Sticking With The Plan

It's now Thursday, I'm still keeping with this week's meal plan.  I thought I'd keep you posted so you can see that it is doable to have home cooked dinners even during the busy week nights.  The salmon on Monday was great, but keep in mind, if you don't like salmon, use a different fish.  There were a bunch of veggies left over and I ate the for lunch on Tuesday.  Tuesday we had a few things going on in the evening so we had the Cauliflower Mac and Cheese for dinner.  It only took 30 minutes to get on the table.

You could even cut time down by buying chopped cauliflower or cutting it ahead of time, like when you're putting the groceries away.  You can rinse the cauliflower, cut half of it up and put it in a zip lock bag in the fridge.  I used parsley and chives this time.

 I get everything together while the water for the pasta comes to a boil.  Again, you could shred your cheese ahead if you think it will save you a few. Once the water boils I melt the cheese into the sauce while the the pasta cooks so they're done at the same time.  9 minutes!

Serve with a nice big salad.  I'm still working on the switch to whole wheat pasta.  I like it with some things but somehow I just can't mess with my mac and cheese.  I'll keep working on it though!

Wednesday morning I got up and got my chicken in the crock pot for chicken tacos.  This is the recipe from 100 Days of Real Food that is the best thing ever. Chop and onion and throw it in.

Lay the chicken on top and season.  I used salt, pepper, garlic, cumin and chili powder.  Put the lid on, turn it to low and walk away for 7 or 8 hours.  Who doesn't love a chicken that cooks itself while you're at work?

Come home to a cooked chicken ready to shred for a variety of uses.

When I pulled it out the breast detached itself from the legs and wings.  This is handy if you like to keep the white meat and dark meat separate for different uses.

The meat shreds easily with a fork or keep it in larger pieces if you like.

There is plenty for tacos, chicken salad and maybe a green salad or two.

I pulled out the bones and removed all the skin and meat.  I put the bones back in the crock with some celery, carrot a fresh onion and some salt and pepper (didn't have much for herbs on hand).

Fill almost to the top with water and turn it on low and let it go over night (if you like to make homemade stock).

I got 5 pints out of it.  I put these in the freezer and use later.

But back to dinner....Chicken and black bean tacos on the whole wheat tortillas we made on Sunday.  They were pretty good but decided the tortillas need to be rolled out thinner.  Not bad for a first attempt.

So that brings us to today, Thursday.  We're having Slow Cooker Pork with Noodles tonight.  I usually make this with a pork shoulder but I had a bunch of pork steaks from our meat CSA so I'm using those instead.  I chose this one for tonight because nobody has to be anywhere tonight (whaaat?).  Not that this requires a lot of attention but I like to add more veggies than the recipe calls for so I'll probably stir fry some carrots and pea pods to go with it. So far so good! I love when a plan comes together!

So What's The Plan?

With summer over and school and sports back in full swing, many of us are finding ourselves running around like chickens!  It's a big difference in our house because we are no longer operating on "summer hours".  During the summer we have no problem eating dinner at 8:00-8:30 at night.  It's still light out, the kids are out playing, everyone goes to bed later and so on.  It's way more relaxed and Nelsy and I cook together more often.  Now that the switch has flipped, the first full week of school has us running one or more kid somewhere 3 nights this week for sports.  We have Open House at one of their schools one night, even a school dance.  On top of all that the kids are getting used to early mornings again....Really early for my middle schooler.  With all that going on in the evenings, a dinner plan is more important than ever.  I go nuts when I fail to make a plan for the week.  I understand why people hate to cook because most of the battle is figuring out what to cook. That can be so annoying at 6:00 pm on a week night and you have no ideas, your meat is frozen, and for everything you come up with, you're missing one or more critical ingredient.  We've all been there.  We order pizza.  I've made it part of my weekend ritual to either Saturday or Sunday morning sit down with my coffee and a pen and paper and a cookbook or a few magazines and come up with a minimum of 4 but preferably 5 dinners for the week.  During these busy times I take into account the week's schedule and plan accordingly.  If you have an interest in eating real food most days, a plan is a must.

There's always a pile of papers like this one lying around.  The menu gets scribbled on the right, grocery list on the left.  This way you know exactly what you need for each dinner.  Tonight both kids had soccer and it didn't end until 7:30 pm so it was all about fast and easy tonight.  Here's how it all went down:

First thing, set up the rice.  I really wanted brown rice with this dinner but we were fresh out and I happened to have a bunch of white rice to use up anyway.  I know not everyone has a rice cooker but I love this thing because I never have to worry about it boiling over on stove (like it usually does when I cook it in a pot).  You can put the rice and water or chicken stock in there and just turn it on 30 min before you want it. In this case, I got it going right away.

Because I planned ahead, I took these salmon (wild caught) out of the freezer before work this morning so they would thaw.  There's a time saver.

I sliced a lemon and put in in the bottom of the pan.  Chopped a couple of sprigs of oregano and thyme and put a couple of cloves of garlic through the garlic press.  A quick dash or salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon on top.  I let the fish sit there for 15 minutes.

During that 15, I grabbed my random assortment of veggies and chopped them up.

That only took a couple of minutes.

Next, I heated the pan with a little olive oil and tossed a chopped onion in there.  When 15 was up I turned the broiler on high and popped the fish in the oven.

Add the rest of the veg to the pan along with a little garlic, salt and pepper and saute for about 5-6 minutes.  I had this pan pretty full.  After 5 minutes or so I put the lid on and basically steamed them the rest of the way.  There's plenty of water in zucchini so no need to add any.

After 15 minutes, the fish is done, the rice is now done and the veg is done!  30 minutes, no measuring, no following recipes, and nothing processed (ok, my white rice, just pretend it was the brown rice that I really wanted).

Kids were fueled up and on their way! I'll continue with the rest of the week as it comes.  I plan to have cauliflower mac and cheese tomorrow with salad and maybe another veg.  Tomorrow we have to be in three places at once so a plan is mandatory!  Did you make a plan this week or are you winging it?

A Must Have Cookbook and Real Food Companion....Take A Look!

Hello friends,  I've got something great to share with you today!  Anyone who has been reading this blog or follows the Who's got the thyme? Facebook page, knows I'm a fan of the food blog known as 100 Days of Real Food.  Remember that super easy cook the whole chicken in the slow-cooker (genius)?  That was the blog creator, Lisa Leake's recipe.  So yesterday was a big day for Lisa as her very first (and likely not her last) cookbook was released.  I'm telling you, if you have any interest in making the shift (which I hope you all do if you haven't already) to REAL FOOD you need this book.  Processed foods are a detriment to the health of Americans.  They are largely to blame for the obesity epidemic and often the cause of so many chronic conditions.  Lisa's book is a fantastic reference for the person who is new to the real food scene (as crazy as that sounds).  She offers a wealth of information and real guidance to help you get away from processed foods.  I'm excited to have this in my arsenal as I try to eliminate processed foods from our home too.  Generally we do pretty well but some things (breads, condiments, crackers) are taking some time to navigate but we are getting there.  Of course this is not just a real food reference book, it's full of great recipes for beginners and seasoned cooks alike.

Today I'm going to show you her recipe for Veggie Corn Chowder (just in time for fall) which was simple, fast and really tasty.

The recipe calls for 3 cups of fresh or frozen corn.  Being that it's still corn season, I bought 3 ears and cur the kernels off (you can use frozen as well!).

The chowder is thickened with 2 Tbs flour, whole wheat if you're keeping it real.  We happen to have a 50 lb bag of it (you know how Nelsy likes to bake!).

Like I always say, get your prep done first so you're not scrambling around hoping something doesn't burn. It's a quick prep for this recipe, chop an onion, 3 carrots and 3 celery stalks.

Melt 3 Tbs butter in a large soup pot.

Add the flour to make a roux.  Cook until browned but not burned.  About 4 minutes.

Add the onion, carrots and celery and cook until they soften.  About 5 to 6 minutes.

While they were cooking, I thawed out some stock from my freezer.  The broth was another take away from 100 Days of Real Food.  After you cook that chicken in the slow-cooker you can turn the carcass into homemade chicken stock.  Last year I cooked two turkeys for Thanksgiving and made a ton of stock for the freezer.  It's cheap (since you bought the bird anyway) and easy and is way more flavorful than the canned broth (which usually contains at least a few questionables).

OK, where was I...Once the veggies have softened add the corn, 1 tsp of salt and some cayenne pepper (just a dash goes a long way). Let it cook for about 3 minutes.

Now you add 2 cups of stock and 2 cups of milk (I used whole milk).

Hopefully you've taken my advice and purchased one of these immersion blenders.  They are pretty inexpensive and make the job a snap (clean up too!).  So, I may have been a little caught up in getting my action shot and over blended a bit but the chowder was super tasty none the less!

You will want to leave a few more chunks (again, I got carried away with the camera) but if you don't it's just as good!  For the full recipe and many more, get your copy of 100 Days of Real Food, How we did it, what we learned and 100 easy, wholesome recipes your family will love!

Flashback

So it seems I have a little blog post amnesia!  I was all prepared to share my favorite hummus recipe with you when I discovered that I already did...over a year ago.  Oops.  Well since I went to all the trouble of taking photos (again) and since this time I mad it in my snazzy new NutriBullet that I totally love, by the way, I'm just going to share it again.  Hummus is a great for snacking on.  Hayden ate more carrots in the past week than he does in months because he had homemade hummus for dipping.  Sure you can buy hummus in the store and sure many of them are free of creepy ingredients but this recipe is so good and you can make enough to freeze if you feel so inclined.  My friend Greta recently had my hummus and said it was the only hummus she's ever tried and liked.  That's a good enough reason to make it at home for me!

This is Ina Garten's recipe from the Food Network.  There are many variations but this one seems fool proof.  You just drain and rinse a can of chick peas.

Before you dump them in the colander, save about 2-3 Tbs of the liquid from the can.

The recipe calls for 2 cups, which is a little less than a full can.  I either save the extras for salads or just toss them in and add a titch more of the other ingredients so its not too dry.

Of course you need garlic, every great snack involves garlic, no?  Do you find it annoying to peel the garlic?  You know how it makes your fingers all sticky and those tissue paper thin skins are sticking to you and everything else?  Here's a tip for you:

One clove at a time, set it under the blade of a large kitchen knife...

then smash it with the heel of your hand.  In a controlled smashing fashion just apply heavy pressure to it.

See how the skins lift away?

It's peaceful, easy peelin' after that (wow, did I mention I have "first day back to work after vacation delirium"? I do).

OK, so measure your tahini (think of it as peanut butter made from sesame seeds).

Juice some lemons...

There she is! My new favorite kitchen gadget! Just dump all the ingredients in the large cup.

Don't forget the hot sauce!

Pulse it a few times in the bullet, it was a little thick at first (I used the whole can of chick peas) but it you need to loosen it, just add a tiny bit more of the liquid from the can or what I did, was add a tiny drizzle of olive oil to get things moving.  Another quick blast of the Bullet...

And there you have it!  This came out way creamier than when I make it in my (ooh la) La Machine circa 1985 food processor and the clean up was way easier and faster.

A good healthy snack, just like that.  Grab some carrots and dig in.  Here's the link to the full recipe in case you missed it above (or back in May 2013 when I posted this the first time).  Happy Healthy Snacking!