Once a Month Cooking

I have a tendency to be lazy. This laziness leads me to eat out more often than I should for health and fiscal reasons.

To combat this, I started Once A Month Cooking.

For me, this involves cooking a lot of food, putting one serving size in a Zip Lock bag, and then freezing it. Normally I'll prepare a pound of spaghetti, brown rice, two different crock pot soups/stews/chili. I will buy frozen veggies and place a serving in a bag as well.

I have found these steps have significantly reduced the temptation to eat out. All I have to do is grab stuff out of the freezer and warm it up.

Additionally, I know how much each serving costs. I'll spend less than $2.00 on a homemade meal when eating out costs easily four times more.

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Misty's XL Chicken Soft Taco

I know I just blogged regarding portion sizes, so I agree that posting a recipe for a XL taco seems hypocritical.

My burrito wrapping skills leave a lot to be desired, which leaves me to eat this soft-taco-style. If you can follow my logic here, you can see how I think of a burrito shell as a XL soft taco shell.

If you have mad burrito wrapping skills (I'm looking at you, Jackie), then go ahead and make a burrito! It might be significantly less messy.

Ingredients:

1 flour tortilla
1/2 cup lettuce
1/8 cup shredded cheddar cheese
50 grams chicken (1 frozen chicken tender)
2 Tablespoons black bean & corn salsa
1 Tablespoon sour cream
1 Tablespoon guacamole

Method:
Grill chicken
Assemble however you like!
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Kroger's Black Bean and Corn Salsa

I will be having company for lunch or dinner tomorrow, and I was contemplating what to make.  My guest will be SNP, and we're BIG Chipotle fans.  Since we're both on budgets, I thought I would make us some Chipotle-like food.  Either a remake of their burrito or burrito bowl.

I thought a corn and black bean salsa would be a better addition than the jar of salsa I have in the fridge.  I went on over to Kroger to get some black beans, as it was the only ingredient I didn't have.

Much to my surprise, there was a recipe on the back.  Here is the recipe:

1 15 oz can black beans
1 12 oz can whole kernel corn
1 medium tomato, finely diced
3 green onions, finely diced
1/4 c lime juice
1 t cumin powder

Once I got started on the recipe, I realized I didn't have any cumin.  I don't know HOW this is possible, as it's one of my essential spices.

Substitutions:
Since I was out of cumin, I used chili powder instead, and used a little more than called for. 
I used less lime juice than called for.
I used a white onion rather than green.  I think a red onion would work well, too.
I added some diced green peppers, too.  I felt it needed some color, and I didn't have any green chilies.
I added some garlic.  Again, this is a matter of personal taste.
I added a pinch of salt.  It tasted a little bland.

I was very impressed with the overall flavor of the salsa.  It is a very good, basic recipe to customize to something you and your family will love.  For lunch today, I mixed the salsa with a tablespoon of sour cream and guacamole and tossed with some romaine lettuce.  The only way this lunch could have been better is if I would have added some shredded cheese and some chicken. 

Cranberry Relish

Cranberry Relish is one of the staples of my family's Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners.  I'm not speaking of the gelatinous mass which comes in a can.  That stuff was never brought into our home.  This relish is the perfect mixture of sweet and tart, smooth and chunky.

Since I was six years-old, I have been entrusted with the making of the relish.  I took so much pride in making it, too.  I never hesitated to let everyone know that I made the Cranberry Relish that year.

This year, I decided it was time to teach my 7 year-old niece how to make the Cranberry Relish.  I suspect she will be filled with just as much pride telling people she made it as I was nearly 30 years ago.

Ingredients:

• 1 bag cranberries
• 1 large red apple
• 1 large orange
• 1 large packet of strawberry gelatin
• 1 to 1.5 cups of sugar
• .5 cup crushed walnuts (optional)
• large plastic bowl with lid
• medium sauce pan

Now, when I made this as a wee little lass, I used an old fashioned meat grinder to chop all the bits up.  Thanks to the advent of electricity, we now have this fancy-dancy food processors to do our grinding for us.  Hooray!  Hooray for this!

Method:

• Put one handful of cranberries in the food processor at a time, until they are tiny little pieces, and dump into the large plastic bowl.  Repeat until you've processed the whole bag.  
• Cut the apple and orange into eighths, leaving the rind on the orange and the core of the apple. Remove the seeds from the apple.  YES, the rind AND the core.  You'll be okay, I promise.
• Process two slices of apples and oranges together until you have tiny pieces, and dump into the large plastic bowl.  Are you over that orange rind thing yet?  Don't worry, it'll be good, I promise.  Repeat until the apple and orange are gone.
• If you want the walnuts, this is the time to process them.  It's up to you how nutty you want it to be, but I make the nuts into pieces just about as small as the fruits.  That's just my family's preference, though.  In regards to the amount of nuts: this is something you can eyeball and take your family's preferences into mind.
• It's sugar time!  By now, you should have a mess of cranberries, apple, and orange (and possibly nuts) in the bowl.  The sugar is relative, really.  If you'd like it a little more tangy, omit some of the sugar.  If you want it sweeter, add more.  Personally, I add the sugar until it "looks" right, and then I taste it.  When it has the perfect balance of sweet and tart, it's good.  
• There's always room for gelatin.  Make the gelatin according to the directions on the package, and then pour immediately into your large plastic bowl and mix it all up.  Once you're done stirring, put the lid on the bowl and slide it into the refrigerator to chill, baby, chill.
• After an hour you need to stir it again.  This is to ensure there isn't a separation of the gelatin and the fruit.
• Let chill for at least another two to three hours, and presto!  It's done!

Breakfast Burritos

I had a dozen eggs that needed to be used SOON. It's hard to use a dozen eggs when you're single.

Then I remembered that Trent Hamm, who runs http://thesimpledollar.com, makes and freezes breakfast burritos in bulk. Here is the link to his post about the burritos, and his recipe:
http://m.thesimpledollar.com/2009/02/20/bulk-breakfast-burritos-convenient-cheap-healthy-and-easier-than-you-think/

I used what I had on hand to make my burritos. The great thing about these burritos is that you can customize them to satisfy even the pickiest of eaters.

Here is my recipe:
1 dozen eggs
1 cup salsa
3 cups diced ham
12 flour tortillas, large size
8 oz cheddar cheese
Seasoning to taste. I used cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper.
Plastic sandwich bags or plastic wrap

I put half the ham in a food processor and chopped it up. Then I added half the eggs and salsa to the food processor and mixed until it was well blended.

I scrambled the egg mixture on medium high heat, making sure to not completely dry the eggs out. This is because things tend to become dry when reheated.

I cut the flour tortillas in half for the burritos since I have been focused on serving sizes. You can make them full-sized.

I put the shredded cheddar on the bottom of the burrito, add the egg mixture, and roll up. I chose to place the burritos in a zip lock sandwich bag. I could fit three half-sized burritos in one bag. If you are going to make full-sized burritos, you will want to use plastic wrap.

One thing to remember if you are using sandwich bags: you will want to remove the extra air in the bag to keep the burritos from getting freezer burnt.

These freeze up wonderfully and microwave easily. One half-sized burrito paired with a small to medium size piece of fruit makes a balanced breakfast. Also, two of the smaller burritos topped with sour cream, guac, and/or salsa is fantastic as well.

I estimate these cost about $0.25-$0.30 per half-size burrito.

Tomato Soup

Okay, I'll admit it; I'm cheap. Yet, I'm a snob when it comes to some things. Tomato soup fits in both of those categories.

Cheap: I refuse to buy a name-brand soup when the store brand is half the price.

Snob: I refuse to make tomato soup with water. It HAS to be milk at the very least. Under optimal circumstances, half and half.

You might be thinking "Misty, how do YOU make tomato soup?" I'm so very glad you asked. I'm happy to share this recipe with you.

1 can tomato soup
1/2 can milk/half and half (this makes a thicker soup. For thinner soup, add more milk)
1 teaspoon Zesty Seasoning mix (or you can put a pinch into your bowl of soup)
5 drops lime juice (if adding it to just your bowl, use a drop or two)

Add soup to sauce pan and incorporate milk.
Cook on medium heat for five minutes.
Add seasoning.
Add lime juice.
Serve! Preferably with grilled cheese.

Ta-da! It's an easy way to liven up a cold weather lunch.

Crockpot (or Stovetop) Ham and Cabbage Soup with Red Bell Pepper

Updated 10/11/10

I rearranged my kitchen cabinets on Thursday, taking note of what I had on hand to make dinner with.

I discovered I had a ham which I needed to use, and I knew that I wanted something I could put in the crock pot.

On Friday I did a search, and Google lead me to http://www.kalynskitchen.blogspot.com/. I saw that Kalyn had a recipe for this soup, and it would use half of the ham I had. Hooray!  (Click here to see Kalyn's original recipe at her site.)

I went to the grocery store this morning to get the two ingredients I didn't have, and then started the soup.
Here is the recipe. As of right now, I am typing this from my phone, so I can't put links in. Once I get to a real computer, I will.

INGREDIENTS:
1 head cabbage, chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
2 large or 3 small carrots, cut into small rounds or chopped
2 cups diced lean ham
1 teaspoon Spike Seasoning (or use other all-purpose seasoning mix if you don't have Spike)
1 tablespoon granulated garlic
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 tablespoon Vegeta Gourmet Seasoning (if you don't have this, just use a bit more of the other seasonings ot a tablespoon of another type of soup flavoring)
2 bay leaves
Course ground black pepper to taste
6 cups ham stock (you can use chicken or vegetable stock)
2 cups water
Parmesan cheese, for serving (optional)

My notes on the ingredients:

I didn't have the Spike, Vegeta Gourmet, or soup seasonings mentioned by Kalyn, nor were they available at my Kroger. I used two teaspoons of the Kroger brand seasoned salt.

When it came to the stock, I used half chicken, half vegetable. I use the Better Than Bullion brand of stock.

Additionally, I forgot to add the black pepper. I'm personally not a fan of a lot of it, so I didn't notice.

What I did notice is that I could have used a little more salt. I personally tend to under-salt dishes, because who likes over-salted food?

METHOD:
Chop cabbage, onion, red bell pepper, carrots, and ham.
Add to slow cooker.
Add Spike Seasoning (or substitution), garlic, parsley, Vegeta (or substitution), bay leaves, and black pepper.
Pour in ham, stock, and water.
Cook on high for 4-6 hours, until cabbage is meltingly soft and the carrots are tender. Serve hot, sprinkled with Parmesan (if desired).


My notes on the method:

The chopping of the ingredients took me 45 minutes.

 Just now I realized I added the water for my stock mix, but not the two cups of water. This made my finished product a little more stew-ish, but I don't

I cooked it on high for five hours, and then kept it on warm for another two.

Overall impressions: I fed this to a 5, 3, and 2 year old for dinner (I'm babysitting) and they liked it.

Substitution ideas:
I could see this working well with some heat to it, like garnishing with red pepper flakes or adding a dash or two of tabasco. Maybe even substituting the ham with some spicy sausage.

If you are pressed for time, you can buy pre-shredded carrots and cabbage (for making coleslaw), cubed ham, and used dried onion flakes. Then all you'd have to chop would be the red bell pepper.