Mr. Moms Favorite Family Meals

Ragbrai

Waiting in rainy davenport to be bused back to the starting town Glenwood, IA.
Should be a good week.

Freezer Clean Out "Inventory"

Ok....so today I finally inventoried my freezer and like any type of cleaning, there were just things that needed to be thrown away. So after I discarded the food that couldn't be saved (fortunately not a lot) I was left with the following inventory:

1. Flank Steaks
2. Wild Caught SOHO Salomon (Yes, we caught these in Oregon last summer)
3. Green Chili
4. Red Chili
5. Ground Turkey
6. Chicken Tortilla Soup
7. Hatch Green Chili's
8. Steaks---Couple of T-Bones, Filet's & Rib Eyes

So Now the ever pressing question what to do with all this food and it seems I can stretch this into quite a bit of meals. So below is what I plan to do with each one, not necessarily in order (it will depend on mood).

Beef

I will take the steaks and with Mr. Mom's Favorite Steak Marinade will grill on a nice spring day. Flank Steaks I will be grilling up for Cinco De Mayo which is right around the corner (one of my favorite Holiday's).

Chicken--Turkey

The Chicken Tortilla soup I will re-heat and serve with fresh avocado and cheese and have as a meal. The ground turkey I will cook and use for either enchilada's or burritos.

Chili's

My favorite thing to do with left over chili's is to combine all of them into one pot (doesn't matter whether green, red, vegetarian or ??) and let them simmer and meld together. Now you might need to add some liquid to the pot but either way give it a try......it will probably be a hit.

Salomon

Since I have quite of bit of Salomon and it was filleted, vacuum packed and frozen immediately after we caught last year,  I probably have another year before I have to start worrying about it. When I do decide to thaw I will use a soy ginger marinade (that we will make) and cook on the BBQ. Stay tuned as this is a winner!  

Green Chili's

There is no real urgency is using these either. Yes they have some freezer burn on them, but they will work wonderfully in Green Chili. All though depending on how they thaw my favorite is a good Chili Relleno, but time will tell.

Overall, after I threw out the food that has turned (actually really not that much) there isn't as much there as I originally thought. So stay tuned as I will continue to post what I end up making.....good news still haven't been to costco yet and hoping to make thru this week and then it's back to stocking up.

Have something in your freezer and don't know what to do with it? Ask....always love a good challenge!

Happy Cooking & Enjoy!

Chef Dave                                                                                                  www.mrmomscookbooks.com

Day 2 of Freezer Clean Out

So it's Day 2, which have not been consecutive days as life seems to always get in the way. I still haven't taken inventory of everything in the freezer and not quite sure when I will, but for now I keep taking the easy way out.

So I found 4 whole boneless chicken breasts and going to create chicken cutlets with a jar of marinara sauce and whole wheat pasta (holding true to cleaning out the pantry as well).

The first thing I need to do is stretch 4 chicken breasts into 5+, since we are a family of five. So I will begin by filleting the breasts lengthwise and turning 4 into 8. One of the great things about doing this is not only do I have more chicken breasts but when you filet them they sauté quicker and are more tender.

So I will bread them in egg whites and crumbs and sauté in olive oil in a cast iron skillet. I then spray a 6x9 pan with non-stick spray ( easier clean up), place the breasts along the bottom of the pan, cover with your favorite marinara sauce (use half jar) sprinkle with cheese and cover with aluminum foil.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes (remove aluminum foil after 30 minutes), cook pasta according to directions and use remaining marinara sauce for pasta.

Serve immediately! Add steamed broccoli or frozen corn for a little twist.
Be sure to let me know how it turns out.

Happy Cooking & Enjoy!
Chef Dave

Amazon Kindle

Mr Moms Favorite Family Meals is finally available for the Kindle on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004XJCWD2

So the cookbook is available now for all ebook platforms. Ye Ha!

Happy & Cooking and Enjoy!
Chef Dave

Day 1 Spring Freezer Clean Out

Today being Thursday and what a better day than today to start the freezer eat out. I haven't gotten the courage yet to really access what I really have in the freezer ( I can't put off for to long) but today I am putting off the inventory and going with some steak cubes and ground beef or buffalo (not really sure and its not marked).

So now the million dollar question??? What to do with the beef?
I am feeling lazy today so I am going to sauté the beef then add onion, cilantro, fresh basil and garlic, and cook until softened for some gourmet hand held burritos.

In cleaning out the freezer I am also cleaning out the pantry and have added some applesauce with black beans as my sides.

For the complete recipe
http://www.mrnomscookbooks.com/recipes.HTML
Let's see what we find tomorrow.
Happy Cooking & Enjoy!
Chef Dave

Spring Cleaning

Well in our household its that time of year again, for spring cleaning which for us not only includes the house but freezer as well. If you are like many families we have such good intentions to buy food in bulk and freeze the left overs for later. In this house later sometimes never comes or when it does I forget what we even have or I just buy it again and I never get to the freezer.

That's why I am going to spend the next two weeks cleaning out our freezer (trying hard not to go to Costco) and using everything frozen and eatable to make meals for the family.

As I go thru this process I will post each meal and what crazy or simple solutions I come up with or maybe what surprises I find lurking in or freezer.

In the end I hope to have a cleared out freezer where I can start this vicious cycle all over again :-).
Happy Cooking & Enjoy!
Chef Dave

Opening day @ Rockies

Great day for baseball...doesn't get any better than this in Colorado!

Chef Dave creating a Spinach Salad?

Chef Dave Creating a Spinach Salad on FusionNW in Portland. Easy, and Dad-Tastic Anytime.

Happy Cooking & Enjoy!

 

Xmas dinners all GONE

Well we did it! It took all afternoon to give out 100 meals. I am proud of my family for sticking it out.
Merry Christmas!

Great Xmas food

Kids working hard assembling meals 100 meals to give out this afternoon.
Happy holidays!!