Saturday I treated myself (and subjected myself) to an all day cooking experiment. It was part of what's called a "blog tour". It's a new form of a book tour for authors except they don't have to be away from their families for long periods of time and the publisher doesn't have to spend alot of money on traveling expenses! They send a free book to a designated number of bloggers who agree to read or, in my case, try out a few recipes and review it. The book is Once-a-Month Cooking Family Favorites. The concept is to buy all the food you will need for a month and prepare all the meals in one day. Think about it- a whole month where you knew what you were having for dinner and with a little thawing and a few addons like muffins or applesause you've got a great meal.
This is not the first cookbook for Mimi Wilson and Mary Beth Lagerborg. I met them in the 90's in the pages of Once-a-Month Cooking when they first introduced this concept. My family loved a number of the recipes from that cookbook so I was excited to hear that a new one was on the horizon. I have to admit I never succeeded in conquering the concept but I love the idea that it looms ahead of me waiting for me to attempt it one more time. With my choppy schedule I wasn't sure I could attempt a whole month but Mimi and Mary Beth have thought of that. They have several 2 week cycles as well as gormet, gluten free and summer cycles. I picked 2 Week Cycle D which included a number of chicken, pork and beef dinners. They have planned your shopping list and what equipment and freezer supplies you will need. They even have figured out the order in which you prepare all the food to maximize your efforts.It was quite fun shopping, and anticipating how it was going to work.
Some of the ingredients.
Browned chicken for the Chickon Dijon .
Orecchiette with Tuna
I couldn't find this pasta so substituted small shell pasta.
The pasta gets attached and cooked at the time you serve it.
On the left -chicken strips simmering in a broth for Poppy Seed Chicken, on the right-the cream sauce for the Chicken Dijon.
As I finished preparing each entree I would put it in a zip-lock freezer bag and attach any additional ingredients like cheese or a sauce. The night before my cooking day I did some of the chopping and I labeled the bags with the recipe name, date it was frozen and page # in the cookbook. I also marked how many it would serve. Some of the recipes I could split in half to give one away or have an additional meal, and some I froze in the large amount so we could have folks over. I was surprised to find how much flexibility there is in this system. The authors really just want their readers "to enjoy time together over delicious, economical, home cooked meals". Check out their website www.once-a-monthcooking.com for a one week cycle (which is a good way to test this out), and helpful tips as well as shopping lists and menu charts.
The end of my day!
In case you are wondering , we did have one of these tasty meals(Gnocchi with Turkey Ragu) that night.
2 comments:
I started doing a modified version of freezer cooking earlier this year and now prepare all our main dishes that way. I typically just prep the meat with a marinade or divide it up and label it. It has helped me tremendously with our menu planning and not getting stuck asking "what should we eat for dinner?" around that late afternoon hour that gets crazy in any house, especially those with kids! Looks like you had fun trying it out again! I'll have to check out the new latest version of their book.
Great post. Reminds me of my friend Karen at Dakota Country Kitchen!! I'm going to check out the website and see if any of the idea might be conducive to my lifestyle.
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