What’s for Dinner? On Planet Mom, there is a kitchen and people waiting for you to feed them
Dec 24, 2015
Your Cooking History
• How did you learn to cook?
• Who taught you?
• How do you decide what to cook?
Here’s our Plan:
• Writing a Menu
• What’s in the Pantry?
• Going to the store
• Getting it on the table
Exercise #1
• What did your family eat for dinner last week? (If you can’t remember, write down the meals that you CAN remember. It’s all good.)
Writing a Menu
• How many meals CAN you cook? Thirty? Ten?
• Make a master list…just write them down.
• You will have this list to expand your menus. You can be creative on days when you feel creative, when you aren’t…check the LIST and pick something from there.
Exercise #2
• What can you cook…from memory…without consulting a cookbook?
• This is your master list – this will be the basis for MANY meals that you can make, but in a pinch, you can haul these out.
How to Cook Without a Book by Pam Anderson
• Millions of recipes…but only a handful of cooking techniques
• Pan Frying
• Deep Frying
• Broiling/Grilling
• Steaming
• Boiling
Same techniques = Many dinners
• Seared scallops with lemon parsley sauce = New York strip steak with horseradish pan sauce = pork tenderloin medallions with apple cider pan sauce
• If you can saute, you can sear
• Change up the ingredients and you have a whole different dinner
Soup
• “Saute an onion, then add vegetables, starch and meat. Cook in a quart of broth for a meal that can’t be beat.”
Mix up the Ingredients = New Soup
• Ham & Potato Soup with Leeks and Peas
• White Bean Soup with Sausage, Peas and Kale
• Chicken Vegetable soup with Noodles
• Spinach Soup with Rice and Lemon
• Gumbo-style Shrimp Soup
How about your Master List?
• Can you switch around the ingredients in your master list and come up with new menu items?
• Next exercise…taking the master list you created, can you make a “similar” dinner that could be the basis for next weeks’ menu?
Pan to Plate Challenge
• These four ingredients are in your pantry
• Consulting with the partner chefs at your table, what meals could you make with those four ingredients?
Your Pantry
• What do you have on hand that needs using up? “Shop at home first”
• Cindy’s Porch Pantry Lists www.cindysporch.net
• Freezer, Fridge, Pantry
• If you haven’t used it in a month…it is time to use it, or send it to the Food Shelf
Grocery Store Strategy
• Creating a Grocery Store master list
• Knowing the layout of your “favorite” store
• “Simplify Your Life” by Elaine St. James
Getting it on the table
Tips for cooking with small children underfoot
• How do you keep your children entertained and occupied while you cook?