Economy of Time - Chicken 3 Ways

As a busy mom I know that making a healthy and appealing dinner each night is a huge challenge. Last year I bought a cookbook called: "Cook Once a Week, Eat Well Every Day: Make-Ahead Meals that Transform Your Suppertime Circus into Relaxing Family Time" by Theresa Albert.

This book really has changed the way that I look at food preparation and planning. One of the most important ideas that I got out of this book was to prepare large quantities of meat a few different ways, for future use. I usually shop at Costco and used to think I was pretty organized by separating the huge family pack meats into smaller quantities and freezing these. Theresa goes one step further by actually cutting up the meat (if needed) and adding the marinade or spice mixture to the freezer bag and freezing it all together. Brilliant! All you have to do is take out the meat of choice the night before, put it in your fridge to defrost and then place it on a foil-lined baking sheet when you're ready to cook it. Bake at 350F for 35-40 minutes, or until juices run clear. Add a few appropriate sides (carbs, veg, etc.) and voila, dinner is ready!

Chicken 3 Ways

• 1/2 head of garlic, minced and divided into 3 freezer bags
• 3 lemons juiced, divided into 2 of the freezer bags
  

Bombay Chicken (left bag in picture)

• Cut up 1/3 of the chicken into 1-2 inch size chunks and place in freezer bag with lemon and garlic
  
• Add 2 tbsp. commercially prepared curry paste (I like Patak's mild curry)
• Optionally, you can add 1/2 can coconut milk now or when cooking

Empty contents into an oven-safe casserole dish. Cook as directed. Serve with steamed rice.

Chinese Chicken (top bag in picture)

• Cut up 1/3 of the chicken into long strips and place in freezer bag with garlic only
  
• Add 1 tbsp. chili garlic sauce
• 1 tbsp. sesame oil
• 1/2 cup soy sauce

Open up a bag of pre-shredded cole-slaw mixture and spread around on baking sheet. Remove chicken from marinade and place on top of cole-slaw. Bake as directed.

Greek Chicken (right bag in picture)

• Cut up 1/3 of chicken into chunks or strips and place in freezer bag with garlic and lemon juice
• Add 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tbsp. dried oregano
• 1 tsp. dried rosemary
• 1 tbsp. dried basil
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
  

Bake and serve wrapped in pita bread with cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers, hummus and kalamata olives.

Ratatouille

I bought one of those big bags of red, yellow and orange peppers at Costco a few weeks ago (you know the ones) and they weren't looking so great any more, so I decided to put them to good use. Also, when I was shopping the other day I saw some beautiful eggplants, which are a strange vegetable, that most people pass by. Usually I pass them by because they are more than likely old, soft and wrinkly and eggplant does take some effort, dredging (salting), rinsing, drying.

A lovely fall day calls for something yummy simmering away on the stove and ratatouille is exactly what I felt like. Ratatouille is Provincial vegetable stew, and I think it makes an excellent side dish or vegetarian main course and freezes well for future use.

Ratatouille

• 1 medium red onion
• 5 cloves of garlic
• 1 large, firm eggplant
• 3 zucchini's
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 1 yellow pepper, chopped
• 1 can of diced tomatoes (or peeled fresh, if you have them)
• 6 chopped sun dried tomatoes packed in oil, rinsed
• 1 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
  
• 3 tbsp. dried basil
• 2 tbsp. Herbs de Provence
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup red wine
• salt for dredging

Peel and slice the eggplant and zucchini into rounds. Lay in a colander and sprinkle a generous amount of salt on both sides and allow to sit for 20 minutes. This process removes the bitter flavor that turns most people off of eggplant and removes a lot of the water from the zucchini. Rinse and dry between layers of paper towel.

Dice the onions and garlic and heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large, heavy bottom pan. (I use a Le Cruset enameled pot.) When the onions are translucent, add the peppers and allow to saute for about 5 minutes. Keep stirring and don't allow the garlic to burn. When the peppers have softened add the remaining ingredients except for the wine. Bring to a boil and then turn down the heat and simmer for at least 2 hours, or until the skin on the peppers is soft.

Once the peppers are soft, taste for seasoning and add the wine. Allow to simmer on low for a little while longer.

Serve as a side dish or in a bowl with Parmesan sprinkled over top.