RSS Thursday Thirteen #13: Once-a-month cooking
Filed in Blog, Food, Thursday ThirteenOnce-a-month cooking is a way of cooking that has you working like there’s no tomorrow for a couple of days and results in a freezer full of goodies that you can serve in five minutes on any given day. It saves money and time, and it’s kind of fun. This was the first time I’d attempted it in an RV, and I was pretty proud of the results.
1. Spaghetti sauce. This is one of my staples, and I made a double batch. Spaghetti sauce can be used to make lasagne roll-ups and home-made pizza, too.
2. Lentil veggie cheesy bake. We ate a batch fresh, then, learning from past experience, froze the rest without cheese. The recipe is better when the cheese is added freshly.
3. Lentil beef. This was a new recipe and we haven’t tried it yet. We will!
4. Home-made hamburger helper made with ground turkey. I’ll cook and add the noodles fresh on the day it’s served.
5. This also works nicely in hamburger buns as a form of sloppy joes.
6. Easy-peasy curry.
7. Bird seed cake. All that hamburger fat had to go somewhere, so I dumped it into a paper cup, added lots of bird seed, and refrigerated. It disappeared overnight, and somehow I don’t think a giant bird ate it. ;)
8. Fiesta sloppy joes.
9. Vietnamese fried rice. OMG yummy.
10. It worked well in a tortilla, too, as a wrap.
11. Chicken-stuffed biscuits. I used the biscuits-in-a-roll and, while these have distinct potential, the balance of heat/stuffing needs to be adjusted. The left-overs made great chicken sandwiches, too.
12. Cauliflower-cheese bake. The original recipe was for broccoli, but this is cauliflower season. It was nummy.
13. And finally, this is what it looked like in the freezer, but only after a couple of days when we’d eaten enough holes to put in the stuff that wouldn’t fit. ;)
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31 Comments, Comment or Ping
Buffra
Questions….
Really? Who ate the bird seed thing? Cause that sounds kind of icky to me….
Do you freeze the fried rice? How does that work? Does the rice texture stay, um, normal?
I think you need some recipes here. Especially for the fried rice. And the curry. And maybe the cauliflower cheese bake….
Jun 18th, 2008
Linda R. Moore
I think it was some wild animal. ;)
No, the fried rice never got frozen. It was one of the things that doesn’t fit. But I think I’ve frozen rice before with no issues.
Here’s the easy-peasy curry:
http://www.ravensrv.com/easy-curry/
Next time I have a cauliflower I’ll do a blow-by-blow photo essay, but it’s somewhat like this:
http://www.ravensrv.com/gingery-soupy-cauliflowery-thingy/
only with some different ingredients and no ginger. But that’s the general idea.
Fried rice, I’ll be doing again, so again, I’ll post a photo essay.
Jun 18th, 2008
Carol (2 comments.)
Oh, I messed up royally! I read your 13 while hungry. Although I won’t find anything nearly as scrum-yum as you’ve described here, I desperately need a kitchen break!
Jun 18th, 2008
asterapallas (2 comments.)
You ROCK!
I am so proud of you…!!
(But, then… I always AM!)
:)
When you get the chance I would LOVE to have your recipe for the Fried Rice, Chicken Stuffed Biscuits and the Spaghetti Sauce…
<3
Since you were kind enough to already share the easy-peasy Curry recipe with Buffra…
;)
I am with Buffra on the Birdseed cake.
The Birds would love it…
But it sounds not as appealing as the other stuff you made up!!
(Would you like some of my once-a-month-cooking recipes?? I’d be happy to share…)
:)
Jun 18th, 2008
Adelle Laudan (4 comments.)
Yet another thing I always meant to do. Like, shopping early for Christmas lol Good for you! Happy T13!
Jun 18th, 2008
Lori (3 comments.)
Good gravy…it looks like you cook to feed an army!! Happy TT.
Jun 18th, 2008
pussreboots (77 comments.)
With a family of four and a small fridge it just isn’t possible to cook for a month in advance. But we do often cook a week’s worth of meals on the weekend. Happy TT.
Jun 18th, 2008
Linda R. Moore
I used to do the entire menu from the Once-a-Month cooking book (which I no longer use), designed to feed four, and fit it into a 5 cubic foot freezer, i.e. the sort on a (possibly?) standard fridge. It used to feed us for 2-3 months. ;)
The RV has a much smaller freezer top, and this time I had to use the fridge for a few days until there was enough room.
I actually think that once a week, or two weeks, might work better for me in future; that’s one day of cooking instead of two, for a start, and some could be eaten fresh instead of frozen. But it sure beats canned food. :)
Jun 18th, 2008
Linda R. Moore
Lori: I do: an army that shows up once a day for about 4-6 weeks, two people at a time. ;)
Jun 18th, 2008
Linda R. Moore
Thanks for visiting, Carol! So, have fun in the kitchen *grin*
Jun 18th, 2008
Linda R. Moore
Adelle: hee! I almost have to shop early for Christmas because most of my presents go to Scotland. But I know the feeling. It’s been *forever* since I did this and it feels SO GOOD to have stuff I recognize in the freezer. :)
Jun 18th, 2008
Linda R. Moore
Asterapallas: I’ll have to see what I can do about the recipes. :)
I have one–just one!–cook book that I use, but sometimes I scribble others in. If your recipes involve staples that the average household might have, and nothing fancy, I’d love to take a look. :)
Btw, there was a boat called This’ll Do on the lake a couple of days ago :)
Jun 18th, 2008
asterapallas (2 comments.)
:D
The recipes aren’t anything fancy *snerk* I can’t afford fancy!!
:D
So I will post those to my LJ in the next couple of days…
:)
And “This’ll Do” sailors are just my cup o’ Earl Grey!!
;)
That is sooooo cool!!!
:D
Jun 18th, 2008
Nicole (1 comments.)
Most of my cooking is done as freezer cooking, so I love to find others who share in my passion. You have one upped me though, I’ve never done it in an RV :)
Great job and yummy meals! Enjoy!
Jun 18th, 2008
Di (1 comments.)
I wish I could get my family to buy into any white meat as a substitute for red meat. How do you do it?
Jun 18th, 2008
Robin (5 comments.)
I’m not nearly organized enough for once a month cooking, but I now have a strong craving for cheesy something from those biscuits and that cauliflower!
Jun 19th, 2008
kay (1 comments.)
You are smart to do all that. I never could think ahead—and now that the children are gone, spouse and I are easy pleasy, whatever.
Jun 19th, 2008
Lilibeth (1 comments.)
It sounds intriguing. I think I’d pack it all into trays though. Great idea about the birdseed–I never know what to do with the hamburger drainings.
Jun 19th, 2008
Grace (1 comments.)
All looks yummy to me! Happy TT!
Jun 19th, 2008
Bernie (3 comments.)
Great list, mine is up at Top 13 Boys Names for 2007
Jun 19th, 2008
tempestsans (aka Sandy)
Di was looking for ways to get the family to buy into white meat alternates for ground beef…i ‘eased’ my guys in by first going 3:1 (3 lbs of ground beef, 1 lb of turkey) mixed and ‘repackaged’ in burgers or ziplocks of quantities to make things like single batches of tacos or spaghetti sauce…when nobody squawked, i made it 2:1…and then 1:1…now that they’ve learned how much of it they’ve eaten and enjoyed, i even get the pleasure of whole ground turkey recipies!
the same sneaky ways worked to get more veggies into their diets…spaghetti squash mixed in with the spaghetti and zuchinni cut into the same shape as french fries, battered and fried…the kids asked why the fries seemed ‘funny’ but ate ‘em up and began asking me to ‘make funny fries’
Jun 20th, 2008
Linda R. Moore
I knew you’d like the boat :)
Jun 23rd, 2008
Linda R. Moore
Nicole: You just have to be a bit more creative, that’s all :)
Glad to meet a fellow cook-in-advancer :)
Jun 23rd, 2008
Linda R. Moore
Di–I’ve never really had any problem with it…but then, I have no kids. If you come back and read the comments to this post, Tempestsans has some suggestions for you :)
PS — I *love* your blog name. :)
Jun 23rd, 2008
Linda R. Moore
Robin — I can recommend it. I’m not organized enough to do it either, but I do it anyway. ;) The trick is to start collecting recipes with similar ingredients, so that one day you chop/sort into portions, the next you cook.
Jun 23rd, 2008
Linda R. Moore
Kay–I recommend it. :) Saves lots of money and time overall, you just have to give up a weekend once in a while :)
Jun 23rd, 2008
Linda R. Moore
Lilibeth–why trays? That wouldn’t work for us–our freezer isn’t big enough.
Jun 23rd, 2008
Linda R. Moore
Thanks! So far so good :)
Jun 23rd, 2008
Linda R. Moore
Bernie–can’t figure out whether you’re joking with that post, or not ;)
Jun 23rd, 2008
Linda R. Moore
I asked Di to come back and take a look :)
Jun 23rd, 2008
bernie (3 comments.)
Linda, No joke.
Jun 25th, 2008
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