Eggs   Milk   Flour   Sugar   Salt   Pasta   Bread

What do these ingredients represent? They are all near the top of the Smart ingredients list. I am guessing the majority of you even have them on hand right now. What can they do for you? Make your Mother’s Day brunch a ridiculously easy success.

This simple set of ingredients can be mixed and matched to make what I refer to as “palettes” — or things that are a base for many different presentations. From this short list I will give you simple, but elegant palette recipes for your Mother’s Day brunch including crepes, strata, frittata and quiche — which you can combine with hazelnut spread, berries, lemons, other fruit, fresh vegetables, canned vegetables, herbs, spices and more. Whatever is your favorite, OR whatever ingredients you have on hand.

In fact, this manner of cooking is how I want you to approach all cooking in general. NOT approaching a certain dish as one which follows a specific recipe, but as a strategy that is a blueprint (drawn in pencil) that you can adapt to different ingredients and preferences.

Enjoy your Mother’s Day, and especially to any of you Moms out there who may be cooking, enjoy great flavors from simple efforts, and consider that a gift to yourself!

Crepes

Crepes are an easy and elegant brunch item that are extremely versatile. Unlike their sweeter counterpart, the pancake, crepes can be both sweet OR savory, eaten as is topped with some fruit syrup, fruit, and/or hazelnut spread, or housing either savory eggs, meat, vegetables and/or cheese, or sweet fruit compotes or fresh fruit.

4 servings (8 crepes)

Ingredients

•                3 tablespoons butter, melted

•                1 cup milk

•                1 cup flour

•                2 eggs

•                Dash salt

Blend milk, flour, eggs, 2 tablespoons melted butter, and salt. Blend until smooth, then chill, covered for 30 minutes. Lightly brush a 10-inch non-stick skillet with some of reserved butter and heat over medium heat until hot. Pour in 1/4 cup batter, immediately tilting and rotating skillet to coat bottom, and cook crêpe. Turn once and cook until just set and golden for about 1 minute in total. Repeat. Just before serving, drizzle on some fruit syrup, fill with fruit compote, eggs and grilled vegetables, hazelnut spread and bananas, or top with fresh fruit and powdered sugar.

Following is a sample recipe for a fruit syrup you can use to garnish your crepes. You can substitute oranges, limes, apples or berries for the lemon, and any kind of juice (3 tablespoons). To make a fruit compote, decrease the water to two tablespoons, and increase the amount of fruit to at least 1 cup.

Lemon Syrup

•                1 cup of water

•                1/3 cup of sugar

•                1/2 lemon, sliced

•                Juice of 1/2 lemon

Simmer water and sugar in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Stir to dissolve sugar. Add slices and juice of lemon and bring to a boil. Turn down to medium low and simmer gently for about 10-12 minutes or until the mixture thickens to form a syrup. Remove from heat and set aside.

Strata

Strata is a dish that is so easy, and goes such a long way, that every time I make it I wonder why I don’t make it more often. Even when I’m serving a crowd, I always have leftovers, which I freeze in single-portion ziploc bags for a healthy, quick, protein-rich breakfast for the kids. Some of my favorite strata combinations are bacon and cheddar, mushrooms spinach and gruyere, or chicken tomatoes and mozzarella. The options are endless. Think pizza toppings, or omelette additions… or of course whatever’s in your fridge. Use approximately 2 cups of vegetables and meat, plus one cup of cheese.

Ingredients

• 6 slices of bread, any kind, cubed
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon salt

Grease bottom of 13 x 9 x 2″ baking dish with 2 tablespoons butter. Top with bread.

In a small frying pan, melt 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Add any vegetables you may be using, and sauté until browned, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add to baking dish. Top with meat or cheese as desired. Whisk together milk, eggs and salt until well blended. Pour over bread.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Frittata

Frittata is an egg & Noodle dish that, like a lasagna, can be cut and stays in a nice shape. This works well for a brunch of you want to plate it with fruit or a salad. It is also, of course, extremely versatile. Following is the palette recipe for frittata. Add up to two cups vegetables such as asparagus, peppers, onions, broccoli, tomatoes, spinach, artichoke hearts, garlic, olives, etc. and a half a cup to one cup of your favorite cheese, or combination of cheeses (shredded or grated), such as cheddar, parmesan, mozzarella, gruyere, fontina etc. Add a half cup chopped cooked bacon, sausage or ham if desired.

Frittata

Ingredients

• 2 cups cooked pasta
• 4 eggs
• ¼ cup milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons butter

Coat bottom and sides of baking dish with butter. Mix remaining ingredients in large bowl and pour into a large round or medium rectangle casserole dish. Bake at 375 F for 30 minutes.

Quiche

Extremely similar to Frittata, but with the carbs in a buttery crust, quiche can be made with any of the same additions. Here’s the recipe for the “palette”, feel free to use store-bought crust.

Ingredients

For Crust

• 1 cup flour
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, cold, cut into small chunks
• pinch of salt
• pinch of sugar
• 3-4 tablespoons cold water

Pulse or cut butter into flour. Add in salt, sugar and water and continue to mix until a dough forms. Roll out dough using additional flour on the board and rolling pin so it doesn’t stick. Press pie crust into pie plate. Prebake for 7 minutes at 375 degrees F.

For Quiche

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Depending on how you approach either, it’s a concept called Ayurveda. Ayurveda is a principle in which you live your life intentionally for optimal health. The primary goal in the practice is to detoxify the body in natural ways, promoting a healthy digestive system and metabolism, fighting off disease, and promoting a long life. In yoga, this is done through breathing, stretching, and being still of mind during the exercise. In cooking, this means intentionally using ingredients that will detoxify the body as well as enrich it with nutrients. While my primary goals are to 1) help you cook stress free and 2) maximize flavor with fewer ingredients, if I can do so while helping you live healthier and longer lives, that sure is an added bonus.

This past weekend, Organizing Dinner participated in its first Yoga and Cooking retreat aimed at enriching the body and the mind. Together 20 women cooked and ate meals that were extremely healthful, and at the same time delicious.

We started the day with green smoothies. While the “Green Smoothie” craze may seem like the latest fad, unlike some that come and go, this is one trend that is good for you no matter when. Our green smoothies (click here for recipe) were made of fresh pineapple, orange juice, strawberries, Italian parsley and spinach. One serving gave us potassium, calcium, vitamins a, b, c, k, protein, folate, fiber, omega 3, and other minerals. When I drink one, I can feel the healthy energy radiating from my body.

For dinner we made Thai Coconut Basil Chicken, using Coconut milk and a curry paste that included curry powder, turmeric, coriander, curry and other spices.

Coconut milk has a long-standing cultural association with health in the Ayurveda tradition, and in addition to many nutrients and minerals, it has properties such as medium-chain fatty acids, specifically lauric acid, that help the body:

• maintain electrolytic balance
• detoxify
• hydrate
• with brain development
• bone health
• boost the immune system
• fight off the various common infections like the cold and flu
• promote weight maintenance without raising cholesterol levels

The spices that were in the curry paste used in the dish contain a variety of vitamins and minerals, and are also antioxidants, and are reputed by various studies to:

• Ease Swelling in Joints
• Potentially Reduce Risk of Alzheimer’s and Dementia
• Reduce Risk of Cancer
• Boost Immunity
• Ease Digestion
• Burn Fat
• Manage Asthma
• Improve skin, nail and hair radiance and strength

And, I’m not sure I mentioned that this dish is DELICIOUS! I created this version as a copycat to the popular Pan Asian restaurant chain Wok n’ Fire’s Thai Coconut Basil Chicken. And in Organizing Dinner style, tt’s also easy, includes very few ingredients (if you can find a good curry paste, such as the Biryani one we used), and since it’s a meat slow-cooked in liquids (our favorite weeknight kind) the serve time is forgiving so you can leave it simmering for long period of time.

Ingredients

• 4-6 Chicken Breasts
• 1 tablespoon poultry seasoning, such as vegeta
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 – 15-ounce can thick coconut milk (you can tell by shaking the cans in the store which are thicker)
• 1 – 10-ounce can tomato paste
• 1 – 1/2 tablespoons curry paste OR the following spices:
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
• 1 cup peas
• 3/4 cup fresh basil leaves, torn
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, optional
• 1 lime wedge, optional

Season chicken with poultry seasoning or salt and pepper. Sear in olive oil in large pan on stove, about 5 minutes each side. Add remaining ingredients (except peas, basil, cilantro and lime) to pan. Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to low. Simmer for at least 25 minutes, up to two hours (if simmering longer, cover to maintain desired thickness). Add basil and cilantro just before serving. Top with juice of lime, if desired.

Check back soon to our events page for upcoming Yoga and Cooking retreats sponsored by Organizing Dinner. If you are interested in bringing Organizing Dinner or it’s Ayurvedic cooking principles to an upcoming retreat in your area, contact us at info@organizingdinner.com.

There is so much information out there about groceries — what’s on sale — what you should eat — what you should buy. I am frankly tired of my customers being so confused about what they should buy and their general feeling of inferiority that they don’t know the “right” answer. So my guidance to them, and to you, is to not listen to anyone about what to buy, except your family. Take a close look at your family’s eating habits and learn what are your family’s Smart Ingredients. What oil to use is a great example. I can’t tell you how many times I get the questions “Does it have to be extra virgin? Should I only use olive oil? Someone told me I should only buy grapeseed oil, what do you think?” I often answer all these questions with “Use butter.” Not because I don’t love oils and think they have a superior health value, because I do. I just want to make the point that in most applications, like searing or basting foods, fat is fat and whatever you have, use or prefer will work just fine. Listening to the information overload will never get you to the “right” answers. Playing the Smart cooking game, getting in the kitchen and working hard to win at dinner will.

My youngest child is a preschooler. So if the tv is on during the day, it’s typically Sprout or the Disney channel. If I listened to the food influences from those channel’s commercials, I would be feeding my young child noodles with processed dehydrated cheeses and sauces, bottled dressings, pop tarts and frozen dinners and feeling great about doing it. I don’t feed her those things, and I am not influenced to do so by what I hear and see. Because knowledge is power, and I already know what to feed her that is healthy and she likes. I encourage you to take control over what you need and what you should buy at the grocery store.

Then, your approach at the grocery store will become what I call “shooting straight” versus “casting a net”. Casting a net means buying some of this and some of that… many things that don’t always add up to feeding your family. Shooting straight means buying more Smart Ingredients (stock up!) and less clutter. If your family is eating a lot of processed foods and you want to move into more healthful options, start by buying the same one or two things you know your family will eat and prepare them in different ways. The chance that you’ll end up using them is much greater than if you decide to try an entirely new healthy food regime with foods you aren’t sure the family will eat. Don’t try to change the world (your family’s entire dinner process) in a day. Take it one day at a time and if you are using Smart Ingredients and building off of the 3 or so favorite “types” of meals your family likes, you will have 20-30 “go to” recipes in no time.

My Mom has jumped on the green smoothie craze, encouraged to do so by her chiropractor. She loves them and feels great about what she eats for breakfast, has even got the rest of us joining in, and I’m proud of her for her dedication. Then her hairdresser — the end of all information sources — told her that by blending her produce she’s losing all the nutrition value and it’s a waste of her time. Now my Mom is doubting her efforts. I told her to hold it right there, tell the hairdresser to stick to dye jobs and highlights, and to keep drinking her smoothies. I tried to find any scientific evidence that blending changes the health value of vegetables, and I couldn’t. The safest bet is that the food is still raw, and it’s still more greens than she would have been eating otherwise. But the more important thing is that the green smoothies are working for my Mom, and they are much healthier than the scones she used to eat for breakfast.  No one should be derailed by what someone else tells you you should or shouldn’t eat or buy.

Here’s my Mom’s favorite Green Smoothie Recipe

Ratio 60% fruit to 40% greens

• Spinach
• Strawberries
• Fresh Pineapple
• Parsley

Combine all ingredients with water and ice. Blend.

As I shared my cravings for a meatball sandwich, and a really good Reuben with my family recently, I realized that in the dinner world, “Sandwich Night” gets a bad rap. It definitely has its place in the week, and can provide as much of a well-rounded, healthy, hot meal as “meat and potatoes”, and often can be more convenient.

Adding good sandwich rolls to your weekly shopping list can open up a world of possibilities. Or, if you have time to bake, and keep Smart Ingredient RED STAR yeast on hand, you use our recipe for Italian Gondola Bread to  make great dinner rolls any day of the week.

In addition to meatball sandwiches and Reuben’s, some of our other favorite weeknight sandwiches include:

Baked Shrimp or Crab Cake Po’ Boy, Monte Cristo, and Chopped Salad “Pocket” sandwiches. See recipes below:

Baked Shrimp Po’ Boys

Ingredients (for 4 sandwiches)

• Four rolls
• 1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
• ½ cup cornmeal
• ½ cup flour
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons Creole seasoning (or see recipe below)
• 1 cup mayonnaise (or ½ cup mayo, ½ cup Greek yogurt mixed together)
• 2 cups lettuce, finely chopped

* You can make your own Creole seasoning with a mix of garlic powder, salt, paprika, oregano, thyme, black pepper and just a touch of cayenne.

Dust shrimp with 1 tablespoon Creole Seasoning. Combine flour and cornmeal, and dredge shrimp. Grease baking dish with olive oil. Place shrimp on baking sheet and put in 400 degree oven for 10 minutes each side. Combine mayo (or mayo and Greek yogurt) with remaining Creole seasoning. Top bread with mayo, lettuce and shrimp or crab cakes.

Monte Cristo Sandwiches

This sandwich provides a sweet savory combination of meat and cheese between two slices of french toast. Turkey is often substituted for the ham.

Ingredients (for 4 sandwiches)

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 8 Bread slices (we often use Rosen’s potato bread for these, but any bread will work)
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 8 slices deli ham
• 4 slices Swiss cheese
• Maple syrup (optional)

Chopped Salad “Pocket” Sandwich (copycat recipe of Pockets restaurant salad sandwiches in Chicago)

Ingredients (for 4 sandwiches)

• 4 ciabatta rolls, homemade gondola, pita or other hearty bread
• 1 heart Romaine lettuce, finely chopped
• 1 avocado, diced
• 1 tomato, seeded, cored, and diced into small pieces
• 1/2 cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
• 3 slices cooked bacon, crisp and crumbled
• 1 cup small pasta noodles, such as Conchiglie

Cook pasta according to package directions, and rinse in cool water. Drain pasta. Mix all ingredients together, chill and serve on large rolls or homemade bread. Serve with your favorite dressing on the side.

. . .for Thanksgiving or anyday.

I had a lovely cooking demo at Geneva Library this week. Geneva, IL is one of those destination downtowns with all the great specialty shops and fantastic restaurants. I always enjoy a trip there, and this was no exception. I presented “Cook Once, Eat Twice”, where we discussed unique ways to use leftover Thanksgiving Turkey and Cranberry Brisket. We also discussed other Thanksgiving cooking strategies such as what you can plan and cook ahead to reduce stress (people shared many ideas for what can and has been done already… fruit pies prepped and frozen, rolls frozen, stuffing frozen, etc.). Another highlight was when my guests shared unique dishes that their family makes for this holiday. I was intrigued, and recreated some recipes here for you to try:

Onion Bake

This one seemed straight out of the 70′s, but with ingredients my family loves (Swiss. Worcestershire, Pumpernickel) I had to try. It had a very unique presentation, and was packed with flavor. 

• 1 large vidalia onion, sliced thin
• 1/2 can cream of mushroom soup
• A few splashes of Worcestershire sauce
• 4 slices Swiss cheese
• 4 slices pumpernickel bread

Lay the onions in a baking dish, top with soup and Worcestershire sauce. Lay cheese and then bread on top. Bake for 30 minutes in 375 degree F oven, covered.

Corn Casserole

Spinach Squares

Got one to share? We’d love to hear about the unique dishes that will make it to your table this holiday. Tell us via a reply to this post, or on our Facebook page.

Ready to restart the school year, activities and all that means for dinnertime in your house? Perhaps you made a resolution to become more successful at dinnertime? Make more meals and eat less take-out this school year? Organizing Dinner is dedicating this entire month’s blogs to providing you solid solutions and delicious recipes for weeknight cooking success.

This post is going to cover Organizing Dinner’s Smart Ingredients way to plan your meals. As you may recall us saying in the past, it does not take a “plan” as in any sort of written-out schedule. Why this doesn’t work: there is little flexibility. You need to be able to make what you have a taste and time for on a certain night… and on a moment’s notice. Our plan is also more like a lifetime plan than one week-at-a-time plan… which can fly by and leave you, again, without a plan.

Here’s how to start your Smart Ingredients plan:

Define your family’s three “go to meals”. For this week, buy the ingredients you need for these three meals in bulk. This is not confining you to a year of eating these three meals over and over. Rather, this is a groundwork. In addition, the “Smart” shopping style of buying in bulk is not one where you are spending an excess amount of money, and buying more than you can store at home. Rather, you are buying just the Smart ingredients that add up to dinner in your house. Eliminate the “random” ingredients you may buy as an “Oh, I might use this someday”, and for this week, just focus on success.

With this first step, the pressure of wondering what’s for dinner is over…. gone from your year. Next we’ll show you how to expand the variety of your meals. 

To give you an example, any night of the year my family would eat pizza, pasta or tacos. Therefore I always keep on hand the following ingredients: tomato sauce or ingredients to make it, tortillas, ground beef, chicken, and yeast and flour to make homemade pizza dough. Yeast, pasta and flour are easy to buy in large quantity and ground beef, chicken and tortillas can be frozen. On my weekly shopping trip, I always grab cheese that can be used for my tacos, pizza and pasta dishes, and some of my family’s favorite vegetables, such as peppers, spinach and onions.

Now, looking at the ingredients mentioned above, consider what can be made for dinner. I can make traditional pasta with noodles and red sauce, OR I could use some of the chicken and whatever vegetables I have on hand to make a chicken pasta with a cheese sauce. I could make a traditional cheese or vegetable pizza OR I could make a taco pizza. I could make ground beef tacos OR I could make chicken tacos or fajitas. You see by learning to mix and match Smart ingredients, I have expanded a simple 3 “go to” weeknight dinners to 6 without having to buy any more ingredients.

There is so much information out there in the grocery world. Hundreds upon thousands of ingredients we are told by advertising and pretty packaging will make our dinners successful. To win the game, you need to be in charge of what you’re buying. Casting a net on hundred of random items at the grocery store doesn’t always add up to dinner at home. Shopping Smart does.

This shopping plan is a mini excerpt of the 70 Meals, One Trip to the Store cookbook. Click here for the Chicken Fajitas recipe from 70 Meals, One Trip to the Store.

I am not a fan of make-ahead meals. You know the whole, freeze-and-eat for a month idea? I much-prefer a fresh-made meal, and would rather use the convenience of prepared ingredients to combat the challenge of making one every night. Even one step of a meal prepared ahead of time is one step closer to dinner. These prepared ingredients are gifts we can give ourselves. When utilizing the strategy of Cooking as a Sport, and playing offense, you need to be playing to win when you’re in the kitchen. Make the most of your time there, and give yourself a gift whenever you can squeeze it in.

The other day, I was making chicken soup. For it, I needed to season and roast 2 chicken breasts. The package held 6. So I seasoned and grilled all 6 chicken breasts.  I cubed and ziploced the remaining 4, and stuck them in the freezer. These can go in chicken pot pie, chicken fried rice. fajitas, BBQ chicken pizza, salads, tonight’s fajitas, and more.

Tonight I am making chicken fajitas and as I mentioned, I already have the chicken seasoned and cooked. What a gift! I also got the peppers and onions sliced during some kitchen time this morning, another gift. After work, all I have to do is sear the meat and vegetables and dinner will be done in a flash.

Day 20

Menu: Homemade Mushroom and Mozzarella Pizza

Game plays applied:

Gifts to self

When I was making the chicken soup mentioned above, it called for about a cup of mushrooms, which was only half the package. Since mushrooms don’t have a long shelf-life, what I do when I have a half package left over is to make a mushroom ragout by cooking them up with some butter, onions, red wine, salt, pepper and cream. I then freeze this in ziploc bags to use on top of steaks, in omelets, or like tonight…. on top of pizza. Another gift was the pizza dough, already made. Pizza dough is one of those things that is just as easy to make 6 as it is to make 1, so I always do.

Day 21

Menu: Paninis and Homemade Soup

Game plays applied:

Having the right equipment

I was just given a panini maker, and I was SO excited to use it. Having good equipment you are excited to use brings some joy and ease to the dinner process.

Flexibility

I do not ever short-order cook for my family, but paninis are one item that is easy to personalize for each person with different meats, cheeses and other ingredients that we have on hand.

Day 22

Menu: Chicken Fajitas

Game Plays applied:

Gifts to self (see above)

p.s. the leftovers from Fajitas make a great tortilla soup when cooked up in some hearty broth, and topped with tortillas strips and cheese.

My apologies for being behind on this post series. On the downside I have been consumed with taxes (ugh!) and on the upside, had a great guest appearance on Milwaukee Channel 4′s The Morning Blend. View the segment here:

http://www.themorningblend.com/videos/119855929.html

It’s always a matter of timing….

Day 8

Fish Fillets with Garlic-Kissed Spinach, and Stuffing

Today is a Tuesday, and one of our busiest days. I got home at 5:30, and needed to find something I could start prepping, pause and go pick up my daughter at choir, and then serve fairly soon after returning home. I chose tilapia on a bed of garlic with a side of stuffing. I sauteed spinach in garlic salt and olive oil for 3 minutes, placed this in a baking dish, topped it with the fish, drizzled the fish with 1 tablespoon melted butter, and sprinkled with bread crumbs. I covered the dish and placed in the refrigerator, turned on the oven to preheat and headed out. When I returned home, the fish went in a hot oven for 20 minutes while meanwhile I prepared the stuffing.

Game Plays:

70 Meals, One Trip to the Store: Based on the 70 Meals cookbook, there are 3 types of meat I always have on hand: ground beef, chicken and fish fillets (usually Tilapia). This recipe is on e of the many fish recipes in the book.

2/3 Rule: Fish and Spinach were prepared fresh, stuffing was from a package.

Day 9

Crab-Stuffed Shrimp, Sliced Cucumber Salad and Brown Rice

My family loves shrimp, and I am always trying new ways to prepare the prawns. Inspired by a recent demo by Paula Deen, I decided to try one of her shrimp recipes. It called for a crab salad rolled inside shrimp, and then wrapped in bacon. I chose to avoid the bacon to reduce the fat in the recipe, and ended up “placing” the crab on top of the shrimp as a sort of crab cake-topped prawn. While prepping the shrimp, brown rice went in the cooker, and I sliced up some fresh cucumbers with onions, Greek yogurt, hot sauce and garlic salt for a quick side salad.

Day 10

Grilled Bratwursts and Lentil Soup

I have to work tonight, but was home during the day, so I made the soup ahead of time, and all hubby had to do was grill the brats to get dinner served.

Game Plays Applied:

Gifts to self: A week or so ago, when making soup, I made a large portion of “soup starter” which for me is a roux (butter and flour) sauteed with onions, black pepper, and then brought to a boil with my favorite soup base, Vegeta. I transferred this into 2-cup portions in large Ziploc bags and placed in the freezer. All I needed to do was warm this on the stove, add a few cups of water to hydrate the lentils, and the lentils.

Click here to see the game plays.

30 Days of my play-by-play dinner, continued. For game play definitions, see previous post.

Day 4

Homemade Butternut Squash Soup and pasta salad.

Game Plays applied:

Multimealing: I made a large batch of squash soup to bring some to my Dad who just had surgery, and keep some at home for dinner.

Flexibility: I love the flexibility of pasta salad. Using noodles and basic pasta salad seasonings I always keep on hand (olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic salt and Italian Seasonings) I can make a pasta salad using any number of add-ins I may have on hand. Tonight I used blue cheese, avocado, cucumber, onions and tomatoes.

Day 5

[Tonight I have to work. My sitter knows she can make anything in the 70 Meals, One Trip to the Store cookbook as I have all the ingredients on hand. Here's what she chose. The kids loved it.]

Lemon Honey Chicken and Brown Rice

Game Plays applied:

70 Meals, One Trip to the Store: Lemon Honey Chicken

Day 6

Herb-Crusted Beef Roast and Roasted Potatoes

While this may sound like a complicated meal, it is actually one of the easiest, elegant dinners I make. I use and Eye of Round cut, which I find extremely reliable in both cut and preparation. The crust is made by cooking up some onions, garlic and mustard in red wine. Rub this on the roast with some tarragon, salt and pepper, and put it in a roasting pan surrounded by one cup of beef broth, and cubed potatoes, and into a preheated 350 degree F oven until it reaches 140 degrees F. This roast is also typically sold in a 4-pound quantity, which is a perfect amount to feed 5 for dinner one night, and make Beef Stew the next.

Day 7

Beef Stew

Game plays applied:

Cook once, eat twice: last night’s lovingly-prepared roast and potatoes became an extremely flavorful beef stew by just cubing leftover beef and placing it and the remaining potatoes in a crock pot with the remaining beef stew recipe ingredients. This can be done at any point of the day, which worked well with the day’s busy schedule, work and after-school activities. [From the 40 Dinner Duos; Cook Once, Eat Twice cookbook.]

It’s an expression my Dad used to use when we were kids, referring to something being garbage. Today I’m talking about something that’s anything but garbage — chickpeas! Chickpeas are popping up in more and more dishes. One friend served them to me recently in tomato soup, another in a fantastic chili.

This is great because this super food is high in protein, fiber and minerals and a hearty, delicious addition to any diet. I’ve been stocking up on them more and more myself, and using them in the following recipes.

Chick Pea Salad with Mangoes and Rosemary

from the 30 Spectacular Salads cookbook

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon parsley
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon oil
• 1 pound garbanzo beans (chickpeas), cooked or canned, drained and rinsed
• 3 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary
• 1 mango, peeled and cut into small cubes

Combine all ingredients and chill.

Chana Masala

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 onion, minced
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 28 oz. canned diced tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon cilantro leaves, coarsely chopped plus more for garnish
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• Two 15 oz. cans garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained and rinsed
• 5 oz. spinach leaves
• Squeeze of fresh lemon juice
• 2 cups cooked Basmati rice

Heat oil in a large pan on stove over medium heat. Add the onion, and cook, stirring often for 5 minutes. Add the garlic, spices and seasonings, reduce heat, and simmer, stirring for 3 minutes.  Add 1/4 c. water and scrape up the brown bits. Cook until the water has evaporated, and then add tomatoes, beans and spinach. Continue cooking, adding water as needed to achieve a thick stew-like consistency, for 15 minutes. Serve over rice with a squeeze of lemon juice.

Do you have a favorite way to use chickpeas that you want to share?

Stay tuned, the winner of this month’s cookbook giveaway will be announced on Sunday, January 30!