Cooking Tips from Pat

[Moonbeam]

I cook most of our meat in batches:
I cook up 5-10 pounds of ground beef at a time, drain & rinse it to remove excess grease, then I weigh it into 4 & 6oz servings and put them in ziploc bags - I use the sandwich bags for the 6oz and the snack size bags for the 4 oz. It helps me keep it straight without having to reweigh it later. I then put them all in a big freezer bag and freeze them. I do ground turkey the same way.
I bake a roasting pan full of chicken breasts, (boneless skinless), let them cool, weigh, bag and freeze.
I make my own turkey breakfast sausage (sage, red pepper & sea salt) and I press it into a cookie sheet lined with foil and bake it. When it's browned I use a pizza cutter and cut it into squares, weigh it, bag it and freeze it. Sometimes I just make it into crumbles, or I do patties (but they take lots longer).
I also make my own Italian turkey sausage into crumbles or meat balls (ground turkey, paprika, garlic, red pepper, black pepper, salt and fennel), and I use a cookie dough scoop to scoop out the balls and put them on a foil lined cookie sheet and bake at 350° until done, cool, weigh them out and package them.
When I make hamburger patties, I fry up a bunch at a time, weigh, bag and freeze. Or, I just make up the patties and put waxed paper between them and freeze and just cook them when you’re ready to use them.

I use dry beans (lots cheaper) I soak beans one day, rinse and cook in the crock pot the next day. When they are done I rinse them, measure 1c into the snack size zipper bags and freeze them.

I bake whole cookie sheets of sweet potatoes (in their skins). I let them cool, remove the skins, weigh out serving, bag and freeze.

When I make "fried" (steamed) potatoes, I scrub them, slice them (with skins) and put them in my big electric skillet, toss in some chopped onion and about a cup of water. I weigh out what I need for that meal, then weigh and bag the rest. I just put them in the fridge - they don't freeze well, and we have them another day (hubby likes them for breakfast). Sometimes I just cube and boil a big pot of them. When they are cool I weigh them out and bag them and keep in the fridge to make potato salad, or to shred up for hash browns, or to mash up for “smashed potatoes”. They’re pretty versatile.

Even if I forget to get something out for dinner all I have to do is get out what I need and toss it in the microwave. While it's cooking in the nuker I throw together a salad or other veggie - dinner for 3 in 15 minutes or less!
I have a rice cooker (best $20 I ever spent) and I do all my grains in it. I measure out 1c servings, bag and freeze. When I cook peas, lima beans, etc. I measure up any leftovers and stash in the fridge for another meal. I usually cook a whole bag or two of frozen veggies at a time in the microwave and measure it all into 1c servings, use what I need for the meal & keep the rest in the fridge and just warm up the leftovers for another meal.

When I make loaves/muffins, I make a lot all at the same time and I freeze them. There’s a whole other sheet on making Loaves/Muffins.

As far as fixing different food for everyone, serve the same protein and you can mix and match the starch and veggies according to the likes/dislikes of your family. SIMPLIFY!!!

[Moonbeam]

Breakfast Muffins

½ c oat bran (or oatmeal, or rye flakes)
1/3 c powdered skim milk
1 egg
4 oz. Silken Tofu
1 oz. Apple Sauce
½ t. cinnamon
5 oz. Any fruit (Chopped apple is good)

(VARIATION for protein: I use tofu to spread my eggs over the week, you can use 2 eggs in place of egg and tofu. You can use egg whites in place of eggs, 2 egg whites = 1 egg, so could use 2 egg whites and tofu OR 4 egg whites. Last option, use liquid egg whites in place of eggs, ¼ c = 1 egg, so could use ¼ c liquid egg whites and tofu OR ½ c liquid egg whites)

Combine all together, spray muffin tins with safe cooking spray, (mine make 4 muffins)

Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes depending how DONE you like them.

This is an entire breakfast: 1 grain, 1 protein, 1 fruit, 1 dairy – so EAT THEM ALL!

VARIATION: For breakfast loaf use a small loaf pan instead of muffin pan, just bake another 10 minutes or so at same temp=350 degrees. I tried baking them in my microwave using the sensor cook and that turned out ok also - just needed to test the middle of the pan with a knife till it came out clean.

[Moonbeam]

Dinner Loaves

First recipe: loaves (these freeze well) - these are complete meals for dinner (bake all loaves in small loaf pans - approx. 4 x 8)
Or use muffin tins– GREAT for travel as they do not go bad as quickly as a loaf.

1/2 cup dry oatbran
1 egg
4oz tofu (soft or silken)
1 cup canned diced tomatoes (drained)
1/2 cup green pepper
1/2 cup grated zucchini
oregano (to taste)
garlic powder (to taste)
salt & pepper (to taste)

Mix all ingredients together. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.

(VARIATION for protein: I use tofu to spread my eggs over the week, you can use 2 eggs in place of egg and tofu. You can use egg whites in place of eggs, 2 egg whites = 1 egg, so could use 2 egg whites and tofu OR 4 egg whites. Last option, use liquid egg whites in place of eggs, ¼ c = 1 egg, so could use ¼ c liquid egg whites and tofu OR ½ c liquid egg whites)

variations: first the egg, tofu, and grains are always the same so I'm not going to list them with the variations.

1 cup diced tomato
1 cup green pepper, chili peppers & onions
chili powder (to taste)
cumin (to taste)
salt & pepper



1 cup chopped broccoli
1 cup grated zucchini, celery, onion (mostly zucchini)
poultry seasoning (or whatever you would have used to spice stuffing for a turkey)
salt & pepper


1 cup pumpkin
1 cup grated carrots or zucchini
1/4 teas pumpkin pie spice or 1/2 teas cinnamon

[Moonbeam]

Pancakes for Breakfast

½ c oat bran
1/3 c powdered skim milk
1 egg
4 oz. Silken Tofu
1 oz. Apple Sauce
½ t. cinnamon

Combine all together and cook in pancake pan or do smaller ones in a sprayed skillet.

Add 5oz. Of fruit to the batter if you want everything in your pancake.

Have 5 oz. Of fruit on the side or warmed up and on top of pancakes for complete breakfast

Could use 1t. canola oil in place of apple sauce and then have 6oz. Fruit

VARIATION:

Omit 1/3 c powdered milk and use 1 cup yogurt with the fruit on top of pancake.

(VARIATION for protein: I use tofu to spread my eggs over the week, you can use 2 eggs in place of egg and tofu. You can use egg whites in place of eggs, 2 egg whites = 1 egg, so could use 2 egg whites and tofu OR 4 egg whites. Last option, use liquid egg whites in place of eggs, ¼ c = 1 egg, so could use ¼ c liquid egg whites and tofu OR ½ c liquid egg whites)

(1 starch, 1 protein, 1 fruit, 1 dairy, ½ t. spice)

[here42da]

Hi there Moonbeam,
Thank you so much for all of the informative tips and recipes that you have shared. I loved reading all of the cooking tips, and noticed that it was for the most part a lot of what I also do with my foods, as far as preparation, cooking and storage. I also do a lot of pressure canning. I am really thankful to have learned how to use that method as well, and have canned lots of varieties of dried beans, as well as many meats and even potatoes. Usually it is because I get things on sale, marked down or even free. Each year my father-in-law gives us a load of mountain cabbage (culls) so I also have jars of sauercraut in the basement with everything else. We do give away the bigger part of the cabbage as you can only use so much. I do use the freezer a lot but don't have as much room there for lots of storage. I am sure that many others will benefit from all of the suggestions as well as the great recipes that were shared. Thanks again,
here42da