Beans, Beans, Beans, Hooray!

Ok, I'm really proud of my bean accomplishment. Wed. I made beans, see last post. But it get's better. We were gone all weekend fishing and camping but I through the beans in the cooler, added some cheese packaged (like tuna) chicken and tortillas and we had that as a lunch one day. On Sunday we had quesadillas again, added salsa and sour cream now that we were at home.

The next night I through the last of the beans in a pot and made black bean soup out of it. It might seem like a lot of beans in one week and it kinda was, but the tastes were all so different and many of the nights were interupted by something else that it didn't seem like the same food. So for $1-2 we had enough beans to be the protein component of three meals. By far one of my prouder cooking moments!

Did I mention I went to a bean cooking class tonight? 12 or so different bean recipes we sampled, delicious! I'll keep you posted.

I'm turning to my southern roots

Actually I don't have much for southern roots, though I guess my dad's side is from Kansas and maybe Ohio (very close to WV). Anyway, I made black beans and corn bread tonight and was actually craving it lately. It used to be that I thought the meal was edible, then I sorta liked it, now I'm actually craving it and looking forward to it, hooray. It's such an easy and healthy meal and The Child eats it too. I've learned to soak the beans overnight (don't tell my father-in-law, a West Virginia purest who doesn't soak, worries instead), then in the morning I peel a few onions, toss the water (is not changing the water what really gives people so much gas or is this an old tale?), add fresh water, throw in the onions, throw in a little pepper, turn the crock pot on low and away I go. When I get home I turn on the toaster oven, give the beans a stir, pull out the cast iron pan, give it a greasing and mix up a pan of buttermilk cornbread. Throw it in the toaster oven, by the time the table is set, I've uncovered the beans to let them cool a little and we're eating in 20 minutes! Don't forget the sour cream if you want just a little cold contrast to the hot beans. A new household favorite, I could probably eat them more often than my husband right now. Left overs are great for enchiladas, tostadas, tacos, rice,

Sunday meal prep

Another busy Sunday of cooking. I made some a huge batch of ground turkey/vegetable meatballs, which required baking a bunch of carrots, sweet potatoes and squash, I added the pureed veggies and some fresh herbs and spices, onion, and Parmesan cheese and an egg and bread crumbs and formed into balls, then baked. Considering how long it took it really wasn't that bad and I get sooo much made it's definitely worth it.

I also made some homemade tomato sauce to use up the fresh tomatoes from our garden. I freeze it as flat as I can so I can break or cut off just a chunk.

Finally, I made the Chinese Pork Riblet with mushrooms and tofu stir fry, it was going to go bad if i didn't get it cooked soon. It turned out pretty good, I loved the woodear and shitakes I put in it, a really good flavor. Yeah, I was in the kitchen a lot on Sunday, but that frees up a lot of time later this week when our schedules are so busy.

Oh and their was a lot of extra pureed veggies so I was able to freeze that, I just line a small cookie sheet with wax paper, scoop out 1/4 cup size globs on the sheet, when they're mostly frozen I just transfer them to a freezer container. I often put them in the foods I send with the young one for lunches at school or in other soups and stocks. My son actually does pretty well eating vegetables and he always gets a recognizable (not disguised) vegetable with his meal which he generally eats right up (especially with some sauce: balsamic vinaigrette, poppyseed dressing, or salsa are his fave's). But I also think there's nothing wrong with adding a little more vegetable to his and our meals.

Chicken noodle soup

Made chicken noodle soup from that chicken from yesterday. Kinda bland but pretty good. It was an easy one for the husband to do the final prep on, since I get home later than he on Thurs/Tues. Looking forward to some delicious foods over the weekend.

Pad Thai

I still didn't get the Chinese riblets and tofu made, it takes a lot of simmering so just couldn't get it done in time. I tried the Pad Thai recipe I mentioned. I didn't have half the ingredients but it still turned out pretty good. The essential flavors were there. We finally have a few left overs for tomorrow, but there's free lunch at work tomorrow so it'll be good for Friday lunches. I did buy chicken breasts with rib meat, but it was on the bone, having never cut it off the bone before this was a difficult task, so I threw it in the crock pot, it'll be much easier to take off the bone that way, I guess we'll have soup or maybe something with shredded chicken tomorrow, we'll see what pops out. I can save the juice from the crock pot as chicken broth for later too, no salt added! This is fun.

What's on our plate today?

Well, I worked really late so papa served p left over meatballs, sauce, ad noodles and a veggie salad I made this weekend. Lunches and other meals for us adults were disasterous so I won't confess to them today. But I'd like to think this blog and writing down what we eat each day and how I'm going to accomplish feeding healthy meals this year to my family will indeed help us eat healthy meals this year.

Tomorrow, I'm not sure what I'll take for lunch, Magoo will probably get homemade mac & cheese. I made up a big batch on Monday when I was home and froze the extra sauce in spoonfulls in the freezer. I just scooped them onto a waxed paper lined cookie sheet then, after they were frozen peeled them off and put them in a container. I also froze the left over cooked macaroni, we'll see how the whole meal turns out tomorrow.

For supper we'll probably have either Pad Thai or Chinese pork riblet and tofu. It might sound overwhelming to someone who's cooked neither one, but I should say as I get this blog started that once you start cooking it all comes easier. My advice to anyone who doesn't cook at all right now is just to start cooking. Cook the foods you like to eat, whatever you eat when you go out. You know what it should mostly taste like and you probably already know something about how it's cooked. Plus using the internet you can find recipes for everything to at least give you a frame work. Also, ask family or friends next time you're with them and they're cooking if you can watch, seriously I take notes. My husband's from the south, I'm not, when I go back to his house I ask his dad (who does all the cooking in their family) if I can help out with the meal. I grab a pen and paper and set it on the counter so it's handy for a list of ingredients (I can add approximate amounts after we're done cooking, don't get hung up on exactly how much for most meals that doesn't matter). The second big bonus of this is that it gives me a connection that I may not have otherwise have had with my father-on-law. Now we have something to talk about too. I've done this with my mother-in-law and my stepmom too. I grew up with my mom so already have her skills, ok wait to be honest, I love you mom, but cooking when I was a child was not your strong suit. You're great at many things but I tell my friends I grew up on hamburgers, hotdogs, bologna, and hamburger helper, is it any wonder I've always struggled withmy weight? She cooks more now and is growing in that area still.
And please don't get me wrong, all this advice giving and I'm totally a novice. But we all have to have goals and we all have to start somewhere. Now that Magoo's two and eating meals with us it's even more important that I eat and prepare healthy meals. Plus this is a huge ongoing argument between papa and myself.

I think that's pretty much everything. I'll let you know how the meals come out tomorrow. I can't wait to try this version of Pad Thai http://www.thaitable.com/Thai/recipes/Pad_Thai.htm