It has been a while since I updated any recipes on the blog. I have found a very manageable way to cook for my family that is both budget friendly, and easy to manage on a busy schedule. If you are interested in fancy-smanchy recipes, quickly proceed to clicking the big red X at the top of the screen; this is not the post for you. I feed a man, a 10 year old, a 3 year old, and I work full time- enough said! Easy-Peasy is much more our speed.
OK, so here is what I do. I do most all of my cooking on Sunday afternoons. This saves time, money, energy, and sanity. On the busiest of nights, my family gets to eat a hot meal together. It's very hard to argue with that.
I bought a BeanPot from Celebrating Home about a year ago. You can look the company up on the web, and if you need a salesperson, I can recommend some of my favorites. Anyway a BeanPot is basically a covered casserole dish. After I bought the one from CH, I noticed that I already owned two that matched my china. All 3 are different sizes, but I use them all every week. I fix a chicken, a venison/beef, and a pork each week. I put one in each BeanPot/ covered casserole, and I cook them all it he oven on low at the same time. That saves tons of time and energy.
Here are some of the recipes that I might make in a week:
Spaghetti: My family prefers thin spaghetti with a meaty sauce. I brown the meat and use jar sauce. I always double the sauce to make the next recipe for the freezer.
Spaghetti Casserole: Use the extra sauce from the spaghetti. Boil an extra box of thin spaghetti. Layer noodles, sauce, and cheddar shredded cheese in casserole dish. Top with cheese. Freeze. Thaw and heat until bubbly when you need an extra meal. I try to keep 2-3 of these in the freezer at all times. I serve with garlic bread, and a salad, if I have the stuff.
Cubed Steak: I have several things that I do with cubed steak. One that I do not do is fry it. Yuck! That requires you to touch the meat, and it makes your house/ clothes smell. No, thank you! Not to mention how unhealthy it is.
Cubed steak recipe 1:
Green beans in bottom of covered casserole (not drained)
Lay steak on top of beans- flat
Cover with cream of mushroom soup
Sprinkle with pkg of onion soup mix (sometimes I use 1/2 pkg)
Cover and cook on 275 for 3-4 hours. Steak will be very tender.
Other cubed steak variations:
Same directions as above, but you can leave beans out. You can replace soup with water. You can use real mushrooms or real onions. There are recipes online for homemade onion soup mix and cream of mushroom soup. I have made both, and both worked fine.
Pork Chops:
I buy thin boneless chops. Bone in chops would work the same, but I do not know about thick chops. Typically, Jeff grills those for us. I use the covered casserole for these, too. I lay then flat in the dish like I would they cubed steak.
For seasoning I use one of the following:
Cream of mushroom with some onion
BBQ
Any pork marinade/liquid seasonings (Tip: The bottle says to pour WAY more of the seasoning/ marinade than is actually needed. Save money, and use less. The extra will keep in the fridge for a week+)
I cook the exact same way as I do the steak. In fact, they go in the oven at the same time.
Roasts:
We cook venison or beef roasts on a regular basis. I either use the Fatweiser recipe located on the sidebar of the blog, or I use the standby cream of mushroom/ onion soup mix. Now that I type all of this out, it seems I use that flavoring a lot. I put this in a BeanPot at 275 for 4 hrs or in a crockpot on low for the day .
Chicken:
I cook chicken much the same way as I do the other meats. I buy some of the marinades that are in the grocery store. I do not use an entire bottle at once. (cheapskate) My family likes a lot of the liquid flavors by Lawrys, etc. I also use BBQ sauce at times. Just dump some of the sauce over the raw chicken and cook. Low heat, long cook time- TENDER, tasty meat. I cook on low for the same length of time as above.
Tacos:
I brown meat for tacos in bulk. I buy the seasoning in a canister (Mexican section at grocery store) instead of in the packets (cheaper). This way, I can package the meat in freezer bags in the amount that we use for one meal. That way I have the beginnings of taco night already in the freezer ready to go. All I need to add is shells, cheese, sour cream, and salsa. (which are staples at my house)
Nachos:
If I have leftover chicken and/or taco meat I will lay some nacho chips on a cookie sheet. I will cover them with the warmed, left over meat and lots of shredded cheese. Place this under the broiler for just a few minutes. These are delish with shredded lettuce, refried beans, tomatoes, salsa, sour cream…whatever you have. Easy, quick way to use left overs.
Chicken Casserole:
Boil chicken breasts (4-6) until done. Chop into bit size pieces. Mix in a can of cream of chicken soup and 8 oz of sour cream. Spread into a casserole dish. Cover with crushed Ritz crackers. Cover with pats of butter. Bake at 350 until bubbly. 30ish min. It’s an oldie, but a goodie.
Weeknight Plan:
I pick 3-4 meats, prepare them, and I put them all in the oven at once. It works beautifully! My oven is only heated once; I spend 1-2 hours in the kitchen; I clean up once; and my family eats for the week. After work, Jeff or I heat up one of the dishes, and prepare a quick side veggie. Sometimes on Sunday, I will prepare a side dish ahead of time (maybe bake some potatoes, cook some rice, or make a casserole.) I save the easy stuff like steaming the veggies for the day I plan to serve them. I have found that I need to cook 4 meals for Sunday- Thursday. This gives us one night of leftovers. Oh, and I ALWAYS have a frozen pizza in the freezer- keepin it real, folks.
Feel free to leave a comment with some of your weeknight recipes.
