Gotta do it!

Sometimes... ya just gotta do whatcha gotta do.

Have you ever realized... I mean really looked into... ever truly seen...

YOUR PANTRY?

Have you ever realized how MUCH food we have on hand and any one given time?

We Americans are guilty of a lot of waste with our food. European refrigerators and cupboards are small... for a reason... they shop for each main meal, everyday. I know, I know we don't have the time for all that... I'm guilty most of all!

I decided, yesterday, after assessing what I needed to go shopping for the house after our vacation... that I was going to do something drastic this week... sort of as an experiment.

So here is what I am doing...

I am going to go to the store for only a few things...(yes I know we all say that and come home with enough food to feed a third world country)... the few things are

Milk, bread, eggs and a few veggies and fruit. I will not bring my wallet or debit card and will only carry the amount of cash I think I will need.

That's it!

Everything else will come from my pantry or freezer and will be used up this week.

I am going to base all meals I prepare from what is leftover in them. So if we have... say... rice, chicken patties and oatmeal for dinner... so be it!

I am a true believer in the addage that "necessity is the Mother of invention". I want to clear out some of the food stuffs that are stuffing up my pantry, and who knows... I might come up with some pretty snazzy recipes I might never have before!

We might be having cheese chunks on pretzel sticks for dinner one night... but hey! There are people in our very own country that would kill for that meal!

I'm gonna get frugal this week. I will post the concoctions I come up with as they appear, and I will be taking pictures of them.

I also have a challenge for you...

If you see that your have food in your freezer or pantry that has been there for a while...

use it, be creative with it, and let me know about it!

With all the extra room you make, and money you'll save this week, maybe some of the space can be taken up in the future by a really cool appliance or something you have been wanting for a while!

Who knows! Maybe we will all find out that we only need what we actually need and not what we think we need in our kitchens, and be better able to afford the astronomical price of petrol!

When were were in Italy, Gas there was 7.00 a Liter! That's almost 21 bucks a gallon!

No wonder they shop for only what they need for the meal!

Let me know if you take the challenge!

I'll be posting soon!

Ciao!

I'm back! Gotta get cookin'!

Okay... so we went camping...

I cooked almost every single meal we had there, ahead of time.

We had enchiladas, tacos, goat cheese appetizer (we eat it as a meal), bbq salmon (frozen from Costco, in the box... so yummy), tuna salad,, all the fixings for Touchdown Taco Dip, and Hebrew National Hotdogs.

So this week, I have get back to cookin'. It's a busy week, I have 3 shows this week, and bunch of sports things to do, so prep is key.

I am going to go pick up some Hummus, Tzaziki, Lavosh, and some sprouts from Trader Joes for wrap sandwiches for the kids lunches, a bunch of fruit, and some loads of veggies.

Tomorrow night I will assemble everything in one quadrant of the fridge so it's all easy access for me.

I need to chop onion, cook chicken, shred carrots, boil rice and make tuna fixings without the mayo. I add the mayo as I need the tuna so it stays fresher longer.

Here's my personal recipe for Tuna Salad Sandwiches

2 cans Tuna well drained and broken up. I use Albacore Tuna in Water.

2 ribs finely chopped celery

1 small onion, finely chopped

3 TBS well drained sweet pickle relish

1/8 tsp celery seed

1/2 tsp PC Dill Mix

Mix everything up and place in air tight container. When ready to make sandwiches, just take out as much as you will need for the amount of sandwiches to be made, and add the desired amount of Mayo and Mustard. Mix well and spread on toasted, whole grain, nutty bread. Top with Alfalfa sprouts or lettuce and tomato if desired.

Enjoy!

Ciao

TOMATO BASIL SQUARES

TWO CANS PILLSBURY CRESCENT ROLLS

1 8 OZ BALL OF MOZZARELLA CHEESE

4 ROMA TOMATOES

1 BUNCH OF FRESH BASIL

2 CLOVES FRESH GARLIC, PRESSED OR FINELY CHOPPED

ROMANO OR PARMIGIANNO GRATED CHEESE

(WE JUST HAD AN EARTHQUAKE 2 SECONDS AGO... ) (REALLY)

WHEW...

Okay, back to the recipe...

I hate earthquakes, really hate them...

Spread out dough all over a stone or sheet pan, covering it.

Seam edges together by pressing firmly

Mix together grated Mozzarella, romano, garlic, chopped basil, and add one tsp mayo.

Mix well. Reserve 1 cup of cheese mixture.

Evenly spread cheese mixture all over the dough, making sure all surface is covered well with cheese.

Thinly slice tomatoes and lay them out on the cheese.

Sprinkle remaining 1 cup of cheese over the tomatoes.

Bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees.

Cut and eat!

Your taste buds will sing!

Enjoy!

Taffy Apple Salad

Can you say YUM!!!

I opened one of my new products yesterday, and found a great cool, sweet salad recipe that my clients and kids loved!

It's called Taffy Apple Salad

and it is really fresh and delish!

You take 2 granny smith apples and 2 red apples

Core and quarter them, skin on.

Mix together 4 oz of cream cheese (softened) and the juice of a can of pineapple chunks, and an 8 oz tub of Cool Whip.

Whisk until creamy.

Add apple chunks, pineapple chunks, a cup of small marshmallows, and some slivered almonds.

Mix well and refrigerate!

Serve in about an hour... yummy!

My clients were saying they would add grapes, and bananas.

I say, add whatever floats your boat!

I sprinkled it with a little cinnamon.

Enjoy!

I'm guilty!

Okay, so I didn't cook today... per se.

I heated up some beans and re heated a Stater Bros. chicken for dinner...

Sue Me!

I just got home and it's 10:30 p.m.!

We ate between basketball and baseball games.

I did, however bring a couple of the PB&J's for an after school snack for Alex and Johnny. Oh! and I made some water bottles! Yeah Mama!

Tomorrow nights dinner will be Tilapia, roasted veggies, and Endive Salad with Balsamic dressing.

Frozen fruit for dessert.

Ciao!

PREP NIGHT!

I have another show today...

So after the lovely ladies leave, my day will officially begin.

I have onions, celery, and peppers to slice and chop.

I'm going to make 7 PB & J sandwiches and a bunch of celery with peanut butter, for a quick kid snack during the week. There are 2 baseball games, 2 basketball games, 3 Tae Kwon Do classes, 2 baseball practices, 2 basketball practices and 2 shows this week, so, handy, good for them snacks, are a must.

I'm also going to make another huge batch of carrot/raisin salad for the week. William loves it packed in his lunch. I think he is looking orange this week.

For dinner tonight, it's Pasta and Garlic Bread with Spinach Salad, and dessert of frozen grapes, peaches and mangos.

I will post my menu for the week when I go grocery shopping in the morning.

Go get whatever you know will be difficult to accomplish this week, as far as food goes, and get it prepped. It is freeing... I promise!

Happy Chopping!

Ciao!

What's for Dinner?

About 15 years ago, I made this list of Dinners and have kept it either in printed format or in my Word Program when we got a computer. Yes, I am ridiculously organized... it's a disease, I know. I liken it to a Freudian term called Anal Retentive. Gross, but accurate. ha ha!

When I can't figure out what to make for dinners during the week, I glance at this "menu" and plan my shopping list. The abbreviations with numbers are actually code for which cookbook that particular recipe is in... such as... (bb301) is code for Big Book pg. 301. (atb)= All the Best cookbook, (red) = my red and white cookbook etc...

Please feel free to ask for whatever recipe you want to see, and I will happily explain it to you.

Enjoy... repeat to yourself... I'm glad I'm not Saundra, she really is crazy... I'm glad I'm not Saundra, she's had entirely too much time on her hands... and so on...

WHAT'S FOR DINNER?

PEASANT PASTA PESTO PASTA PASTA ALFREDO (bb301) ZUCCHINI PASTA MOM’S SAUCE & PASTA PASTA & QUICK PEA SAUCE PASTA & BROCCOLI (bb308) PASTA W/CLAM SAUCE PASTA W/GARLIC & EVOO MOZZARELLA & SPINACH RAVIOLI LETTUCE WRAPS (atb) CHICKEN TACOS CHICKEN PARMIGIANO STATER BROS CHICKEN MEAL DEAL CREAMY HERBED CHICKEN APRICOT APPLE CHICKEN BBQ CHICKEN STUFFED CHICKEN BREASTS CHICKEN FLORENTINE (bb194) CHICKEN BURGERS CHICKEN TERIYAKI BBQ BEEF & ONION STEAK WINE SIMMERED BF & VEG (bb149) FAJITAS SZECHUAN BF & SNOW PEAS (bb157) CROCK POT CHICKEN CROCK POT ROAST/ONIONS CROCKPOT BBQ BEEF SHISH KEBAB QUICHE (red154) OMELET EGG BURRITOS ENCHILADA CASSEROLE BURRITOS/TACOS MAJOR QUESADILLAS BBQ SALMON STUFFED SALMON (Costco) ORANGE ROUGHY TUNA SALAD STRATA PIZZA CORN CHOWDER GOAT CHEESE/TOMATO TOUCH DOWN TACO DIP PANCAKES/FRENCH TOAST AIDELLS SAUSAGE & PEPPERS AIDELLS SAUSAGE IN CHICK TORT SOUP AIDELLS WRAPPED IN PASTRY SIDES S/C POTATO WEDGES RICE STEAMED VEGGIES SALAD GREEK SALAD TOMATO/ONION SALAD GARLIC BREAD SCALLOPED CORN BAKED SQUASH CORN ON COB PEAS N ONIONS COUSCOUS MASHED POTATOS VEGGIES N DIP FRUIT SALAD CARMELIZED CARROTS/BROCOLLI ONION SOUP POTATOES/W ONIONS & PEP WONTON APPETIZERS

Don't Dessert Dessert...Try something new!

I am not a baker.

I am a cook.

So dessert is not one of my forte's.

But... I can do dessert the Italian way in a hot minute!

What is it?

FRUIT!!!

Fresh or frozen it is the perfect end to any meal.

Having Pasta and a heavy cream sauce for dinner? Why not cut up some gorgeous wedges of watermelon and pile them high in a great bowl and put that on the table after dinner. I'll bet the kids fight over em!

Your favorite fruit not in season?

Smart n Final, Costco, even Staters, have lots of bags of frozen fruit.

I just put them into a bowl midday, let them defrost on their own and do a little stir once in a while. Serve with a spoon and a little cool whip, and Voila! Dessert!

Cantaloupe, honeydew, & casaba, are all coming in for the season soon.

Peaches, plums, nectarines, & apricots are due in soon, also.

Still fresh at the market and quite good, are oranges and apples.

Slice the oranges into big round shapes and watch them disappear off the plate!

I will sometimes mix fresh and frozen fruit, cut up for a huge fruit salad.

Add orange juice for sweetness if your fruit is not at its peak. It will preserve the fruit and will provide natural sweetness without added sugar.

Right now grapes are on sale 10lbs for 10 bucks. I bought a truckload yesterday and am now in the process of freezing them on a flat tray, and sliding them into a Ziploc bag for later use.

Freezing them makes the sugars bind for more sweetness, and when they are out of season, and too expensive to buy, we will have sweet frozen grapes as a treat later in the year.

Yum!!!

Give me some ideas about what you do for fruit!

I'm not the only one that knows useless information!

Ciao, Ciao!

Buy Bread on Sale

Have you ever ran out of bread?

Isn't it frustrating?

Don't you wish there was a magic box that kept bread fresh for you for long periods of time?

There is!!! Your Freezer!

All bread can be frozen. I buy it on sale, and it can be very expensive at full price... and I store loaves in my freezer. I adore the 100% whole Wheat multi grain bread from Costco and you can only buy it in 2 loaf packs. So I buy 3 packs and keep one in my fridge and the rest in my freezer. No mold, so dryness, and it's really easy to butter when it frozen for grilled cheese sandwiches, if your butter isn't soft!

3 packs lasts this household about 10 days... and it is great bread. It has 5! count them 5 grams of fiber per slice, that Costco stuff does.

My long time friend Andrea turned me on to Panera bread recently, and I love their Mulit grain bread too. I stop there on my way home from school on Wednesdays and get a piping hot loaf for garlic bread for dinner with Peasant Pasta. Recipe to follow.

Gotta go get my house show ready!!!

Homework: Buy bread on sale and freeze it! It's a cool thing!

Peasant Pasta

1 head cabbage

2 med onions

Olive Oil

salt

Penne pasta, or any kind you love, except long

In Large Stock Pot, boil water for Pasta and salt the water.

Heat large skillet, add Olive Oil, add sliced onion and saute until just tender, add thinly sliced cabbage and saute until light browned on some edges, salt lightly while cooking,

Set aside.

Cook Pasta in boiling water until Al Dente, drain and add it to the cabbage mixure, toss, adding more olive oil to coat the pasta.

Grate some good hard Italian Cheese and serve with garlic bread. My kids LOVE this recipe!

The cabbage is sweet when saute'd and the onions are just divine.

After you make it once, tweak it to suit your tastes, and add whatever you like.

Mangia!

Ciao!

TRADER JOES... A LOVE STORY

I FREAKING LOVE TRADER JOES!

I can't help it. I feel all healthy and giddy when I go in there. I don't know if it's the island theme I love, or the really awesome staff, or the cute island shirts they wear or the incredible prices.

I went in there today, armed with my 6 Trader Joes re-usable bags, and walked out with them overflowing for a measly $76!

I bought tomatoes, tri colored potatoes, almonds, lavosh, bread, pasta, soup, avocados, cream cheese, whole wheat wraps, sharp provolone, tzaziki dip, balsamic vinegar, no Rbst milk... get this... 2 for $3.99!

I should work for them, at the door, barking how awesome the store is. I could docent for them, taking each shopper by the cart and showing them around, what I love, what tastes good.

I came home and made Lavosh wraps for the two older boys for dinner on the road tonight, after basketball practice but before baseball game and umpiring.

Tomorrow, I am driving Johhny and I over to the Aquarium in Long Beach for a field trip, so tonight I am packing a yummy lavosh for us to share.

Lavosh is just a jewish flat bread that is rectangular and makes great wraps. It's bubbly and soft and has a great chewy texture, quite unlike tortillas that tend to tear if not heated.

Tomorrow night, I think I'll make Chicken Enchilada's the gringo way... easy.

Have a happy night!

Ciao

Pizza Heaven tonight!

I practiced what I preached today.

I used whatever I had in my pantry and fridge to make dinner and prep for the week.

I'm done.

They ate Pizza today. Homemade crust "white" pizzas.

What's a "white" pizza?

It's a pizza without red sauce. When I make pizza, I rarely use sauce.

Today I saute'd up some thinly sliced eggplant, onions, red pepper, and scallions.

William and I made the foccacia crusts (enough for 5 pizzas) and gathered whatever cheeses we had in the fridge.

So we ended up with Feta, Sharp Provolone, Swiss and a little Mozzarella.

I also had some cooked chicken breast from a mini prep on Wed.

After the dough rose for 2 hours, we spread all the dough over 5 stones.

Drizzled all of them with Olive Oil and began to build our pizzas.

2 were for tonights dinner with a huge salad.

2 are for later in the week, and 1 was left as plain foccacia, so I could make their lunch sandwiches with it for the week.

2 batches of dough makes 4 pizza normally, but I like to make thin crust pizza so I got 5 out of them.

2 were BBQ chicken Pizza, with a sprinkle of mixed cheese

2 were Feta, onion, eggplant and red pepper, with a sprinkle of Pecorino Romano.

MMMMMM....

We had one of each tonight, and later on in the week we will have the other two. We will just need to reheat them for a few minutes and make a quick salad.

I got all my onions, peppers, cukes, celery and potatoes chopped, and I boil 8 eggs for egg salad later in the week, or just if the boys want a quick snack packed with protein.

I pre shredded some cheeses for fajitas or quesadillas this week,

and I cooked off some chicken breast for another meal yet to be determined. It all depends on what I find that's lovely at the grocery store tomorrow.

Now it's time for bed. "The Friday Night Knitting Club" book is waiting for me on my nightstand.

Happy Cooking!

Let me know if you are able to prep this week, and what it was! I want to learn too!

Ciao for now!

Vegetables, Fast, Fresh and Good for You!

An easy, quick way I maximize my weekday time is loading up on fresh veggies that store and marinate well. Marinate? you might ask? Yes. Marinate.

I have to confess, I do a little prep each night for the next day. Just a little.

If I know I want to roast some veggies for a Roast Dinner the next day, while I am making lunches for the kids for the next day, I will grab the veggies and cut them all up in to chunks and get them seasoned and in a sealed bowl.

My favorite, go to veggies to use year round are...

Broccoli

Sweet Potatoes

Red Rose Potatoes

Eggplant

Onions

Baby Carrots

Queen Table Squash

Butternut Squash

And the flavoring/seasoning I use is

Salt

Pepper

ANY Pampered Chef seasoning

and Costco's

Mesquite Steak Rub

First I chunk all the veggies up, place in a stainless steel bowl, drizzle with a little Olive Oil,

sprinkle on the seasonings, toss them around a bit,

and put a lid on the bowl and place it in the fridge. YUM!

All I have to do when I am ready to use them is preheat my oven to 400, place them on a sheet pan or stone with sides, and bake them for about 30 minutes.

We fight over them!

I keep all the skins on, for more nutrients and phytochemicals,

and they are all fresh so they are very flavorful.

You can use any veggies that you and your family love... but don't be afraid to experiment with something your family 'thinks' it doesn't like. Sometimes it is just the way the "hated" food was prepared for the reason for it being "hated". My kids love all veggies. They eat everything.

We attended a dinner at a friends house years back and she had a bunch of bowls of cooked vegetables on the table. My boys took spoonsful on their plates, but when they tasted them, they left them on the plate, whispering to me that they no longer liked peas, corn, or beans.

I noticed the peas weren't really green, and the corn looked a little mushy.

I peeked into the trash can and noticed what I suspected. Canned vegetables.

NOT THE SAME FLAVOR AT ALL!

I had to re-educated their palates that they DID like those foods.

Preparation and seasoning is key to kids eating well.

There is still a plethora of winter produce in the markets for great prices. Try some of them this week and let me know how you liked the recipe!

Enjoy!

Ciao!

WELCOME!

OKAY! HERE IT IS!

I get asked all the time..."Saundra, how is it that you have 3 kids, your kids play in 4 different sports sometimes at the same time, you have your own home business that you do truly at home, a husband that works far from home, and you cook almost every night?!?"

My answer to that is simple "ORGANIZATION AND PREP TIME" & I do with my time what I deem important to me and my family, not what others deem important.

Ladies... women are natural organizers. We compartmentalize everything in our lives. Our kids, our work, housework, even our free time!

I know everyone likes to say they don't have any free time. We seem to be brainwashed into thinking that the less time we say we have, the more important we become. Well, we all get the same 24 hours in a day, and we all get a choice on how we use them.

I want this blog to be extremely useful and timely and necessary.

I will not coddle anyone.

We ALL have "busy" lives. Just because I have 3 kids DOES NOT automatically make me more busy than a woman with one child or even no children! Just because I don't have a "regular" 9-5 job does not make me less busy than a Mama that works 10 hour days.

Our times are just shifted.

Everyone has their own priorities, quality of life, family time, reading time, craft time, sport time etc...

We all have choices... and if one of your choices is to find time to do the things you have been wanting to do, but don't get too, this is the place for you!

I have had 25 years experience in how to do things in an organized, methodical, (my hubby says "sickeningly methodical" ) way. (He just doesn't get my way of doing things... but he sure isn't complaining when he sits down to a 4 course, hot, ready meal 5-6 nights a week, and made for pennies on the dollar) And yes ladies and gents... the kids do the dishes... every night.

I have rules that I love to adhere to and have put forth on the kids since they were able to hold a dish scrubber.

Here is the rule for this blog...

Use what you love, don't listen to what doesn't sit well with you or your family, and comment on what works for you!

My way isn't the only way... for everyone, but it is for me. If I can help even one guy or gal get a good, hot, easily made, satisfying meal on their table a couple times a week, I am a happy girl.

Seem like a plan?

Good!

So let's journey on... shall we?

First on the agenda, you need a kitchen!

Check!

Now for some utensils...

TO BE CONTINUED!