<p>Our easiest dinner, which we eat at least twice each week–fresh fish, whatever looks good, simply broiled with lemon and capers over a bed of spinach. Prep time: 4 minutes. Cook time: 10 minutes. Sometimes my SO wants more bulk following a workout so add brown rice or quinoa adding 2 minutes to prep time and 20 to cook. If we’re tired of lemon/capers add 5 minutes for a balsamic reduction or simple mango salsa.</p>
<p>Bromfield, I did buy a canner.</p>
<p>Musicamusica, oh yes! Sounds perfect with an olive oil cake.</p>
<p>WOW, this thread has really taken off.
I am glad to see there are so many of us here for whom cooking healthy for the family is really important.</p>
<p>I live in a flyover state, not a lot of ethnic diversity here, so produce available in the supermarkets is not the greatest. It has improved TONS since I have moved here over 10 years ago, but still nothing I can compare with Toronto, where I used to live.</p>
<p>I am learning tons form you guys. Also have a lot of basil this year, but have never frozen it before. When I make pesto, I generally just pack it in a jar and it keeps well in the fridge for a month or so. It is a very quick dinner if nothing else is available. But this year pinenuts are so expensive!
We get free range eggs from friends who keep chickens, veggies from the farmer’s market. Recently met someone who is making her own goat cheeses and I hope to be on the list of her buyers ;)</p>
<p>To answer some of your questions: why shopping is time consuming? Because I shop almost daily and buy what looks good for dinner that day. This way I have the freshest possible ingredients. Whay aren’t other members of the family cook? DH does, breakfast on weekends, kids are just way to busy to cook for all but I do agree that I have spoiled them by being available whenever they are hungry. We pack lunches, even my athletic 15 year old does not eat school lunch although he will go to subway or another place to eat something if he is not able to get home before sport practice. Knowing that the kids will eat out sometimes I make every effort to have only scratch food at home. But of course I do compromise.Like I have said, I do not make my own pasta (yet ), I do use canned tomatoes, I will use pre-made hamburgers. Though rarely.
I make my own stock and use it not only for soups but for virtually everything else that calls for broth.
Pizza here is rare, but it does happen. Semi-homemade? I do not buy into the notion unless we are travelling. No Trader Joe’s neraby
Like someone has mentioned in post #10, I sincerely believe that my cooking habits will make my kids better cooks and healthier human beings. It is SO importantt what we put into our bodies, what we ingest.
Gourmetmom - a conservatory! Wow!!!
Also thank you for an excellent idea of freezing home cooked beans.</p>
<p>Yeah, pine nuts are expensive. it definitely changes the expense for pesto, but since the basil is basically free, it is still a cheap meal (which we have at least once a week.) I try to find cheaper sources than those little jars in the supermarket–have found cheaper bulk bags at different times at WF, TJ, and Costco–possibly none of which you have near you, Kelowna.:(</p>
<p>I’m just starting to experimetn with quinoa. I follow basic instructions (one part q to two parts water), then when cooked, I mix it up with sauteed veggies (peppers, onions, tomatoes, garlic etc) and herbs, and if it’s available, some pesto sauce (again:)). </p>
<p>As far as work load–H is my sous chef. he does all peeling and chopping. </p>
<p>And if he catches it, he cooks it (fish, clams, etc.)</p>
<p>I also cook according to the box–2 parts water, 1 quinoa. I often dress it as though it were a salad. My favorite is adding tomato, onion and cucumber, then dressing with a small amount of olive oil and lime.</p>
<p>I think Quinoa is one of those foods that grows on you. The smell while cooking can be overpowering. I find I like it best if I make a large amount of it and put it in the refrig. and use it in place of orzo or rice in cold salads. I also have eaten it as a breakfast food with currants. Even that I rewarm it in the microwave. I find I prefer the taste when I haven’t smelled it cooking that day.
One easy recipe is to make a fresh salsa and add it to the cooled quinoa adding in fresh cilantro, black beans and corn taken off the cob. Or I also do a greek feta salad with red onion, parsley, feta, kalamata olives and a lemon/olive oil dressing.</p>
<p>I am too lazy to can tomatoes. I cut them up (removing stems, etc.) and put them in ziplock bags in the freezer. If you thaw them and puree them in the blender (yes, peel and all), you can make a lovely fresh sauce even in the depths of winter.</p>
<p>This has been my experience but I do think it depends on the type and how many ingredients are required in a recipe.</p>
<p>Anyone can throw some chicken breasts in the oven and pull together a ready-made salad or do a simple stir-fry or broil some fish. It’s certainly no more time consuming than Hamburger Helper. It gets a little more complicated when you are trying for more variety and nutrient dense foods in your diet.</p>
<p>For example, last night it took me several hours to prepare a:</p>
<p>-Root vegetable soup (turnip, rutabaga, parsnip, celery root shallots) - LOTs of chopping, then roasting the vegetables, then making it into a soup (which required blending the veggies after then were cooked).</p>
<p>-An asian black bean soup - I make this nearly every week so I have it down to a science. I do ‘cheat’ and use canned black beans and often, pre-chopped onions.</p>
<p>-Roasted Beets - never tried this before but I had some beets I ended up not using in another recipe. This was extremely simple.</p>
<p>-Hard-boiled eggs.</p>
<p>-Roasted butternut squash with sage and cranberries</p>
<p>While none of this was extremely complicated, it took some time to prepare and it certainly took some planning to get all those vegetables and then chop them.</p>
<p>I’ve recently been trying to go up a level or two in terms of our diet especially with vegetables - that’s where it starts to get more time consuming to cook from scratch. </p>
<p>This is, unfortunately, very true:</p>
<p>Told to Eat Its Vegetables, America Orders Fries</p>
<p>I like the red quinoa better than the white. Not sure why, but I do. Maybe I just like how it looks. I also use the 2/1 ratio, I do rinse it well before use. </p>
<p>MomLive - are you my twin cook? When you cook a lot of different vegetables it does take time or at least a little thinking time. I try to vary what we have each week and not overdo the K vegetable thing because of my DH’s coumadin. I don’t mind doing it, but I spend a lot of time chopping. Someone suggested using leftover veggies for making vegetable broth and I chuckled to myself - what leftover veggies? And I use 2-3 quarts of broth a week. </p>
<p>My goal is to cook most of my meals from scratch - but I gave up on perfection a long time ago, so I do take some shortcuts and figure I am still doing pretty well.</p>
<p>Here’s one of my favorite ways to cook beets, squash, potatoes (which I cook all together):</p>
<p>Cut into cubes about 1" or slightly smaller on a side. Toss with a little olive oil. Spread thin on a Silpat (because I’m too lazy to do dishes). Roast for 45 minutes–or longer–at 400 F.</p>
<p>On chicken: I buy boneless chicken breasts on sale and cut them in half thickness-direction (so if they start out one inch thick, they’re now 1/2" thick). I freeze them flat. The thin slices cook very quickly in a little broth or (gasp!) cream. (One of my favorite sauces for chicken is broth (flavored with a bit of sage), sliced apples, 1 TB of fruit vinegar (apple cider or pear vinegar), and finished with a little butter or cream. Also works beautifully for pork.)</p>
<p>Totally agree. I ran across a website this morning (while looking for the best way to make an egg white omelet in the microwave - my new ‘on-the-run breakfast’) that sums it up pretty well:</p>
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</p>
<p>I think that’s important to keep in mind. As they say, “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good”.</p>
<p>Kelowna: I am fortunate. My deal with my family is: I cook; they clean up. That said, my grandfather was an efficiency expert and I learned from a very young age to clean up as I go along. We have two dishwashers (machines) so we can literally load everything in even after a party for 8 (which I did last night). (I started cooking at 5:15, guests arrived at 6, we were done and enjoying our wine and conversation by 8.) (Dishes done in ten minutes after they left.)</p>
<p>To me, quinoa cooked using the 2:1 ratio it is unappealing. I personally think it’s only yummy when it is quite soft. </p>
<p>Maybe experiment around and try using closer to a 3:1 ratio of water to quinoa. (This is for quinoa plain, as a side dish. If you will be doing further things to it you might want it less soft.)</p>
<p>Kelowna: yes, started cooking at 5:15 with guests arriving at 6. My DH and I went for a bike ride (to Penzey’s, my favorite spice shop!) and it took a little longer than I’d planned. These are old friends (DH’s college roommate–now our business partner and his family and ours), so I cooked and talked and fed us courses as we went along.</p>
<p>Here was the plan: split squash from the garden (kabocha and acorn) and put in 400F oven to cook (in 1/2 inch water on silpat in roasting pan). Cut potatoes into cubes, tossed with olive oil and put into the same oven in their own pan. That was 10 minutes. Took a shower (remember that bike ride?). </p>
<p>Now it’s 5:45. Took squash from oven, pureed in blender (I have a Blendtec; it will blend anything) with chicken broth (bought at store) to make squash soup. Added seasonings (Penzey’s SW spice blend), tasted, left to cook. </p>
<p>5:55. Sliced (and drained) tomatoes from the garden, sliced mozzarella from the store, basil from the garden, added bottled vinaigrette. </p>
<p>6:05. Guests arrive. DH pours wine. Ask them to re-taste soup (thinking it might need salt). Soup gets huge approval from their hungry teenage daughter. We serve squash soup and mozzarella and tomato salad and baguette from store.</p>
<p>6:40. Turn off potatoes. Chop mushrooms and toss into olive oil in hot pan. While they cook, chop boneless chicken (thighs and breasts) into strips and toss into pan. Add chicken broth and cream. Go outside and cut garlic chives. Cut into fine mince with scissors. Toss that in. Bring to boil, put on lid until everything is cooked. Realize I forgot the shallots. Oh well. Add salt and pepper and serve anyway. Pull potatoes from oven, they’re nicely crisp, serve them. Wine and conversation added.</p>
<p>7:30. While the three men clear the main course and load dishwashers, chop nectarines into cubes and add to thawed frozen marionberries. Put cream, one TB of limoncello, a handful of raspberries into blender. Blend until thick. Pour over fruit for dessert. Serve.</p>
), I do use canned tomatoes, I will use pre-made hamburgers. Though rarely.
I am making meat pate today and am going to use some nice baking dishes from le creuset I just bought at T.J. Maxx ;)</p>