A 70 Meals Success Story

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.