Speed Cooking

While the intrepid cook never seems to lose his composure (at least not until the end) I know I've felt the same type of pressure to get a meal out quickly.



Have a couple goto meals you can turn out in 15 minutes or less. Make sure that it's not just junk food. It's fine to use some prepared foods just make sure you have some fresh foods as well. My favorite last minute meal:

Grilled Cheese

• Shredded Cheddar
• Tomato Slices
• Dijon Mustard
• French Bread Sliced Thin
• Olive oil for browning
  

Tomato Salad

• Tomatoes (Cherry or Sliced)
• Cucumber (Sliced)
• Onion (Slice)
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Olive Oil (Optional)

Baked Beans

• Canned baked beans
• Mustard and Ketchup (to taste)

If I've got it I'll serve cantaloupe slices also. It's your own picnic. It's primitive, tasty and it makes for great leftovers. It also only takes about 10 minutes from start to finish.

100 Mile Diet

We've not completely embraced organic foods. I try to serve organic foods that are better than conventionally grown or raised. Just because something is labeled organic I need to know why it's better than a conventionally grown product, it's the Scotsman in me. Consumer Reports put out a guide for what type of foods are best to buy organically and which you could by conventionally. My personal belief is that if you want to buy 100% organic and you can afford too you're making a smart choice. But realistically most of us want the most of our money.

With the recent scares with our food supply. I'm thinking of trying the 100 Mile Diet. Does it sound extreme? I'm not going to lie; you'll have to pull the artichokes from my cold fingers to get me to stop eating them. But with everything that can go wrong with food do I really want to have to worry if my meat was fed lead base paint in a trough that is made from depleated uranium?

I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

Banana Honey Nut Bread

I love bananas and I love cake. This recipe takes care of both. Plus it's easy to make and comes our great every time. Variations of this recipe add 1/2 cups of blueberries or currents or frost the loaves and serve as dessert.

Banana Honey Nut Bread

• 1/3 cups shortening, butter flavored if available
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
  
• 4 eggs
• 3.5 cups flour, all-purpose
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 6 (3 cups) bananas, over ripe and mashed (Little known fact, children love to mash)
  
• 1 cup pecans, chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease two bread pans or six mini-bread pans.
2. In a large bowl, combine shortening and sugar and mix completely. (Children can add the ingredients)
   
3. Add eggs to bowl and mix until combined.
4. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
   
5. Stir half of the flour mixture and half of the bananas into the sugar mixture mix until combined. Add remaining flour and bananas and mix until combined. (Let the sous chef mix this time)
   
6. Pour batter into prepared loaf pans. (Kids work the spatula here)
   
7. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes rotate pans and bake for another 20 to 25 minutes until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 5 minutes, then remove from pans and cool completely on a wire rack.
8. Enjoy.
   

Makes approximately six mini-loafs with six servings per loaf.
Prep Time 15 min
Cook Time 40-45 min
Total Time 1 hour

Gear for the wee littles

growingcooks.com

I just wish we could get past the pink and white and have more unisex colors.

Tomorrow, turning your three year old into a sous chef.

Where's the beef?

Remember that little old lady that was given the bait and switch, Wendy's made it all better. I try to stay away from prepackaged ground meats. If I want ground meat I'll ask the butcher at the local grocery store to grind a chuck roast or brisket for me. I figure that way it only comes from one animal and is less processed. It turns out to be about the same price and tastes just as good.

Remember with meat the more load the muscle carries while alive the more fibrous it will be when you eat it. When cooking meat that is fibrous slow moist cooking will knock the fight right out of.

Yorkshire Pudding

Yorkshire Pudding

2 cup Flour, All Purpose 2 cup milk 4 medium eggs 1 tsp salt ½ cup broth beef and roast drippings 2 tbs butter, cut in two equal parts 1 Remove meat from roasting pan, increase oven temperature to 450°. Pour ½ cup of the pan drippings into a measuring cup. If necessary, add enough beef broth to drippings to equal ½ cup. Remove any excess drippings from pan. Pour the measured drippings back into the roasting pan. Put butter into pan 2 In a mixing bowl combine eggs and milk mix gently until combined. Add flour, salt and two tsp of pan drippings. Mix until smooth. 3 Place pan into oven until pan is hot and butter melts. Approx 5-7 minutes. Pour batter into roasting pan and return it to the 450° oven. Bake for 10 minutes. 4 After 10 minutes reduce heat to 350° and bake for 15 minutes or until puffy and golden. Cut into 12 squares. 5 Enjoy. Servings: 8 Nutrition Facts Serving size: 1 serving Percent daily values based on a 2000 calorie diet. Nutrition information calculated from recipe ingredients. Amount Per Serving Calories 205.40 Calories From Fat (29%) 60.00 % Daily Value Total Fat 6.76g 10% Saturated Fat 3.32g 17% Cholesterol 105.76mg 35% Sodium 510.79mg 21% Potassium 155.33mg 4% Carbohydrates 26.87g 9% Dietary Fiber 0.84g 3% Sugar 3.34g Sugar Alcohols 0.00g Net Carbohydrates 26.03g Protein 8.52g 17%

No time to cook

It's spawn's birthday soon, he's gonna be three. Me and the wife have been trying to get the house birthday party ready while fighting a stomach bug. With all the goings on I've not had time to cook much of anything this weekend. I think to prevent this from happening in the future I'm going to freeze some emergency meals to make it easier to just to eat a homemade meal.

When time is tight breakfast is easy:

whole wheat toast with cream cheese and a bit of jelly
fruit (usually banana)
tomato juice, low sodium

The boy loves it and I can have breakfast made and done in 10 minutes. It's dinners that usually throw off my good intentions of cooking.

How do you make time for cookings when busy?