More On Simplifying

In my last blog post I offered a simple, well fairly simple, recipe for a delicious Beef Stroganoff. Every time I make this, now, I double it because it freezes well and we love it. This brings to mind some great advice that I am taking more and more - cook ahead and freeze.

I have a longtime acquaintance, Deborah Taylor Hough, who is an expert on an interesting subject, Once A Month Cooking. See the website on her books on the subject and some recipes at: http://frozenassets.wordpress.com/ (She is also the author of, Frugal Living for Dummies
http://www.amazon.com/Deborah-Taylor-Hough/e/B001HCWZNA/ref=sr_tc_img_2_0

I have only a refrigerator top freezer. Though Deborah claims that, used effectively, even a freezer that size can hold two weeks of complete meals frozen ahead, I've only been using her cook ahead concepts for certain dishes like the Beef Stroganoff (recipe in the previous blog), a basic hamburger mixture she offers, certain Indian dishes I love so much I always double and a Mexican Black Bean Stew I make and love. I guess I'm using her concepts more and more.

From her I have learned to always keep on hand freezer quality, quart size Zip Lock bags and a black Sharpie pen. The bags are more expensive, but you are saving a lot by freezing ahead. For the Stroganoff we always keep our eyes out for a good buy on sirloin, I keep a couple of cans of consomme in the cupboard at all times, when I use tomato paste I freeze tablespoonfuls in snack size zip lock bags (cheap up the Dollar Store). I always have onions on hand so, when we get the sirloin, all I need are the fresh mushrooms. I even cook a whole bag of wide noodles ahead and freeze portions in Ziplocs. A double batch of the stroganoff and makes about six meals for us.

Deborah, on her website (link above) offers her recipe for a basic hamburger mixture (click on the word more… under the Make Ahead Ground Beef Mixture recipe description.) I make that as well. It makes for quick spaghetti sauce, pizza topping, or tons of other dishes, even a fancy slumgullion (I promise you will enjoy my earlier post titled SLUMGULLION, it has the recipe.)

As I've written before, my hobby is Indian cooking. I'm more fond of it and its unusual spices than Hank is. Dishes I love often involve an array of vegetables, not Hank's favorite food group. As Indian dishes are often very inexpensive to make and as I thoroughly enjoy concocting them, I often freeze portions to enjoy later and to share with friends. My unusual food gifts are always enjoyed offering another reason for cooking ahead and freezing.

I often make a yummy Mexican Black Bean Stew that is made with and a whole Chiptole pepper (I buy a can of them in sauce and freeze them individually.) It makes a large pot of soup that freezes well (in the freezer grade Ziplocs) and when reheated and topped with a dollop of sour cream makes for a delicious lunch. I'll share the recipe below.

The way I got started using Deborah's cook ahead and freeze concept was taking her advice about doubling recipes when you make something you really enjoy. So, if you're interest is piqued, get yourself some freezer grade Zip Lock bags and a Sharpie pen (for labeling the dish and noting when it was frozen) and double the next recipe that you make and enjoy. A side benefit to the cook ahead and freeze process is that it has caused me to clean out and organize my freezer space. Because of that, I am wasting much less food and I tend to use, more quickly, the dishes I've frozen ahead. You also get a great feeling for participating in the, now very popular, Simple Living Lifestyle. Isn't it great to know that something many of us have been doing all along is now called a lifestyle!



Mexican Black Bean Stew
2 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil (I use vegetable oil)
2 lg. onions, chopped
4 lg. cloves garlic, crushed
4 teaspoons Mexican seasoning
2 cups dried black beans, soaked (I use 2 - 14 ½ oz cans black beans, drained)
1 canned or dried chipotle pepper (I buy canned & freeze them individually)
1 49oz. can chicken broth (I use 4-14 ½ oz cans.)
2 teaspoon salt
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 cup chopped tomatoes (I use a 14 ½ o z can of diced tomatoes with the juice)
2/3 cup fresh cilantro chopped (more if desired)
lime juice and sour cream for garnish

1. Heat oil in a large pot. Add onion garlic, Mexican seasoning and sauté until onions are soft.

2. Add drained, soaked beans, Chipotle chili and stock or water to pot. (If using canned black beans add them with the corn, tomatoes and cilantro.) Bring to a boil. You will want to taste broth shortly into the boil as you might want to remove the Chipotle pepper when the right hotness is reached. Chipotle pepper can be put back in if desired as hotness mellows when vegetables are added.

3. Lower heat and simmer about 1/2 hour (or until beans are tender).

4. Add salt, corn, tomatoes, and cilantro.

5. Serve garnished with a squeeze of lime and dollop of sour cream.

Mexican Seasoning
2 Tablespoons chili powder
1 Tablespoons paprika
1 Tablespoon cumin powder
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon celery salt
½ teaspoon salt

One Dish Wonder

I’m going to let you in on a secret. Well, it’s not too secret a secret but it was my strategy for saving face when in the dating scene. Yeah, OK, it was a few years ago. I’ve laughed for years saying that when I met a man I made sure he cooked before I dated him in case it got serious. I grew up eating good but basic dishes. The word cuisine wouldn’t have applied unless someone has lumped pot roasts, tuna casseroles, pork chops and gravy, hamburgers and beef stews together giving them their own category in the fancy food world. Though thriving on these good though basic dishes, for some reason I didn’t learn to cook. My mom cooked and once came in second on a statewide bread-baking contest. My Dad enjoyed cooking. As a widower he made killer huckleberry pies and was very popular with the ladies at senior center potlucks. My Grandmother, who lived in walking distance, loved to cook and I still savor the memories of brown beans and ham bone served with her amazing potato salad made creamy with an addition of thick cream. My cousin Donna, a sister to me, loved to cook. Each Easter she would make me bunny rolls, home-made rolls in the shape of bunnies. Donna was the first to introduce me to scalloped potatoes with cheese which, to me, was an amazingly sophisticated dish. The only cheese my mother ever allowed to touch a vegetable was the melting of cheese over a head of cauliflower.

Ok, back to my strategy of saving face for my lack of cooking skills. Meat was particularly challenging. I never bought expensive pieces of meat because I had no instincts whatsoever about cooking meat correctly. I suppose I should have taken a cooking class. (I did take a whole foods cooking class once, but that’s another story surrounding a temporary side step attempt to become vegetarian. Forgive me, it was the 1970’s). As a young single gal dating, there were times when my cooking skills or lack of would come up. What to do, what to do? I remember perusing the red and white Better Homes And Gardens Cookbook. I guess I was hoping for an epiphany. Page turning along in the meat section, I came across a recipe for Beef Stroganoff. Hm, I thought, it didn’t look too complicated. The ingredients stretched me a bit. I’d never used fresh mushrooms, consommé, or sour cream in a dish before. Guys generally liked meat dishes and it looked sort of like a “meat and gravy” dish with a kick, I thought. So, I set out to buy my first piece of sirloin steak and when the dish turned out amazingly good, I hit on something. I could become expert at this dish, and I did. It would turn out perfect every time. And, I never met a guy who wasn’t impressed and who didn’t think me a fabulous cook. Alas, the only trouble was I could only have them over for dinner once. So, I ended up with a guy who cooks, he seduced me with stuffed pork chops on the barbeque grill. I still make my Beef Stroganoff and it still comes out perfectly. It is, though, the only time my husband will let me get near the stove with steak of any kind.

Beef Stroganoff
adapted over many years from the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook

Ingredients
2 lbs. beef sirloin sliced in ¼” strips
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
4 Tablespoons oil
1 large onion, chopped
8 oz. fresh mushrooms, sliced

4 Tablespoons butter
5 Tablespoons flour
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
2 cans Campbell's Beef Consommé

Sour Cream to taste

Instructions
Slice beef and dredge in flour salt and garlic powder.
Brown quickly in oil.
Remove meat and brown onion and mushrooms for a few minutes.

Remove onions and mushrooms. Melt butter and flour mixing well into a roué. Stir in the tomato paste. Add consommé and cook till bubbly gravy consistency. Return meat, onions and mushrooms to pan, stirring into the sauce.

Stir in sour cream when ready to serve. Serve over wide noodles.

Modifications over the years:
I push the mushrooms and onions to the side of the pan and make the roué in the center.
I use Johnnies Seasoning instead of salt.
When sirloin is selling cheap I make a double batch cooling it and freezing it in Ziplocs before adding sour cream. It freezes well.
I cook and freeze wide noodles making for a quick fix dinner.

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At least turn down your brain

Tired? Having worked for years helping people with a professional method that helps them manage stress, emotion and their effects on the body, I’ve seen a lot of tired folks. Often it isn’t a major crisis that brings them but merely the toll of normal daily life. Our days in this modern world are filled with messages from every direction, “Feel guilty”, “Feel afraid”, “Feel inadequate”. Even with a fairly strong belief in our selves and intellectual clarity about life’s realities, the emotional toll can be great. Add, then, something out of the ordinary. Let us become a victim of crime, take a financial hit, loose someone in our lives, receive a diagnosis of serious illness or experience some other seeming “low blow”. The effects on our minds and bodies can be unexpected. Traditional psychological methods may try to help us “work through our issues” on a psychological level. What happens, though, to the toll on our mind-body mechanism while we are trying to analyze our conflicts, modify our unhealthy behaviors or reframe how we are perceiving things?

Modern folks have come to understand the importance of keeping their bodies in shape in order for physical resilience and health. We now know enough about the mind to clearly say that we must “keep it in shape” as well for our emotional health and intellectual effectiveness. Because, though, the mind is intrinsically tied to the healthy functioning of the body, keeping our minds in shape daily is critically important for the health of the body.

Even the toll of average daily life can be great enough to mandate our learning a powerful method of training our brains and working to practice that brain training every day. That is what I have helped people do. An effective method of brain training goes far beyond relaxation, it gives you the ability to actually diminish the eruptions of emotions in your body.

If that is not possible, we must consider the importance to both our emotional and physical health of at least “turning down” the activity of our brains daily.

Consider yoga
Learn a meditation routine
Take a hot bath or use the hot tub to relax muscles (relaxation helps quiet the mind)
Take time for the sauna or steam room at the gym
Keep a good novel handy (turn to it instead of the loop of thoughts)
Take time again for painting if that has been a release
Give yourself time for quiet moments with your favorite music

Do something that takes your mind away from the endless loop of “thought created emotions”. It’s critical for a healthy life.

Why?

I’ve had the pleasure of knowing a sweet young man in his early 20’s who moved with his hearing-impaired mother from Ethiopia and Sudan to America. For six years he has held the job of concierge at the retirement center at which I taught a class. Impressively, he was attending Seattle Central Community College and he loved the challenge of his courses. I've had the pleasure of chatting with him many times about his life and ambitions. His smile was genuine, and his sense of humor lightened many moments for the center’s residents. What further impressed me was his excitement about life’s possibilities. His goal was to attend the University of Washington. He had the grades, obviously the work ethic and even some scholarships. He continued to work to earn further money needed. I was looking forward to congratulating him on graduating with his AA degree this weekend. I knew how proud he was and could only imagine how proud his mother must be.

Instead of enjoying a celebration of his accomplishment, he lies unconscious in extremely critical condition in a Harborview Intensive Care Unit. Walking down a sidewalk after leaving his Beacon Hill apartment the other evening, he was jumped and attacked by 6 men who beat and kicked him to unconsciousness from which he has not recovered. It was a random attack, the purpose robbery. They have taken more than ever could be imagined. I so hope they have not taken everything.

Mini Garlic Cheeseburgers

My husband made mini garlic cheeseburgers for dinner this evening. They would make great hors d oeuvres for meat loving friends.

Mini Garlic Cheeseburgers

Ingredients:
1 large hamburger patty per person
Johnny's Seasoning Salt (or salt and pepper)
1 French bread baguette (about 3' round), sliced
Slices of your favorite cheese
Tomato slices
Dilled gherkins
Hot pepper chilis (we like Mezzetta Brand)
Garlic butter for the baguette slices
Catsup
Mayonnaise

Instructions:
Mix some mayonnaise into some catsup for dipping sauce. Slice tomatoes. Season and broil the burgers. When they are done, top each with a cheese slice and when cheese melts, cut each patty into quarters. While the meat is cooking, top the baguette slices with garlic butter. After removing the meat, toast the bread under the broiler. When the baguette slices are toasted, place a dab of mayonnaise on each one and top with a quarter of a patty of meat. Serve with tomato slices, gherkins, peppers, dipping sauce and French fries (Hank put frozen fries under the broiler) green salad or macaroni salad would be good for lighter fare.

Books

I love book TV, it’s my indulgence on weekend mornings. Like a print newspaper, it exposes me to information that I would not normally have sought. This morning Johan Van Overtveldt author of “Bernanke’s Test” is discussing the economic situation in America and it’s impact around the world. He is amazingly knowledgeable but his intelligence has another more important dimension. Like Antonio Damasio in the field of neurophysiology, he is simply and clearly spoken on a complex subject. Economics is a subject that has most of us confounded, frustrated and about which most speakers make our minds trail off amidst a barrage of numbers and acronyms. I’ve come away from his talk/interview curious about a book on the subject of economics, even tempted to look at it. If my book budget was unlimited and I had a Kindle electronic book reader I really believe I would have downloaded his book after the show.

This made me wonder if the electronic readers will have people actually reading more. Ultimately, I will get one. I think a lot of times I am not reading because I don’t have a good book on hand. Often, I come across descriptions of books in magazines, newspapers and from friends. They seem interesting, like something I’d enjoy reading, then I forget about them, or lose the scrap of paper on which I’d jotted down the title. I don’t make it to the bookstore or library in time. (Side note: I have a strange relationship with libraries. I’ve probably paid for an electronic book reader with all the library fines I’ve paid. I’ve never minded, though, I’ve considered library fines and the rare parking fine I’ve gotten as my contribution to local civic coffers.)

So, this morning, I’ve given myself another good point for my building list of justifications for buying an electronic book reader. And, if you are curious but intimidated about learning more about the economic maze in which the world seems to find itself, I recommend checking out Overveldt's book, Bernanke's Test.

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