Making Your Own: Some of My Favorites

After my hubby and I were married I remember cooking two meals over and over again: chicken and spaghetti....and I thought I was doing pretty darn good with that. The rest of the meals were probably boxed/premade or we'd go eat out. Recently my husband mentioned that I had "become" a really good cook. So of course I asked him, "wasn't I always?" To which he replied "no, your food was really bad when we first got married"....he was honest and I had to laugh and agree. My spaghetti usually stuck together and my chicken was usually so overdone on the outside it was like jerky :)

The great thing about being human is that we are all always capable of learning....we can all change, grow, and become better at that which we lack great skill. And so I practiced, I read books, and I tried and tried again. I made mistakes (which my husband was kind enough to still eat) and I made wonderful things (that he requests frequently now). It always amazes me to hear people say that they "can't" do something, like cook, I believe it's a skill we learn...like riding a bike or tying our shoes.

I love being able to have meals done quickly, especially on days when I don't have the time to be able to prepare something. Making meals ahead has become an enjoyable and valuable activity for me. I choose one day every week or two that my dh is available to watch my son and I do some prep work and cooking. My best advice for quick and healthy cooking is planning ahead. Here's what I recommend (much of the info. is from Dining on a Dime by Tawra Kellam and Jill Cooper):

1. To make things easier for the nights you want to prepare something quickly, items can be chopped and frozen in bags (I'm still debating the use of the little plastic bags as natural, but as far as space in a small freezer goes, they are great). Items that you can chop, freeze, and use in cooked dishes are: onions, green onions, green peppers, and herbs-I've chopped and frozen chives, parsley, dill, cilantro, and rosemary.
2. If you like to make items like muffins, pancakes, etc. but you tend to use the premade mixes, just make your own! They are much cheaper and you can avoid a lot of the negative ingredients. Just mix all the dry ingredients together and store (you can even mix the wet ingredients together and leave in the fridge overnight, so you can combine them easily in the morning).
3. Granola! I never realized until recently how amazingly easy this is to make! And I would sometimes pay $4 or more a box for this stuff! A huge container of oatmeal is very inexpensive and you can easily customize it to include your favorites! Check out http://www.recipezaar.com/ for recipe ideas (hint-try adding half the sugar it calls for or putting more honey in instead-it still turns out yummy!).
4. Pizza dough is super easy to make and delicious, plus you can customize your own pizza for a fraction on the price of delivery. My favorite quick recipe is http://www.recipezaar.com/13546 (Hint-make sure to check the temperature of your water so that it's not too hot or cold for the yeast to dissolve properly, it makes a difference in the rising of the crust.) I love to add cornmeal to the pan before I roll out the dough to give it a nice flavor on the bottom. I also mix pizza/italian seasonings into the crust as I am making it-gives a super great taste! (Hint-Pizza crust can be made ahead and frozen, then thawed or precooked-I like to use a pie pan because the crusts then fit easily in a gallon plastic bag-then you can either freeze them that way or put the toppings on, freeze for one hour on a pan and then packaged until ready to eat). I am hoping to find some new recipes that have alternatives to flour-such as gluten-free oat flour, etc. to avoid so much gluten and get more variety of whole grains.
5. Crock Pot-remember that thing in the back of your cupboard? You can put in veggies and meat in the morning and come home to a homecooked meal in the afternoon. No time in the morning? Try prepping the veggies and meat the night before.
6. Once a month cooking (OAMC) recipes-This is also a great way to look for recipes, especially casseroles, that can be made ahead and frozen. Check out http://www.recipezaar.com/recipes/oamc-freezer-make-ahead

Hope that these ideas and recipes help and I will add to the list as I come across good ideas! Happy Cooking :)