Shooting From The Hip

I’ve gotten better about planning meals.  But for the first ten years of my kids’ lives, when I was at home full-time, there was a lot of shooting from the hip.  I got comfy with it and good at it.  The key to not panicking at 5pm with no plan is to have your list of non negotiable staples in your fridge and pantry. 

Essentials of life:  olive oil, kosher salt & pepper mill & a full array of spices (key ones; basil, oregano, crushed red pepper)

Pantry:

Diced tomatoes in a can
Bag of split peas
Chicken broth
Pasta
Onions

Hot sauce - multiple varietals

Fridge:

Veggies:  always have something that keeps for a while and is great roasted, like broccoli and/or cauliflower and/or zucchini
Salad stuff (& kale!)
Parmesan Cheese
Lemons
Parsley & cilantro
Tortillas
Sharp cheddar cheese

Butter

Bonus: salsa, capers, fresh herbs

Freezer:

Hot Italian Sausage –turkey is a good sub for those trying to, I don’t know, improve.

Tilapia
Chicken breasts 
bonus: shrimp, ground beef

Based on the above, I can pull out a week’s worth of menus:

Split Pea Soup

Pasta with sausage & peppers
Baked tilapia with kale chips & potatoes
Chicken piccata, roasted veggies & rice
Quesadillas or burritos made from any leftovers

Recipes:

Split pea soup:

Saute some diced carrots, celery & onions till soft
add some salt, pepper and oregano (tsp?)
add chicken broth or water – about 6 cups
add ¾ bag of split peas (rinse them first)
cook on med-low for about 45 min, slightly mash them (hand blender is awesome), 

add rest of split peas, cook on med low another 45 min. 

not my picture but you get the idea

Pasta with Sausage and Peppers

In a large skillet add sausage (3 or so links, casings removed) and a couple chopped onions.  Break up sausage with back of spoon, stir and cook almost through – about 10 min.  Add several peppers (multi colored) that have been cut into strips, cook another 5 min.  Add salt, pepper, basil (fresh is great) & oregano and a big can of diced tomatoes.  Turn heat to low and simmer 30 min or so.  Meanwhile, cook up some ziti or penne, throw it all together and add a ton of crushed red pepper & parmesan cheese. 

Baked Tilapia with kale chips

Mix together equal parts parmesan &  bread crumbs and add some fresh ground pepper and kosher salt.

In another container put some oil or milk and coat each piece of tilapia in the oil or milk then put it in bread crumb mixture and coat it well.
Grease a cookie sheet  then place the fish on it
Bake at 425 for about 10 minutes, until flaky (if it’s thicker then closer to 15 min)

Kale chips: 
Wash kale, remove spine then cut the kale into 1-inch or so pieces.  Toss the whole mess with olive oil and a little kosher salt, layer on a baking sheet (try not to have them overlap too much) and bake at 300 for about 15 min, turning once .  Add salt if needed. 

Chicken piccata:

Pound out a few chicken breasts then cut into cutlets (flatten with your palm, cut breast into a few flat pieces)

Salt & pepper the chicken, then dredge in flour

Heat 2 Tbsp of butter and 2 Tbsp olive oil in a skillet , add chicken breasts a few at a time (give them a little room) and cook till golden, about 3 min per side, transfer chicken to a platter and tent with foil. 

Add ½ each of dry white wine, chicken broth & fresh lemon juice to the skillet over med/med-high heat and scrape up all bits in pan.  Cook until it thickens slightly, a couple minutes.  Stir in ½ cup drained capers and ½ cup fresh parsley, then add another couple tablespoons of butter , season with salt & pepper.  Pour sauce over chicken and serve. 

Great with rice & roasted veggies

(roasted veggies  - toss veggie with olive oil, salt & pepper and turn out on baking sheet and cook at 400 – time depends on veggie but generally about 20 min)

Quesadillas or Burritos

Heat up some beans

Cook up some rice and dump in some salsa at the end
Sautee whatever vegetables are left in the fridge
Heat up whatever meat you have left in a skillet
Dump all in a giant tortilla to make a burrito (YUM) or layer on a smaller tortilla with cheese, top with another and cook on medium heat until cheese melts

Mothers and Dinners

My mother used to cook on a schedule. I don't think this was unusual in the 70's.  There's wisdom to this idea:  pick a genre for each weeknight then play with it.  Growing up, this was our schedule:

Sunday - roast beef
Mondays - Meatloaf, baked potato and (canned) corn
Tuesday -  casserole/tacos/baked pork chops/burgers
Wednesday - some class of spaghetti(with meatballs, lasagna, pasta primavera, broccoli & cavatelli, pasta w/pesto)
Thursday - chicken (bbq'd, chicken parmesan, divan, shake & baked)
Friday - **fish sticks or pizza
Saturday - **hot dogs & bean until Jacquie started making chili 

**mom and dad went OUT
(side note - there were a LOT of divergent responses from my sisters about what our schedule was.  And Julie thinks my mom made peach pie.  She clearly spent part of her youth elsewhere.) 

As I expressed last week, I'm amazed, looking back, at how my mother put a nutritious, no-fuss, delicious meal on the table five nights a week for eight people year after year after year.  She was good at it and never made a fuss about it.  I remember a kitchen cleaning schedule - the kids always cleaned and always in pairs, so the big numbers helped:  you were on for a week every third week.  And this was not just clearing and loading the dishwasher - this was start to finish, dishes loaded, pots cleaned and put away, floor swept, table & countertops wiped down.  I remember a babysitter stayed with us once while my parents were away and she marveled at all these little girls hopping into action, pushing this huge broom, and wishing her kids were that well trained.  I remember thinking, "wait, everyone doesn't do this?"

For mother's day on Sunday we went out to dinner and I chose Olive Mountain, a Lebanese restaurant in downtown Evanston.  (Baba Ganoush, kibbee, tabouli, rice, felafel and much more. The best type of food on the planet.  I feel an ethnic food post coming on.)    As is our tradition on birthdays and mother's/father's day, we went around the table and the kids and doug made lovely speeches about me in honor of mother's day.  My cooking came up quite a bit.  They are grateful that I cook and that they know what good food is and so am I.  And here's the thing - it's not that I'm this fabulous cook, it's just that I take the time to do it.  It's sort of like working out - there's many days I don't feel like doing it, but I NEVER wish I hadn't when it's over.

so here goes - this week's schedule, on the fly at the grocery store yesterday- so several old standbys

Monday - fried chicken from Jewel, salad, watermelon & tater tots
Tuesday - Poppy seed crusted pork tenderloin (thank you JoEllen), rice, roasted broccoli
Wednesday - linguine with shrimp scampi, salad, bread
Thursday - Slow cooker Thai Chicken
Friday - Pizza
Saturday - off duty

Poppy-seed pork tenderloin with a fresh herb crust

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes, plus resting

1 Tbsp canola oil
1 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp poppy seeds
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp kosher salt
¼ tsp freshly ground pepper
1 (12- to 14-oz) pork tenderloin
¼ cup fresh dill, finely chopped
¼ cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, finely chopped

1. Heat oven to 425°F. Meanwhile, combine oil, paprika, poppy seeds, cinnamon, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Rub mixture all over pork and let stand on a rimmed baking sheet at room temperature until oven is heated.

2. Roast pork until it registers 135°F for medium, about 15 to 20 minutes.

3. While pork is roasting, tear a sheet of parchment paper the length of the tenderloin. Sprinkle dill and parsley in an even layer on paper.

4. Roll cooked pork in its pan juices, then transfer to fresh herbs and roll it in herbs to coat evenly. Let pork stand 5 minutes, then cut into slices at an angle and serve.

Makes 4 servings. Each serving: 128 cal, 6 g fat, 17 g protein, 1 g carb.

Linguine with Shrimp Scampi
Recipe courtesy of Ina Garten

Copyright 2002, Barefoot Contessa Family Style, All Rights Reserved

Vegetable oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt plus 1 1/2 teaspoons
3/4 pound linguine
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 1/2 tablespoons good olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic (4 cloves)
1 pound large shrimp (about 16 shrimp), peeled and deveined
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
1/2 lemon, zest grated
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
1/4 lemon, thinly sliced in half-rounds
1/8 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

Drizzle some oil in a large pot of boiling salted water, add 1 tablespoon of salt and the linguine, and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, or according to the directions on the package.

Meanwhile, in another large (12-inch), heavy-bottomed pan, melt the butter and olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the garlic. Saute for 1 minute. Be careful, the garlic burns easily! Add the shrimp, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, and the pepper and saute until the shrimp have just turned pink, about 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove from the heat, add the parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, lemon slices, and red pepper flakes. Toss to combine.

When the pasta is done, drain the cooked linguine and then put it back in the pot. Immediately add the shrimp and sauce, toss well, and serve.

Slow Cooker Thai Chicken

http://m.allrecipes.com/recipe/76778/recipeslow-cook-thai-chicken

food, family, fun...

It's really just that I love to eat.  I love to eat, so it matters to me what I cook.  I like the simplicity of creating something from nothing.  I like that the task has a start and finish and a tangible byproduct.  I really like bringing people together around the table. 

I'm the fifth of six girls, born within eight-and-a-half-years of eachother, and we ate dinner as a family almost every night.

My dad got called to the hospital with some regularity, but the baseline in our family was that we'd gather around the table, everyone in her designated spot, say a prayer (in about four seconds) and eat.  As you can imagine, it was loud.  We interrupted each other constantly. Thousands of glasses of milk were spilled over the years, thousands of stories told.    My dad would quiz us on state capitals and composers.   That table - THE OVAL - was the centerpiece of the kitchen, which was the centerpiece of that awesome home on Bettswood Rd.  I think about my mom feeding eight people night after night, most of us starving after swim practice, and I'm in awe.  My kids' generation is busier than ours was.  Activities don't stop, Sundays are no longer a family day, there's never an off-season for sports.  But we've tried to maintain the family dinner in our own house, and I think each of my kids will tell you that's where our best conversations have occurred, where the best stories are told, where we give thanks for what we have, and where we eat. 

Before we had kids, Doug and I got into the habit of watching cooking shows on PBS on Saturday afternoon and I loved trying out different foods or cooking techniques.   We used to go to the gym after work, come home, have a glass of wine and eat a leisurely meal.  In this phase of life cooking is a bit more tedious.   I love that my kids are great eaters and appreciate good food.  I love that my husband is so grateful to sit down to a satisfying meal after a long day.  But the relentlessness of it all does get to me.  Ironically, when I was home full-time it was harder:  many days at 4pm I'd be panicked, wondering where the day went and what the hell I'd throw together for dinner that night.  So when I went back to work, and especially when I went full time, I just started planning better.  And we started eating better.  And I realized that you can throw together an awesome meal most nights in a half hour or an hour provided you'd planned and shopped for it.  And you can train your kids to eat anything.  And it's ok for the fridge and the pantry to be completely depleted by Saturday morning.  In fact, it's good for my kids to have to resort to eating saltines and old raisins for a snack.  Or to just go without.  So now most Saturday mornings after I work out I sit down with the paper and a cup of coffee and breakfast and when I'm done I pull out two pieces of paper.  On one I write the week's menus, on the other the shopping list.

I don't like meals that are too complicated or that require super fancy ingredients.  We like and eat carbs.  We go through tons of produce.  I'm not one who often creates a meal without following a recipe.  Sometimes I do -  sausage and peppers,  creative uses for leftovers and a variety of pasta one-dish-meals are all things I can whip up without a recipe and in very little time.   But mostly I  rely on my standby recipe sources:




1 - Barefoot Contessa anything - but mostly At Home and Family Style. I have never struck out with one of her recipes.  Ever.







2 - Melissa d'Arabian ten dollar dinners.  This cookbook is the bomb. Easy, yummy, reasonable.


3 - My beloved blue binder, in which I throw every recipe I have tried and loved over all these years.  I've amassed quite a collection this way and it's only recipes I like.

4 - Cookbooks from my kids' grade schools

5 - THE LIST.  That's my collection of weekly recipes that I've been recording for probably the past two years, ever since I went to work full time.








Now, I have this.  Welcome!



This Week's Menu:
Sunday: split pea soup (leftover)

Monday:   Penne with sausage and roasted vegetables

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/melissa-darabian/sausage-and-roasted-vegetable-penne-recipe.html

Tuesday:  bbq pulled chicken sandwiches, tots & salad

Wednesday:  fish tacos, rice & beans

Thursday:  burritos