Cooking Ahead for the Week

Wow - what a crazy busy week! I'm not sure if it's just me but it seems that the summer days are flying by! Busy schedules means projects are piling up! So I have decided I needed to get back on track. I started with a suggestion from my husband, food! I guess in retrospect I can't really remember what we ate for supper last week, but I'm sure we ate! During the summer, I'm sure I could live on yogurt, granola, veggies, and fruit, but it seems that my husband is asking for a little more than that - haha!!
Here are a few of my tips:

For the grill: I always grill a few types of meat, fish or poultry at the same time. My usual routine includes 3-4 chicken breasts (enough for 3-5 meals), 2 buffalo burgers (enough for 1 meal), and a pound of cod wrapped in foil (enough for 2-3 meals).
My favorite side grilled dish: Wrap in foil: baby potatoes, zucchini cut in 1 inch chunks, red onions cut in 1/2 inch chunks, 2 garlic cloves diced, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with rosemary, oregano, basil, and fresh ground pepper.
I freeze the items that I won't be using within a few days. We love pasta meals so I slice my extra chicken breasts and freeze them after I grill them. Then when I am ready to make pasta, I take them out of the freezer and add them my pasta.
In the kitchen cooking: Yesterday I made yummy goulash, roast chicken with vegetables, and penne pasta with goat cheese and vegetables. (Recipes coming later). We had chicken and vegetables for supper, the leftovers went to the freezer with the goulash and pasta dishes.
Make a quick snack item such as the Healthy Energy Bites while your other food is cooking. These don't involve any cooking and are easy to put together. The kids love them too!
Leftover coffee? Remember to pour it into a quart jar (or container) and store it in the refrigerator. I continue to add leftover coffee for the week and use it for iced coffee or an iced vanilla latte.

Healthy Energy Bites

If you have some good ideas to share, we'd love to hear from you! Angie and I hope you are all enjoying your summer and making some great memories!
Love and peace,
~ Simply Tammi

Grandma's Bread Pudding and Caramel Sauce

I was trying to think of something for dessert last night and homemade bread pudding was my choice. Our Dad was not a dessert lover but bread pudding was one of his favorites. Our grandma made the best bread pudding, hope you like it! Ingredients : 5 cups slightly dried out bread, any kind. I used Italian bread. 1/4 cup raisins (optional) 2 cups milk 1/4 cup butter 1/2 cup white sugar 2 eggs 1 T vanilla 1/4 tsp nutmeg 1/2 tsp cinnamon Caramel Sauce Ingredients 1/2 cup butter 1/2 cup white sugar 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup heavy cream 1 tsp vanilla Directions : Cut the bread in cubes. I cut some of the crust off (on about half of the bread). Place bread into a greased casserole dish or an 11x9 inch pan. Add raisins. Microwave milk and butter about 4 minutes on 60% power or heat in a saucepan over medium heat on the stove. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, sugar, vanilla, nutmeg and cinnamon. Slowly add the mixture to the egg and milk and butter

Homemade Goulash

Last weekend I made meals for the freezer. It takes a few hours but this will save you time during the week (in case you have nights like I do when you don't feel like cooking) and your family will love it! I adapted this recipe from Paula Deen (it's called Bobby's Goulash). I used organic ingredients but use the products of your choice. I would have liked to use fresh tomatoes from the garden but my tomatoes weren't quite ready. You can also make it gluten-free by using gluten-free elbow macaroni. It's so tasty - my family loved it! Ingredients : 1 pound ground turkey 1 pound lean ground beef 1 -2 small onions, diced ( I used red onions) 1 (28 ounce) can tomato sauce 2 (15 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with juice 3 cups water 3 cloves garlic, minced 2 T Italian seasoning 3 bay leaves 3 T soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce 1 T seasoning salt course ground pepper to taste 2 cups elbow macaroni (uncooked) Putting it together: Brown meat and onions in a lar

Dad's Homemade Peach Cobbler

Peach Cobbler fresh from the oven! One of our favorite desserts is Dad's peach cobbler. This is a recipe that I use when I need a quick dessert. I always have the ingredients and it only takes a few minutes to mix it up. I modified it for gluten-free by making a change to the flour type, just in case you're looking for gluten-free. You can use fresh or frozen peaches, or even canned peaches work. I usually freeze enough Colorado peaches to take me through the seasons so I use those. This recipe makes about 6 servings. Ingredients : 1/3 c butter, melted 1-2 cups peaches, peeled and sliced 1 c sugar (white or organic cane) 1 c all-purpose flour ( or white rice flour for gluten-free ) 1 tsp cinnamon (this is optional, my family loves cinnamon!) 2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp sea salt 1 c milk (I use organic 2%) Directions : Melt butter and pour it into a baking pan, a 9x9 square glass pan works great. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk flour, sugar, baking powder and sa

Natural Homemade Living

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