If you’ve come to my demos, or are a loyal blog reader, you’ve likely heard me talk about some of these before. Today, I want to give you a recap of a few of my favorite Smart Ingredients and the ways I have been using them for great flavor and health impacts in my cooking. We’re also including Smart ingredients with all purchases from our website this week. . . and it’s Giveaway Time! (Read on for details.)

Vegeta

Vegeta is my favorite seasoning. It’s made from dehydrated vegetables, and has a fantastic flavor. I use this powder to season all my poultry, as the base for all of my soups and gravies, and to add great flavor to my mashed potatoes and rice pilafs, replacing 3/4 of the butter usually used for flavor and moisture.

Greek Yogurt

I keep Greek yogurt, such as this one from Fage, on hand all the time. I use it as a straight substitute for sour cream in dips, potatoes and fajitas, often to replace mayonnaise, and as an addition to many of my baked goods. If a recipe calls for buttermilk, I use equal parts Greek yogurt and milk to substitute for the buttermilk quantity (It’s much easier than keeping Buttermilk on hand, which I rarely use). When I am making biscuits or cake that call for just milk, I always blend the milk with the Greek yogurt for added creaminess and moisture. Greek yogurt not only has less fat, calories, and additives than sour cream, but a hearty serving of natural protein, which is great for any diet. It also has great flavor and is very filling.

Vinegar and lemon juice 

Making a potato or pasta salad this summer? Chances are that many of you will. And before you go to mix them up with mayonnaise or oil, try this: Immediately after boiling your potatoes or pasta, rinse in cold water until fully cool, and then douse in the juice of one lemon, or a half cup of vinegar. Stir to blend. This will seal in the moisture. Once you’ve done this, you will need less than half of the oil or mayonnaise you would normally use. In fact, we encourage you to use even less, and instead dress up your salad with fun vinegars, such as Sicilian Lemon Balsamic Vinegar or the Oregano White Balsamic Vinegar from the Olive Tap. Add to that your choice of fresh herbs such as rosemary, basil, oregano, parsley or dill, basic seasonings such as salt, pepper, onions and garlic, and fresh vegetables that add a flavor punch such as onions, peppers, cucumbers and more.

It’s time for some FREE Smart Ingredients. I know the Vegeta is hard to find. I hope to start offering it for sale on the Organizing Dinner website soon. In the meanwhile, for just this week, we are going to including an 8.8 ounce can of it, RED STAR yeast, and other FREE Smart Ingredients with any order from Organizingdinner.com. This includes cookbooks, cookware and cooking classes. Order by Friday, July 1st.

It’s also the end of the month giveaway time! Comment on this blog post to be entered to win a FREE copy of 70 Meals, One Trip to the Store. Our randomly-chosen winner will be notified via e-mail on Friday, July 1st.

Do you, like me, hope to get invited to many impromptu backyard barbeque and gatherings this summer?

Perhaps you’ve gotten to know me well enough through these blog posts to know that I dislike unnecessary trips to the store. One of the best parts about being invited to someone’s house for dinner, besides the good company, is that you don’t even need to think about dinner or its ingredients. But wait — you’ve got to bring something, right? Perhaps it’s an appetizer you volunteer. Then you discover you have no fresh veggies in the crisper, and recall you finished off your chips and salsa last night.

I have two “Smart” ingredients for you to keep on hand this summer are sure to fulfill any last-minute, or even well-planned-out appetizer.

The first is pre-made mini phyllo shells.

These will be in the freezer section. They are sometimes hard to find. Much more available is phyllo dough, from which you would have to make your own cups. They are doable, but fussy, and the pre-made cups sacrifice no flavor. SO, if you find the frozen pre-made cups, stock up, and here are some of the many ways you can put them to good use:

Cook the phyllo cups according to package directions. Then fill with:

• Goats cheese topped with your favorite chutney
• Goats cheese topped with roasted red pepper and fresh mango strips
• Brie topped with cranberry sauce or a rich jelly (toast for 3 minutes)
• A combination of equal parts cream cheese and Greek yogurt with a splash of vanilla or lemon extract, topped with our choice of fruit. These can, of course, double for a desert, and you can even substitute chocolate mousse for the cream.

• Chicken Salad with Sundried Tomatoes, Spinach and Feta from the 30 Spectacular Salads cookbook.
• Chicken Salad with Apples and onions from the 30 Spectacular Salads cookbook.

The second Smart appetizer base is RED STAR yeast, one of our often-mentioned favorite Smart ingredients.

A typical kitchen contains flour, salt, oil and water most days of the year. If you add to that yeast, you have the makings of a crusty bread that can be made in a jiff, sliced and toasted and topped with any number of toppings for an easy and delicious appetizer. The other day I was having an impromptu meeting at my house. I whipped up a loaf of French Bread from the RED STAR website. After I basted the loaf with water, I sprinkled it with garlic salt and Italian seasonings. When it was done, I sliced it, gave it a quick brush of olive oil, and toasted it for 4 minutes in a 350 degree oven. I topped it with cream cheese, and then the mushroom gratin (mentioned a few blog posts ago) I always keep in my freezer, combined with some roasted red pepper strips I had in the refrigerator. They were a huge hit, and the STAR of the show was the bread. Here are some other ways you can top your bread crustinis:

• Prosciutto and roasted asparagus
• Brie, granny smith apples and gorgonzola cheese (toasted for an additional 4 minutes)
• Fresh sliced tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella and basil, drizzled with balsamic vinegar
• Fresh sliced tomatoes, avocados and goats cheese
• A mixture of 1 jar artichoke hearts, drained and chopped, 4 tablespoons mayonnaise, 4 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, 1/4 cup diced onion and a dash of hot sauce (toasted for an additional 4 minutes).
• A combination of Feta cheese, onions, balsamic vinegar and canned diced tomatoes, drained*.

* Canned diced tomatoes have a very long shelf life, and packages of crumbled Feta have a shelf life of more than 3 months (check package for expiration date). Add both to your Smart ingredients stash, along with some RED STAR yeast, and you will have last-minute appetizer fixings on hand all summer.

I know it can make me crabby — the thought of all of my hard work calorie counting down the drain with a few bites worth of deep-fried-something. That’s why I looove it when a dish can achieve the same taste results when baked as it can when fried. With more grams of fat per tablespoon of oil than you’d care for me to mention, baking in place of frying saves you tons, tons, tons of fat calories. In this case, unneeded fat.

I usually come up with a recipe first, and then compare it to some of my favorite chef’s recipes for the same dish. I have long used my crab cake recipe, but recently came across Paula Deen’s Southern Crab Cakes Recipe. I wanted to give it a good assessment because Paula Deen knows flavor, and in my book anything with “Southern” in the title usually means it tastes geat. So, I was glad to peruse Paula’s list of ingredients to see if she used anything more exciting than mine. The only big differences were that hers called for a green pepper instead of celery (a fine exchange, I’d agree), and for deep frying instead of baking.

I decided to experiment. I made a huge batch of crab cake “batter” and went about seeing if Paula knew something I didn’t about the necessity of adding oil to flavor the cakes. I was delighted to discover that the taste of the fried cakes and the baked cakes was nearly the same! I thought for sure I was sacrificing flavor in place of fat in this case, and was proven wrong. Enjoy your crab cakes even more now that you know you can save the oil for the fire!

This recipe also uses crackers, which has just made its way onto the Smart Ingredients list. This week I got a box of generic saltine crackers for $1, and I used them, crushed, as a replacement for breadcrumbs in meatloaf, to make chicken and dumplings, and in last night’s crab cake experiment. When it comes to cutting costs and buying ingredients that go a long way, it doesn’t get much smarter than that!

Baked Crab Cakes

Ingredients

• Jumbo lump crab meat (approximately ¾ pound)
• 15 Ritz or Saltine crackers, smashed
• 1 egg
• ½ cup mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
• ½ cup diced celery
• ¼ cup diced onions
• ½ teaspoon vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 teaspoon spicy mustard powder

In a large bowl, break apart crab meat with a fork. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Form into patties. Place on baking sheet or baking dish treated with cooking spray. Bake in preheated 350°F (180° C) oven for approximately 20 minutes or until edges are slightly browned.

Serve with

Dijon Mustard Sauce

Ingredients

• ¼ cup Dijon Mustard
• 1 teaspoon Lemon Juice
• 1 teaspoon Hot sauce
• 2 tablespoons Mayonnaise
• 2 teaspoons White wine (or white wine vinegar)

Combine all ingredients and blend well. Chill before serving.

Some great ways to serve crab cakes include over rice, or on a toasted roll topped with shredded lettuce and Dijon mustard sauce.

The way Organizing Dinner helps you succeed is to teach you not to shop recipe by recipe, but rather to buy ingredients that allow you to cook MANY meals with what you have on hand. For many this means changing the way you approach shopping and cooking. Instead of thinking “What do I need to buy for tonight’s dinner?”… think “What categories does my family love?” Pasta, salads, sandwiches, Asian, etc?

Over the next few days and weeks, pay close attention to your family’s themes. In my family, strong themes are 1) anything that includes pasta, and 2) anything served on a tortilla, 3) anything in an omelet or 4) anything in a salad. So I stock up on noodles and tortillas, and in my weekly shopping trip, always buy eggs and lettuce. Since I also have stocked up on the 70 Meals Smart Ingredients, I always have chicken, beef, tilapia, canned tomatoes, rice, chicken broth and black beans. This simple grocery store strategy leaves me with the basis of at least 30 quick mix & match dinners for my family. With just with what’s mentioned above and my basic pantry stocking, I can make Chicken Fajitas, Chicken Caesar Wraps, Baked Pasta, Spaghetti and Meatballs, Simple Risotto, Salisbury Steak, tilapia or quiche 6 different ways…and that’s just for starters. Start buying along your Smart Ingredient themes, and increase your go-to list from 2 to 20. Let us know what themes you discovered, and post your mix and match questions here or on our Dinner 911 forum. Check the Recipes section of our website or the 70 Meals cookbook for the recipes mentioned above, and best wishes for your Stockup Success!

I tell my students in my cooking  classes and the patrons at my cooking demos to “trust me” that the cookbook really works. I know it does because I use it myself. Truly, 5 meals out of 7 busy weeknight meals I make for my family are out of this book. But I’ve been using it for the 4 years since I started the first draft, and the book continues to surprise me.

I always have the majority of the ingredients on hand, at any given time. This means I can make nearly any one of the 70 meals in the book without a trip to the store for ingredients.

Yesterday, I began preparing for a nice media day on Monday, where my amazing publicist Meggan has booked me on the NBC-Milwaukee morning program “The Morning Blend.” I will be preparing three dishes from the book, Grecian Chicken, Meatball Sandwiches and Southwest Pasta. Immediately following, I will be doing a book signing at a local grocery store, Sendik’s, where I will be giving out samples of the Grecian Chicken and the Southwest Pasta. I know will need a lot of food. There will be three pounds of pasta, 2 crock-pots full of Grecian Chicken, and since I’m cooking anyway, I’ll be making enough meatballs to feed my family the night of the demo. As I assessed the recipes in my head on my way to the store, I could come up with very few things I didn’t have on hand at home. So I brought a copy of the book into the store with me, to reference the recipes and make sure I was covered. Sure enough, there were only a few needs. For the Grecian Chicken, all I needed was artichokes, for the Southwest Pasta, some green peppers, and for the meatball sandwiches: rolls, Mozzarella cheese and ground beef. I spent $20. Twenty Dollars! And ten minutes in the store. What I bought, combined with what I have on hand at home will feed more than 40 people in various proportions. And I have NO storage pantry other than my standard shelves.

It was a great reminder to me why I am out there at classes and events promoting this book. It really does work.  By shopping smart, buying less ingredient clutter, and stocking up on Smart Ingredients, I am truly manned for dinner success. Canned diced tomatoes? I always have them. Taco Seasoning? I buy McCormick’s bulk size for $4.39 and it lasts me one year. I have plenty of chicken in the freezer, and plenty of pasta on the shelves. A large amount of stress was eliminated from a lot of planning and a busy day.

So, have you had the experience where you wander through the grocery store wondering what you should buy … and if will it add up to more than just that night’s dinner? Me too, and I hate it. That’s why all of Organizing Dinner’s strategies are aimed at eliminating this, and other annoying roadblocks to dinner success. As you know, many of my recipes start with what I call “Smart” ingredients. These are ingredients that can be mixed and matched with so many things you are likely to have at home, that just buying them alone leads to so many meal options. At the top of my Smart ingredients list is canned diced tomatoes. They’re often priced under a buck, they’re pretty, they are versatile, and they can help you create any savory meal course with success. This Smart ingredient can be the centerpiece of a bruschetta appetizer, the basis of a creamy tomato soup (recipe below) or a Cabbage (Detox) Soup, top chicken (mixed with spinach) or fish (mixed with corn), liven up an omelette, mix into white rice with some taco seasoning to make a great side dish for tacos, or help you make many variations of sauce to top many kinds of pasta. Several of these recipes are listed below. Grab a can, or six, next time you’re at the store, and see if they don’t just make you a little “smarter” in your kitchen.

Quick and Easy Bruschetta

Ingredients

•            1 tablespoon olive oil
•            4 oz. cheese (feta, mozzarella, crumbled goats, gorgonzola, blue)
•            1/2 onion, diced

•            2 teaspoons Italian Seasoning

•            1 can diced tomatoes, drained

•            1 tablespoon olive oil

•            Crustini (Or, sliced Italian bread, toasted)

Mix first six ingredients in medium-sized bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Top crustini with tomato mixture and serve.

Tomato Florentine Soup

This soup is so hearty that served with a side of garlic bread, it makes a fabulous meal.

Ingredients

•            2 cups chicken broth
•            2 tablespoons butter
•            2 tablespoons flour
•            1 cup milk or cream
•            1 can diced tomatoes
•            1/3 package frozen spinach
•            1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
•            1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
Directions:

In medium-sized pot on stove, make a roux by melting butter over medium-low heat, and mixing in flour, salt and pepper to taste. Stir in milk or cream. Add tomatoes and broth.

Add cream mixture and stir to blend. Mix in spinach. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, stirring often until cooked through (about 20 minutes). Stir in Parmesan cheese and serve.

Italian-Style Pasta with Chicken, Spinach and Tomatoes

Ingredients

•            1 can diced tomatoes
•            4 chicken breasts

•            1 teaspoon diced garlic
•            2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

•            1 tablespoon olive oil
•            1/2 onion, sliced

•            1 tablespoon Italian Seasoning
•            1/2 package frozen spinach, thawed
•            1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

•            8 oz. pasta

Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Meanwhile sauté onions and garlic in oil in large pan for 2 minutes until lightly browned. Add chicken, balsamic vinegar and Italian seasoning and cook over medium high heat until cooked through, about 5 minutes each side. Add diced tomatoes and spinach to the pan. Cook until fully heated and some liquid evaporates. Serve over pasta, and top each serving with a generous amount of Parmesan cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste.