Feeling inspired today, I decided to go use up some of the knit shirts I had been collecting and make a few baby hats. They are easy and quick to make, although finding the correct tension when sewing jersey material on my machine is always a struggle. Why is that, I wonder?
Once I got it figured out it was smooth sailing. Now all I have to do is find some fabric paint here and freezer-stencil a little design on them.
Yesterday I cooked a total of eight meals. Yes, EIGHT meals. Six dinner entrees and then a lunch and dinner to be consumed that day. And it was easy-peasy, thanks to the innovative Fix, Freeze, Feast book by Kati Neville and Lindsay Tkacsik.
What makes this particular book stand out of the cooking-in-bulk, make-ahead-meal genre, is that it relies on you using actual, fresh ingredients and preparing your own sauces and marinades, rather than relying on things like condensed soups, canned vegetables and canned meats, and the fact that it utilizes warehouse club sizes—think number 10 cans, vast trays of chicken, etc. Each recipe is designed to make at least two to three entrees at 4 servings each. Don't let the warehouse sized items scare you off. but I have been repeatedly successful at scaling down the recipes to make one entree to serve 4 to 6.
Neville and Tkacsik excel at making recipes that are able to please modern American palates too. There are quite a few Tex-Mex and Asian inspired dishes, as well as updated American favorites like Salisbury meatballs and various barbecue marinades. And not all dishes are casseroles, thank goodness. There are equal amounts of marinade recipes, casserole recipes, soups/stews, breakfast and even side dishes and snacks.
The beginning of this book delves into how to use the warehouse deals and sales to your advantage, their methods of cooking and freezing, a food safety primer, how to store the meals, and what you'll need. It's very helpful to those new to the bulk cooking and freezing methods. The authors also discuss how to break down the recipes into logical grocery lists.
I like how the book is divided by type of meat (chicken, beef, pork); meat-free entrees, sides and soups; sauces, marinades and flavored butters; breakfast, snacks and sweets; and great appendix which includes xerox-able labels and cooking instructions, ideas on how to use the book (cooking clubs, etc) and how to adopt these techniques to your favorite recipes.
I find that their recipes are very forgiving if you need to substitute or change an item or two. For instance, I read through their Swimming Rama (a Thai-inspired chicken dish), but because I have my own method for making Thai curries I made it according to my method and then froze it as they suggested. It worked fine.
Here is a list of the dishes that I made yesterday, for those interested:
Pecan-Crusted Chicken Strips
Swimming Rama (slightly modified)
Spanish Rice (slightly modified--cooked the rice in beef broth and added more veg)
Salisbury Meatballs
Chicken Cordon Bleu (made this and cooked it immediately, by sauteing it in a cast-iron pan until cooked through. It was fantastic!)
Basic Red Sauce Recipe (Modified—scaled down and I added some left-over Chianti)
Other recipes I have made in the past and enjoyed:
Sweet Chicken Tostada filing
Classic Lasagna, Small Pan
Steak Skewers
Ginger Beef (this one was a bit of a miss for me, but maybe I didn't cook it long enough)
An's Pork Chops
Sticky Ribs
Asparagus and Potato Frittata
Breakfast Burritos
PB&J Breakfast Cookies
