Apprentice Chefs

My master plan is finally coming to fruition! Over two years ago, I said I would steal my friend's brilliant idea of having her son cook one night a week. I can't believe my boys are old enough to start, but pinch me! They are!

We started with a stromboli contest. Each boy seasoned and stuffed their own roll of frozen bread dough. I gave instructions, but the only physical help I gave was flipping Max's dough over onto the pan. They rocked it! And they were so proud of themselves! And so eager to find out who "won" the contest. I made up some lame "everybody gets an award" title for each boy, but I'll tell you who won that contest! This mama did! The boys loved it and immediately begged to do it again. After they made three large pizzas the next week, we decided that contests were not sustainable. We didn't want three days worth of leftovers every time they cooked! So, Calvin suggested that one boy be in charge of the main dish, one could make "side options," and one would tackle dessert. Best. Plan. Ever. Now, once a week, the boys are responsible for picking out and making a meal. They get super excited about it, and they're pretty stinkin' good! It's fun for everyone and they learn a new skill almost every time. The other night I was in a pinch getting an omelette roll ready, so I asked Calvin to fry the bacon and Max to crack a dozen eggs. They didn't need any help at all because they'd been trained the night the boys made "brinner." Fortunately, this time Max picked eggshell out of the bowl so we didn't find it in our food.

Some tips I've learned while training my little chefs:

- Kid cooks are super messy! I try to roll with it. If it isn't fun, they won't want to keep cooking.
- I don't hold a spoon much, but I'm needed for advice and instruction constantly. These aren't nights off, but I'm training them so that some day I have three adept chefs (and three nights totally off from cooking!)
- Macaroni and cheese and carrot sticks are apparently the only acceptable side options to my youngest two. Last week, I told them they had to make a vegetable that wasn't orange. Reed shocked me by suggesting steamed broccoli. Calvin decided that on his main dish night he'd make macaroni and hamburger. Baby steps.
- Nothing is perfect, but it's totally worth it. Biting into a few eggshells in our breakfast casserole is a small price to pay for the boys to develop a sense of pride, ownership in family chores, and to be able to feed themselves something other than pizza when they move out. Plus - THREE NIGHTS A WEEK WITH NO COOKING ARE IN MY NEAR FUTURE!!!!!!

P.S. The friend who inspired this idea isn't the only genius in my life. My high school math teacher's wife wrote a book about the concept! Hey Mom, I'll Start Dinner: A Team Approach to Getting Dinner on the Table

Squachos

When I look back over my blog, I realize that squash has been a problem blessing in our household for many years. And, due to picky eaters, I've had to develop many ways to cleverly disguise it. There were the gold doubloons, the squash Parmesan, and several other ways to eat and/or get rid of this prolific vegetable. This summer, inspired by this pin,  I added squash pizza to my repertoire (we called them squizzas). The boys ate it, but they didn't love it. Then, I invented squachos. The concept is simple, shred yellow squash over chips, then cover with cheese and melt in the oven. Once you put salsa on top, you can't tell what's squash and what's cheese. See?

Genius, right? The boys munched happily and I mentally patted myself on the back. For about five minutes. Then, Reed said, "Wait a minute.... What's this?"

Foiled again...

Squachos

- tortilla chips

- yellow squash

- yellow cheese (Colby Jack is the best disguise, since it's two-toned)

- salsa

Optional:

- sour cream

- guacamole

- taco meat

1) Spread chips on a baking sheet.

2) Shred squash over chips. Shred cheese over that. 

3) Mix with your fingers to maximize the disguise.

4) Broil until cheese melts enough to cover any sign of squash.

5) Top with salsa and other nacho toppings.

6) Wait with bated breath to see how long it takes your kids to discover your dirty little secret. Hope that they get a little nutrition in before that inevitable moment.

Full

Why my weekend rocked:

1) Decorating

I got to help decorate for Ryan's school's (soon to be mine, too) prom. The coordinator bedazzled that ballroom like a champ! She has only sons and it gave me hope that I may never get to help plan a wedding, but I could be a prom mom and still get in on some big, fancy events (and not on my own dime!)  The boys "helped" too - moving balloons from air compressor to dance floor - and then all over the entire place, including under tables and chairs.

2) Color Run

I ran my first 5k! My sister-in-law, Rachel, and I had signed up on a team with some of her friends. Rachel invited me to join a fitness motivation facebook group she was in, and it's been really inspiring. We've done plank and squat challenges and shared recipes and then a few decided to try out this Color Run.  I've never had good endurance, and I totally hadn't trained for it - just went on a couple jogs a week and tried to run a minute longer each time. But, I figured it couldn't be too serious, if the participants were willing to be accosted with colored chalk multiple times throughout the race (and wear tutus, which approximately 50% did). Then, the night before, I dreamed that I busted out the 3.1 miles in 22 minutes.  Then dream Ryan yelled at me and I cried.  

I went there hoping to a) run as much of it as possible, b) not look a fool. I ended up running all but the three steps I walked by the water station! I was slow, but that was the longest I've ever run without stopping - both time and distance. And I even got to re-live a tiny bit of my competitive athletic career when two 50-something ladies thought they were gonna pace on me and pass me just before the finish. When they passed me early in the "race" (I use that term very loosely) I thought to myself, "Dang! I just got passed by two old ladies!" Soon, they slowed down to a walk, and I thought, "Ha! Ha! Nice try old farts! Slow and steady wins the race." As soon as I passed them, they started jogging again. This happened the whole race. At first I thought it was just a coincidence, but the fact that it happened seconds after every time I passed made me suspicious. Then, when I was jogging right by them and spied a shortcut, I joked, "Think anyone would notice if I snuck through there?" I didn't get an amused chuckle. Just a dirty look. From then on, it was on. "On," meaning that I hoped they wouldn't run faster than me and every time they passed me I called them mean names in my head and every time I passed them, I mentally trashed talked them. When we were in the last couple of blocks, they were behind me, and I thought they were getting close. I picked up the pace from dog turd slow to a snail crawl. Then I heard someone say, "Come on!" That made me step it up to turtle mode. Pretty soon, I heard the disappointed "Ahh!" of defeat and I finished my glorious approach to the finish line, victorious. Grannies everywhere, fear me.

3) I had "people" all day Saturday

By "people," I mean a personal stylist and nanny and chef and chauffeur. My sister and her hubs watched the boys all day, hauled Ryan and me around town, grilled us a yummy lunch, and yelled, "We love you!" at me when I panted by them toward the finish line (ok, that mightta just been my sister). Then, after I scrubbed the rainbow off of my body all over her shower, she offered (or, rather, begged) to help me do my make-up and hair for prom. I felt like a diva all day--even though my stylist told me that only old ladies use hot rollers. Maybe old ladies who kick other old ladies' butts in super-competitive sporting events.

4) High School Prom

Ryan was a Junior class sponsor this year, so we did a little reliving of the good ol' days at the high school prom. It was actually really fun, especially knowing the next prom I attend with Ryan will be for "our kids."

5) Sunday

Super relaxing day of rest with family fun, which we've been short on lately. Reed, who wants to train for next year's Color Run, went on a short jog with me. Then Calvin and I made a homemade bow and arrow. Then, we had a strawberry and banana "shake" that's completely lent friendly, followed that evening by brinner (waffles and bacon) and jalepeno poppers (recipes below).

I love my life!

...And then, we ended the night with this little gem:

Mom: Max, you need to get your toothbrush and bring it to Mom or Dad.
Max: I'm picking up. (which, to his credit, is rare and shocking)
Mom: No... I said you need to brush your teeth.
Max: (casually) I can do whatever I want.
Dad: (quietly) hee hee hee
Mom: Come here. Look at me. No, look at me (etc., etc., etc.) You are NOT the boss.
Max: I'm the son of the boss!

---------------------------------------------------------------

Strawberry Banana "Shake"

chopped-up-then-frozen bananas
chopped up strawberries

- Put strawberries in bottom, then frozen banana slices.
- Blend until smooth and creamy.

(In a week, I'll be making this with peanut butter and cocoa powder instead of strawberries. Heaven!)

Easy Jalepeno Poppers

jalepenos, sliced in half and de-seeded
1 pkg cream cheese, softened
6 slices of bacon, crumbled
1-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

- Mix bacon and cheddar into cream cheese (my sister-in-law's brilliant idea--waaaay easier than wrapping them in bacon).
- Smear mixture into each jalepeno half.
- Bake on cookie sheet at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.

H2C: Supper 911

Fine'. This is the end of a series about "How to Cook When it's Already Time to Eat." 

Even the best laid plans go wrong. I can't count the number of times I've forgotten to thaw hamburger or take out a lasagna or start the Crock-pot. But here are some emergency supper ideas that take just minutes:

- Frozen pizza, taquitos, burritos, nuggets etc.
- Voila! bag meals
- Frozen tilapia or other individually-packed filets - thaw in warm water for a few minutes; sprinkle with seasonings and it only takes 10-15 mn to bake!
- Buy hamburgers or tacos at a fast food joint and provide your own sides from the pantry
- PBJ (the boys love these nights)
- Snack food (you'll be deemed a master chef if your munchkins are like mine!)
- Big 'ol can of soup
- Tuna salad sandwiches
- Grilled cheese with tomato soup
- Hot dogs (keep them in the freezer and nuke)
- Pizza Quesadillas (cheese, lunch meat or pepperoni, and spaghetti sauce in a tortilla - grill in skillet until cheese melts)

That's it. That's all I got. And even with all these strategies, it can still be a jungle around here at suppertime. But at least the monkeys are usually well-fed.


For 7 more tips, follow the links at How to Cook When it's Already Time to Eat.

H2C: Leftovers

One more tip in a series about "How to Cook When it's Already Time to Eat." 


There's no sense in throwing out leftovers. Especially if they can save you a night of cooking. On my menu, I usually work one "leftover" night into the schedule. I dig out all the containers, let everyone fight over what they want and get my fridge cleaned out! Lately it's been a night when Ryan isn't home or we don't need to eat as much (church night, party, etc.). As these boys grow there is less and less left over. I don't know what I'm gonna do when they're teenagers! 

Besides potluck-stylin' it, there are other ways to use leftovers to save you time. Here are my favorites:

Day 1: Pot roast
Day 2 Copacabana Tacos (courtesy of mi mama)
Day 3: BBQ Pizza (biscuit crust, BBQ meat, cheese - just a flat version of Barbie cups) 

Pot Roast

Copacabana Tacos

- 1 c milk
- 1/4 c (or less) flour
- salt/pepper
- salsa
- cheese
- shredded meat
- tortillas

1) After supper on Day 1, strain out any leftover vegetables and set aside. Drain some of the juices off of the roast and whisk with milk, flour, and seasonings. 
2) Boil until a gravy forms.
3) Mix all ingredients in tortilla shells. 
4) Bake in oven for 350 degrees about 10 mn.

----------------

Day 1: Pulled pork or chicken (slow cook in crock pot, drain juices, shred, add BBQ sauce)
Day 2: Random casserole that calls for shredded chicken (just pull some meat out before you add BBQ sauce on day 1)
Day 3: Barbie cups (another Mama Raney special - really just a muffin version of BBQ pizza)

Barbie Cups

- Biscuits
- shredded meat
- BBQ sauce
- cheese

1) Squish 1/2 to 1 biscuit in each muffin tin.
2) Stir meat and sauce together.
3) Stuff muffins with meat and cheese. 
4) Cook according to biscuit directions. 

----------------

Day 1: Burritos
Day 2: Chili 

Burritos

- 1 lb ground beef
- 3 cans chili beans
- splash of V8 juice
- 1 T chili powder
- 1 t cumin
- 1/2 t onion salt
- 1/4 t garlic salt
- pepper
- tortilla shells
- cheese
- salsa

1) Brown hamburger. Drain fat.
2) Simmer all ingredients 20 mn. 
3) Spoon into tortilla shells with salsa and cheese. 
4) Bake in oven 350 degrees for 10 mn.

Chili

- V8 leftover from a large can after making burritos
- seasonings

1) Add V8 to remaining meat mixture after making burritos.
2) Season to taste
3) Simmer an hour or leave in Crock-pot on low to bring out the flavors. 


For 7 more tips, follow the links at How to Cook When it's Already Time to Eat.

H2C: Delegate - or distract

Here's another tip for "How to Cook When it's Already Time to Eat!"

I won't lie - making supper seemed impossible when the boys were littler. They were less patient, so it had to be ready sooner, and there were constant interruptions: first diaper changes, dropped binkies, and nursing sessions and then temper tantrums and "final wipes." Now that no one is suction cupped to my leg (or boob), its a whole lot easier - not that I don't have my share of distractions, now in the form of out-of-hand fights. But now, the boys are pretty easy to distract. A few ideas:

- I let them sit down with a tiny snack when they get home. They're content and contained and I can get supper started uninterrupted. I've trained them to take care of their own snacks. We have snack-sized bowls (though they try to sneak larger containers all the time) and food within easy reach.
- If it's nice outside and they're old enough, shoo fly! We're fortunate to live in the country on a nearly traffic-free road. I can see the porch and most of the yard, including the trampoline from my kitchen windows. And Reed and Calvin are pretty good about keeping an eye on Squiggie.
- During the winter and on rainy days, the boys fly through their snack to get to their highly-awaited daily allotment of screen time. Their current obsession is Wii Mario. They scream like banshees and you'd think the couch was a butt trampoline, but remember our goal is contained and content, so it's all good.
- If Reed has homework, he's supposed to do it first thing. This isn't very often, but I figure that will change as they get older.

Distraction isn't my only trick. It's well documented on this site that I want our boys to be independent. My goal is for my future daughter-in-laws to thank me for raising such helpful, neat-freak husbands. Not sure if we'll get all they way there, but I'd settle for helpful. So, I put those turkeys to work. For several months now, they've started "kitchen duty" after the meal. They take care of almost all the clean up but the dishes and leftover storage. It frees me up to do a little cooking ahead for the next nights. Here are kitchen-related things the boys do at least some of the time:

- Set table and get out condiments.
- Pour their own milk if the jug isn't too full. 
- Dish up plates.
- Clear table.
- Wipe table and counters.
- Help me with dishes.
- Sweep and mop (the mopping is usually mostly fake - Max always wants to sweep and he sucks at it, so we give him the mop instead. Strips of my floor are super spotless. The rest? Not so much.) 
- Help cook the meal (This one isn't always very "helpful" so much as "a pain in my butt," but I'm banking on all the spilled flour paying off some day... )

I have a friend who started scheduling her middle school son to cook one night a week. She taught him some basic meals first and by the time he graduated, he had quite a repertoire for a bachelor living on his own. I am SO employing this idea! In a few years, that'll be THREE nights a week I won't have to cook! And, future daughters-in-law, you. are. welcome! Is eight too young to start this?

The other "boy" in my house pitches in, too. In fact, he's a way better cook than I am. He goes in spurts--cooking several nights in a row when we have fresh deer tenderloins. He grills about one night a week in the summer. And this winter, he's invented several awesome soups! He's really creative, and kind of enjoys it, but I don't think I'll ever get him to take over the duty every night. Schedules and the desire to keep our marriage intact don't allow that. I did get him to agree to being "penciled in" as chef one night a week.  It doesn't always work out that way, but it's still nice to have someone to share the load. 

Hmmm, if I play this right, I could get off pretty easy. Here's my "There's hope for the future" plan:

M - Reed's night
T - Calvin's night
W - Max's night
Th - Ryan's night
F - leftover night
Sa - eat out (or adopt another teenager with stellar cooking skills)
Su - It's the Sabbath. I can't cook. We'll figure out something...


For 7 more tips, follow the links at How to Cook When it's Already Time to Eat.

H2C: Don't Forget the Sides

Still putting out ideas for my series: How to Cook Supper When it's Already Time to Eat.



Side items are the bane of my existence. I think the reason I love casseroles and all-in-one pot dishes is so that I don’t have to come up with companion foods. When I’m on my game (it’s a rare occurance) I have sides pre-made and stored in the fridge. We might eat on one for a few meals. Here are my easy go-to sides:


- Be lazy paleo/clean eating/(insert trendy diet name here) and call fresh fruits and raw veggies a side item. I serve fruit washed in a small colander - fruit doesn’t last long in this household, so I just store the colander in the fridge. I also have a colander of fruit on the table for decoration and handy eating. We take our veggies washed and cut up, served with Ranch dressing for dipping (We just started using sour cream and ranch powder since we just figured out that it has way less fat and calories than ranch dressing - and it's WAAAAY better)

- Salad - I chop up a head of iceberg and a package of leaf lettuce, shred a carrot or two with my big box shredder, and maybe cut up a cucumber or some green onions and store it in a large, lidded bowl. I also try to keep salad toppings and/or homemade croutons on hand. One head of lettuce will usually get us through 2-3 meals. If we want tomatoes or cheese, I store it separate and we just put it on at the table so the salad doesn’t get soggy. A pasta salad would work well, too.
- Seasoned butter for toast - I stir garlic salt, oregano, basil, and other herbs and spices into a stick of butter and store for a quick swipe onto toast
- Canned fruit salad
- Warm up canned goods - Baked beans, green beans, corn, and other canned goods don’t take long to season and heat up.
- Boxed pasta or rice sides

In the summer, when we’re overwhelmed with garden produce, this is a “salad” I try to keep on hand.


Cucumber and Tomato salad

- cucumber
- tomatoes
- onion
- dressing (I use sweet vinegar and oil. My mother-in-law uses seasoned rice vinegar. I’ve had a delicious concoction of vinegar, olive oil, sugar, and spices. They're all good--play around with it)


1) Thinly slice all vegetables and toss with dressing
2) Store in a lidded container in the refrigerator



For 7 more tips, follow the links at How to Cook When it's Already Time to Eat.

H2C: Cook Tomorrow's Supper After Tonight's

Here's the fourth tip from the series How to Cook When it's Already Time to Eat.

If I get home around 5:00 and we want to eat at 6:00, I probably don’t have time to cook and dice chicken, cut up vegetables, and assemble it all into a casserole that takes 45 minutes in the oven. But if the casserole is already put together and I just throw it in the oven when I get home, I have 45 minutes to get ahead for the next night. This is how I do a lot of my cooking--either while tonight’s supper is cooking or after the meal is eaten and I’m cleaning up. Either way, tomorrow’s supper gets at least partially prepped tonight.

This method works great for casseroles and Crock Pot meals. We eat Meal #1 tonight, but I prep two lasagnas. One I’ll keep in the fridge, then chuck in the oven when I get home tomorrow evening. The other goes in the freezer for another time.

If you can’t prep a whole meal, you can at least get ahead. If I need chopped onions tonight, but I know I’ll also need them for two other meals I have planned this week, I just chop of extra and store it in the fridge. I do the same for shredded cheese and seasoned olive oil or butter for breads or toast.

One of my family’s favorite recipes is my mom's fried rice. Although it is good leftover, it’s best served hot and crispy. Even though we love it, I often don’t put it on the menu, because it requires a lot of chopping and dicing. But if I pre-chop all the veggies and have the meat already cooked, it really doesn’t take that long. I just have to throw it all together and fry it.




Fried Rice

- 4 servings rice
- 1/3 c olive oil
- matchstick or shredded carrots
- diced onion
- diced peppers
- water chestnuts
- 1/2 c frozen peas and/or frozen stir fry veggies
- 3-6 eggs
- Cooked, chopped meat (chicken, fish, deer steak, etc.)
- 1/8 c Asian ginger dressing
- 1/3 c soy sauce

1) Cook rice and meat (or use thawed meat from your freezer stash).
2) Saute' fresh veggies in oil.
3) Push veggies to side, add eggs and scramble in oil.
4) Add dressings and frozen vegetables until thawed.
5) Add rice and meat. Cook until rice starts to get crispy.



For 7 more tips, follow the links at How to Cook When it's Already Time to Eat.

H2C: Whatta Crock!

This is the next installment in a series about cooking when you really don't have time to cook. For the rest of the series, start here.


There’s something about coming home to the smell of a meal that’s cooked all day in a slow cooker that makes you feel like a rock star. Also, slow cooked meals are often healthy and have several food groups all rolled into one meal. My favorite use for the Crock-pot is cooking chicken from frozen to shreddable. I have a lot of recipes that call for cooked, cut-up chicken. My sister-in-law taught me that you can throw frozen chicken in the pot with a cup or two of chicken broth and some seasoning and come home to perfect, shreddable chicken. I just dump off the broth and stir the chicken with a fork and it’s ready to throw in my chicken dish. You changed my life, Jenica! You can also just add BBQ sauce to the shredded chicken (or a beef or pork roast cooked all day in juice) and have excellent BBQ sandwiches with no effort.

Almost any soup recipe can be made in a slow cooker. I dump all the ingredients in the pot the night before, cram the pot in the fridge, and set it in the cooker the next morning.

There are a wealth of Crock-pot freezer recipes. I think I have four sites pinned on Pinterest (on my cooking board or my "did it" board) each linking to four or five recipes. The beauty of these recipes is that you make them ahead (on a weekend or some other free time), throwing all the ingredients together in a gallon freezer bag. The day you want the meal, you just peel the bag off of the ice chunk, throw it in the Crock-Pot, and come home to a hot veggie and meat entree. Our two favorite freezer bag recipes:

Teriyaki Pork Chops and Hawaiian Chicken Sandwiches (and several others) from Saving You Dinero

And another favorite, though I've never tried to bag and freeze this one:

Cashew Crock-pot Chicken from Sally Cooks

Note: If you Crock-pot the broccoli like the recipe says, it overpowers the dish (and your house, with the smell. I mean, BAAAAD!!!). The second time around, I steamed the broccoli in the microwave and added it at the table. I also added cashews just for the last few minutes to warm them up so they'd stay crunchy.

Finally, our favorite crock pot recipe of all time, courtesy of my mom.

Not quite sure how I got the lid on this beast...

Easy Roast and Veggies

- large roast (I'm not skilled enough in the world of meat to tell you what kind. I'm sure I've tried rumps, pork butts, beef, and other words that I'm not recalling right now, and it's always good. Just look for a big hunk of meat surrounded by fat and you should be good...)
- Worcestershire sauce
- carrots, cut into large slices (or baby carrots)
- potatoes, cut into large chunks
- salt, pepper

1) Place roast in slow cooker, fatty side up. Surround with veggies.
2) Glub almost a whole bottle of Worcestershire sauce over the bad boy.

3) Salt and pepper to your liking.
4) Slow cook on low for 8-10 hours. 
5) Skim off fat, shred, and enjoy!


For 7 more tips, follow the links at How to Cook When it's Already Time to Eat.

H2C: Mrs. Freeze

This post is part of a series called: How to Cook Supper When it's Already Time to Eat, cheesily referred to as H2C.

In addition to the wealth of freezer cooking recipes you can find online, there are a lot of ways to use your freezer to make meal time a breeze. Consider these ideas:
When you make a casserole, double the recipe, cook one now and freeze one for later. Smaller families could split a single recipe into two smaller pans and save themselves from having to eat lasagna six nights in a row.

Search "Crock-pot freezer meals" on Pinterest and prepare to be amazed! I don't cook a months worth like so many bloggers do, but I will put together two or three similar recipes in gallon bags when I'm already chopping onions and I have a little extra time. If you take the blade out of your blender, it makes a perfect container to prop open the gallon bags while you pour in liquids.

Brown two or three pounds of burger with onions, peppers, and shredded carrots. Bag it and freeze it. Now when a recipe calls for browned hamburger, you just have to grab a bag and you’ve already got veggies added in. I’ve started doing this to cut down on the amount of meat we eat, too. I brown 2 lb of deer burger with veggies, use 1/3 for that night’s meal and split the remaining meat into two freezer bags. Now I’m reducing the meat in recipes by 1/3 pound and prepping ahead. I also cook up a bunch of chicken at one time, shred it, and freeze it in small containers.

When you make waffles, french toast or pancakes, make extra and freeze. All you have to do is pop them in the toaster the next morning!
Make burritos and freeze individually wrapped in foil. Bag the bunch in the tortilla bag and get out only what you need.

Cut up peppers or onions, shred zucchini, or puree’ sweet potatoes and freeze in small containers, like baby food jars. You’ve just saved yourself some prep work for a future meal. This works great when you have an abundance of produce or need to use something up before it spoils.
Do you have more leftovers than you can handle? Freeze em’ and you have a bonus meal - or at least a side. If you freeze a little bit of soup, just add sandwiches another night for a beefier meal.

Reed’s favorite meal (from a friend, neighbor, and former coworker - thanks, Tina!) is one you can make and freeze partially. We eat it for supper, but it also works great for breakfast when you have company and want to look like a super hostess, but don’t want to get up at the butt crack of dawn to do it.

Breakfast Casserole

- cooked, crumbled bacon and/or sausage
- can of biscuits or crescent rolls

- shredded cheese (about 2 c)
- 4-8 eggs
- 3/4 c milk
- salt/pepper
- butter

1) Butter a 9x13 pan. Mush biscuits into a crust.
2) Sprinkle meat and cheese on top of biscuits.
3) Freeze at this point (or not). Put in fridge to thaw the night before you want to use.
4) Whisk eggs, milk, salt, and pepper in a bowl and pour over biscuits.
5) Cook 15 mn (or until eggs are done) at 425 degrees.

For 7 more tips, follow the links at How to Cook When it's Already Time to Eat.

H2C: Meal Planning

This post is part of a series called: How to Cook Supper When it's Already Time to Eat  (H2C - cheesy, I know, but it was better than H2CWIAT2E). 

I hate, hate, hate driving home knowing I have no plan for supper. I don't even drive past a gas station, much less a restaurant, so fast food isn't an option. And we're tightwads, so there's not usually a pizza in the freezer, though that would be smart...

So, once a week, I sit down with a grocery ad flier, shopping list, recipes, our calendar and a notecard. First, I flip through the grocery ads and put items that are on sale on my shopping list. I try to keep ingredients stocked by buying multiples of things we use often while they’re on sale. If the sale ads inspire a meal for the week, even better. 

The next thing I look at are my recipes. In addition to Pinterest ideas, I have cookbooks and a binder full of ideas I’ve torn from magazines. Anything I try and we like gets written on a recipe card and added to the recipe box. The boys have invented an elaborate scoring method for new meals. It's called "thumbs up, thumbs down, thumbs sideways, one thumb up/one thumb slightly up, both thumbs up with an exaggerated happy face, etc." Their assessment of spaghetti squash replacing noodles in our normal spaghetti recipe? Let's just say it didn't rank up there with sopapilla ice cream...

Most of our meals are planned from the tried-and-true box, but I try to sneak a new idea in about once a week to keep things interesting. I also try to keep in mind if we have anything about to spoil that needs to be used up quickly. 

After I’ve found five or six meals I’d like to make that week, I pull out the recipe cards (or  magazine page) and stash them in the front of the recipe box so they’re easy to find. Then, I look at our calendar and see what nights I need quick-and-easy and what nights I can spend a little more time chopping and dicing. I plan a slow cooker meal or leftovers on nights when I know there will be no time to cook. 

Then, I write up a menu on an index card. If the recipe came from Pinterest or a cookbook, I write the page number or location on the card so it’s easy to find. If I need to prep something a day ahead of time (like Crock-pot meals), I make a note on the card so I don’t forget. I clip this menu to a cute mini clipboard in my pantry. 

I actually stole this post idea from my sister. She has had two of the cutest menu boards ever! See her first menu board and read about how she plans meals for two here. Since that post, her glass menu board broke, and she's replaced it with this one from Ikea:

from ntyrordinarysmith.blogspot.com

My sister-in-law does her meal planning the high-tech way. She posts her weekly meal plan on her blog, linking each recipe to its source. Then, she makes notes about certain recipes that go over well or flop. Check out her latest "Meal Deal" here.

With a plan in place, half the suppertime battle is over. Now I just have to execute...


For 7 more tips, follow the links at How to Cook When it's Already Time to Eat.