What's for Dinner?

"What's for dinner?" If I can answer that question before breakfast, my entire day seems less cluttered. Sometimes it is the nagging question that wiggles its way to my conscience, I think about it for a moment and then it goes away (unanswered). Then it will pop up again, and again and again until I give it some serious thought and attention. If I want to spend a lot of money on dinner, if I want to blow my budget on dinner, or if I don't care what those I love and myself eat then I don't have to answer the question. But for those of you who know me; I don't like wasting money on food, esp. mediocre food, I can't stand what fast food does to my wallet or my waistline, and I do care about the ingredients I use knowing they are going into the bodies of those I love.

I spoke to a friend who told me she defrosted a chicken and wants to know, "now what?" Since I told you that we had plenty of chicken on hand and a lot more meals than money before the end of the month I will tell you what I am doing with chicken. My goal is that at the end of this week they won't be staring at their plates and saying, "chicken again!!! Ugh"

Last night I cooked up some chicken just enough to take the meat off the bones. I think it is best to cook meat in some type of broth; makes for better overall flavor. This meat I cooked in a little soy sauce (I personally think Trader Joe's has some great tasting soy sauce), chicken broth and pepper. After the meat was tender, I removed all the bones and added a can of white kidney beans, black olives (I told you it was the end of the month) and a jar of peppers. To this I added some fresh cilantro and basil, a little more water and let it simmer. Then I happened to have some cream left over from waffles on Saturday morning, so I added this to the mix, then set the pot on warm. The cream will thicken the sauce a little, but be careful too much heat will cause it to separate; it won't hurt the tasted but it may look a little disgusting. This I served over rice, because at this time of the month I have plenty of rice.

A quick word about rice; this is one of those foods that we often forget about because it takes so long to cook when you want dinner on the table in 15 minutes. But rice, bless its heart, can be cooked in the morning while you are taking your shower, feeding the kids, or cleaning up after breakfast and it will wait for you all day long.

Tonight I am thinking chicken enchiladas. I don't have enchilada sauce, but I know how to make tomatoes, or tomato sauce do in a pinch, and no one at my table will be the wiser.

End of the Month (but not end of the MEALS)

This is where creativity takes on new form and function, when there is too many meals left and the end of the month is not coming soon enough. How does oatmeal sound? Breakfast, lunch and dinner. If I had plenty of oatmeal, which I do I could make some great gruel for breakfast, a wonderful cobbler for lunch and how about pancakes with oats in them for dinner...a little daring perhaps but it keeps them in suspense.

Fortunatly for my family I do have more than oatmeal for the remainder of this month, but my thinking goes like this; what do I have in the freezer...Oh there are chickens I got on sale. One night I will do chicken and rice bake, another night I will do steamed rice and chicken stir fry, and perhaps I will have enough chicken left over to do chicken enchiladas.  Under these circumstances I am  forced to think about what I can do with what I have in the house, (no shopping allowed, that's one of the rules of the game). I think about what I have in abundance and get creative.

Voila' Challah

It is amazing to me that a few simple ingredients can create memories, build bridges into lives that will last centuries, all the while causing us to look back, while simultaneously looking forward. But challah (pronounced Halla) can do all of those things.

The ingredients; flour, egg(s) oil, water, yeast, salt and a little sugar. One of my recipe books calls for 5# of flour. When I make this recipe I plan on giving away a couple of challah while baking the grandmother of all challah loaves in my oven. Bread has never been one of  those kitchen ventures that intimidates me...now making pie crusts...that's another story altogether. But my mother made bread, and if we were around at the right moment she might even let us punch our tiny little (clean) fists into the warm, spongy dough after its first rise.

God elevated food to a place of holiness when He commanded us to use food for sacrificial purposes, and challah is a bread traditionally baked on Friday and served at the Shabbath meal. It is typically a braided bread, which means a minimum of 3 ropes of dough. "For a chord of 3 is not easily broken" this applies to bread, twine, people, witnesses and many other areas representing unity and strength. I have been in kitchens where the mom makes the most beautiful challah using 6, and even 8 ropes of dough. It is only fitting that this food, the first consumed at a sabbath meal be blessed and shared.

My daughters now make challah and Aviva will grow up watching her mom, pull out the mixing bowl she always uses, and the bowl that the one extra egg gets cracked into, paying careful attention to the temperature of the water, watching to make sure the yeast is fresh and growing, in the smaller bowl she always uses,  the brush that is used to apply that last touch to the bread before it goes into the oven, that last touch that will cause the bread to glisten, and turn a beautiful shade of golden;. All of these things will be emblazoned into her memory, she will have to learn self-control, as she waits for the moment when the entire family sits down together and rejoices in another week past, another day lived, another moment to enjoy together, and another opportunity to break bread together.

And just what is this new business?

It is my hearts desire to see young women, properly equipped in their kitchens. There are some very, very basic food related techniques that can open up the world to an ammautre foodie. With this in mind, I am inviting a few gals into my kitchen for a hands on opportunity to make bread. Not just any ol' bread but traditional Challah. I might even suggest to each one attending that they bring a vegetable, and send them all home with bread and some awesome soup!

The greatest success for me in any walk of life is in the doing of it. It isn't enough to be shown what I need to do, or have someone do it for me...if it is to be mine I need to actually do it...fail...do it again and little, by little I have success.

First Post

Today I had to take down a productive vine of chinese pea pods. My mother would have said it was a "sin" but it had to be done in order to make room for the new location of the trellis it was growing on. The trellis will support several butter-nut squash ready for transplanting. It is very sad to pull up something that has provided several pods that have gone into soups and stirfry. A sin it is not...but indeed sad.

It's like preparing a great salad, and hating to begin the eating process knowing that this great tasting dish will be all gone very soon.

I hope to use this blog to promote my business (since I find myself recently unemployed), share recipes, and encourage first time, second time and even third time kitchen users. One of my strong suits; of this my husband will attest; I can make something delicious for dinner, when it appears there is nothing to cook.

Butternut Squash Image: copyright Wikimedia Commons

Credit: Forest and Kim Starr