Cooking from scratch
To me cooking is second nature but I am no baker. Cooking puts meals on the table and raising two boys as a single mom, there were plenty of those on a budget. It's only in recent years I have started getting more from the Farmers Market but if you watch the ads you can find deals on most food groups at the local supermarket.
There are many ways to make a roast. I have two favorites. With no time to cook, I use my slow cooker. Put potatoes in the bottom, the meat, and then coarse chopped onions on the top. I personally am not fond of cooked carrots but may use them to flavor a roast so they can go in around the meat.
The other roasting method is to crank that oven up to 500 degrees and when its hot add your pan full of meat, vegetables and potatoes. For this method I like the little pearl onions you can get in the freezer. Cook at 500 for 15 minutes to sear the outside of the meat and reduce temperature to 325 for 20 minutes a pound.
You do need to season a roast with at least salt and pepper, but I do like garlic and other seasonings. Over the years I have amassed many of them and add a little of this and that as the mood strikes. Experiment to see what suits you. If there is a local spice shop they will sell you just a little to try and it will be better quality than what you get in the store usually for a better price.
Some years ago the kids got me a George Foreman Grill. I now own several: the regular one I use 5 days a week can produce dinner for me in 20 minutes. I walk through the door and plug it in to heat up, reach in the fridge for meat I have defrosted or just purchased, then into the freezer for a vegtable, pour into the pan with a little water, place in the microwave, put meat in grill and by the time the vegetable is done so is the meat. You can add a starch if you like but I would just as soon skip that and have some fruit for dessert.
I'm afraid I have used more than my share of packaged and processed foods but now I tend to start from scratch far more often with plan overs in mind. For example: I make a Pot Roast and then make cold beef sandwiches on a good onion roll one night, then shred the remaining meat for tacos the next.
Tacos, tostadas and burritos are a super way to use up most any left over roasted meat, tomato or onion. No meat just onion and tomato? If you have some cheese and soft tortilla, it's a quesedilla. I have even made left over boiled shrimp as tacos with some cheese, tomato and avocado. That is now one of my favorite left overs!
Dinner leftovers can make a great lunch too. Think what that leftover chicken or ham would do to a plain green salad. Make me think "now what else do I have?" My fridge and pantry often have black olives, capers, hard boiled egg, real bacon bits, croutons, as well as the more normal salad additions. A piece of leftover chicken can end up as chef salad deluxe in no time.
Tips on Cooking from Scratch
http://www.recessionwire.com/2009/07/22/ten-tips-for-cooking-beginners-recipes-ingredients-equipment/
Check out their section on eating local
http://www.nrdc.org/living/
There are many ways to make a roast. I have two favorites. With no time to cook, I use my slow cooker. Put potatoes in the bottom, the meat, and then coarse chopped onions on the top. I personally am not fond of cooked carrots but may use them to flavor a roast so they can go in around the meat.
The other roasting method is to crank that oven up to 500 degrees and when its hot add your pan full of meat, vegetables and potatoes. For this method I like the little pearl onions you can get in the freezer. Cook at 500 for 15 minutes to sear the outside of the meat and reduce temperature to 325 for 20 minutes a pound.
You do need to season a roast with at least salt and pepper, but I do like garlic and other seasonings. Over the years I have amassed many of them and add a little of this and that as the mood strikes. Experiment to see what suits you. If there is a local spice shop they will sell you just a little to try and it will be better quality than what you get in the store usually for a better price.
Some years ago the kids got me a George Foreman Grill. I now own several: the regular one I use 5 days a week can produce dinner for me in 20 minutes. I walk through the door and plug it in to heat up, reach in the fridge for meat I have defrosted or just purchased, then into the freezer for a vegtable, pour into the pan with a little water, place in the microwave, put meat in grill and by the time the vegetable is done so is the meat. You can add a starch if you like but I would just as soon skip that and have some fruit for dessert.
I'm afraid I have used more than my share of packaged and processed foods but now I tend to start from scratch far more often with plan overs in mind. For example: I make a Pot Roast and then make cold beef sandwiches on a good onion roll one night, then shred the remaining meat for tacos the next.
Tacos, tostadas and burritos are a super way to use up most any left over roasted meat, tomato or onion. No meat just onion and tomato? If you have some cheese and soft tortilla, it's a quesedilla. I have even made left over boiled shrimp as tacos with some cheese, tomato and avocado. That is now one of my favorite left overs!
Dinner leftovers can make a great lunch too. Think what that leftover chicken or ham would do to a plain green salad. Make me think "now what else do I have?" My fridge and pantry often have black olives, capers, hard boiled egg, real bacon bits, croutons, as well as the more normal salad additions. A piece of leftover chicken can end up as chef salad deluxe in no time.
Tips on Cooking from Scratch
http://www.recessionwire.com/2009/07/22/ten-tips-for-cooking-beginners-recipes-ingredients-equipment/
Check out their section on eating local
http://www.nrdc.org/living/
posted by Bluesbaby at 8:00 AM
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