When Life Gives You Zucchini....

Are you drowning in zucchini?  We are.   The freezer is full of breads, zucchini based casseroles, and chopped zucchini ready for winter soups.  I'm grilling it, sauteing it, adding it to stir fries and quesadillas.  It's everywhere.  Unfortunately, the kids have declared a loathing for all things squash related.  

This is a problem for them as I don't have much sympathy. Zucchini is what's in the garden, and zucchini is what we're eating.  I keep soldiering away and putting new recipes on their plates, and mostly they're rejected.  So when I made a variation of Melissa D'Arabian's Zucchini Pizza Bites I assumed they get the same no vote from the kids.  

Wrong - both kids cleaned their plates right away, and then went back twice for more.  There is no other zucchini recipe that causes this reaction - not even zucchini cake.  Even better - it's fast, easy, cheap and healthy.  Hope they don't change their minds because it's on the menu at least once a week until the zucchini die.

Turn your oven on to 375.
Pam two baking sheets.
Cut zucchini in rounds and lay on baking sheets.
Spray the rounds with Pam.
Bake for 10-15 min. until brown on the underside.
Flip them with a fork.
Top each slice with a teaspoon of spaghetti sauce and a bit of shredded mozzarella.
Return to the oven and bake for 10 -15 min. more.

How are you surviving the Zucchini Onslaught?

Menu Planning, Substitution and Doubling to Freeze - Three Essential Tools for Healthy and Frugal Eating

Periodically, after a conversation about the current busy state of my family's life, someone will say something like, "I just don't know how you do it all."  My answer?  I'm organized and a plan ahead.  

The other day I heard a report on the amount of food that typical households waste.  Can you guess?  It was 40%.  That's crazy!  Americans are wasting almost half of the food they buy.  The NRDC said that the average family throws away $2,275 annually.  I almost stopped the car.  

Then I begin to wonder why?  The only answer I could come up with was lack of planning.  There are two tools that help us to eat well, and use up what we already have before we buy more.  First, I plan a menu.  I usually sit down on Sunday afternoon and think about the week ahead.  I then match the food we'll eat for supper to the kind of evening we'll be having.  The second tool I use is substitution.  I don't always follow the recipe to the letter.  Sometimes I use what I have.  For example, the pot pies below are intended to be made with potatoes, chicken, and a homemade white sauce.  I had turkey, turnips and potatoes and turky gravey.  Guess what?  The substitution version was just as good as the standard one.  Not a single person noticed - in fact, everyone aksed for seconds.  The final tool in my frugal kitchen kit is that usually, if I'm cooking something from scratch I'm doubling, or even tripling what I'm making.  The extra dishes go into the freezer for busy week nights.  

Every Lent I challange myself to spend as little as possible a the grocery store.  I want to use up what I have before the summer comes and we're wallowing in produce and processing.  Maybe this year, you can do the same?

The top line is breakfast; the bottom one is supper.

Easy and Cheap - Four Dinners from One Bird

Over the summer I tore a page out of the June/July issue of Mother Earth News with the advice to turn one chicken into three easy meals using your crock pot. It intrigued me, and I knew with going back to school I would be depending on the crock pot for those crazy nights.  So, last week I tried it.

Day 1:  Roast Chicken in the Crock Pot

Spray cooker with baking spray.  Stuff chicken with lemon slices and fresh herbs of your choice.  Cook on low for 8-9 hrs.  Season with salt and pepper - do not add liquid.  Before you serve it, save some good meat for meal # 2.


Day 2:  After supper put the chicken (minus the good meat you've cut off the bone), including the herbs back into the crock pot.  Add carrots, onion, parsley, garlic, ginger and celery and cover it all with water.  Turn the crock pot back on low and let the stock cook overnight.  While you're at it chop up a few carrots and celery and put them in a separate container in the fridge.  If you're a homemade noodle making person this is also the time to do those.

Warning - if you're a light sleeper like me, the delicious smell of chicken soup may just wake you up at two in the morning.

In the morning, pour the broth through a colander placing the broth in one container, and the meat/bones/vegis in another.  Put them both in the fridge.

In the evening, skim the fat from the stock (reserve 2 c. for Meal 3) and add it to a soup pot on the stove.  Heat to boiling, then reduce to a simmer.  Add cut up vegis, reserved meat (from Day 1) and noodles.  Cook until it's all tender - add salt and pepper as needed.  Unless you have a large family, you'll have at least a quart of soup left - use it for Meal number 4.

Day 3:  Chicken and Dumplings

While your soup is cooking, pick through what was left from the stock making.  Put any good meat in a container, and give the rest to the cat.  Return reserved stock, and the meat pickings to the fridge.  When you're ready for supper, add the stock and meat to a pot, and add some homemade cream soup mix (or a can of cream of something - you pick).  When it's simmering, drop walnut sized amounts of biscuit dough on top, cover the pot and cook for 8-10 minutes or until the dumplings are cooked.

The boy was especially pleased by these meals - he kept mentioning something about dinner getting better, and better and better.  I loved the simplicity, and the happy home feeling you get from a house filled with chicken noodle soup.

The next two pics have nothing to do with food.  They're of our last of the summer adventure, and of the first day of school.  They're just here because these pictures make me happy.

We hiked to our favorite swimming spot in the creek - a wonderful way to spend our last day before the crazy fall hit.

I think I'm going to cry when he cuts that hair, and the girl - when did she get old enough to be in middle school?

 

Soup, Don't it Smell Like the Answer?

“There ain't no point in making soup unless others eat it. Soup needs another mouth to taste it, another heart to be warmed by it.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux

I'm a teacher  - so I pay a lot of attention to the weather in the winter.  Whenever I hear that we might have the next day off due to snow or freezing rain, I fall asleep pondering which soup I'll make the next day if we're off.  There's something so satisfying and comforting about a pot of soup simmering on the stove, or in the crock pot.  It's like a little bit of love in your bowl.  Pair it with some fresh bread or muffins and I'm in comfort food heaven.

We eat a lot of soup in the winter.  Typically, soup is on the menu three or four times per week.  Plus, the adults in the house frequently take the left over soup for lunch.  Soup is nutritious, simple to make (especially when you use your crock pot), and it fills you up without spending very much money.  It's also good at using up the odds and ends of vegetables in your root cellar and freezer. 

When I make soup I double or triple the recipe so that I have several quarts to put in the freezer.  Then, when I want soup for dinner I pull out two quarts the night before, thaw out a loaf of zucchini bread  or some muffins, grab a jar of applesauce from the pantry and dinner is done.

One other trick I use is to freeze vegetables in the right amounts in gallon freezer bags during the summer.  Then I have even less prep work to attend to on a busy morning before I head out the door.

Here are some of our favorites:

Borscht (Moosewood Cookbook)

 

Red Lentil (no idea the original source - I've changed it quite a bit)

Put 2 1/2 quarts of vegetable or chicken broth in a big pot. (I use vegetable bullion cubes).
Then add:
2 T. dried onion flakes
1 t. garlic powder
2 T. dried celery flakes
1 lb. red lentils (don't substitute regular lentils)
1 t. cumin
1/4 c. brown rice
1 c. chopped carrot (optional - this is how my mom makes it).

Simmer for 45 minutes until you have a nice thick puree.  You may need to add more broth.  Then add salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste.

You could certainly use real onions, garlic and celery here. If you decide to do that saute the vegetables first before adding the broth and lentils.   I tend to make this soup in late January and February when I've worked my way through all of the fresh onions and garlic.  I think the dried versions work really well here, and they make this soup go together very fast and fat free. This is probably the soup I enjoy most.  I could really eat it every day.  I especially like to take it to school for lunch - it really fills you up.  It's a bit like taking a love note to yourself along to work.  It cooks down into a lovely creamy soup.  The red lentils fall apart - it has a similar texture to dal, but thinner.

Garden Chowder

Hearty Broccoli Cheese

We make this one a lot in the fall.  It's a great way to use up the less than pretty bits of broccoli, carrot and potato that come out of my garden in October.  I think , if I let him, Soccer Boy would eat all of it himself.

 

 

 

Barley Bean (No idea of the source - adapted quite a bit)

This is another of those straight from the pantry type soups.  I make it in mid winter when I'm running short on fresh vegetables.  It's great for weekend lunches, and for after work.  It takes an hour or so to cook (if you're starting with soaked beans), but you don't need to do anything with it once you put everything into the pot (except stir every now and then).  This soup also works well in the crock pot - add a little extra broth if you do as the barley tends to absorb liquid.  I love, love, love this soup.  It satisfys all of those savory cravings and is guilt free.

 

Put the following ingredients in a large pot and simmer for an hour until the beans are tender.

 

3/4 c. kidney beans (soaked)

1/2 c. barley

1 T. dried onion

1/2 c. dried mushrooms

1 T. dried rosemary

2 quarts vegetable broth

bean soaking liquid

1 t. salt

1 t. pepper

1 c. chopped carrot (optional)

 

I'm always looking for new ones.  Anyone have one to share?  I have a few on my list yet for this winter.  Hope spring doesn't come too soon and we have a few more snow days yet to come.

Aunt J's Tortillas

I wanted to make White Bean Enchiladas this weekend, but didn't have tortillas.  So, I dusted off an old recipe and made them myself. 

I made two batches so there's a bag waiting in the freezer, and I was able to put dinner on the table using just what I have. 

If you don't count pet food, paper products and toiletries, I've spent $4.94 on groceries since December 20th.  That included one bag of brown rice (on sale - too good to pass up), one bag of barley (can't make ham barley soup without it) and one bottle of ranch dressing bought by the Woodsman.  He's OK with the limited grocery purchases as long as the house doesn't run out of ranch dressing or ketchup.

Aunt J's Tortillas

Mix 4 c. flour
2 t. salt
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. sugar

Cut in 4 T Crisco
Slowly add 1 1/4 c. warm water

Knead for about 15 min. (or 5 if using mixer and dough hook).
Cover with a damp towel and let rest for 10 min.

Break off an egg sized piece, and roll into a thin circle.
Cook on a lightly greased griddle.  Flip once.

I doubled this recipe, used whole wheat flour and did everything in my mixer.

More making do went along with this recipe.  I didn't have enough sour cream for a double batch, so I used the last little bit of cream cheese.  I also didn't have quite enough beans, so some of them were bean and turkey enchiladas.  Finally, I didn't have any cilantro, or green salsa, so I used plain tomato sauce and added hot peppers to taste at the table.  Still delicious and budget friendly.  I'll make it the original way this summer. 

We ate one batch for Friday's dinner and I put one batch in the freezer for later.  I love cooking in bulk!