Quick and Easy Dinner

I have been feeling very pressed for time lately. Seems like 4:30 comes around so quickly each day and I am suddenly staring at blankly at the refrigerator with no ideas and two rapidly falling apart children behind alternately squabbling and me asking for bowls of cereal. Last night I found myself in this predicament and came up with a really quick dinner to throw together in no time. I think it was the culmination of a few food related things going on right now.

First, I have been feeling very lazy and remembering to thaw out meat earlier in the day just doesn't happen lately. Second, we have been doing a weekly potluck with several friends every Sunday for a couple of months now. One of the couples is vegetarian, so everyone usually tends to bring a veggie meal (against the protests of the veg couple.) This has motivated me to look for creative vegetarian dishes and also to look for other sources of protein. We have long been bean eaters, but beans alone can be pretty boring.

Lastly, I recently bit the bullet and joined our local organic produce CSA. It is a little farm called Black River organics. We get a box a week and it is based on what is producing at the farm right now. And what they are growing is LOTS of greens. Hello, salad with every meal.

So that is how our food consumption is shaping up these days. Here's the little dinner I whipped up last night. Quick, easy, nutritious. Kids loved it. Viola, dinner is served.

Psuedo Huevoes Rancheros

Can o' black beans, add 1 packet Sazon seasoning, 1/4 c apple cider vinegar

pack of safron rice

eggs

cheese

salsa, hot sauce

salad

Whip all these together, sit at the table, and eat.

As predicted on the LIST, tonight is lentil soup night.  Opened bag of leftover ham from (honestly) too long ago to find that ham had suspicious smell to it.  Oh well, lentils alone are packed with goodness anyway.  Lentil soup is ridiculously easy to make.  Mine tonight has 1 bag of lentils, 8 cups of water, 1/4 cup olive oil, 2 carrots shredded, 1/2 an onion finely chopped, a bunch of salt and pepper, some thyme, and probably about 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar. Towards the end I throw in some minced garlic.

Simmer all of this for about 30-45 minutes or so until your lentils reach your desired softness.  I like them a little more creamy, so sometimes I let them go a bit longer then stir them up really well.  You can't believe how filling lentils are.  I like to serve mine with some fresh bread, but alas, time ran away on me so I am making some drop biscuits instead.  Super yummy and simple, here's the recipe:

Easy drop biscuits

1 2/3 cup flour (you can substitute 1/3 to 2/3 cup wheat flour if you like)

1 Tbs baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup milk

1/3 cup oil (veg or olive oil, your choice)

Preheat your oven to 475.  Mix the dry ingredients and then make a little well and pour in the milk and oil.  Stir up the milk and oil a bit and then mix the dough up until the dough just starts to pull away from the sides.  It is a really wet and sticky dough.  Use a teaspoon or your hands and pull out little blobs and drop them on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake for about 8 minutes until they are light brown on the bottom.  Serve with copious amounts of butter...drool.....

Cheap and easy.  Hey, who are you calling cheap and easy!?  

The List

When my friend Stephanie comes over and walks into my kitchen, the first thing she says is, "Ok, let's see the list for this week."  She is referring to the ever changing menu for the week that exists on a dry erase board on my fridge.  I am very flattered by this as it makes me feel like I am sooo put together and prepared.  Ha.  Really I just do this because if I don't, 5 p.m. will come around and I will stare blankly at my cabinet and declare in my head that we have nothing to eat.  The list keeps my procrastination and laziness in check.  

Usually, at the beginning of the week I look at what we have left and decide what I can make for the week for dinners.  I am not so much a spur of the moment kind of cooker, I like to plan ahead.  If I am hungry and the kids are hungry and screaming and crawling up my leg, my creativity tends to wither a bit.  Strategizing at the beginning of the week helps to avoid this 5 p.m. meltdown (mine and the kids).  So I make up a menu of possible meals at the beginning of the week and shop accordingly.  I put the possible nightly meals on the fridge so at 4 p.m. I can look at choose something for the night.  

Steph always says "Pizza and pancakes again?"  Well, yes.  The pizza is a weekly meal (I keep dough in the fridge so this is super easy) and pancake night is for when I don't feel like cooking anything and just want some damn pancakes. 

This week was a little different as my aunt is visiting and I needed to make a little more rigid meal plan.  That and our budget is really tight till the end of the month, so I wanted to make sure we had enough to last payday.  As you can see, a lot of beans start appearing towards the end.  

Tonight I am making Egg Pie.  I am sure I could come up with some other sort of spiffy name for it, but it is a super tasty recipe given to me by my friend Erin.  The kids love it and it is really hearty and satisfying.  Here's the recipe:

10 frozen spinach

1 medium onion chopped fine

6-7 white mushrooms thinly sliced (optional)

2 T butter

1 bouillon cube

3 eggs

12 oz Cottage cheese

2 T parmesan cheese

2 deep dish pie crust (or make your own if you are so inclined)

Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450.  Defrost spinach in the microwave while you are preparing the other ingredients.   When the spinach is done, squeeze out all water and place in a large bowl.  Next, saute the onion and mushroom in butter until both are soft.  Add these to spinach along with the cottage cheese, parmesan cheese, and bouillon (I usually just crush this up and sprinkle it in.)  Stir this up well and then add the eggs.  I just make a little well and then beat the eggs up before I stir up the whole mixture.  Pour the mixture into the pie crust and cover it with the other pie crust.  I literally just put the other pie crust on top (sans pan) and it sinks down as it cooks.  Gently cut a couple of slits in the top of the crust.  Bake for 30-45 minutes until the center seems firm and the crust is golden brown.  If it is not yet firm, but the crust is getting too brown, lay a piece of foil over the top till done.

I served this with my cousin Peggy's awesome slaw (cabbage, broccoli, walnuts, apples, carrots in a vinaigrette dressing), it was soooo good.  I will post that recipe later.  

Anyway, the kids freaking love this.  We call it Egg pie or Spinach Pie (depending on what the kids are prejudiced against this week.)  My aunt (who is nothing if not logical) said that it should really be called Egg and Spinach pie since it has both.  OR if you are wanting to make it fancy, let's call it Ovo Florentine Quiche.  How's that for fancy (or just weird?)

Till next time... Amy