I generally advocate quick, cheap cooking. However, the weekends seems to bring out a different side of me. I woke up at 8 am to go to Trader Joe's to pick up snacks for the week and some cheese (yes this means, my Use-Up-Your-Stash Challenge is somewhat of a bust, but I'll try again later). When I got back at 9 this morning, it was all ago.
So here is another lesson in cooking for those with time constraints: weekends are your best friends, use them to your advantage. You can cook a week's worth of side dishes, soups or other quick meals that can be frozen and then thawed quickly for lunch to bring to work or for dinner when you're home late and the last thing you want to do is turn the oven on in your hot apartment. At the very least, you can start doing some prep work during your off time. For example, sit in front your your tv and dice vegetables to be used in dishes throughout the week. This is where planning weekly menus in advance could be helpful as you would know exactly what needs to be prepped, and it is also something that I hope to improve on over this summer.
Here is a list of all of the things I ended up cooking today, and can be used in the next day to the next 3-5 months, thanks to the freezer:
- Strawberries in Balsamic Vinegar (1/2 lb strawberries, 1 1/2 T balsamic vinegar, 1 T white sugar, 1 T brown sugar; let sit for 1-4 hours or microwave for 1-2 minutes if in a rush; great on top of pancakes, waffles or french toast)
- Buttermilk Pancakes (ok, so it was a mix, but I added cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla extract and a bit of vegetable oil for a tastier mix)
- Bacon
- Beef Tenderloin (left over from dinner the other night, sliced thin, will be used for burritos in the near future)
- Tomato Sauce (plum tomatoes, basil, olive oil, garlic and onion, simmered down for 2 hours then blended)
- Black Beans (1/2 lb black beans, 3 C water, 1 onion, 4 cloves garlic, cumin, cayenne pepper; bring to a boil and then let it simmer for 2-3 hours)
- Pizza Dough (500 ml flour, 300 ml water, pinch of yeast, pinch of salt, olive oil; based on the 5:3 bread ratio that I read in Michael Ruhlman's book Ratio, as mentioned in previous posts)
- Grilled Cheese (pane bello bread, cheddar cheese, swiss-gruyere cheese)
- Basil-Spinach-Walnut Pesto (2 handfuls of fresh spinach, 1/2 handful of basil, 4 garlic cloves, handful of walnuts, olive oil, water; blend until smooth; feel free to use any vegetable or any type of nut on hand)
- Guacamole (3 avocados, 4 garlic cloves, 2 poblano peppers, 1/2 red onion, 2 limes, cilantro, cumin; blend until it becomes pure bliss)
- Peanut Sauce (4 T peanut butter, 2 T soy sauce, 1 t chili paste, 2 garlic cloves, 1 t ginger, 2 T warm water; mix until smooth)
- Plum-Strawberry Compote (4 plums, 1/2 lb strawberries, white sugar; bring to a boil in a saucepan, then let simmer for 45 minutes)
- Tart Frozen Yogurt (2 C Green Yogurt, 1/2 C white sugar, 1 t vanilla extract; place in the freezer, take out and stir vigorously every 30 minutes for 3 hours, or don't be cheap and just buy an ice cream maker)
- Kool-Ade (that's right, it's in one of my measuring glasses right now, and it's one of my favorite flavors, red)
Let's just say my freezer is well stocked for the next week or two, full of frozen basil, cilantro, and spinach (didn't want it to go bad sitting in my fridge), as well as the tomato sauce, black peans, guacamole and frozen yogurt, among other things (pizza, chicken drumsticks, shrimp, half a french roll). Hope this simplifies cooking for the rest of this week. I'm expecting another rousing day of cooking tomorrow so we'll see what else gets made tomorrow.
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