Recipe Revitalization
What are you making for dinner? If you’re anything like me, you’re probably making the same damn thing you made a few days ago.
Since having children, my repertoire of meals has substantially diminished. I don’t really do frozen meals or canned stuff, and cooking fresh food meals can take quite a bit of prep time. So our weekly menu is down to some basics that I’ve mastered:
- Spaghetti & Meatballs: I make a huge portion of sauce and meatballs on a Sunday and freeze it into enough for a month’s worth of weekly meals.
- Chicken Stir Fry: Chicken and veggies over rice or pasta. I have a few different sauces.
- Salmon: Usually with cajun seasoning, broccoli and grape tomatoes cooked in garlic & olive oil over pasta. Occasionally with lemon dill sauce over rice.
- Steak or roast beef: With a veggie, salad and potato.
- Hamburgers & hot dogs: With salad of some sort.
Sometimes the chicken varies. Sometimes I make meatloaf, tacos or beef burgundy.
And of course, there’s take-out. Thank God for take-out.
Today we were at the book store. (And - by the way? - it was GREAT! My son wandered around and looked at books on his own and my daughter was happy in her stroller as long as I handed her a book to chew on bang on her head look at. I could actually look at books!! Until L lost his Godzilla action figure. Then we had the whole store scouring the floors for Godzilla while C yelled “Zilla? Are you?”)
I love me some Rachael Ray and I picked up a book called Rachael Ray’s Top 30 30-Minute Meals for Kids. I called L over and asked what he thought of the recipes. He got pretty excited about a few.
He asked me to buy the book. L really likes to cook. He has his Emeril apron and “acts out” the show while he helps me in the kitchen. I told him I would buy the book if he agreed to TRY – and I mean YOU. MUST. PUT IT IN. your mouth – every recipe and give me his review for this blog. He agreed.
I’ve also decided to weed through my unwieldy folder of recipes ripped from magazines or copied on scraps of paper. I’m going to either toss them, or I will cook them and post them here for my own online recipe book.
So look for the new and improved PHAT Mommy – now with recipes! – in the coming weeks.
PHAT = Parenting, Homeschooling And Technology. That about sums up my life at the moment. 
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Carrie | Jul 7, 2006 | Reply
Don’t forget your mom’s shishkabob recipe (for which I am forever grateful). Easy prep and soooo good!
Philip | Jul 7, 2006 | Reply
I’ve had success asking readers for their favorite kid-friendly recipes, you might try that too. Gets good comments too.
Trixie | Jul 7, 2006 | Reply
Ooh, I can’t wait for the recipe reviews! I’m a lazy cook. It’s just too much work for a husband and kids who won’t eat anything besides the basic kid foods. Only my oldest son will eat a “real recipe”, so whenever I do make something I end up eating it all myself or throwing half of it away. Very unsatisfying and unmotivating. And yet I’m tired of making chicken nuggets, pizza, chicken noodle soup, pb&j, and mac & cheese.
And I have so little time that I can’t even schedule a time to visit “Simply Cook It” to make and stock up on real meals. I’ve had a gift certificate since Christmas and have been meaning to go now for at least 5 months.
Fast, healthy recipes that kids will actually eat sound wonderful. I’ve seen them in magazines from time to time and have always raised my eyebrows thinking “I’m not sure my kids would eat that”. Knowing that Luke is not an adventurous eater either, I anxiously await his reviews of your new recipes!
genia | Jul 7, 2006 | Reply
here are 2 great recipes that I already sent to PHATMommy.Kids may not like the onions in the beef but the sauce is sort of sweet. It’s great as gravy over mashed potatoes. Yum!
Easy clean up too.
Brisket of Beef with Honey Barbecue Sauce
Serves 8-10 (can cut recipe in half)
1 cup ketchup
1 cup hoison sauce
½ cup low sodium soy sauce
½ cup sherry
½ cup honey
2 Tbl freshly grated ginger
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 -5 pounds beef brisket, trimmed of all fat
4 medium onions, sliced
Preheat oven to 350. Line a large roasting pan with heavy duty foil.Combine 1st 7 ingredients in a bowl and mix well.Pour ½ cup of sauce in bottom of pan. Place meat on top and cover with onions (there will be a lot). Pour remaining sauce on top of meat — make sure sauce completely covers meat Cover tightly with 2 layers of heavy duty foil.Bake for 3 ½ hours or until a fork will easily turn when inserted into meat. Do not undercook or meat will be tough. (you really can’t overcook it so don’t worry if it bakes longer than 3 ½ hours)Let sit for 10 minutes before slicing. Cut into thin slices on an angle across the grain. Serve with the sauce.
Balsamic Chicken
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (~ 1 ¼ pounds)
2 T flour
Salt & pepper
2 T olive oil
6 cloves garlic
¼ c balsamic vinegar
¼ c chicken broth
Dredge chicken in flour, salt & pepper
Heat oil. Add chicken and cook on one side for 3 minutes. Add garlic, turn chicken & cook for 3 minutes more. Add vinegar & broth and cook 10 minutes.(Vinegar reduces and caramelizes and makes a great glaze)
Shannon | Jul 7, 2006 | Reply
Thanks Genia! I’m going to make these and will post the kids’ reviews.
Philip - great idea to ask for reader’s recipes. I’ll plan to do that in the future.
Carrie - I don’t have my Mom’s shishkebob recipe…? I think her best recipe is the crockpot sweet & sour chicken, but Luke won’t eat it (yet).
Trixie - give yourself a break, you’ve got FOUR kids!! I hope some of the ideas I post work for you!
Annie | Jul 7, 2006 | Reply
Have you ever gone to Spatulatta? It’s a great site for kids who want to learn to cook. I wrote about it here. The kids are so cute, but more than that, the projects are easy to do but not dumbed down.
- Annie
Trixie | Jul 7, 2006 | Reply
“Trixie - give yourself a break, you’ve got FOUR kids!! I hope some of the ideas I post work for you!”
Hey, when it comes to eating, I have FIVE kids. Lance counts.
Invisible Blogger | Jul 8, 2006 | Reply
Hey! Just lettin’ ya know you’ve been PIMPED a couple of times
becca | Jul 8, 2006 | Reply
I know what you mean about repeating recipes. I branch out every one in awhile, but always go back to the trusty recipes.
We’ll be looking forward to a recipe section on your blog. Keep us posted
Kailani | Jul 8, 2006 | Reply
I’m always saving recepies I find in magazines with the intentionn of making it one day. But for some reason I never do. I keep forgetting that I even have them. I love cookbooks and I mark the ones I want to make but, again, I never do.
Jenn | Jul 9, 2006 | Reply
I would LOVE to hear how that book is - I have one picky eater and one who eats anything (can you guess who is who). The picky one will eat plain pasta, chicken, and maybe strawberries. NOTHING green - like, if there is green on the pasta, like parsely, forget it. I am getting SO frustrated…so looking for new ideas too!