Menu for One

What to Eat First

Hey guys!  I don't know about you, but I don't like cleaning out my refrigerator.  I like having a clean refrigerator, it just pains me to throw away food that spoiled before I got around to eating it (a real struggle if you're cooking for one!).  I don't know if it's true or not, but VegetarianTimes.com reported the average family throws away approximately $600 in food every year (approximately 14% of food purchased, 25% of all produce purchased) - yikes!

To help, the website features a handy, dandy chart of what to eat first to avoid unnecessary spoilage.  It's been around for awhile, but I just stumbled upon it and plan to stick it on my refrigerator.  I hope this is helpful!  I really recommend that you read the whole article for more information about should (and should not) be stored next to each other, what should NOT be stored in the refrigerator, etc.  A copy of the whole article is available here.

Eat First: Sunday to Tuesday Artichokes Asparagus Avocados Bananas Basil Broccoli Cherries Corn Dill Green beans Mushrooms Mustard greens Strawberries Watercress

Eat Next: Wednesday to Friday   Arugula Cucumbers Eggplant Grapes Lettuce Lime Mesclun Pineapple Zucchini

Eat Last: Weekend   Apricots Bell peppers Blueberries Brussels sprouts Cauliflower Grapefruit Leeks Lemons Mint Oranges Oregano Parsley Peaches Pears Plums Spinach Tomatoes Watermelon

And Beyond! Apples Beets Cabbage Carrots Celery Garlic Onions Potatoes Winter squash

Alton Brown's Purple Smoothie (part of this complete breakfast!)

 Last week, the food blogging scene was abuzz with the success of the first annual food blogging camp  at Club Med Ixtapa.  Attendees benefitted from small workshops with food writers, food stylists, photographers, and chefs, including Michael Ruhlman, Matt Armendariz, and David Lebovitz.  While I did not go (err...as you can see by the quality of the lead photo to this post - I need to do a better job rinsing that glass!), I wished that I had, envying their chance to slowly sip tropical drinks adorned with little umbrellas while listening to the soft lapping of ocean waves on the beach.  Sigh.

Alas, lately I have been spending my days in a window-less room reviewing documents to be shared in a class action lawsuit, so I have to get my kicks where I can.  I cannot bring the beach to me, but I can put a fruity drink in my hand.  I swapped the little umbrella for an awesome curly straw (courtesy of my friends Tim and Ben, who decided that when it came time for me to celebrate passing the bar exam, regular drinks and regular straws just would not do.  Thanks, guys.) and left out the hard stuff (to keep this drink weekday morning-friendly), although you could certainly add whatever you like. 

Taking a page out of Eugenia Bone's book, I have portioned this smoothie recipe into single servings so this fruity concoction can be enjoyed on a moment's notice (especially early in the day when I might be less inclined to mix and measure, as easy as it may be).  It should be noted that this recipe, as much as any smoothie is a recipe, comes courtesy of Alton Brown, although I have adapted slightly. 

Into freezer-safe containers, combine 2 ounces (by weight) each of frozen strawberries, blueberries, and peaches.  Mango might be a nice substitute, but for the sake of convenience, I might shy away from the seedier fruits, such as raspberries and blackberries.  Next, add 2 ounces (by weight) of banana (roughly half of a banana) broken into bite-sized pieces (your blender will thank you).  Then add 2 ounces (by weight) of any purple fruit juice.  Try acai juice, which comes from the fruit of a species of palm tree (every time it's mentioned, all I can hear is Will Ferrell from Zoolander saying "It's so hot right now."), trendy pomegranate juice, or the old-reliable grape juice (which is what I used because it's waaaay cheaper than the other two). 

Seal and save in the freezer until you're in need of a 10 minute tropical getaway.  I let a bag partially defrost in the refrigerator overnight, then blend it (slowly at first to help grind up the big chunks of fruit, then at a higher speed for 30-60 seconds), adding milk (or soy milk for protein, but milk is cheaper, and I'm all about cheap right now) until the smoothie reaches my desired consistency.

Speaking of cheap...this smoothie is cheap!

CHEAP EATS: Making your own freezer-ready smoothie mix will save you money right off the bat - it's cheaper than the frozen bags of smoothie mixes you can buy at the store, and certainly much less expensive (and arguably better for you) than anything you could buy at a national smoothie chain.  I recommend buying pre-frozen fruit (with the exception of bananas) over buying fresh fruit and freezing it yourself.  Frozen fruit is already picked at its peak and frozen immediately, so sometimes the quality can be even better than berries you might find in your produce section, say, in the dead of winter.

But get this!  The first time I made this, I went to my local Publix to pick up bags of frozen fruit at $3.99 a pop.  But while I was strolling up and down the isles of Whole Foods (isn't that just so relaxing?), I discovered that their frozen fruit was - wait for it - nearly $2.00 cheaper per bag!  Who saw that coming?  I did not.  All in all, this drink is about $1.60 per serving!  So get yourself some fruit and pull out your blender!  You need a $1.60 vacation!

French Onion Soup

 

It has been freezing here, in a technical sense.  Yes, yes, I know it's probably been colder wherever you happen to be sitting, but for Atlanta, it has been unseasonably cold.  That's why I was thankful to have this french onion soup ready for me in my freezer.  

Everyone needs an emergency recipe like this in their back pocket.  It comes from a great cookbook I got for Christmas, Eugenia Bone's Well-Preserved.  She shows country folk and city folk alike how to can (aka put up or preserve) fruits, vegetables, or meats in small quantities, AND THEN shows you what to do with them when you open them up later, other than just eating them out of the jar.  The greatest part of the book is that, for a great many of the recipes, you don't need any special equipment.  This french onion soup is one of those beauties.  All you need is a large pot and some freezer bags/containers.

As with each of the recipes in the book, this recipe is made in two stages.  You start first by making Stewed Onions with Marjoram, to be divided into 2-pint portions and stored in your freezer.  Whenever you're craving something warm and seriously delicious, you just grab a pack out of your freezer and reheat it with some chicken stock.  Voila!

Over medium-low, heat 6 tablespoons in your largest pot (I learned this the hard way - you'll need plenty of room for the onions).  In the meantime, thinly slice 24 medium yellow onions.  If you have a food processor, this is a moment where your slicer disk can really shine.  It will save you a lot of time and tears.  Add the onions to the pot and let them hang out for 30 minutes or so, stirring every few minutes.  [If you're concerned after adding the onions that there won't be room for any other ingredients, don't worry - their volume will decrease significantly.]  Next, add two quarts of low-sodium beef stock and 3 tablespoons of dried marjoram.  I recommend low-sodium because it gives you a little more control over the saltiness of your food.  It's much easier to add a little bit more than to take any out.  Let this all hang out on the stove for an hour and fifteen minutes.  The onions will be soft and stewy.

When the mixture has cooled, I used tongs to transfer the onions to 6 freezer-safe plastic bags, then ladled in the broth.  End of STAGE ONE.

 

STAGE TWO: When you're ready to enjoy the soup, grab a bag from the freezer.  Defrosting it overnight would probably be best, but I just cut the bag open and reheated it over a low flame with a quart of chicken stock.  When I could see steam start to rise from the surface of the soup, I ladled it into two ramekins, topped it with some thick-sliced bread, and sprinkled it with shredded parmesan cheese.  After 5-10 minutes in a 400F oven, the bread had soaked up some of the soup and the cheese had formed a delicious golden-brown crust.  I'm happy to report that STAGE TWO took all of fifteen minutes to prepare, maybe less.  One portion from the freezer comfortably feeds two.  Enjoy!

 

Blackberry Limeade (porch swing not included)

I am frequently asked how I came to live in Georgia and whether I have grown accustomed to living in the South.  Truth be told, it wasn't much of an adjustment moving to the land of collard greens and fried chicken.  The South is often characterized by its people (warm and friendly...Atlanta drivers might want to take a refresher course), its weather (sunny and hot hot hot), and its food (good home cookin', usually a little on the heavy side, but nevertheless a key ingredient of the hospitality for which Southerners are known).

Aside from the weather, my small hometown in New Hampshire was not much different.  It, too, was filled with very friendly people, who were just as soon to smile when you pass them on the sidewalk.  

I once chatted with a professor at a small college in New England who was writing an article on what he termed "small town civility."  Although friendliness or good manners, or whatever you want to call it, can exist anywhere, the dynamics of living in a small town forces residents to exhibit more neighborly behavior than people living in larger, more urban environments.  For example, here in Atlanta, I can go to the same grocery store a dozen times and never run into anyone I know.  The anonymity that comes from living in an urban environment gives city folk the freedom to act however they like in public because they probably won't see the people in any particular place again.  But the professor theorized that in a small town, you have to be civil with everyone who crosses your path.  You can't chew someone out for cutting you off in traffic or ignore them at the post office because she's your banker or he's the only plumber in town.  You're probably going to need their help at one point or another.

But I digress.  I venture that, no matter whether you're a city girl or country boy, you can appreciate a porch swing or an adirondack chair and a tall glass filled with something cool and refreshing.  If you've been meaning to dust the pollen off your adirondack chair, or want to take a 10 minute mental vacation to pretend you have a house with a porch and a swing, I suggest you whip up some of this:

BLACKBERRY LIMEADE: AMETHYST ELIXER
Adapted from a recipe by Martha Hall Foose, found in Screen Doors and Sweet Tea

4 cups fresh blackberries, or unsweetened frozen blackberries, thawed
1 cup sugar
The peal from half of a lime
1/2 cup fresh lime juice (roughly 8 limes)
2 cups of club soda, or tonic water

Place the berries in a food processor and pulse until the berries have emitted their dark juice.  Be careful not to pulverize the seeds, for they are not invited to be in the drink, and it's easier to keep them out when they're somewhat whole.  Using the back of a plastic spoon, press the juice and what remains of the berries through a fine mesh sieve to separate the juice from the seeds.  Mix the blackberry juice with the lime juice.

Next, in a small saucepan, combine the sugar, water, and lime zest.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes to form a simple syrup.  Remove the peel, and allow the syrup to cool to room temperature.  Slowly add 3/4 of the syrup to the blackberry/lime juice and taste, and then add the remainder of the mixture to your taste.  Keep in mind that the mixture will be diluted by the club soda.

Fill a tall glass with ice.  Fill 1/3 of the way with the blackberry limeade and the rest of the way with club soda or tonic water (some gin might also be a great addition to the party).  Sit back, relax, and enjoy.

Hoagies with Drunken Sausages and Peppers

Three cheers for the beginning of grilling season!  And baseball season!  Truth be told, I don't really follow the Braves, or any team for that matter, but I do enjoy going to a couple games every season.  I get wrapped up in the excitement.  Aside from the game itself, I love hearing the organ (or its electronic equivalent :( ), doing the wave, watching the post-game fireworks, and of course, enjoying a hot dog and a beer!

I haven't made it to a game yet this season, but I did decide to bring ballpark food to my neck of the woods, in the form of drunken sausage with delicious (and mighty attractive, I might add) multi-colored peppers.  The fact that this recipe is cheap and easy to make made the meal taste that much better.

This recipe is taken from Dave Lieberman's Young and Hungry, a great cookbook full of low-budget meals that don't look or taste low-budget.

Preheat the oven to 400F.  Start out by setting a non-stick, oven-safe pan over medium-high heat.  Brown a pound of italian sausage (5-6 links) for approximately 10 minutes, turning every few minutes so that the sausage browns on all sides.  (The sausage will curl a little bit in this process making it difficult to brown on all sides...don't freak out, it's not a big deal).  During this process, poke the sausages a few times with fork to let some of the juices out.  When the ten minutes are up, use tongs to move the sausages to a plate.

Thinly slice three peppers (any color combo you want) and three cloves of minced garlic and add them to the pan.  Let them hang out in there for about 8 minutes or until just begin to wilt, stirring occasionally.  Return the sausage to the pan, nestling the links among the garlic and peppers.

Here comes the fun part!  Open a can of beer.  Any beer, your choice (I've been using light-colored beer).  Taking the pan off heat, add about 1/2 cup, and return the pan to the heat source.  When the beer starts to bubble, transfer the pan to the oven.  Wait 25-30 minutes and dinner is served!  I place a link in a hoagie roll (a little sturdier than a standard hotdog bun, although those will work, too), load on some peppers, and spoon on a little of that beer juice (beer jus?).

Now, for those of us cooking for one, here is what I recommend that you do next.  Pull out your aluminum foil.  I slice up the sausage links into rounds and lay then on a 12 x 12 (ish) square of foil (1-2 links per square).  Add some of the peppers and beer jus, and wrap up, crimping up the sides to ensure a good seal.  Label and place in the freezer.  Then, next time you need a quick dinner, grab a packet from your freezer and heat at 400F for 10-15 minutes.  I don't own a toaster oven, but I think using one would be a great choice here.

So grab a beer and enjoy!

Spinach, Tomato, and White Bean Soup

Do you ever have those nights when you look through the kitchen and say to yourself, "there is NOTHING to  eat?"  I uttered those words earlier this week, seconds before I grabbed my phone to order takeout.  Then I stopped myself.  Am I not the same girl who blogged about the benefits of a well-stocked pantry?  The same girl who said maybe, just maybe, in order to make this cooking for one thing work, that I'd have to try taking the recipe-training wheels off and just try cooking without a script?

Seizing the spirit of adventure, I opened my kitchen cabinets.  I decided soup might be a good place to start.  I know I love soup, and maybe it's not everyone's favorite, but I figured that it would be easy to mess with proportions and to add a little bit of this and a little bit of that.  I grabbed everything I thought might be good in a soup and laid it on the counter.  I grouped these ingredients into categories:

BASE: water and/or chicken stock

VEGETABLES: frozen spinach, canned tomatoes, great northern beans, carrots, onions

FILLERS: barley, egg noodles, small pasta

FINISHERS: parmesan cheese rinds

Remembering that most recipes start by sweating some version of the mire poix (carrots, onions, and celery), I took what aromatics I had (about a two-handed scoopful of chopped carrots and onions) and let them cook slowly in a heavy-bottomed pot, seasoning them with salt and pepper.  When they started to get soft (and to smell really good), I added half of a can of great northern beans (drained), half of a 14oz can of chopped tomatoes (not drained), and half of a defrosted 10 oz package of frozen spinach that I had squeezed dry.  After giving everything a quick stir, I let these ingredients warm up a little bit.  

Remember when I made chicken stock?  It was at this point that I pulled out the bag of chicken stock I had frozen in the muffin tin molds, and added about four to the soup.  You could probably defrost them before adding them to the pot, but I just through them in frozen - I'm not sure it made much of a difference.  After they had melted, I added water to the pot until I liked the consistency, and voila!  Dinner was served!

[In the end, I decided not to add any fillers, such as pasta or barley...the choice is yours.  If you do add them, add them at the end, and just simmer the soup until the pasta is cooked through].

In this instance, I also added a couple of rinds of parmesan cheese I had stashed in my freezer last month.  I let them hang out in the soup from about the time I added the stock and the water until I was ready to serve.  "Waste Not Want Not" strikes again.

The verdict?  Not likely to be featured in next month's Gourmet, but it was a simple dinner that I'd make again.  But more than anything, this very small success gave me a little confidence boost to try cooking off-script again.  And if I can do it, believe me, you can do it, too.  Bon appetit!

OH.  And wondering what to do with the rest of the beans, tomatoes, and spinach?  I was, too.  So I mixed them  up, stored them in a tupperware container and stashed it in the freezer.  I can pull it out the next time I make soup, but I'm sure that I can add it to whatever I serve next with rice, pasta, or tomato sauce.  Imagination at work.

UPDATE: I've recently started listening to a wonderful public radio broadcast called The Splendid Table (www.splendidtable.org) hosted by Lynne Rossettto Kasper, who is just a wealth of information on all things food.  In a recent episode, she discussed the three methods of Basic Soup Improvisation (a summary is printed on her website).  I encourage you to take a look - it will help give you the confidence you need to cook without a script!

Chicken Stock

I think I've mentioned it before, but one of the kitchen ingredients I use the most is chicken stock.  Remember 10 years ago when all those Chicken Soup for the Soul books came out?  I never dreamed that beyond Chicken Soup for the Soul and A Second Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul there would be Chicken Soup for the Preteen Soul, Chicken Soup for the Golden Soul, or A Fifth Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul (no joke).  But these publishers were onto something.  Indeed, there is something powerful about chicken soup.

I studied music in college, among other things.  One of the most difficult assignments I ever had came from my music theory professor.  He gave each student a different Chopin mazurka (polish folk dance with lots of flourishes), and each was relatively unknown.  Our job was to see beyond the flourishes and reduce the piece down to its essence in three stages, until there was only one note remaining per phrase.  The intention was that we would come to appreciate the structure of Chopin's composition as we studied it and took it apart.  

In the same way, if we take it apart a bowl of chicken soup, looking past the flourishes of egg noodles, carrots, celery - even the pieces of chicken, the soup's true healing powers lies (lays?  argh, I can never remember which!) in the chicken broth.  This is what brings us together today.

There are many out there who will tell you that if you can't use homemade stock, use shouldn't use stock at all.  I am not one of those people.  However, there is a BIG difference in quality, and once you make it for yourself, you will want to make it again and again.

Pros to making your own chicken stock: CHEAP-ola.  It's made from leftovers and scraps that might not be enough to eat on their own, a veritable illustration of the Waste Not Want Not philosophy (always a good idea, but especially so in times like these).  It makes your house smell good, and it can be used in almost everything.  Did I mention it's fool proof and requires no technique whatsoever?

Cons: it takes time - but that's ok, isn't it?  Plus, it's almost entirely inactive time on your part. So basically, there are no cons to making your own stock.

There are a million ways to make stock, and while some are better than others, I don't think there's really a wrong way.  Here's mine.

As you can see on this table, in addition to the items on the list, I have *stock bag* - a brilliant new tip I just picked up from Smitten Kitchen.  I just stash peelings and veggie stubs in a bag in the freezer and empty the whole bag into the stockpot whenever I made a new batch of chicken stock.

So here goes.  Step 1: dump all the ingredients into a large stockpot.  Cover with with cold water.  Step 2: Simmer for 3 hours.  (Modification: the directions above say bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer.  I recommend just simmering to avoid cloudy - but nevertheless delicious - stock that results when it is boiled too long).  I make stock on the stovetop, but I have been toying with the idea of making it in the oven next time where a steady temperature is easier to maintain.

It'll look ugly for awhile, but don't mess with it for three (3) hours  Then drain the stock into a large container, and spoon off the layer of fat.  Alternatively, after draining, just wait for the liquid to cool, and the fat will turn into an easy to remove solid.  (sounds delightful, I know).

Either put it to use right away, or store it for another day.  It will keep about a week in the refrigerator, or several months in the freezer.  My mother pours her stock into muffin tins and ice cube trays, then puts the frozen cubes into a large ziplock bag in the freezer.  I highly recommend this method for those of us cooking for one!  Sometimes you need less than a quart of stock, and this muffin tin method allows for you to pull out just what you need, in pre-measured amounts.  Just thaw in the refrigerator or microwave and you're ready to go.  In my mom's case, she'll pull out a cube or two when she wants to thin out a sauce or gravy, deglaze a pan, or add flavor to cooking rice or greens.

What else can you do with homemade chicken stock?  Well that, my friends, is fodder for another post.  Coming soon...

Dave Lieberman's Black Bean Soup

This afternoon I decided to make Dave Lieberman's Black Bean Soup.  In addition to being perfectly suited for this time of year, it can be made almost entirely from items already in your pantry and freezes really well.  (I like to freeze it in individual size portions that are easy to take to work for lunch).

I think everyone should have in their arsenal a couple of tried and true dishes that they can make on short notice .  Let's face it, not every meal is ripe for trying out something new - sometimes I'm too hungry for something not to work out.  Anyhow, for what it's worth, this dish is one of mine.

Word to the wise: don't skip the herbs or the lime.  When I first started cooking,I frequently omitted herbs from my grocery list, thinking that they were merely *extras* used by people with a little extra cash.  Au contraire.  In this case, they really brighten up the flavors of the canned items from your pantry and add specs of color to a sea of black beans.

Here's a list of what you'll need:

10 slices bacon, finely chopped
2 medium onions, chopped (about 2 1/2 cups)
6 garlic cloves, pressed
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 cups canned chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon chili powder
4 (15 1/2-ounce) cans black beans, drained but not rinsed
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 bunch cilantro
juice of 1/2 lime
Thinly sliced scallions, for garnish (optional)
Sour cream, for garnish (optional)
Grated cheddar, for garnish (optional)

As I mentioned, most of these are pantry-friendly items.  I only needed to buy the cilantro and the lime.

First, cook the bacon over medium heat until it begins to render some of its fat, then add the onions.  When the onions are translucent, add the garlic and cook for one minute.

Then add the ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, broth, beer, and tomatoes.

Last, but not least, I added the black beans, and let the soup simmer for 10 minutes.  Just before serving, I added chopped cilantro and the juice of 1/2 a lime.  When all was said and done, I stored in these lunch-sized containers and stuck them in the freezer, ready for whenever I need them.

The final product has a stew-like consistency, is a little smokey (thanks to the bacon), and yet has a little zip to it (thank you, lime).  Enjoy!

Not Just On Top of Spaghetti

I think I may be on to something (or at least I hope I am).  For Christmas, I received both Ina Garten's new cookbook, Back to Basics,and Giada De Laurentiis's New Italian Favorites.  I love reading a cookbook for the first time, and I read it cover to cover like a novel, marking anything that looks interesting.  [note: I am sure this may sound weird to some, a college friend used to do this and I imagined it was about as exciting as watching paint dry.  This is one of those happy instances where I am wrong.]

But I have learned the hard way that I have to pace myself when it comes to making these new dishes- after all, I'm making a menu for one.  Logistically, I can only make two, maybe three in a week...and that's if I take my lunch to work and eat in every night.  So I've tried to be better about planning the meals that I'll make - and it's more fun than it sounds.  Usually, the three dishes feature different flavors and textures, but in order to make the most of what I take home from the grocery store, feature some common ingredients.

And to this end, last week I came up with a plan that would not only enable me to try two new dishes, but also to have some go-to meals ready for the future.  The key to my master plan was...wait for it...

MEATBALLS.

(disappointed?  not rocket science, I know, but baby steps toward what I am going to call "spontaneity in the kitchen"). 

First of all, meatballs are really unsung heroes.  At least I wasn't singing their praises.  Everyone knows that they can be in pastas, soups, and sandwiches, but let's just take a second to marvel at that!  I mean, it practically rivals chicken in that regard.  Plus, it's a great vehicle for using up odds and ends in your refrigerator (sort of like the taco).

Giada De Laurentiis's book featured a recipe for orechiette with grape tomatoes, bocconcini, and mini chicken meatballs (where everything is about the same size - isn't her food always good looking?).  Then I also decided to make Ina Garten's recipe for Italian wedding soup - I'm crazy about soup (you may as well know that now).  Some people don't consider it a mean, but (a) it's CHEAP, (b) it's easy to adjust the recipe to serve 1 or 100, (c) it's perfect at this time of year, and (d) did I mention it's easy to make? 

I decided to double Ina's meatball recipe and use them in both recipes because hers were based on a combo of ground chicken and chicken sausage (which I though would be more flavorful than using ground chicken alone) and because her recipe called for the meatballs to be baked instead of cooked on the stove-top (read: less labor intensive).

My master plan worked!  I had enough for both recipes, plus some left over that Im keeping at the ready in the freezer for spaghetti or a quick meatball sub.  I can't find my pictures for the soup or the pasta (argh), but see here how this freezer gold was put to use!

 

   

Add some pureed tomatoes, et voila!

Not Just On Top of Spaghetti

I think I may be on to something (or at least I hope I am).  For Christmas, I received both Ina Garten's new cookbook, Back to Basics,and Giada De Laurentiis's New Italian Favorites.  I love reading a cookbook for the first time, and I read it cover to cover like a novel, marking anything that looks interesting.  [note: I am sure this may sound weird to some, a college friend used to do this and I imagined it was about as exciting as watching paint dry.  This is one of those happy instances where I am wrong.]

But I have learned the hard way that I have to pace myself when it comes to making these new dishes- after all, I'm making a menu for one.  Logistically, I can only make two, maybe three in a week...and that's if I take my lunch to work and eat in every night.  So I've tried to be better about planning the meals that I'll make - and it's more fun than it sounds.  Usually, the three dishes feature different flavors and textures, but in order to make the most of what I take home from the grocery store, feature some common ingredients.

And to this end, last week I came up with a plan that would not only enable me to try two new dishes, but also to have some go-to meals ready for the future.  The key to my master plan was...wait for it...

MEATBALLS.

(disappointed?  not rocket science, I know, but baby steps toward what I am going to call "spontaneity in the kitchen"). 

First of all, meatballs are really unsung heroes.  At least I wasn't singing their praises.  Everyone knows that they can be in pastas, soups, and sandwiches, but let's just take a second to marvel at that!  I mean, it practically rivals chicken in that regard.  Plus, it's a great vehicle for using up odds and ends in your refrigerator (sort of like the taco).

Giada De Laurentiis's book featured a recipe for orechiette with grape tomatoes, bocconcini, and mini chicken meatballs (where everything is about the same size - isn't her food always good looking?).  Then I also decided to make Ina Garten's recipe for Italian wedding soup - I'm crazy about soup (you may as well know that now).  Some people don't consider it a mean, but (a) it's CHEAP, (b) it's easy to adjust the recipe to serve 1 or 100, (c) it's perfect at this time of year, and (d) did I mention it's easy to make? 

I decided to double Ina's meatball recipe and use them in both recipes because hers were based on a combo of ground chicken and chicken sausage (which I though would be more flavorful than using ground chicken alone) and because her recipe called for the meatballs to be baked instead of cooked on the stove-top (read: less labor intensive).

My master plan worked!  I had enough for both recipes, plus some left over that Im keeping at the ready in the freezer for spaghetti or a quick meatball sub.  I can't find my pictures for the soup or the pasta (argh), but see here how this freezer gold was put to use!

 

   

Add some pureed tomatoes, et voila!