch it. It should brown pretty quickly and once it's brown it's a minute or two away from being burnt. If you're cooking something like a pork roast, or a round cut of meat, lean it up against the side of the pan, so it doesn't roll around.

7. Once your side is brown, flip it and brown the other side. Keep doing this until you've browned all sides of the meat. Even if you're cooking a steak, you want to sear those sides! Be careful searing the ends, you don't want the meat to fall back into the pan and splatter the hot juice all over you.

8. Now you have a piece of meat that is beautifully browned, but most likely is raw on the inside. This is where you would use another technique. You could roast the meat, boil it, saute it, put it in the slow cooker, braise it, there's a variety of cooking techniques you could use to finish off that meat.

9. Don't throw away those juices! The juices and the brown bits that are stuck to the bottom can actually be used to make a gravy! More on making gravy coming soon!

Green Blueberry and Green Tea Smoothie

This is a great way to add both fruit and vegetables to your breakfast or snack. This recipe is going to really give you a boost. It is packed with vitamins, minerals, good fats, and fiber. I pulled this recipe off of a Web. I changed it up a bit by adding 1 cup of raw spinach. To get the full benefits of the raw spinach and blueberries (if using fresh), make sure to use them as soon as possible. As the veggies and fruits decay, so does the vitamins and minerals. But some vitamins are better than none.

This smoothie works great as an after-workout-recovery drink. You can add a scope of vanilla whey or soy protein, some BCAA, and a teaspoon of linoleic acid to really help you with your recovery, especially if you're weight training. You might want to add in a few more berries to mask the taste. This smoothie is also made with green tea, which has been proven to speed up fax oxidation (making your body burn extra fat).

Blueberries are a super fruit and has tons of antioxidants that combat free radicals, which can cause aging. Looking to get rid of that belly fat? Blueberries can help with that too. Want to prevent cancer? Blueberries can also help with that!

Spinach, Popeye's favorite! Spinach doubles the benefits of the benefits of blueberries. It also is great to ward off constipation and helps with digestion.

What You Need

• 3/4 cup water
• 2 green tea bags (brew the tea the night before)
• 2 cups of blueberries
• 3 ice cubes
• 12 ounces of non-fat vanilla yogurt (equals 1.5 cups)
• 2 tablespoons of raw almonds unsalted (about 20)
• 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed
• 1 cup spinach, fresh or frozen, thawed

What To Do

1. Bring water to boil and pour over tea bags
2. Steep for four minutes and then squeeze the bags dry and discard. Let the tea chill overnight
3. Place chilled tea, blueberries, ice, yogurt, almonds, flax seed and spinach into a blender. 
4. If adding protein powder, add it in now.
5. Process until smooth. 

Shrimp with Rice and Peas

This is one my favorite dishes. This is a family recipe. My mom and grandma taught me how to make this. I changed it a little bit by adding peas. I'm always adding veggies to everything! I hope I do my mommy and grandma proud.

Whenever I have this dish, it reminds me of being a kid. It's my comfort food. I have a lot of comfort foods, but this is something that I make at least once a month. What's best about this dish is that it tastes better the next day. All of the flavors of the meld together.

This is they type of recipe that you can add anything you want to it and make it your own. My mom sometimes adds bay scallops. I've been known to add mussels. Go crazy!

What you need

1 pound of medium shrimp, peeled and deveined (see note)
1 large onion, chopped medium pieces about 1/2 inch
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 jar of your favorite tomato sauce
3 cups of cooked rice (see note)
2 tablespoons EVOO
Salt
Pepper
1 cup of frozen peas

What to do

1. Heat skillet on medium heat. Add oil and when the oil is heated, add onions and sweat the onions. Sweating onions, means waiting until you see little beads of moisture on the onions. They will still be crunchy. It should take about 2 to 3 minutes for the onions to sweat.

2. Add the shrimp and cook for about a minute. Keep stirring the shrimp. Add the garlic, salt, and pepper. Keep stirring. Just before the shrimp turn pink add in your pasta sauce and stir. You want to taste  the sauce to make sure that there is enough salt and pepper. Add them if you need to.

3. Add in the frozen peas. When the frozen peas are warmed through, the shrimp should be done. You can tell if the shrimp are firm. You can always cut one open and check. Pour the shrimp mixture over the cooked rice. Stir the rice and shrimp mixture together.

This makes 4-6 servings. Serve with a simple side for a complete meal.

Note: save the scales and head in a container and place in your freezer. You can make your own seafood stock for soups like clam chowder and so forth. 

How to Eat More Fruits and Vegetables Part II

Adding more vegetables to your diet is a lot harder, I think. I mean I'd rather have french fries then Brussels sprouts. However, Brussels sprouts are so much better for you. I'm trying to work them into my diet. We don't have a good history, me and the sprouts.

If you have children, then getting them to eat vegetables can be difficult, especially if you have picky kid. There are some sneaky ways to work vegetables and I'm not talking about broccoli, corn, or the other nice vegetables that most people like. I'm talking about that weird butternut squash, kale, cauliflower, sugar snap peas, zucchini and so forth.

1. Add vegetables to dishes with sauces. The sauce will cover up the flavor and you still get most of the vitamins and nutrients that you need. For example, instead of having just spaghetti with a meat sauce, chop up some carrots (which will cut down on the acidity of the tomato sauce), zucchini and summer squash. You're bowl or plate will look fuller and more importantly, the extra veggies will fill you up.

2. Add leafy greens to your soups and stews. Even if you buy can soups, you can still add kale, collard greens, mustard green, dandelion greens, spinach, Swiss chard, arugula, and other leafy greens to your soups. Soak the greens, if they don't come pre-washed in a large bowl of water. Stir it around once and then let it set for twenty to thirty minutes. Don't dump greens and water into a strainer, pick out the leaves and put them on your cutting board. Cut the greens into small pieces. Boil for a few minutes and with tongs or a slotted spoon, put the greens in an ice bath, so that your greens keep their lovely color. Pop the top of your favorite soup, pour it into a microwave safe container with a snug lid and add your leafy greens. There you have lunch.

3. Have two or three course meals. Your first course should always be your salad. In my previous post, you see that I on my two week menu, a lot of simple side salads. I skip the iceberg and romaine lettuce and grab the organic spring lettuce mix at my favorite grocery store. Surprisingly, it's cheaper than those Dole package ones. Add cucumbers, tomatoes, asparagus, beets or whatever you have on hand or in the mood for.

A salad doesn't have to have lettuce. You can have a Caprese salad which is just tomatoes, fresh mozarella, and basil with good EVOO drizzled over. There are thousands of salads you can try. Just keep your portion to about 1 cup. You don't want to fill up on the salad and not eat the second course.

You can make a big bowl of your favorite salad and it should last up to a week. With a fork, poke holes in a gallon size freezer bag and then add all of your salad ingredients, minus the dressing. See. Simple easy, no fuss way.

4. If you're eating something like mashed potatoes or ricotta cheese, you can boil and then mash up vegetables like butternut squash (you won't even know it's in your lasagna), parsnips or turnips and stir them into the mashed potatoes or ricotta cheese. Turnips and mashed potatoes go together very nicely as does potatoes and cauliflower!

5. Puree vegetables like spinach, carrots, broccoli and so forth and add them to your soup. You won't even know that they're there. More importantly, you're kids won't know.

6. Make green smoothies. Instead of relying on fruit only, add a handful of spinach to your blender. If your using blueberries, the color won't be green. The fruit will balance out the bitterness of the greens. You can also add a dollop of honey or vanilla yogurt to balance out the taste.

7. Make meat pockets. Take a chicken breast, slice it open on the side and make a pocket. Fill it with minced or pureed vegetables and cheese. Close it with a toothpick. Sear the chicken until brown on both sides and then finish off in the oven.

8. Make veggie omelets and frittatas for breakfast. Eggs for breakfast will keep you fuller longer, studies have shown. Throw in some vegetables, you not only get your morning protein, you also get some added vitamins and minerals. Make a sandwich with whole grain bread and have a glass of orange juice and you have a complete meal. You can add virtually any vegetable into eggs. There's the standard broccoli, peppers, onion, and tomatoes. Get exotic. Throw in some cubes of eggplant or zucchini. Make a nice spring brunch with asparagus and Gruyere cheese omelet. The sky is the limit when it comes to frittatas and omelets!

There seven ways simple ways to add more veggies to your diet!

How to Eat More Fruits and Vegetables Part I

Did you know that we're supposed to eat 1.5 to 2.5 cups of fruit a day? With 1/2 cup servings that's 3-5 servings a day of just fruit alone! Only 40% of Americans eat five or more servings of fruit and vegetables.

I recently lost 10 pounds by doing nothing. I didn't workout. I didn't diet. There was one day where I had several servings of french fries (homemade, of course!) throughout the day. One of the ways that I accomplished this weight loss is by adding more fruits and vegetables into my diet.

We know that fruits and vegetables contain all of the vitamins and minerals that our body needs, along with protein. It's actually better to get all of your vitamin and mineral needs from your diet rather than a supplement. Most of what you take from the supplement ends up in your urine and not in your body, while eating fruits and vegetables, your body hangs on to those nutrients.

Because of my "lifestyle" change, I'm more full. I crave food less. I have more energy. However, it's been tough adding in the extra fruit and so forth. First was the expense. Figuring out how to much to buy was tough for me. Sometimes, I bought too much and I ended up throwing away rotten fruit. Sometimes, I bought too little and ended up craving something sweet, so I would hit my local grocery store for overly processed cakes.

Adding more fruit to my diet was easier than adding more vegetables. I love for my snacks to be sweet. I have forgone my favorite snack of graham crackers with honey roasted peanut butter in order to eat more fruit. Because fruit is naturally sweet, it's a lot tastier than say Brussel sprouts.

How to Add in More Fruit

Fruits

Adding more fruit to my diet was easier than adding more vegetables. 

1. Instead of having adding the chocolate or caramel syrup to your ice or cake, try to add a fruit compote. Take some fruit, a little sugar, heat over the stove until desired doneness. Or you can recreate your own fruit sauce. Raspberry Sauce is delicious and takes five minutes to make. All you'll need is a 10oz bag of frozen raspberries or any other fruit, 3/4 cup of confectioner's sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon fresh squeezed lemon juice. Pop everything into a blender and blend until smooth. You can add it directly to your dessert or you can strain it so that the texture is a litter more smoother. This serves 4-6 people.

Another example is just adding fresh fruit to Angel Food Cake. Delicious! See tomorrow's post for Microwave Angel Food Cake!

2. Since we have to eat more whole grains, why not eat a bowl of oatmeal with fresh or frozen fruit? You can skip those boxes of instant oatmeal and buy a large canister of quick cooking oats. It's cheaper in the long run. I like to divvy 1/4 cups of oatmeal into little sandwich bags. I add a tablespoon of brown sugar to the bag and a pinch of salt. I can take these bags to work, just add water and there I have a quick breakfast. You can also add dried fruit like cranberries or blueberries.

3. Add fruit to your cereal. Liven up a those boring cornflakes with slices of bananas and strawberries. Take a risk with peaches and raspberries. If you're using frozen fruit, I would pour the milk in first and then the fruit, let the fruit thaw out a little in the milk and then add your cereal. This way your milk gets sweetened and you don't lose all of the flavor of the fruit.

4. Forget Jamba Juice! Make your own smoothies! While I personally prefer to eat my calories, you can make a satisfying snack and/or breakfast in a few minutes. Take some fruit, some yogurt or milk, blend and you're on your way. You can add in a tablespoon or two of almonds or ground flax seed. Or you can add in a scoop of whey or soy protein and have your smoothie as your recovery drink after a long and hard workout. Get creative.

5. The USDA says that 100 percent fruit juice and count as well. I personally think you lose a lot of the fiber and some nutrients by drinking juice alone, but it is something.

6. Instead of buying frozen waffles or pancakes, make your own. Skip the pancake mix. If you have a well stocked kitchen (see previous post) then you have all of the ingredients needed to make a batch of pancakes. Just add fruit to the batter. To save time, I like to make a big batch on the weekends and freeze them so I can have them for the rest of the week. While buying a box of frozen waffles costs $4 and buying all of the ingredients to make pancakes costs about $10. In the end, a box of frozen waffles or pancakes serves only four people. You can make a hell of lot more pancakes if you have all of the ingredients.

7. Another simple way to add fruit is to your frozen pancakes and waffles or to your french toast. Just plop your favorite fruit on top and cover with syrup.

See the next post for a great smoothie recipe!

Sample Menu

I'm posting a sample of what my week-long menu looks like. I meant to post this earlier, but forgot. I'm single, so I always have leftovers. I try to freeze some for the days where I don't feel like cooking. It's nice to have a meal that only needs to be nuked in the microwave for five or so minutes. I have really cut back on dining out and ordering takeout (Sorry GrubHub).

If you have a family of 4-6, you probably won't have too many leftovers. If that's the case, then you need to come up with about 18-21 meals for the week including snacks. If you have the time, try to cook most of the meals on the weekend. You can make a lasagna and not bake it. It will keep in your freezer for a few days. Just write the date and heating instructions for your kids.

I try to make most of my snacks ahead. I'm one of those people, if I eat it out of the box, then I eat the whole box so I have to measure out things before hand.

Guacamole Grilled Sandwich

I was not a fan of avocados. They had no flavor and they were smushy. That all changed when this lovely woman at work, made a batch of her guacamole and I fell in love. I'm always looking for ways to add more vegetables to diet, especially in neat and interesting ways.

Avocados are really good for you. They are a nutrient dense food that helps lower bad cholesterol and is full of antioxidants.

I found this recipe online. I hope you enjoy!


What you need

2 ripe avocados (see note)
1/2 small onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small jalapeno, minced (see note)
2 tablespoons cilantro, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 Roma tomato, finely chopped
Salt (see note)
Pepper (see note)

4 slices of crusty bread
4 slices of Cheddar cheese, Swiss Cheese, Munster cheese, or any other cheese with a slightly strong flavor
Butter, for buttering the bread.

What to do
Make the guacamole:
1. Slice open the avocados and remove the seeds. Scoop the meat of the avocado into a bowl. Using a fork mash the avocado.
2. Add the onion, garlic, jalapeno, cilantro, lime juice, salt and pepper. Stir until well combine and then add the chopped tomato and gently stir.
3. Heat a pan or griddle to medium high heat. Spread the desired amount of guacamole on both slices of the bread. and top with cheese.
4. Melt the butter in the pan or griddle and place of the slices down. Top with the other slice. Spread the remaining butter on the top slice of the bread.
5. Grill for about two minutes or until golden and crispy. Flip the sandwich and grill until it's golden brown and the cheese has melted.

Note: Make sure to choose avocados that are firm with a slight give. They should be ripe within 1-2 days. If you need to make this right away, choose avocados that are a little less firm.

Note: To decrease the spiciness of the pepper, make sure to remove the seeds and the white pith. If you want more heat, add in the seeds.

Note: I will never tell you how much salt and pepper is needed in a dish, if it has nothing to do with baking. Taste your dishes as you go along and add as much as what you want. Some people have a salty palate and they require less salt than someone who doesn't have a salty palate.

How to plan meals for two weeks

Making a two week meal plan is very tricky especially if you like to use fresh produce. What I hate is ending up with some herb or ingredient left over that I have no real use for other than that one particular recipe I was made. It ends up being a waste. The best way to not waste food and money is to plan ahead.

The first thing I like to do is look at coupons and store flyers. Since most of my food comes from the meat aisle and the produce aisle, I don't find coupons for those items. Mostly I look for coupons and deals for milk, bread, yogurt, pasta and so forth. If I see a deal that I like, I write it down so that later I can find a recipe that uses that ingredient. For example, if plain yogurt is on sale, I write down and I begin to think about the ways I can incorporate it into meals. This week, my favorite little grocery store, Edgewater Produce is having a sale on drumsticks, 69 cents a pound. I'm definitely going to add that to the list. 

When it comes to coupons, I always skip over the pre-made meals. I try to limit my pre-made convenience items to whole wheat pasta, and bread. Yes, that can of refrigerated biscuit dough looks good, but it is full of chemicals. If you have a food processor, it takes less than 10 minutes to prep the dough and another 15-20 minutes to bake. 

So after writing down all of the ingredients that I know I can get a great deal on. I go through my list of recipes. I love looking online for new recipes. There is neat Web site, Pinterest, that I use to collect all of my recipe links in one place. Normally at this point, my list of items are for things like bread, yogurt, milk, cereal, maybe some frozen vegetables or fruits, or pasta. 

My next step, I go to the refrigerator and my pantry and look for what staples need to be replenished. I'm forever running out of ketchup. Yes, I know it's a prepared and full of chemicals, but I love it. When I'm too lazy to cook and to poor to eat out, I like to make french fries. Red potatoes make great french fries. I jot those items that need to be replenished down. If they're staple items like flour, sugar, pasta, beans, and so forth, I place a little asterisk next to those items. I don't have to think about what meals, I need to make from these ingredients, because these are staples and I can make a ton of meals out of them.

I also take a look at what's old and needs to be eaten as soon as possible. I add those ingredients to my list. No sense in buying chicken when you have chicken in your freezer already. Right now I have a lot of chicken on my hands.So for the next two weeks, I'm going to be eating chicken in a variety of ways.

Next I think about the meals that I have been craving or that I want to try. For example, I'm really in the mood for some shredded beef, why not make ropa vieja in my slow cooker? And then I head to my trusty laptop and search for recipes.

Once I write down all of the meals that I want to make, it's now time for me to figure out what ingredients I need to buy and narrow down my list of meals. 

When I looking for meals to prepare, I try to find recipes that use the same ingredients. For example, last week I made Chicken Run Down, which uses ginger, cilantro and heavy cream. I try to find recipes that also use those ingredients. In this example, I made a low fat version of the popular Indian Butter Chicken, because it used both ginger and cilantro. The heavy cream, I used to make whipped cream for a dessert. Another example, one recipe called for 2 cups or 1 pint of buttermilk. Buttermilk usually comes in quarts, which mean I had 1 pint leftover. So I used the leftover buttermilk to make buttermilk blueberry pancakes. 

It makes no sense using a tablespoon or two of a fresh herb and then having to throw it away when it goes bad. 

So now that I have a list of meals, and a partial grocery list. It's time for me to sit down and figure out what I'm going to have for the next two weeks. I include, breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks in this list.

So far here is the list of meals that I would like to make for the next two weeks:

• Shrimp with Rice and green peas with a simple side salad
• Guacamole grilled cheese sandwich with a simple side salad
• Mustard Crusted Chicken Legs with sour cream and garlic mashed potatoes and sauteed asparagus
• Buttermilk Roast Chicken with Ranch dressing potatoes and lemon garlic broccoli
• Spinach Lasagna with a simple side salad
• Vegetarian Quesadilla topped with a salad of tomatoes and shredded lettuce and salsa and sour cream
• Indonesian Ginger Chicken  with a simple side salad
• No Butter Chicken with brown rice and a simple side salad
• Buttermilk French Toast Casserole
• Oatmeal with frozen fruit
• Oven roasted chicken over lemon garlic green beans
• Greek yogurt with strawberries and honey
• Steak with a peppery tomato reduction and zucchini stir-fry with a simple side salad
• Biscuit breakfast sandwiches
• Ginger Chicken Thighs with frozen vegetables with a simple side salad
• Blueberry, Green Tea and Spinach Smoothie
• Microwave Angel Food Cake with fruit sauce

As you can see, I'm going to be eating a lot of chicken for the next two weeks. I know that I will be eating leftovers for lunch, so I don't include a lot of recipes for lunch. I have a ton of chicken in my freezer that I need to get rid off and 2 pounds of beef stew that I need to consume. I like to make one dessert that lasts for a few days and I love Baklava. I'm also lucky that Aldi's carries phyllo dough. 

Now, that I have a list of recipes that I would like to cook, I make a food schedule. My food weeks start on Fridays. I do my shopping on Thursdays. Shopping during the week is cheaper for me when it comes to transportation and I like to free up my weekend days to cook my meals and freeze for later in the week. 

So on Friday, I'll have oatmeal with frozen fruit for breakfast. For a snack I might make a smoothie. For lunch, I would have the guacamole grilled cheese sandwich. For a snack, I'll have a piece of fruit, for dinner, I'd have a slice of Spinach Lasagna with a simple side salad, and dessert strawberries and honey over Greek yogurt.

Finally, I get to make my grocery list. Now these meals might sound expensive and they would be if you shopped at Whole Foods, which is my favorite store, but a little bit out of my price range. If you read my post about keeping a well stocked kitchen, then you know that a lot of the ingredients that I need, I already have on hand. So that cuts my grocery list practically in half. That's where keeping a well stocked kitchen is key. For the next two weeks, I can skip buying meat, which will save me a ton of money and really focus on buying all of the fresh fruit and vegetables that I need, which turns out to be pretty cheap. 

See my next post on why I try to eat so many simple side salads!

Pantry Fried Rice

So I just posted a list of all of the things you need for a well stocked kitchen. Next post will be about the essential equipment you need. From my well stocked kitchen, I can make a variety of things. I can make homemade chicken noodle soup. I can make a variety of pasta dishes, mac and cheese, steak au poivre (I happen to keep shallots on hand), but the easiest and most fun thing to make is fried rice in my wok.

If you don't have a wok, it's okay. The trick to making fried rice is cooking everything separately. It's always good to keep some rice already cooked in the fridge or freezer. If you can't make the rice ahead, I suggest that you use regular rice and not parboiled or instant rice. Cook the rice so that it's slightly under done. The extra moisture from the frozen peas, oils, and soy sauce can turn the rice to mush.

I fry my rice on high heat. It's important that you start your mis en place before you heat your pan or you'll end up burning your rice. For those that don't know, mis en place is just a fancy way of saying to prep your  meal. I like to save my sour cream or cream cheese containers and place all of my ingredients in those. You can just cut them and separate them on the your cutting board or a large plate as well.

Also you'll need to constantly keep stirring due to the high heat

What you'll need

3 cups of cooked rice (I prefer brown rice)
3 eggs, beaten
1 medium onion, chopped
1 garlic clove minced
1 tablespoon vegetable oil (I also use EVOO but peanut oil, canola oil, or corn oil will work too)
1 tablespoon dark toasted sesame seed oil
1 cup frozen peas and carrots (you can omit if you don't have this, or use peas only)
Soy sauce (taste as you go along)
Pepper (to taste)

Note: you can add whatever raw meat you want to this dish. You can also use leftover meat, just add at the end to warm up, so the meat doesn't overcook especially if you're using shrimp or scallops.

What to do

Heat the pan on medium-high heat. Add your tablespoon of vegetable oil. Let the oil heat up until it starts to lightly smoke. Add in your onions and stir for two minutes. Add a little bit of salt to draw the water out from the onion and soften it a bit. You can dump the onions out on a plate or if you have a wok, you can push the onions up on the side. If you have a large frying pan, push the onions to the area that has the least heat. You can even move a portion of your pan off the fire.

Next add the sesame seed oil to the pan. Let the oil heat for a minute. and add in the eggs. Scramble the eggs until they are soft set. Add your cooked rice, garlic, soy sauce, frozen peas and carrots, pepper and onions.   Stir together until the frozen vegetables are heated through. Make sure to taste as you go along to make sure that you have enough soy sauce.

If you're using meat, saute the meat first in the first in 1 tablespoon of oil, season with salt and pepper. When 80 percent cooked, pour onto a warm plate, and then continue with the recipe.

Oven Roasted Chicken with Lemon Garlic Green Beans

It's about that time... swimsuit season. And while, I live a block away from Lake Michigan, I have no interest in getting in a bathing suit and laying out on the beach. However, the paths along the lake are wonderful. I just wish they would make more of them more friendly on the joints instead of using concrete.

Anyway, pretty soon we should be getting in a lot new varieties of vegetables and fruits like asparagus, green beans and so forth. With that in mind... I found a recipe that uses only 6 ingredients. Salt and pepper not included. I've made some minor changes to this recipe, mainly because the marinade gets used up before I can pour it over the chicken.

You don't have to use only chicken breasts. You can use chicken or turkey drumsticks. You can use a whole chicken as well. If you're a vegetarian, you can omit the chicken. You can even use fish, something sturdy like Haddock or Cod. Even Salmon would work.

You can trade in the green beans for asparagus or broccoli or whatever other vegetable you have. This is one of those meals that are perfect for that vegetable that's about to go bad.

Ingredients
9 Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (I know it's a lot, but trust me, it's needed. Most of it will end up at the bottom of the pan.
1 thinly sliced lemon
Juice of 1 lemon
4 cloves of garlic, minced
Salt (preferably Kosher salt)
Pepper
1 lb green beans
8 small red potatoes quartered
4 bone in, skin on chicken breasts (You can use whatever chicken you have on had or what was on sale.)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Coat a large baking dish or cast iron skillet with 1 Tablespoon of the EVOO.  Arrange the lemon slices in a single layer in the bottom of the dish or skillet.

2. In a large bowl, coming the remaining 8 tablespoons of EVOO, lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper. This is where you need to mix and taste the marinade to make sure it has enough salt and pepper to your liking.

3. Add the green beans to the marinade, and then using tongs or a slotted spoon, remove the green beans from the marinade and layer on top of the lemon slices. Do the same to the potatoes.

4. With the remaining marinade, toss in the chicken and completely coat the chicken with the marinade. Then layer the chicken skin side up.

5. Cover the dish with aluminum foil. Roast for about 30 minutes. Remove the foil and continue to roast for additional 20 minutes.

6. My oven cooks really fast. So at the 50 minute mark, the potatoes and green beans were done to my satisfaction. If they are not done to your satisfaction, then remove the chicken from the dish or skillet to a plate and cover with foil. Then let the green beans and potatoes roast for an additional 10 minutes.

7. LET THE MEAT REST for about five minutes. When you eat meat, whether it be chicken, beef, pork, or anything else, you need to let the juices that have been bubbling in the meat settle back. If you cut into the chicken before that five minutes, then you will release all of the chickens juices and it will become dry.  You can wait five minutes.

CALORIES:  283
Calories from fat: 78
Total fat: 9g
Saturated fat: 2g
Trans fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 42mg
Total Carbohydrates: 39g
Dietary Fiber: 4g
Sugars: 3g
Protein: 14g

Vitamin A: 4%
Vitamin C: 47%
Calcium: 4%
Iron: 13%

A Well Stocked Kitchen

Having a well stocked kitchen will save you when you have five dollars left to your name and your groceries are running low. By keeping a well stocked kitchen, you know you will always be able to make a meal for your family during most severe times.

For example, this week I'm surviving on ten dollars until to pay day. It happens when you fall behind and have to catch up. Because I have a well stocked kitchen, I don't have to worry about what I'm going to eat, because I have enough to make plenty of meals. Without spending my ten dollars, I was able to make a broccoli and sugar snap pea (pretty old veggies) stir-fry over fried rice with egg. And for dessert, I made biscuits with sugary strewed strawberries and blueberries and a dollop of homemade Chantilly whipped cream. Minus the fresh veggies, this meal happened because I always have most of the ingredients on hand.

Before you begin your quest in stocking your kitchen, you need to decide what you're favorite meals are. The meals that you cook all of the time. You also need to take a look at the meals that you like to eat, but may not cook as often. You don't want to stock up on Mirin, when you never eat Japanese food. This is an exhaustive list which includes a range of ingredients for different cuisines.

For the lists below, you could create a vast of amount of meals. 

Oils/Fats

• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Canola Oil or Vegetable Oil
• Shortening
• Peanut Oil
• Sesame Oil
• Oil spray

Note: It's cheaper if you buy in bulk. You can head some place like Target or Walmart and buy bottles with the special sprout. Keep the oils in a cool dry place. 

Flour

• Self-rising flour
• All Purpose flour
• Whole wheat flour

Note: Store in an air tight container. 

Vinegars

• Regular vinegar
• Cider vinegar
• White wine vinegar
• Red wine vinegar
• Rice wine vinegar
• Good and cheap balsamic vinegar
• Cooking sherry

Dried Herbs

• Parsley
• Oregano
• Basil
• Rosemary
• Sage
• Bay leaves
• Cilantro
• Chives
• Savory
• Tarragon
• Dill
• Onion powder
• Garlic powder
• Minced garlic
• Minced onion

Note: dried herbs lose some of their potency after six months. They don't go bad, so you can still use them after the six months. Make sure to test your dish as you add in the herbs. Also dried herbs pack a bigger punch than fresh herbs. A good rule of thumb when a recipe calls for a tablespoon of fresh herbs, you can substitute with a teaspoon of dried herbs.

Spices

• Black peppercorns
• Kosher salt
• Sea salt
• Cinnamon sticks
• Ground Cinnamon
• Ground nutmeg
• Whole cloves
• Ground cloves
• Ground turmeric
• Ground allspice
• Mustard seeds
• Ground mustard
• Cayenne pepper
• Celery seed
• Celery salt
• Fennel seeds
• Ground ginger
• Whole cumin seeds
• Ground cumin
• Gram marsala
• Ground chili flakes
• Red chili flakes
• Sweet paprika
• Madras curry
• White peppercorns
• Whole coriander seed

Note: Look for a place where you can buy in bulk. Some grocery stores sell herbs and spices in bulk for one or two dollars. If you have a spice grinder or an old coffee grinder, buy your spices whole. 

Dry Goods

• All-purpose flour
• Whole wheat flour
• Cornmeal
• Granulated sugar
• Confectioner's sugar
• Brown sugar
• Baking Soda
• Baking powder
• Yeast
• Cornstarch
• Old fashioned oats
• Saltines
• Dried breadcrumbs
• Dried pasta (any type, make sure to have a variety)
• Brown rice
• Wild rice
• Arborio rice
• Egg noodles
• Barley
• Couscous
• Kidney beans
• Black beans
• Lentils
• Navy beans
• Split peas

Canned and Bottled Goods

• Whole tomatoes
• Tomato paste
• Tomato sauce
• Diced tomatoes
• Low sodium chicken broth
• Low sodium beef broth
• Low sodium vegetable broth
• Condensed cream of mushroom soup
• Condensed cream of chicken soup
• Canned fruits
• Pie fillings
• Worcestershire sauce
• Soy sauce
• Hoisin sauce
• Mirin
• Oyster sauce
• Barbeque sauce
• Salsa
• Dijon mustard
• Canned tuna
• Canned salmon
• Anchovies
• Anchovies paste
• Kidney beans
• Black beans
• Chick peas
• Evaporated milk
• Sweetened condensed milk
• Peanut butter
• Jams or jellies
• Pickles
• Capers
• Olives
• Corn syrup
• Pure maple syrup
• Honey
• Vanilla extract
• Almond extract
• Hot sauce

Note: most of these items will have to be refrigerated or frozen after opening. 

Refrigerator

• Eggs (medium or large)
• Unsalted butter
• Milk
• Heavy cream
• Buttermilk
• Sour cream
• Cream cheese
• Mild cheese
• Sharp cheese
• Shredded Mozzarella
• Fresh Mozzarella
• Parmesan cheese
• Mayonnaise
• Yellow mustard
• Dijon mustard
• Ketchup
• Whole plan yogurt

Freezer

• Ice
• Variety of frozen vegetables
• Variety of frozen fruits
• Ground beef
• Ground turkey or chicken
• Whole chicken
• Boneless chicken breasts
• Whole chuck roast
• Link or bulk sausage
• Bacon
• Pancetta
• Prosciutto
• Puff pastry
• Flour tortillas
• Corn tortillas
• Beef stock
• Chicken stock
• Assortment of nuts
• Ice cream

Note: I try not to buy things that I know I will eat up right away.... so I never buy ice cream

Produce

• White potatoes
• Sweet potatoes
• Onions
• Garlic
• Bell peppers
• Hot peppers
• Mushrooms
• Lettuce
• Tomatoes
• Cucumbers
• Carrots
• Celery
• Apples
• Oranges
• Lemons
• Limes
• Fresh herbs
• Bananas