Editor's Note: The Busy Kitchen is a Monday column written by two area chefs - Tiffany Poe and Valarie Carter - who also happen to be mothers of young children. They explore nutrition, cooking for kids and more.
Your kitchen is probably about to get a whole lot busier. With the start of school comes more hectic schedules, but a little planning can go a long way in making meal prep a little more enjoyable. Heck, maybe even fun!
Although I've always loved to cook, I do understand why so many people don't. If your only experience with cooking is limited to having to cook a meal for your picky, unappreciative children after you've worked all day followed by a trip to the swarming grocery store, I understand why that's not fun. That's not fun for me, either.
I think the key to providing a healthy, quick, easy dinner most nights of the week is, of course, planning and then knowing what to do with leftovers. I like to have something left over or prepared ahead of time, something fresh that you just have to chop up like fresh fruit or vegetables, something ready-made like bakery bread and then you really only have to cook one item.
I also love the idea of a meal swap. When I lived within walking distance of my mom, especially in the summer, we would each make one or two bound salads or side dishes at the beginning of the week that we could use all week long. Grain or pasta salads and pilafs and vegetable salads work well, as do bean salads, bean side dishes, coleslaw and casseroles. Maybe you could trade out with a neighbor, relative or friend. It's fun and really lightens the cooking load with very little effort.
Over the next few months, I'll be exploring and reporting on how to make several meals out of only a couple of weekly cooking sessions. I'll include some to-go items for those days when you have evening practices, meetings and the like. In staying with the Busy Kitchen premise, these meals will be minimally processed and not rely on canned soups, cream cheese, processed cheese food and other high-fat, high-salt, high-sugar and low-nutrition foods.
In the meantime, don't forget to visit and like the Busy Kitchen page on Facebook.
Tips for delicious, healthy meals every night of the week.
Plan your menu but with flexibility.
First, I like to print out a schedule of everything we have going on over a month's time. Activities, travel, appointments, dinner guests, etc. Then I fill the schedule with meals I plan to prepare on specific days, making sure that I can best utilize the leftovers to make my life easier. I use this as a guide as I know that even with the best planning, plans change. These are just some of the ideas we'll be exploring in the coming weeks.
- When I prepare meats as a main dish, I prepare extra for tacos, quesadillas, soup fixins', meat salads and lunch from leftovers.
- I occasionally roast a large ham and save the leftovers for sandwiches, salads and ham with beans.
- When I make ham with beans, I usually make cornbread. I make extra so I can use it or freeze it for cornbread dressing. Also - when I make beans, I make plenty to serve as a side dish with meats, to add to salads and to add to soup or even make bean soup.
- If I roast potatoes, I make at least twice as many as I need because I like to refrigerate them and then either smash or cube them and sauté in olive oil (a hubby fav).
- As with the ham, I like to prepare a large beef or pork roast, chicken or turkey - eat one night and then use the leftovers for soup, quesadillas, stir-fry, sandwiches and wraps.
- I'm a big fan of leftovers but not necessarily nuked from the night before. I like to create an entirely different and delicious dish using yesterday's ingredients.
- But I'm not a fan of a boring, Pullman loaf sandwiches. We'll explore some interesting, nutritious sandwiches made with wonderful bakery bread and your fresh, home-roasted meats.
- Don't feel hemmed into eating only dinner food for dinner, lunch food for lunch or breakfast food for breakfast. Breakfast foods like eggs and lean sausage paired with green salad and fresh fruit make a wonderful dinner.
- Fresh seafood is a different leviathan though. I almost invariably cook fresh seafood the day I buy it.
Here's a plan for three meals for the week for a family of four.
Day 1 Menu
Roasted chicken with onions and pepper, steamed brown rice, side of your choice.
What you'll need:
- 2 roasted chickens (see method below)
- 2 large onions and 4 bell peppers, thinly sliced
- 6 cups steamed brown rice, per directions on package
- Salad, fresh veggie/fruit or side of your choice
Directions
1. Prepare roasted chicken as directed. (Hint: you can prep the chicken the day before and hold covered in the fridge until you need it. Be sure to bring it to room temperature before roasting.)
2. Add sliced onion and bell pepper to roasting chicken with about 20 minutes left to roast.
3. Serve one roasted chicken with half of the onions and peppers, half of the steamed brown rice and side of your choice.
4. Reserve second chicken, half of the roasted onions and peppers and remaining steamed rice for Meals 2 and 3.
Day 2 Menu
Stir-fried rice with chicken and vegetables
What you'll need:
- Meat from 1/2 of a roasted chicken, chopped. Reserve remaining chicken for quesadillas
- Remaining steamed brown rice
FRIED RICE WITH VEGETABLES AND CHICKEN
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 eggs, beaten
2 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
2 tablespoons finely grated or minced fresh ginger
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1 small red bell pepper, diced
4 scallions, thinly sliced
Reserved rice
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/3 cup Tamari, dark aged soy sauce
Reserved chicken
Directions
1. Heat a wok or large nonstick skillet over high heat.
2. Add oil to the pan.
3. Add egg to hot oil and break into small bits as it scrambles.
4. When eggs are scrambled, add garlic and ginger to the pan. Toss together well.
5. Add carrots, pepper, scallions to the pan and cook about 2 minutes.
6. Add rice to the pan and toss ingredients well as you are cooking. 2 or 3 minutes.
7. Add peas and Tamari to the rice and cook one more minute.
8. Stir in chicken and serve.
Day 3 Menu
Chicken and vegetable quesadillas and Cuban black beans
What you'll need:
- Tortillas of your choice - corn, flour, gluten-free or whole wheat
- Your choice of cheese - cheddar, Monterey jack, Mexican melting cheese, etc.
- Reserved roasted onions and peppers
- Meat from 1/2 of a roasted chicken, chopped or shredded (reserve and freeze carcass for stock).
- 1 recipe of Cuban black beans
- Garnishes of guacamole or avocado, salsa and sour cream, and cilantro
Directions
1. Heat a large sauté or grill pan over medium-high heat.
2. Fill tortillas with cheese, peppers and onions, and chicken.
3. Fold tortillas in half, spray each side with nonstick cooking spray and grill until toasted on both sides and cheese is melted.
4. Hold cooked quesadillas in a warm oven while cooking the remaining quesadillas.
5. Serve with garnishes and Cuban black beans.
Perfect Roasted Chicken
What you'll need:
- A chicken - fryer, roaster, capon, etc. (room temperature)
- Paper towels
- Onion, garlic, a lemon or orange, fresh or dried herbs (that shriveled-up citrus that you forgot to use is perfect for this application)
- Butcher's twine for tying the legs
- Kosher salt and freshly cracked, black pepper
- Softened butter or olive oil
- Pan for roasting
- An oven preheated to 425 - convection is even better (my convection oven automatically adjusts the temperature to 25 degrees lower when using the convection setting. Check the instructions for your specific oven.)
- An insta-read thermometer
Directions
1. Rinse chicken under cool water. Discard giblets unless you intend to make giblet gravy but you might save the neck for stock.
2. Using paper towels, dry the inside and outside of the chicken well. Remove excess fat from the body.
3. Rub the inside of the cavity with salt.
4. Fill cavity with chunks of onion, crushed garlic cloves, chunks or slices of citrus, and fresh or dried herbs of your choice. Don't worry too much about the amounts. Just fill it with some aromatics.
5. Tuck the wing tips under the body.
6. Cross the legs and tie them with string (tucking the wings and tying the legs will help the bird cook evenly).
7. Rub or brush the bird with softened butter or olive oil. Butter has a higher smoking point so it will brown better, but olive oil is a heart-healthier fat.
8. Liberally salt and pepper the chicken.
9. Place breast side up in a roasting pan or on a rack nestled in a pan.
10. Roast until the area between the leg and thigh reads 170 degrees and juices run clear. It may be necessary to rotate the pan a couple of times during roasting for even cooking and color. Although I can't give you an exact time, a 6-pound bird in my oven takes about an hour and a half. But temp your bird often, as even 10 degrees over can result in a dry bird.
11. Allow chicken to rest for 10-15 minutes to let juices settle and allow for carryover cooking.
12. Carve and enjoy! Sometimes I carve the leg and thigh so that I can have those bones for stock also.
Tips:
1. After removing the chicken from the oven, I often transfer it to a carving board and allow it to rest and carryover cook.
2. Meanwhile, I add potatoes and carrots or other root vegetables to the chicken fat, season with salt and pepper and roast until tender. Now is a great time to try out some of those roasted vegetable recipes you've been saving. Paired with a green salad, it's the perfect dinner.
2. You can freeze or refrigerate the carved carcass until you are ready to make your stock.
CUBAN BLACK BEANS
2 pounds dry black beans or turtle beans, rinsed
1 medium white onion, finely chopped
1 bell pepper (any color) small dice
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup good quality, extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons salt or to taste
4-6 scallions, thinly sliced
Directions
1. In a medium large sauce pan, combine beans, onion, bell pepper, garlic, oregano and black pepper. (It's important not to add salt to dry beans at the beginning of the cooking process. They won't absorb water as readily and take longer to cook.)
2. Cover with 2 quarts of water.
3. Bring the beans to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer.
4. Cover with a lid but slightly ajar.
5. Cook for about 2 hours or until tender.
6. Simmer to remove excess liquid. The beans should be thick.
7. Remove from heat, add salt and stir in olive oil until there are no pools of oil on the surface.
8. Garnish with scallions.
Alternatively, you could add all ingredients except oil to a slow cooker. Add olive oil after beans are tender. Partially puree black beans for black bean soup for another meal.
A native Oklahoman, Valarie Carter earned a bachelor's degree in English from Oklahoma State University and an associate's degree in culinary arts from the Art Institute of Atlanta. She, her husband and their children live in Bixby.
Original Print Headline: Organize, plan meals to maximize your time
Busy Kitchen
I don't know why I don't think about preparing and serving ham more often. Pig-headed, I guess.
There are two times a year that I take a look at my family's nutrition and eating habits: the new year and back-to-school time. Because the latter of the two is well underway, I decided to step back this week and look at the types of snacking, dinner menus and daily fruit/vegetable amounts my little people are consuming.
