Dinner in under 30 :-)

So the most repeated, most heard and probably the most dreaded (at least it is for me hehe) question of every day in the life of every mom..."What's for dinner?". As a mother of 4 kids (ages 10, 8, 4 and 1), working a full time job, AND studying for my Doctorate degree, my hands, head, and schedule are pretty full. And after a long day at the office that was started off by the 5am early morning rush of getting 2 school kids and 2 daycare kids packed, ready and out the door (oh and don't forget the husband because even he needs to be reminded to not forget his wallet, shoes, socks, sunglasses, car keys, etc.) to make the 6:00 am traffic light at the end of our street, dinner is the LAST thing on my radar. Go ahead moms, let's all let out our collective SIGH hehe.

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But as humbug as it may be, the busier our lives get, the more important dinner time becomes. Dinner is when we sit down with our family and just be with each other. Its a time where everything stops and all that matters are the people gathered around the table (or on the floor like we used to eat for years in our first home), the food hot and fresh out of the kitchen ready to nourish our bodies, and the time of just being together (even if it only lasts for 5 minutes before your 15-month old decides that he is done with dinner and food and utensils go flying everywhere). So in honor of the one meal that just might usurp breakfast as being the most important part of our day, this blog post is dedicated to that part of our lives that I like to call "Welcome Home"

Tip 1: Prep your proteins ahead of time. And by proteins I mean chicken thighs, pork shoulder, carne asada beef, or any economical cut of meat or poultry that you can find and buy in bulk. My family is a Costco family. We do 90% of our grocery shopping at Costco. And we buy everything in bulk, including our proteins. Now I'm not a fan of chicken breast or anything that has the words "chicken" and "boneless" together. Bone-in equates to flavor. So what is involved in my prep for proteins? I make sure they are defrosted by switching them over from the freezer to the refrigerator the night before or even the morning of. Before packing the proteins in the freezer for longer storage and use, I pre-pack into separate Ziploc freezer bags so that the right portion for each meal is all ready to go. This saves time but also prevents the defrosting and then refreezing of the excess proteins. If I need to make a stir-fry or my family's favorite, chicken/pork noodle, I would debone the chicken thighs and store them in the freezer ready for defrosting. This happens rarely of course, and only on the weekends. If I am cooking chicken the next day, I wouldn't bother with the freezing part...into the refrigerator they go!

Tip 2: Keep kitchen clean and organized before and during cooking. I am a strong believer of a clean kitchen and by clean I do not mean white-glove clean devoid of all dust and grime. I mean come on now, we barely have time to brush our hair and shave our legs, so who has time to keep anything dust free? Pfft, not this mama. So by clean I mean keeping work surfaces free of clutter while cooking, putting away ingredients that are no longer needed right away, always making use of every minute by washing dishes or prepping the next ingredient if there is wait time, and mentally thinking of the next step in the cooking process. Through practicing and mastering these steps, you can really speed up your time in the kitchen which equates to more time chewing your dinner before you actually swallow it :-).

Tip 3: VGS! (Vegetables, Gravy, Spaghetti Noodles!) V is for Vegetables! Vegetables can get very pricey, especially fresh. And buying in bulk can backfire because the fresh veggies will brown up on you if they are not used up fast enough. So vegetables is a tip because we all need them to make well balanced meals for our families, but they also help to stretch that buck! Especially if you buy FROZEN vegetables in bulk :-). I always try to buy some fresh vegetables that I know I will be using early on in the week and always have a good stock of frozen vegetables in the freezer. Some of my fresh favorites are:
Power Greens - huge bags of Kale, Spinach, Swiss Chard, etc can be found at Costco for really cheap. I add them to all kinds of dishes when I'm not eating them raw in salads.

Chicken Stir Fry: I used leftover Costco rotisserie chicken (shredded), and added in whatever vegetables I had on hand (onions, garlic, cherry tomatoes) and threw in a couple of handfuls of power greens. 

Chicken Curry: Chopped up chicken thighs, cooked in olive oil added onions and garlic, curry powder, and a handful of power greens right before turning off the heat just to wilt the greens

Spicy Beef:  sliced beef cooked in olive oil, onions, and garlic.  Added a sprinkle of red chili pepper flakes and a handful of power greens.

Beef Stir Fry: Sliced beef sautéed in olive oil, cooked with onions and garlic, seasoned with soy sauce.  Added in a handful of power greens.

• Green Beans - Costco has the cutest Haricot Verts which is just a fancy name for pretty French string beans that cost $6 for a huge bag that can make at least 12-16 servings. My family goes ga-ga for Green Beans, even my picky 4 year old daughter! My favorite way of cooking them is very simply blanching them in boiling water for about 8 minutes, then placing the beans into an ice bath (or just very cold tap water running right into the pot of beans) to stop the cooking and also to preserve the green color, and then dressing/tossing the beans in olive oil, salt and pepper. Easy, fast and delicious! Oh and they are very good for you too :-) 
• Onions - always have to have these on hand 
• Garlic - fresh is incomparable! But I always have garlic powder for a quick garlic fix when time does not permit peeling and chopping those pesky garlic cloves. Anyone else dislike prepping garlic? 
• Tomatoes - I like to buy cherry or grape tomatoes only because they don't need a lot of prep or cutting and they are easy to just throw into a dish to add both color, nutrition and a little bit of an acid balance 
• Romaine lettuce (or any green leafy lettuce) - great for lettuce wrapping up those leftovers and getting yet another meal out of the same dish!



Chicken Stir Fry Lettuce Wrap!  Great Paleo meal (see my upcoming Paleo living blog posts :-))

• Cucumbers - great addition to any stir fry or beef stew or noodle dish for an instant crunch. Heck, great addition to anything cooked or raw.

Pork Stir Fry with cucumbers, shredded carrots, peas, onions and garlic.

• Cabbage (heads of green cabbage, bok choy, etc.) I usually just get whatever looks good or on sale that day. Heads of cabbage are probably the cheapest type of vegetable you can get. Cabbage do not get nearly enough attention I think. They are just full of nutrition that has yet to be tapped. Poor man's food no more! Add shredded cabbage to any dish to bring crunch and texture to your meal.

Another version of beef Stir Fry: Celery and Bok Choy are featured in this version.

• Mushrooms - I love love love mushrooms! And so does my family, especially my 10 year-old son. It just elevates the dish and adds such great flavor. And at Costco they sell a 2 lb container of mushrooms for like $8 which can be stretched to make 2-3 dishes each dish making about 8-10 servings.

Sautéed beef and then cooked onions, garlic, mushrooms, and grape tomatoes in the same pan and finished in the oven.

• Peppers - green, red, yellow....any peppers will do. They are so versatile and can be cooked in many different ways. They are great on pizzas too! (that's another blog;-)).

  

  Pork loin chops sautéed on the stovetop.  Cooked celery, tomatoes, onions, garlic and red pepper in the same pan to create a sauce and then finished it in the oven

• Potatoes - whether I throw them into a curry dish, or cut them up to make baked fries, or even shred them up to make hash browns for breakfast (that's for another blog ;-)), potatoes are always great to have on hand. And did I mention they are cheap too? Yes you can see where I am always trying to save money when cooking :-) 

And then the rest of my vegetable stash are frozens! Frozen peas, frozen vegetable medley, frozen stir fry vegetables, frozen mixed vegetables, frozen broccoli or anything frozen that you can find. I even saw frozen edamame at Costco. I try to buy organic when I buy frozen veggies only because in my head if its going to be frozen, might as well try to get them organic. But like I said, that organic conversation only happens in my head so if there's no organic, meh, no problem.

Beef Broccoli.  Picture pretty much sums it up :-)

Frozen vegetables have come a long way and are just as nutritious and tasty as the fresh ones. The way they are cooked is the key in bringing life back into them. So ROASTING is your best friend when it comes to frozen vegetables or even fresh!

 I like to buy the vegetable medley of broccoli, cauliflower, squash and carrots. Laying them in a single layer on a cookie sheet and then seasoned with olive oil, kosher salt, black pepper, paprika, garlic powder and some dried herbs, roasted for about 20-30 minutes will bring out the best out of all of the vegetables.

 I especially love to roast Brussels sprouts, which are also quite cheap (in cost not flavor :-))! Here are some variations of the roasted vegetables I have made over the years. Once you find your perfect combination you will keep going back to it. I especially love eggplants and squash in my roast :-).



Now let's talk G as in the G in VSG! Gravvvvvyyyyy! My mom makes thee BEST gravy in the whole universe! Yes it's that good! And after a couple of sessions with her, I found that it is super easy to do. Gravy is best when made in the same pan that meat or proteins were cooking in. Add a little oil if there's not already enough in pan, add some flour, enough to soak up the oil in the pan, and then cook on medium heat while constantly stirring. The trick is cooking out the rawness in the flour. So the longer you cook the flour (don't burn it so stir often!), the better the gravy will be.

 As soon as the flour reaches a nice deep brown color (about 5-10 minutes of cooking), add in the liquid. Broth or stock is best, but my Mom uses good ole water! Make your broth or stock using the bouillon to save you money! Add water in small increments, like a half a cup at a time and keep stirring until the water is incorporated. Then add more liquid as needed to bring your gravy to the preferred consistency. I like my gravy a little on the thin side. Then taste and season with black pepper and a little salt. Add in a splash of soy sauce and a pad of butter and stir until it boils. Turn of the heat and gravy is ready!

 Gravy, just like vegetables and spaghetti noodles (see below), really really stretches that protein and gives you more servings for dinner that night and many nights after. I usually eat leftovers from one meal for my home lunches at work all week long! (that's yet another blog ;-)).

Beef, mushrooms and peas are the highlights in this gravy pan of goodness 

The night before I made pico de gallo and we had a lot leftover. So I cooked up pork chops and then created a pan sauce using the pico and all the vegetables I had on hand. This is by far one of the tastiest pork chops you will ever have! 

And S is for Spaghetti! Speaking of stretching the buck, another great trick (one my parents used ALL the time to feed our family of 8) to stretching out that piece of meat is by adding spaghetti noodles (or any type of boxed dry pasta) to any dish! Whether it be a quick stir fry, a saucy beef stew or just a sautéed dish of beef or chicken, throwing in cooked spaghetti noodles adds body to the meal but also stretches out the meat so that you get more servings!

It is best to have a little more cooking liquid in your pot or pan so that the noodles can get coated and soak in the flavor of your dish. I like to use a little chicken bouillon to make a sauce for the protein instead of buying chicken stock or broth which can get quite expensive. Costco carries the paste and powder bouillon, and both keep well, the powder one not needing refrigeration and keeping a lot longer than the paste. A teaspoon of that stuff will add so much flavor to any dish not to mention makes the meanest gravy ever!

Pork Vegetable Noodle using linguine 

Chicken Vegetable Noodle using linguine 

Used a short cut pasta for this version of chicken noodle 

Family favorite: Pork noodle using the classic spaghetti noodles! 

And that's it! Keeping these 3 MAIN tips in mind and with a little practice, you should be able to get dinner thrown together (ok not literally thrown but you know what I mean) in LESS THAN 30 MINUTES! Yes you heard (or read) me right! I am proclaiming a Rachel Ray moment and promising you that a well balanced, nutritious and delicious dinner can and will be ready and on the table in 20 to 30 minutes!

 All of the dishes featured here were all made in 30 minutes or less. And if you are like me, having any more than 3 tips will just take up too much space in my brain (space that I could use for something else, like for remembering that wide receivers are not the same as tight end receivers when talking football with my boys, or knowing the difference between "bla" which means blanket and "ba" which means ball in baby talk or for keeping the names of her ten million TY babies straight or else I get a stern "Mommmmmmyyyy I told you already her name is...." from my 4 (going on 16) year old daughter).

So remember, PREP, Keep ORGANIZED, and VSG! Now raise your imaginary (or real) glasses of wine with me and reclaim dinner in under 30 minutes! So the next time your family walks through your door and before they can even begin to utter that dreaded question, you can happily and confidently say why "Welcome Home" family.

Whether it's a sandwich, leftovers, or a chicken/pork/beef stir fry, or even a tray of dino chicken nuggets (also found at Costco :-)), always remember to Eat together, pray together, just BE together. From my home to yours, Happy Eating!