19 Mar
30 Days of Dinner; Days 4-7
Posted in 40 Dinner Duos, 70 meals one trip to the store, beef recipes, Cook Once, Cook Once Eat Twice, Eat Twice, One Trip to the Store, pasta, Uncategorized, Win at Dinner on 19.03.11 by Smart Ingredients
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.]
