Brielle's Avalon

Chicken, ribs, chops…even vegies! Whatever happens to be on sale, cook it up while you do something else and put the leftovers away for later, saving even more time. I first started doing this when my kids were young and I found chicken pieces for 15 cents a pound in 10 pound bags. I grabbed it, then had to figure out what to do with it before it went south!

Open the bag in one side of the sink.

Rinse each leg quarter. if you want, take out the organs in the leg, just run your thumb through the channel if anything’s there. I cook them in a little bow. and give them to the cat. when you’ve rinsed them and put them in pans, empty the liquid out of the bag, tie it up and throw it away.

Pull out the roaster and all the cake pans you have. Put 1 to 3 pieces in each, whatever fits, then pepper all ’round and toss on onion and garlic.

Now for the fun. Viva la difference!” (I was already bored). Put ginger, teriyaki sauce, soy sauce and rice wine (OK, any white wine you happen to have on hand will do). Got star anise? Tuck a couple of those on, too. Five spice? Sure. Then pop it in the oven

Next on the assembly line is lemon pepper chicken with orange juice. Pop that in the oven.

Oregano, salsa and beer. Don’t have beer? Red wine, white wine, tequila…whatever… Then into the oven and

NEXT! Put 2 knobs of butter on each quarter then pop out to the garden for some thyme, basil, oregano…whatever’s growing. Fennel or dill? Sure. Oregano? Grab some. Rosemary? Pinch some of that, too. Sprinkle them on, pour in some wine and pop it in the oven.

Now for the last pan. This one was enormous so it went alone into a loaf pan. I ran out of barbeque sauce so I squirted on a little ketchup, mustard, honey and Worcestershire with wine in this one too (unless you want to use beer or cider). Pop this in the oven, turn it on to 350 for an hour.

If you want baked potatoes, now is the time to put them in. Don’t forget to poke them with a fork.

Now take a shower, read a book, vacuum, take a walk around the block. Just fill 30 or 40 minutes.

Welcome back! Put on a pan of rice, another pan of stuffing, maybe some instant mashed potatoes, pop some biscuits in the oven an warm up some vegies (frozen is SO convenient!). Set the table, put all the selections on trivets and dig in. Plenty for tonight with no one complaining that they don’t get their favourite and you have leftovers to make new stuff for the rest of the week.

What isn’t eaten of the baked potatoes tonight can be made into twice-baked potatoes tomorrow, Any leftover rice can be made into fried rice, Spanish rice or ‘dirty’ rice another night. Leftover stuffing is great for breakfast! Extra mashed potatoes can be made into lefse or potato pancakes for breakfast or dinner another night. Leftover vegis can go into a soup with some leftover chicken.

If you went straight to the sides instead of taking a shower or getting something else done you have time to help the kids finish their homework. Everyone gets to choose what they want to eat, cooking’s done for the rest of the week (on a weeknight no less!) and I get to get something done while I wait for dinner! Wow! I AM A GENIUS!

If you want to try different flavours, experiment. Sesame honey chicken, honey mustard, marinara sauce, cream of mushroom or cream of celery soup, enchilada sauce, mole, peanut sauce with sambal oelek, Garam Masala, curry, onion soup mix, rosemary and wine, simple salt and pepper…the possibilities are endless! And you can do this with chicken quarters, thighs, drumsticks, breasts, turkey parts, lamb shanks, lamb chops, pork chops, pork ribs, beef ribs, chuck steak, potatoes, sweet potatoes, rutabagas, jicama…or whatever fleshy vegetables you like, even corn! If you’re roasting something that doesn’t have much fat on its own, like lean meat or vegies, do add butter, olive oil or your favourite healthy fat or oil and your choice of flavourings. How much easier could it be to start or get back into a healthy, home-cooked habit?

Possibilities for re-cooking on later evenings are soup, stew, enchiladas, fried rice, stir fry, pulled meat sandwiches, lasagna, random casseroles, shepherd’s pie…and leftovers make an easy lunch. And if there are still leftovers at the end of the week you can always give them to the chickens.

You can make serving dinner as fancy or casual as you like. White tablecloth, candles, single in a nice vase, wine or place-mats, paper plates and towels as napkins and milk or sodas to go with it. A fabulous romantic dinner doesn’t have to be hard to make and it can be as impressive as you want to make it or as easy, since paper plats mean less clean up (some are even compostable!)