<p>We were laughing that if you had a fridge full of those bags, when you opened the fridge, a clould of ethylene gas would escape, making you age instantly like in the Indiana Jones movie.</p>
<p>missypie- when I made the shells I had one end of the pan special for my D who would not eat spinach. After all that she ended up going to a friend after school and not being home for dinner. When I tried to get her to eat the leftovers for lunch she didn’t like it. She said she didn’t like the sauce I used. She said it had olives in it. I said no but she was right. In my old age I had picked up a different variety of the brand of sauce that she likes.
I am going to try the eggplant parmesan crockpot recipe soon. I need to do that when my D is not home. Though if I make some pasta to go with it she will eat that.</p>
<p>Another thanks for some great ideas.</p>
<p>Two contributions: take those frozen bananas out of the freezer and puree them in a food processor. Tastes like banana ice cream.</p>
<p>My children’s favorite soup: take a loaf of good crusty bread, slice 1/2 inch thick, brush both sides with olive oil, toast in oven. Meanwhile, heat 8 cups soup broth to boiling (chicken would be good, we use vegetarian-friendly fake chicken broth). Dice a half-pound of fresh (the kind packed in water) mozzarella. Scramble an egg, and mix in a half cup of grated parmesan. Stir egg/parmesan mixture into boiling soup. Put slice of bread in a bowl, sprinkle with mozzarella cubes, ladle on the soup.</p>
<p>Thanks, all, for the banana suggestions. I have frozen them in the past and guess I will do so again now.</p>
<p>I’ll be making the peach crisp on Wednesday. I’ve put a “DO NOT EAT” post-it note on my basket of peaches in the hope they’ll still be here by then. Does anyone else have to label certain things off-limits and label others to be eaten right away-- before they go bad? Sigh.</p>
<p>No, it’s more the opposite. My husband does the shopping. He’ll do something like buy an 8 lb package of chicken breasts and put them in the garage fridge, then I’ll discover them there 5 days later.</p>
<p>I can never gage what they are going to eat. If I have purchased something that I am taking somewhere else I will try to remember to tell them it is not for them. I sometimes forget. Or the last time I set some chocolate on my desk to take to my bookclub and I thought that was a good enough message but I was wrong they opened it anyway.
What I hate is one week I bring home strawberries and they eat them in a day, the next week I buy more and they are suddenly done with strawberries and I end up throwing them away.
I just made some mac and cheese (per D’s request) for them to put in the oven tonight to have ready when I get home from a meeting.
For those of you with a Trader Joe’s. Try the milk chocolate peanut butter malt balls. Hide them from the kids.
The Trader Joe frozen cheese pizza is also good. With a salad it can be dinner.</p>
<p>We love Trader Joe’s. It saved us from the supermarket strike about 5 years ago (I think it was then). We had always shopped there some but really got used to shopping there at that time (did not want to cross the picket line and Gelson’s was our only other option; Gelson’s is amazing but not an option for daily shopping).</p>
<p>Now that it is just the two of us (since about two weeks ago) Trader Joe’s is even more convenient. It is easier to find smaller packages and portions than the big supermarkets and it’s also cheaper.</p>
<p>In honor of Trader Joe’s here is something that my family likes. All ingredients from TJs:</p>
<p>Prosciutto Pizza</p>
<p>fresh pizza dough (whichever one you like)
olive oil
salt
garlic powder
shredded mozzarella
prosciutto</p>
<p>Preheat oven to temperature on pizza dough bag (I think it’s 425).</p>
<p>Follow package directions on the pizza dough and let it sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes.</p>
<p>Then form it into whatever shape you want. I like a rectangle, it fits my baking sheet. Make sure to brush oil on the baking sheet before placing the dough.</p>
<p>Brush with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and garlic powder.</p>
<p>Top with shredded mozzarella and prosciutto (however much you like) and bake for about 10 minutes (depending on your oven).</p>
<p>I like it with arugula or baby spring greens with a balsamic vinagrette.</p>
<p>It would probably be good with some sort of tomato/pizza sauce but my daughter hates that so I never tried it. I don’t care enough about pizza sauce to insist on it.</p>
<p>Another Trader Joe easy dinner, just enough for 2 people with some leftovers</p>
<p>1 Package of their frozen sweet and sour chicken
1 package of their organic green beans</p>
<p>Stir fry frozen chicken in oil, then thrown in frozen green beans, stir fry til thoroughly heated then add the package of sauce that comes with the chicken Toss and voilla.</p>
<p>I’m not a parent, by my mom-made, um, nothing if she came home late from work. I actually had to make HER dinner. On the other hand, I’m glad for it since I can cook for myself now.</p>
<p>Besides leaving them to starve, get a bunch of ready made pasta and stuff from Trader Joe’s. Takes about 10 minutes total to cook.</p>
<p>SlitheyTove - your recipes in post #183 are inspired. Thanks!</p>
<p>For those that cook in a crockpot, I have a question.</p>
<p>I have never used a crockpot so I have no clue, but my niece was talking about this last night. She made a whole chicken in the crockpot, but while it was tender (I think) and fell off the bones, she said it was very dry. If there is no liquid in the crockpot, how do you keep the chicken tender and moist? Again, I have never used a crockpot, so when she was telling me how she cooked it I was thinking, how could it be moist without liquid? I figured she left an ingredient or two out as she is not a great cook!</p>
<p>Did she over cook the chicken, might a spice she added make the chicken dry? I don’t have her recipe with me and I don’t remember what she said she added, but I don’t think there was any liquid or oil.</p>
<p>mammall, don’t know where I picked up the banana ice cream trick, but the soup recipe came from Bon Appetit. It is beyond the sum of its parts, yet so simple to make. The D’s and I were talking about how much we like soup in bread bowls, so we’re going to try making the egg/cheese soup and putting it in a bread bowl. On the one hand, we lose out on the crispy factor. On the other hand, there’s the bread bowl soggy goodness thing to gain.</p>
<p>A really easy meal for one from Trader Joe’s is a drained, rinsed can of chick peas heated with some of their Indian jarred sauces such as Korma Sauce with Spinach. I add leftover cooked spinach to round it out.</p>
<p>Y’all have my profound admiration and envy if you have raised kids who will eat a dinner of chickpeas and spinach.</p>
<p>Snowball:</p>
<p>I don’t know how your niece’s chicken dried out…she must have cooked it too long. Chicken cooks very quickly in a crockpot. I find that it give off a lot of liquid during cooking, thanks, I think, to the FDA allowing water to be injected into the meat prior to sale. If she quickly opens the pot during cooking and pushes down the chicken into the juices it should remain moist.</p>
<p>ghostfire- I use the TJ’s fresh pizza dough every sunday evening in the summer. It is our come home from the beach dinner. I make two with different stuff on each. I will try your recipe.
The dough also can be used for Calzone’s. I don’t cook the pizza or calzone on a pan but on a sheet of parchment paper.
As far as pizza sauce. Trader Joe’s has 2. The fresh one that is in the case next to the dough or a jar sauce located where the dry pasta is located. The fresh has pieces of tomato. My D doesn’t like that one. The jar sauce is smooth. My D will eat that one.</p>
<p>Missypie,</p>
<p>It is a meal for one, mainly me…not readily appreciated by anyone else in the family except the Indian inlaws and grands. We have a very international family though so meals that seem exotic to others are pretty commonplace around here.</p>
<p>However, the kid who is a college freshman is gradually being weaned off mac and cheese and grilled cheese but it isn’t easy.</p>
<p>Missypie- don’t feel bad. Two of my children will not touch spinach or chickpeas or most any vegetable. They also won’t touch tofu. The Dad won’t touch tofu so I wonder where they get it from!
I use the TJ Korma Sauce with spinach but use chicken. Missypie what I often do is take the chicken or beef I am using in whatever recipe and leave some of it aside plain. Like when I make an indian style chicken dish I cut the pieces small. My D likes to saute her chicken in her own frying pan and add thick style teriyaki sauce. She then use’s the same rice that I have made for everyone else.
A good easy sauce- I think the brand is Taste of Thai . They have a few varieties but I like the peanut sauce one. You just add a can of coconut milk. I saute cut up chicken breast and serve it with the peanut sauce.</p>
<p>3 cans beef broth (14 oz)
3/4 c. canned french fried onions (tho ones you put in green bean casserole)
1/4 c. dry sherry (they don’t do this)
4 slices stale french bread
4 slices swiss cheese</p>
<p>Heat oven to 400. Have 4 soup bowls (oven safe) on a baking sheet. Divide broth and onions among them. Add a tablespoon of sherry to each (or not). Float bread on each and top with cheese. Bake 12-15 minutes until cheese is melted and soup is bubbling. I suppose you could also use that frozen Texas Toast here, too.</p>
<p>missypie, you took the words right out of my mouth :)</p>