Category Archives: Cooking

Menu Monday

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I had my first online grocery shopping experience this weekend, and I’m hooked!  It was so cool to shop in my pajamas while watching “Friends” on Friday night.  That’s right – I just admitted that I was watching re-runs in my PJs on a Friday night.  In my defense, it was rainy, I was tired, and I’ve been without a TV for the last 2 months, so there!

Anyway….

I went online, browsed the “aisles”, checked things off my list, selected a delivery time, and paid for it all.  It was delivered to my door with a smile by 10:30am the next morning, and I couldn’t help but feel spoiled as I toted my groceries from the front door to my kitchen.  So nice :-)   There is a delivery fee, but if you spend more, the delivery fee is less.  I’m going to try to do a 2-week menu plan so that the delivery fee is less and we don’t pay it as often, and then maybe make a mini mid-way trip for perishables such as milk.

So, on to the menu!  I’m working three 12s this week, and I really don’t like having to cook after walking home from the hospital.  Chris is there, but I’ve learned that whenever he really “cooks”, the kitchen looks like a mini disaster area – dishes stacked, sauce on the bottoms of the upper cabinets, drawers hanging open, spinach burnt onto the stove top, and cheese on the floor.  Are you getting the mental image?  Good.  Now you know why I’d rather just do the cooking myself, ha ha!

Monday

Macaroni and cheese from a box and frozen veggies.  I know, I know – it stinks as a dinner, but I have it on hand and I work Monday.  I only have a few boxes of this leftover from the States, so it won’t be a meal too often :-)

Tuesday

Spinach casserole.  So good!  Spinach, reduced-fat cottage cheese, reduced-fat cheddar {or tasty cheese, as they say in NZ – love it!}, sauteed onions, eggs, flour, and margarine/butter.  Mix it all up in big bowl, put it in a pan, and bake!  Let me know if you want the recipe :-)

Wednesday

Leftover spinach casserole

Thursday

Pan-Fried Falafel with sun-dried tomatoes and coriander {sounds fancy, but it’s sold at the grocery for minor ducats and tastes fabulous}

Friday

Chicken Stir-Fry {I didn’t make this last week, so I’m going to do it this week instead}

It’s not much of a menu – there’s basically only one meal that follows a recipe, but I could care less!

So tell me, what’s cooking in your kitchen this week?  Do you cook from a menu or just go with whatever you have on hand?  As usual, feel free to share any of your favorite recipes with me!

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Pioneer Woman Lasanga

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Hello my lovely readers!  As you know, I’m on a busy schedule these days.  I don’t have much time for cooking.  Rather than making several meals throughout the week, I’ve started to make several meals on one day.  I try to put them in smaller pans so that Chris can pull them out of the freezer, pop them in our toaster oven (rather than the big oven), and have some dinner while I’m at work. I love our toaster oven.  It can easily fit an 8″ pan, so I didn’t have to purchase any weird sizes.

One of the recipes that I made this week was the Pioneer Woman’s lasagna.  My mom gave me Ree Drummond’s cookbook for Christmas and it’s a great resource.  I like to think of her recipes as the same kind of foods that my mom would make – easy, no-fuss, and uses a lot of on-hand ingredients.

I decided to double the recipe.  Lasagna freezes pretty well.  I figured that this way, we could have lasagna next week.  Yes, it would be a lot of lasagna to go through in 2 weeks, but Chris and I aren’t picky eaters (especially Chris).  We don’t mind eating the same thing a few nights during the week (or for lunch).

I must say that I’m rather pleased with how it turned out!

PW Lasagna - Before the Oven

PW Lasagna - After the Oven

Okay, so maybe I left it in the oven a tad too long, but it still tasted great.  Chris said that the only thing he would change would be to add a few more tomatoes.  He likes his food extra saucy ;-)

If my pictures have inspired you (or just plain made you hungry) and you’d like to try this recipe yourself, then click on over to The Pioneer Woman Cooks.  Her pictures are definitely better than mine.

A Side Note - Ree Drummond’s recipe calls for fresh herbs, but I used what I had in the kitchen, i.e., the dried stuff.  I’m sure that a true foodie could taste the difference, but for our purposes it tasted fine.  Also – this recipes requires space, something that we have a short supply of in our apartment kitchen.  I made it work, but if your kitchen is like mine you may end up getting frustrated halfway through and start swearing at your counter tops.  Not that I did anything like that…

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Menu for the Week

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Since starting the night shift, the amount of time that I have available to devote to cooking has gone way, way down.  However, I’ve noticed that if I shop from a menu, our grocery bill is much more manageable.  So it’s a quandary – to cook and save, or to spend and have extra time on my hands?

I had five glorious days off in a row this week, so I figured that I had better make sure that some of that time was spent cooking meals that could be frozen.  I love the “Taste of Home” publication group, and one of my favorite magazines of theirs is Healthy Cooking.

Healthy Cooking Magazine

Healthy Cooking Magazine

The food in here is made with busy, health-conscious people in mind.  A lot of the recipes are user-submitted, then refined and tested by “field editors”.  I like the fact that all of the recipes aren’t created by a chef, but come from everyday people.  They also have an online portion which is handy and useful.  I can search by cuisine type, meal, ingredients, preparation time, etc.  It’s definitely worth the cost of a subscription.

Since I mainly shop from a menu, I don’t have a lot of extra food lying around.  I have my staples, of course.  These include frozen chicken breasts, a box of pasta, chicken and/or beef broth, a package of freezer rolls or frozen bread dough, a bag of shredded cheese, an onion, lots of spices (I haven’t been able to find a spice rack that comes close to being big enough to hold all of my spices… I love flavor!), garlic, condensed soup, bread, peanut butter and jelly, and of course flour/sugar/oil.  I can make some meals from these, but I keep them around for emergencies.  I try to incorporate chicken and some other type of meat into all of our meals.  This week, my meals include chicken, ground turkey, and pork.  Mmm mmm :-)

Here’s what I decided to make this week…

Enchilada Lasagna

Enchilada Lasagna

Rather than making one 9×13 pan of the lasagna, I split it into two 8×8 pans and froze both of them.  This way, when Chris wants one he can take out a small pan and make it in the toaster oven rather than having a lot left over.  The nutritional value for this meal is 282 kcal, 11 g fat, and 2 g fiber.  I’ll add more vegetables to this if I make it again in order to boost the fiber content.

Hash Brown Breakfast Casserole

Hash Brown Breakfast Casserole

This one called for an 8×8 pan, but I doubled it and make one large 9×13 pan.  The thing that I really like about this dish is that it uses chicken, so it’s not just potatoes and cheese.  Chris really likes this kind of dish, and I knew that he could eat some for breakfast and dinner meals.  I was planning to freeze it, but about 20 minutes after putting it into the freezer Chris pulled it out.  He’s already planning to have some for breakfast tomorrow morning!  The nutritional value for this meal is 220 kcal, 6 g fat, and 1 g fiber.  I modified my version by adding more veggies than called for, so I’m sure that the fiber content in my version is higher than the published version’s.

The last recipe I made is something that my mom has done for years – pulled pork barbecue sandwiches.  Here’s a picture that looks sort of like the end result.

Pulled Pork Barbecue Sandwiches

Pulled Pork Barbecue Sandwiches

This meal is healthy, delicious, and easy to make.  Buy a lean pork loin roast and cook in a greased crockpot for 6-8 hours, depending on the size of the roast and crockpot.  Be sure to add at least 1/2 a cup of water so that it doesn’t stick or burn.  If you’re unsure about the water, just keep an eye on it and add more if you notice that it’s all evaporated.  When the time is up, put the roast in a bowl and pull it apart with a fork (it should shred easily).  Add enough of your favorite barbecue sauce to suit your taste and obtain the desired consistency.  As with many dishes, the flavors are better combined if it’s allowed to sit overnight.  I typically make a large amount using a 3 lb pork loin roast, then freeze it in several containers for up to 3 months.  This way, whenever we want some we can defrost a small container rather than having a bunch lying in the fridge.

These meals, combined with a garlic chicken penne dish that I have leftover in the freezer, will be more than enough for the next 5 days (and probably longer).

I was going to include the recipes from Healthy Cooking, but then I realized that they are only available in the “subscribers only” section.  I don’t think that it would be fair to include them, so I’ll just direct you to the December/January issue or to their website.  A subscription is only $12.98 per year.  They also offer a trial issue, so you can make sure that it’s something you really want before committing.

Alright, my lovely readers – have a great night!

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Low-Fat, Low-Cal: 3 Amazing Recipes

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I’ve been preparing and shopping from a weekly menu for the last several months now. This is a fairly recent development in my life. At first I was skeptical, but I kept reading other bloggers’ menus and thought, “What the heck – I’ll give it a try”. It’s turned out to be a great thing and I enjoy doing it. I thought that I would share 3 of the recipes that have been big hits here in the Practically Perfect household. All of these are lower in fat and calories, so feel free to indulge :-)

Makeover Macaroni and Cheese (from “Healthy Cooking” magazine)
This one was really yummy. It was plain-and-simple old-fashioned comfort food that was lower in fat and calories than the original thing. It was a definite success and I’ll be making it again (note – I didn’t use any chives in my version).

Black Bean Enchiladas (also from “Healthy Cooking” magazine)

This was a great vegetarian option and, well, full of fiber! It was super-easy to make, tastes really good, smells delicious when it’s cooking, and is also low fat/calorie. My only complaint is that there was too much filling to fit into all of the enchiladas. I think that the next time I make it, I’m going to buy extra tortillas and will use ground corn instead of flour ones.
I don’t have a photo of my last recipe because I haven’t taken one. One of the RNs made this at my going away party and it is so delicious. She told me that one serving equals 2 WW points. I have no idea if this is accurate and I don’t know how she measured the servings. This is probably one of my favorite salad/coleslaw recipes, and I don’t even like coleslaw, so that ought to tell you how good it is.

Anne’s Broccoli Coleslaw Salad
3 C broccoli florets (bite size)
3 C broccoli slaw mix**
1 bag shredded carrots
3 oz jar reduced-fat Hormel bacon bits
1/2 C diced red onion
1 C craisins
3/4 C toasted walnuts
1 C reduced fat mayonnaise
1/4 C Splenda
2 T cider vinegar
1-2 liberal splashes toasted sesame oil

Mix first 7 ingredients in large bowl. In separate, smaller bowl, stir together mayonnaise, Splenda, vinegar, and oil. Pour over first 7 ingredients and mix well. Refrigerate.
**I have learned to always double this recipe because it goes so quickly. Also, I don’t use only broccoli slaw – I use half broccoli and half coleslaw mix**
Alright ladies, there it is – my recipe suggestions for the month! I hope that you have a great Friday :-)

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Have a Happy, Yummy, 4th of July!

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Happy 4th of July everyone! Chris and I don’t have any special plans for today – just hanging out, making hamburgers, and eating some good food while hopefully watching some fireworks. If we were at my parents’ house we’d be surrounded by about 20 people and everyone would be engaged in different activities: jumping on the trampoline, swimming, grilling, taking long walks or a bike ride, chasing little kids, and setting off fireworks from the driveway. I’m sad, because I just realized this morning that we won’t be celebrating a 4th of July with either of our families for a long time. Obviously it’s just the two of us in Massachusetts this year, and by July 4th, 2010, we’ll be in New Zealand. Boo :-(

Still, I’m planning to have a nice time today. I made my mom’s traditional cream cheese fruit dessert with shortbread crust yesterday, so you can bet that we’ll be enjoying some of that today. Here’s my pathetic attempt at making a flag design on top:

Okay, okay, so it’s kind of messy. It’s hard to control where the pie filling goes! I think that if I make this again, I’ll use strawberries and blueberries. Still, the overall taste is really good. If you’re interested, here’s the recipe. It’s simple and delicious!

Cream Cheese Fruit Dessert with Shortbread Crust
4 C flour
1 1/2 C brown sugar
1 1/2 C reduced-fat butter, softened
1 tub (12 oz) Cool Whip, defrosted
3 8-oz packages Neufchatel cheese, softened
3/4 C confectioner’s sugar
2 cans of your favorite regular pie filling
Mix flour and brown sugar in large bowl; cut in butter. Pour half of crust mixture into 9×13 inch pan and pat down. Bake at 350 degrees till just barely golden, about 25 minutes. When crust comes out of the oven, stir with a fork till it crumbles easily (Note – this will make about double the crust that you need, so you can just freeze the rest in a Ziploc bag).
Beat cream cheese and Cool Whip till smooth, slowly adding sugar. Spoon on to top of cooled crust and spread evenly. Top with cans of your favorite pie filling. Store in refrigerator.
Alright everyone, have a great day!

** PS: I want to add a special Happy 4th of July to my big little brother, E, over in Iraq! We love you and miss you! Try not too breathe in too much dust :-) **

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I’ve Lost My Brain

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I’ve lost my brain. Do you know where I might be able to find it?

Seriously – yesterday was bad to begin with because of my cold, but then I did something kind of embarrassing. I was just getting out of the shower when I heard a knock at the door. I knew it was the UPS guy, and I did not want to miss him. I ordered some new clothes for our NYC trip and I really wanted to make sure that they fit and looked good (they do, by the way!). Anyway, I yelled out the window that I would be right down, but he apparently didn’t hear me. I threw on some scrubs, my hair was in a towel, and I was in bare feet, but I had to catch that guy! I ran out the door, ran up to his truck, banged on the side, and said, “Umm, excuse me. I think you have a package for me?” He just looked at me and was like, “Uh, yeah. Hang on a sec.” At that point I turn around and realize that my next door neighbor is outside with a bunch of her friends, and they are all staring at me in my scrubs, turban-towel, and bare feet. Yikes. I quickly grabbed my boxes and skedaddled back inside my townhouse, face aflame. Ai yi yi.

Then today I woke up, got dressed, and went to the grocery. I had my little list and was dutifully following it. I paid for my purchases and headed on home, when I realized, “Dang it! I forgot to get mini-marshmallows!” (something I needed for a 4th of July dessert). I was disappointed, but figured that I could go ahead and make the dessert without them. I got home and started cooking, and realized that I didn’t have enough oatmeal. Grrr. I called Chris and asked him if he wouldn’t mind picking some up on his way home, and asked him to grab a bag of mini-marshmallows, too. I go back to the stove, then realize I forgot to get Cool Whip! Augh! I call Chris again and ask him to get some for me. No big deal, he says. If only it had stopped there! About 15 minutes later, still cooking, I realize that I’m not going to have enough sugar for both desserts. So I call Chris for the third time and ask him to pick some up. I swear to him that this will be my last time calling, and I go back to finishing my no-bake cookies.

I finish the cookies and look at the recipe for my 2nd dessert. While reading it, I realize that it calls for 3 8oz packages of Neufchatel cheese, and guess what – I only bought one. Oh, my, GOODNESS!!! Where was my brain?! I might as well not have even gone to the grocery store! So I pick up the phone and call Chris for the fourth time, and he’s just laughing at me by now. I ask him to pick up some Neufchatel cheese and tell him that I must’ve left my brain at work yesterday. He reminds me that he’s usually the absent-minded one, so it’s OK that I’m being a little spacey today. Oh, well!

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