Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Simplicity Values - Go Old School in the Kitchen

This is a stress, time and money saver for the kitchen. Most of us have such busy lives, the thought of making great homemade meals every night conjures up nothing more than a giggle, or for some of us, a boisterous guffaw. Really? We work, have outside activities and commitments, many of us have children. Please. Well, here is the tip of the week, guaranteed to save you $$$$ and time.

When getting gorceries, get a large container of meat, chicken, etc. Whatever you usually cook with. When you buy in bulk, it is almost always cheaper. At home, on the day of shopping, invest one hour and do the following. Cook all the chicken. My husband just puts some spices on it and tosses it on the grill. At the same time inside, we make a triple sized vat of meat sauce or chili or stew or soup. You get the idea. After the chicken is done, it is sliced up, tenderloin size, medium little cuts, put into double plastic bags in one pound increments and frozen. The sauce or stew or whatever is put into one pound containers and frozen, too. So, here is the thing, all week, you pull out the pre-cooked item. It takes no time at all to thaw. It is so easy to add simple sides, like cous cous and veggies. The food, becuase it is quickly frozen, tastes fresh. Even fancy gourmet meals are easy to put together. I cut off about 20-30 minutes a night. Its more fun. The hard work of raw chicken or browning meat, yuck, is done. Just have fun with simple spices, save money, save time and relax with a great meal!

Here is a quick gourmet chicken meal modified from my friend, Renee.
Apricot Chicken with spinach and cous cous
Thaw your chicken and toss with apricot jam in microwave bowl. Heat till warm.
Cook cous cous on stove top.
Steam fresh or frozen spinach with a bit of garlic or garlic salt.
Lay a large amount of steamed garlic on plate.
Cover with cous cous.
Pour chicken and apricot mixture over the top.
Add some almond slivers to the top.

No comments:

Post a Comment