Common Cuisine |

I was not sure I was going to like this, so I will not be offended if you have the same first impression. But I promise you it all just melts together and comes out tasting quite exotic. Make it for yourself to test it first, but consider that this is a great way to feed a lot of people economically. Give your party a luau theme, make up a banana-boatload of pina coladas, and hula the night away to the soundtrack of a steel drum band!

From the kitchen of Leigh Neaves

• cooked white rice

• chicken, cooked and shredded
• pineapple juice
• chow mein noodles
• celery, finely chopped
• white onion, finely chopped
• Campbell’s Golden Mushroom soup
• milk
• crushed pineapple
• shredded coconut
• slivered almonds

Marinate chicken overnight in pineapple juice.

Preheat oven to 350. Place chicken in baking pan, pour more juice over top, and bake for 2 hours. Cool, then shred with fork.

Mix condensed mushroom soup with just enough milk to make gravy consistency.

To Serve, layer in order: Rice, Chicken, Chow Mein Noodles, Celery, Onion, and Gravy. Add second layer of Noodles. Top with Pineapple, Coconut and Almonds.

• 1 package chicken-flavored stuffing mix
• 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
• 1 can condensed cream soup (chicken, celery, or mushroom flavor)
• 1/4 soup can milk (about 1/3 cup)

Preheat oven to 400.

Cut each chicken breast half in half and place in a glass baking dish.

Stir together condensed soup and milk.

Prepare stuffing mix according to package directions, but instead of letting it stand, immediately spoon it into the spaces around the chicken pieces. Pour soup mixture over chicken.

Cover dish with foil; bake 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 10 minutes or until chicken is completely white.

Serves 4 really hungry people, or 6 to 8 with a couple of generous side dishes such as steamed broccoli and rolls, or salad and fruit.

Would you like to give yourself a break from the kitchen for a week? It’s not hard to do, it just takes a little bit of strategy.
I know that planning is the hardest part of keeping up with the family’s needs, but it really involves about the same amount of thought it takes to get dinner on the table on any given night. You just have to do a little more thinking at one time, instead of a little bit every day. If you want to really knock yourself out and cook meals for a whole month in one weekend, I’ll address that in another article; the following are just a few strategies for how to slowly build up a surplus so you can take a sanity break when you need it.

Double Up So here is what I recommend: Look at your roster of freezable dinners. If you need ideas, check out our quick lasagna, layered enchiladas, chicken pot pie, and invent-your-own casserole recipes. Plan to make one of those for your family each week for the next three weeks. When you purchase supplies, get enough for twice what you need, and when you make it, make two. It doesn’t take that much more work. Then by the fourth week you will have three dinners already made. You can take three nights off that week, or you can keep going until you have enough to take a serious break all at once.

Before beginning this strategy, take a look at your baking dishes. If you don’t have enough to keep so many in the freezer, you can invest in disposable containers or else try the lift-out strategy. With the lift-out strategy, line the pan you intend to eventually bake the dish in with a layer of aluminum foil, then a layer of plastic wrap, each with enough material to eventually wrap over the top. Make sure to spray the plastic wrap with cooking spray; assemble the dish and freeze it, then lift it out and finish wrapping it with the plastic wrap and foil. Mark the item name on the foil with a Sharpie marker, then you are ready to add it to your treasure trove of pre-made dinners!

Intentional Leftovers Another way to cook less is to make a huge dinner one night, knowing you will see the rest of it in three days. That’s the limit in my house for how soon we can repeat a meal. When I want a break and really have my act together (doesn’t usually happen at the same time, but on occasion it does!) I will make roast beef on Sunday, layered enchiladas on Monday, and some kind of baked chicken on Tuesday. Then Wednesday we have roast beef again, Thursday is nachos and the rest of the Mexican sides from Monday, and Friday we either have chicken salad or eat out and have the chicken salad for lunch on Saturday.

Recipes I recommend for this strategy are any of the freezable dinners, chicken stuffing bake, chicken zucchini bake, roast beef, and deluxe macaroni and cheese. Or use your own family favorites.

Pre-cook and Pre-portion I always watch the circulars for meat sales. I just won’t buy it at full price. We eat a lot of Italian sausage, so when that goes on sale for half price, I stock up. But instead of freezing whole links, I crumble and fry up the whole batch as soon as I get home. I divide it into small portions and freeze it that way. Then when spaghetti night comes, it’s a snap to thaw the packet for a minute before throwing it into the sauce. By the time the water heats and the noodles cook, the sausage is heated through (not to mention the salad is made, the garlic toast is broiled and we are ready to eat)!

Another excellent item to have on hand is cut up, cooked chicken. So when the roasting chickens go on sale, I buy a couple and cook them up that afternoon. It takes a little work to debone them that day, but by the time it is done I have enough cut up, cooked chicken pieces for four meals, with the same amount of work it would have taken to cook one of those meals.

Mix it up When you have full dinners on hand, you may find you have more energy to occasionally make something that doesn’t repeat as well. Ideally I like to have something like stir fry, spaghetti, jambalaya, or even a big salad on a regular basis so we don’t get burned out on freezer fare.

How often do you find a new recipe that gets you completely excited about cooking again? Usually for me those recipes are desserts or breakfast dishes. I will admit, I did find new dessert and new breakfast recipes this year.

But a few months ago I found a recipe for carrots, of all things, that just blew me away with how wonderful they taste. I have served these with grilled chicken, roast beef, and chicken fried steak, (another new favorite).

The secret is the rosemary herb mix, I believe. The original recipe, which is probably also wonderful, calls for rosemary. I don’t keep that in stock, but I do have a rosemary herb mix from Pampered Chef that gives it a more complex taste.

Another reason I am so jazzed about this recipe is that it is simple and the kids love it.

I declare Carrot French Fries to be my favorite new recipe of this year, the best of the best in my opinion!

You may notice that this site is experiencing some content changes. My passion is to nurture others. Food is a natural nurturing element, which I have been exploring here for over two years now. Faith is another key nurturing element, which I am about to begin discussing more on this site. I find the two related for myself, because both are essential to life and health. Perhaps you will find nurture here as well, through one or the other, or both.

I recently discovered how much simpler it is to make bread when you make the dough in your bread machine. My machine has me place in all the dry ingredients, then the liquids, and the yeast goes in a handy little spot on the lid. Place the ingredients in the order listed for your machine, and it should still turn out okay.

This recipe takes some waiting, but not a lot of work. Five minutes to measure ingredients into the bread machine, fifteen to work the risen dough into knots, one just before baking to brush on egg wash.

• 3 ½ C bread flour
• 1 ½ tsp sea salt
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 ¼ C cold water
• 1 ½ tsp active dry yeast (or 2/3 envelope)
• 1 whole head garlic
• 1 T olive oil
• pinch of sea salt
• extra flour for dusting
• 1 egg, beaten with a pinch of salt, to glaze

In bread machine, layer flour, salt, sugar, 1 Tbsp oil, water, and yeast, in the order recommended by your manufacturer. Set machine to dough mode, and set aside to do its job, about 2 ½ hours.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375. Peel outer layers from garlic head, leaving at least one layer around the outer cloves. Wrap entire head in foil and place in oven for about 30 minutes until cloves become soft. Allow to cool.

Pull cloves off the head of garlic, and squeeze the garlic mash into a small bowl. Stir with 1 Tbsp oil until it becomes a paste.

Prepare two baking trays by spraying the bottom of each.

When dough has doubled in size, pull it out of the machine onto a floured surface. Punch down and knead a few times. Divide into twelve pieces. Roll each piece into an 8 inch log. Flatten and spread each piece with garlic paste, then tie it into a knot and set on the baking tray.

Spray a piece of plastic wrap with cooking spray, then cover the first baking tray. Repeat with second tray. Allow to rise at normal room temperature for another 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425. Bake for 15 minutes until knots are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 12.

Well I’ll be warding off the vampires tonight, for sure! I have discovered a recipe that makes me look like an artisan bread maker, and it involves roasted garlic. The author of the cookbook (cited in the recipe) has actually served as chef to Queen Elizabeth, which makes me feel even more accomplished in light of how the bread turned out.

This recipe calls for rolling bits of dough into long fingers, spreading roasted garlic puree on top, and tying the fingers into knots reminiscent of soft pretzels. The risen knots are then brushed with an egg wash and baked into rolls with that flaky yet chewy texture that I have never before been able to accomplish. And not only that, tonight is the third time I have repeated the recipe, with stellar results each time.

I have made fire! Click here for the recipe: Garlic Knots.