There is no such thing as a free lunch, or free time.

I never knew where this expression came from, but apparently there was a time in America when saloons offered "free" lunch as long as the gun-slinging patrons were buying drinks.  (Back when bars were called saloons, and patrons carried sidearms, I guess.)  But then as now, the expression rings true:  there's a price to be paid for everything.

There's also no such thing as "free" time, even though we've brought the full force of technology to bear in our attempts to create more discretionary time in our 86,400 seconds of every day.  Cooking and cleaning time has been drastically reduced by the introduction of appliances and "convenience" foods, and I love my washer and dryer, as well as my refrigerator, freezer and stove.  It's common that they are all going simultaneously, in fact.

But sadly it seems whatever free time we created has been sucked up by other activities: longer office hours, longer commutes, more activities for ourselves and/or our children and more hours spent in front of an electronic screen, whether it's a computer or television.  (Or for those of us who are multi-taskers, both.  Simultaneously.)

I fear we have made some poor trades in our relentless pursuit of "free" time, starting with cooking.  Or the dearth thereof.  Our grandmothers (and for some of us, our mothers) thought nothing of taking fresh, raw ingredients every day and preparing them into delicious, nourishing food for their family - there were no other options.  Eating out was a rare treat.  Food was never fast, except maybe the occasional grilled cheese sandwich.

Yes, it took time to cook beans or a roast, or to make cornbread or biscuits from scratch.  But whether they recognized it or not, they had the advantage of knowing - and controlling- exactly what they fed their families.  Now many families rely on purchased meals for more dinners than not.  (Let's face facts: there is nothing happy or healthy about a drive-thru dinner.)  For many families, a home-cooked dinner consists of heating up frozen, canned or boxed prepared "food" full of unpronounceable chemicals and laden with salt and sugar to preserve them.

Time and again, economists have pointed out that foods made from basic staples (dried beans, pasta and rice) and plain vegetables and meats are the most economical food choices, bar none.  It makes sense there's a price to be paid for the convenience of someone else cleaning, dicing and cooking, even if that "someone" is an assembly line of robots and minimum-wage workers.

The hidden cost is even more insidious - our backsides are bloating and our arteries are clogging, even as our wallets are shrinking.

What is our family's health worth to us?

I know (I do!!!!) that it's not easy to choose to spend any of our "free" time preparing food, especially if you view it as a drudgery or chore.  That choice may be harder if you lack confidence and experience.  And even your best efforts may be met with resistance if your family's palates are hardened through repeated exposure to high doses of fat, salt and sugar, courtesy of processed foods.  That's a lot of negatives to overcome.

But look at the positives: a gradual shift toward real food is healthier and eases your family's cash outlay.  Whether they realize or appreciate it now, your children will one day be glad you established a tradition of weeknight family dinners, prepared and eaten at home.  It's worth it when you find recipes your family likes and their eyes light up when they hear (or smell) a favorite is on the nightly menu.   That seems like more than a fair trade for the investment of some time and effort in the kitchen most evenings.  And who knows, you might find yourself enjoying it more than when you spent that time in other pursuits.

I hope the recipes and ideas I post will help others to take control of their family's nutrition and finances.  It may not seem natural or easy at first, but anyone can choose to invest some time into weaning their family off convenience foods and introducing real food to their table.  One of my favorite Facebook feeds is LifeHacker, and they recently gave a list of foods that everyone should know how to cook.  It's a decent list, and if you start with basics like spaghetti sauce and chicken soup, you can slowly fill in with other favorites you and your family like.  Once you've established a repertoire of "thumbs-up" recipes, you can look for make/freeze adaptations like once-a-month cooking.  A few hours of prepping and freezing once every few weeks can mean a month of hot, delicious dinners on your table faster than the pizza guy can deliver. Not to mention way cheaper.

Since there's really no such thing as a free lunch, or free time, let's choose wisely how we spend our family's time and money.

Happy cooking,

Recipe of the Week: Sloppy Joes

Sloppy Joe sandwiches are one of those foods you either love or loathe.  It is a sure bet my sides will hurt from laughing when I watch SNL's "Lunch Lady Land" skit with Adam Sandler and Chris Farley, which - in a twisted way - celebrated this humble and much-maligned school lunch staple of the 60s and 70s.  Remember?

"Sloppy joe.
Slop, sloppy joe.
Sloppy joe.
Slop, sloppy joe.
Come on.
Sloppy joe.
Slop, sloppy joe...."

Of course, if you haven't seen the skit, that won't make sense.  If you're not a fan of Adam Sandler's brand of low-brow humor, you won't laugh when you do see it.   But I have to consider it one of Chris Farley's most memorable characters (but not as good as the motivational speaker who lived in a van, down by the river.)

I digress.

Where were we?  Ahhh yes.  The sandwich.

I am not a fan of the MSG-laden canned concoction found on store shelves (although I confess I've bought the stuff in a pinch.)

This version - which I adapted from Once-a-Month-Cooking with a few changes - is fast, easy and delish - as long as I have chili sauce on hand, I can count on it as a go-to meal when we're scrambling for something to throw together.  (OAMC gives make-ahead freezing instructions, but do we need to make it ahead of time?)

Sloppy Joes (aka Joes to Go)

Ingredients:
1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup finely chopped onions
1/2 cup finely chopped green pepper
1 tablespoon minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup chili sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 tablespoon prepared mustard (or more, to taste)
1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
Hamburger buns

Directions:
Brown ground beef, onion, bell pepper and garlic.  Drain.  Add additional ingredients and bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Spoon on buns to serve.  (Toasted buns are best.)  Makes 5-6 sandwiches.

Sloppy Joes. Is it plural or possessive: Joe's or Joes?  Either way, they're a fast, inexpensive and fun meal for families on the go and a trip down memory lane for those of us who grew up eating the cafeteria version.

Happy cooking!

Menu Planning: The basics

Monday...for me, that's menu planning day.

For purposes of this blog post, I'm going to assume everyone knows the virtues of menu planning (bottom line:  saves you time and money, lets you plan a better variety of healthy foods, etc.)  But I know from personal experience and talking to other moms (of all ages) that HOW to menu plan is not always as well-known or understood.  And not to be sexist...but for most guys, menu planning is a foreign concept.  For them, dinner happens.

As most of us have figured out, there are many ways to plan your menu:

• Ask for suggestions from family members (definitely hit-or-miss)
• Go to the store for inspiration, buy and fix whatever sounds good today.  Tomorrow, do the same thing.  (Pssst, that's really NOT planning.)
• Plan a menu around whatever you bought at the farmers market.
• Plan the menu around weekly store sales and coupons (on your own, or with help from sites such as e-mealz.com)
• Select from pre-made items from the freezer (for me that means using up stockpiled raviolis or tamales, or ready-to-assemble entrees from Once-a-Month Cooking or the Dinner A'Fare plans.)

I have used all these approaches at various times, with varying degrees of success.  But generally, I have found a weekly menu is most efficient and economical (both in terms of time and money) for us.  A two-week plan has never been successful for our family because we inevitably run out of milk, juice, sandwich bread, or something I *need* for a recipe in between bi-weekly trips, so I'm still back at the store at least once--or more--during the fortnight.

A weekly trip may occasionally be supplemented by a second store run as well, but usually I can rearrange my menu plans to eek out another day or two until the next scheduled store run when I'm on a weekly schedule.  Weekly shopping also lets me offer more fresh fruits and vegetables; not everything holds up well for 7, 10 or 14 days.

My menu planning takes place on Monday.  This became an established routine a few years ago, when I offered to take Monday night dinners to a nearby friend who was on bedrest for most of her third pregnancy.  It was just what I needed to nail down my own menu for the week.  I'd simply double up on whatever I planned for Monday, and take half to them.  This was a double blessing, since I also wanted to be a little more creative in what I shared with another family...no relying on trusty old spaghetti week after week!  (My family LOVED this arrangement, because they got a dessert each Monday - something that doesn't typically happen around here.)

Even after she successfully delivered her baby and I stopped carrying food in to the family, I kept up the Monday planning routine.  Now it's the day I pull down my e-mealz.com list and peruse it, compare it to what what we've recently eaten, what's in the freezer and pantry, and then rotate and balance the main dishes among chicken, fish, beef and pork, with the occasional vegetarian or egg dish thrown in. 

Once I've settled on the meat for each day, I choose a recipe to prepare it; typically something we already love or something new I've been wanting to try (at least one new recipe a week.)  Busy nights (Wednesdays year 'round, and swim practice days during the season) are geared toward super-fast and easy meals or something I can slow cook in the crockpot or my Lodge dutch oven.

Then I choose the side dishes. Confession time:  this is a weak spot in my planning.  Except for "big" meals, I rarely plan for more than one or two basic side dishes - salad and starch, fruit and starch, green vegetable and starch (I think there's a pattern here.)  And sometimes it's just a salad, veggie or other side if the main dish contains pasta or rice.  I'm working on expanding my repertoire of more side dishes, simply because dinner is a lot more interesting if you pair up the entree with something more creative than merely a serving of green beans or potatoes.  (I live in the land of meat 'n threes - you'd think this would have become ingrained by now!)

Other known weaknesses?

Breads.  Arguably, we don't NEED bread each meal, but this fall I do plan to introduce more home-baked breads to weeknight meals.  I've already got several good recipes for savory muffins and biscuits, and my cheese garlic bread is always a hit.  But I'd like to get better at making crusty breads, soft rolls and add more whole wheat and other grains to my yeast breads.  Practice makes perfect, so we a'practicing we will go this fall and winter.

Dessert is almost always an afterthought , too.  Unless I'm just really hankering for something or there's a birthday or other special occasion during the week, dessert rarely happens.  But that may not be such a bad weak spot to have, since all of us are striving for a little more health-conscious diet.

Once the menu is complete, two more steps:  First, I post it on my blog so my children and husband can see at a glance what we're having (because they FAITHFULLY read my blog each week...not!!!), and so I can remember what I planned!  Second, I jot down a grocery list and head to the store, and try to not forget anything.

Happy planning!


P.S.  A shout-out to my "little" brother (he's only a foot taller) who's celebrating his 41st birthday today.  Love ya!!!!!

Recipe of the Week: Slow Cooker Brisket

When I was trying to fill up the hollow legs of three hungry children (without spending all our money on food), my menus centered around simple, hearty, tummy-filling foods.  This brisket recipe was among those in the Once-a-Month Cooking method I latched on to back in the mid-90s.  It has always yielded tasty, juicy, tender meat.  That's no mean feat with brisket - as most of us can attest, it can be a little fickle to prepare.

I found I could make a lot of inexpensive meals from a single brisket if I watched for the big untrimmed briskets to go on sale.  When they did, I hauled home one or two, cut them in portions that would fit in my slow cooker and wrapped and froze the rest until I was ready to cook another batch.  The cooked brisket can be frozen with enough gravy to cover, making quick meals on busy days.

No matter how I fixed it, the brisket was always a smash hit with our family.  Today, if I want to ensure a big crowd for dinner, all I have to do is tell everyone I'm fixing brisket and they will come a'running.  The recipe itself is caveman simple.

 (I wonder how long this pop culture reference will be relevant?)

How you serve the brisket is limited only by your imagination and your family's preferences.  I listed four suggestions below to help you get started.

Mrs. Ringle's* Brisket

Ingredients
1 brisket (5-7 pounds)
1 package onion soup mix
2 tablespoons prepared mustard (spicy brown or yellow, it won't matter much)

I also recommend adding a dash or two of liquid smoke (don't go overboard until you figure out the amount that suits your family's tastebuds.)

Directions
Place brisket fat side up in slow cooker.  Sprinkle with soup mix and squeeze on a little mustard and sprinkle with a few drops of liquid smoke.  Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours, depending on the size of the brisket.  It can be cooked overnight (the OAMC cookbook recommends starting it the night before your cooking day.)

When the brisket shreds easily with a fork, it's done.  Scrape off the seasoning crust and mix with the juices that formed.  Place meat on on a cutting board and let it cool, then pull/shred it.  The juice can be run through a fat separator and used as a base for gravy or au jus.  If you're not serving the brisket immediately, place in freezer bags, squeezing out all the air.  Or divide among freezer containers and cover with meat juices or brown gravy to freeze for a few weeks.

My Favorite Ways to Serve This Brisket:

1. A meal of shredded brisket, mashed potatoes, vegetables and bread is simple and good. 
2. It also makes great sandwiches (we like to use sliced french bread, buttered and griddled on one or both sides.)
3. Beef hash is a family favorite that stretches a little meat a long way:  In a large hot skillet, pour a tablespoon or two of olive oil and brown a 32-ounce package of southern-style hash browns and a diced onion, stirring to keep from sticking together.  When the potatoes are nearly done add 1-2 cups of shredded brisket and a cup of brown gravy.  Let heat through completely.  Serve with a corn pudding and green beans, stand back and watch your hungry eaters tuck in.  I've had to negotiate treaties over who gets the last little scoop out of the pan.
4. Mix with good barbecue sauce and serve on crusty rolls, or place a portion on a warm flour tortilla, top with coleslaw, roll up and smother with some ranch beans.  (That's probably a recipe for another day...) 

*In case you're curious, no I don't know who Mrs. Ringle is, either.  The cookbook didn't give any hint as to her identity.  But God bless this woman, whoever she is, for giving us this simple, surefire recipe.

End of the A'Fare

I received emails this week from our local Dinner A'Fare advising their customers that this week would be their last week; after Sunday they will be no more.   I was saddened by the news, but not really surprised. The economy has taken its toll on many small businesses.  The convenience of quickly assembling gourmet dinners with all your ingredients pre-measured and lined up for you is a luxury.  When money is tight, it's an extravagance that can be eliminated.

Last fall was my first venture to The Dinner A'Fare and I credit that with getting me out of a deep culinary rut.  Choosing some dishes I had never cooked before sparked a renewed interest in cooking (and ultimately in starting this blog as well.)  So for that, I owe a debt of gratitude to them.  I never became a regular patron: I'd checked their menu most months, but some months just didn't appeal to me and others were too busy for me to commit to a scheduled time.  I am thankful we live in a country where entrepreneurs can dream up (and start up) businesses like this.  I hope the local franchise owners are successful with whatever the future holds for them.  If you live in an area that still has a Dinner A'Fare, it's worth looking them up and giving it a try.

The last time my  cooking "genie" was unleashed from the bottle was about 11 or 12 years ago, when I discovered the Once-A-Month Cooking book by Mimi Wilson and Beth Lagerborg.  It's kind of like a humble do-it-yourself version of the same concept.  You create a massive shopping list and follow the steps to prep, chop, dice and pre-cook, then put together meals in an assembly-line fashion.  It takes a couple hours to shop for everything, and 4-5 hours to assemble everything.  But when you're done, you have a freezer stocked with enough dinners to get a family through a month (a little longer if you stretch them out with a few nights of whipped-together spaghetti or take-out pizza.)  When our kids were in their heyday of activities and we were both working long hours, those meals were a godsend.  (Except for the "raw egg soup" incident, which my children can all tell from memory - let's just say I should have left more specific cooking instructions for their daddy since I was out of town that night.)

For busy families who want to save money on their food budget and have home-cooked family dinners more nights than not, I HIGHLY recommend giving this concept a try (now there are many OAMC cookbooks and websites that provide a wide array of recipes and hints and tips.  Once you understand the concept, you'll find many of the things you cook can be adapted.)  Not all the recipes were huge hits with my family (see note above), but the crockpot brisket, chicken packets and homemade sloppy joes were all-stars.  I still use those recipes even though the days of needing to stock my freezer with huge pans of casseroles is a thing of the past.

We grilled out steaks last night to celebrate oldest son's job offer.  I whipped up some feta-walnut butter (where's the gorgonzola when you need it???) to top the steaks.  It's pretty yummy stuff, but needs to go on top of a sizzling hot steak to fully melt and blend in.  Just saying.  I also tried Southern Living's Best Brownie recipe (from their August 2009 issue.) It's a keeper, but personally I think it needs some nuts.

Tonight it's time for a Low Country boil, something I have not made in several years.  That may mean braving a visit to the shed to look for the turkey fryer (yes we have one; no we've never fried a turkey in it.  Yes, we've eaten fried turkey - and turducken, too.  We do live in the south, after all.) Or maybe I'll just use the super-big stock pot for the boil.  It depends on how hot it gets this afternoon.