Because my little garden had a bumper crop of tomatoes this year, I’ve been looking for different ways to use them. These are spectacular.

From the cookbook written just for me, The Improvisational Cook has some great ways to make every day foods go above and beyond.

By drizzling oil over sliced tomatoes and sprinkling with a little salt, sugar and pepper, then slow roasting them at 325 for about an hour or until they have lost most of their liquid and are beginning to brown, they develop a delicious rich flavor that is wonderful for pasta and sauces. Be sure to cook a lot though–the first time I did it with four or five tomatoes and we just ate them as they were!

White rice is an excellent long-term storage staple, and perhaps the easiest for many people to use. Brown rice has a reputation for being healthier, but does not store well–the husks go rancid after a year or so. I have heard that well-stored with oxygen absorber packets, it may keep for up to two years. So if you buy brown rice in bulk, be prepared to use it up quickly!

For the longest time I had a hard time getting my brown rice to cook to a desired doneness–it was almost always too crunchy or otherwise un-appetizing. Finally I’ve found the recipe that works well, at least for me. It’s so simple, I’m embarrassed I didn’t come up with it sooner:

In the rice cooker:
1 cup rice
3 cups water
butter and salt to taste

By adding an extra cup of water, the rice cooks longer and gets nice and soft. It’s been great.

This has become a staple at our house–we have pizza nearly every Friday night. I use the bread machine’s manufacturer recommended pizza dough recipe, substituting whole wheat flour for two of the three cups of flour it calls for. I also use instant yeast.
My recipe is:
1 cup warm water
1 cup all purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour (made from white wheat)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 TBSP butter (no substitutions)
1 1/2 TBSP dry milk
1 1/2 tsp dry instant yeast

Another delicious whole wheat pizza crust is this one at allrecipes.com: Amazing Whole Wheat Pizza Crust. I might make it more often if I had a mixer and didn’t have to knead it.

Something I’ve done to make this incredibly quick and easy is to make little dry mixes out of all of the ingredients but the flour and water. I line up a bunch of baggies and dump the required salt, sugar, butter, yeast, and dry milk in each one. I use a twist-tie to close them, and then store all of them in a heavy duty Ziploc freezer bag. When Friday rolls around, I just pull one out and leave it on the counter for an hour or so to reach room temperature. Then all I have to do is add water, flour and the contents of the baggie to the bread machine and select the pizza dough option.

My only wish is that every day’s meals were this easy!

Diana – this one’s for you!

I’ve really enjoyed this particular Fajita Marinade from allrecipes.com (fajita marinade III). It’s quick, easy and delicious!

I really like the rosemary & lemon combination–it has a strong lemon flavor. If you don’t like it, you could reduce the lemon juice or substitute some lime juice. I think I’ll try some lime in it next time.

Serves 12
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon chopped green onion
1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 clove garlic, minced
12 chicken breasts, cut into strips

Mix everything together and divide among Ziploc bags to suit your family. For us, 1 chicken breast per serving is a generous helping.

Also, while bell peppers are fresh and a relatively good price right now, I like to chop them up and store them in the freezer. Stash some homemade whole wheat tortillas in the freezer as well, and you’ve got a full meal ready to go in no time.

To prepare: Ideally, take the chicken out of the freezer the night before you want this delicious meal so that it can thaw slowly and marinate while it does that. But last time I made these I just thawed two frozen marinated chicken breasts in some warm water for an hour or so and they had plenty of flavor.

Cook the chicken strips and marinade in a frying pan over medium high heat until chicken is cooked and marinade boils. Remove chicken and saute vegetables in marinade. Add chicken back to marinade mixture and serve on warmed tortillas. Of course, lettuce, tomato, sour cream, guacamole, salsa, and cheese can all make great additions. But it’s also really good all by itself.

These are the lightest and fluffiest waffles I have ever had. This is a recipe from my sister-in-law’s sister. We really enjoy making a triple or quadruple batch and freezing them or snacking on them throughout the week.

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
3 egg yolks
1 cup milk
3 Tablespoons Butter, melted (I also use oil some times)
3 egg whites stiffly beaten

1. Start by beating the egg whites with an electric hand mixer

2. In a separate bowl, mix egg yolks, milk and melted butter or oil

3. In a third bowl, mix dry ingredients.

4. Add egg yolk mixture to dry ingredients and mix gently by hand.

5. Gently fold in egg yolks.

6. Cook on greased waffle iron (my heavy-duty Krups takes about 1/3 cup batter and 1 min 45 seconds).

Those that were reading my personal blog at this time last year will remember my adventures in trying to cook and store all 40 lbs of raw chicken. I just reread what I wrote about that experience, and although I was excited to see the chicken on sale again, I must admit I’m having second thoughts about all of the work. 40 lbs of chicken is a ton of chicken! But one bag of chicken at Costco is about $15 or 6.5 lbs, or $2.30 a lb, so this is really quite a savings.

Having learned a lot last year, here is what I’m going to do to hopefully make it a smooth experience:

1. Package the chicken in pint size bags. Being a small family that doesn’t eat a lot of meat, I regretted packing quart size bags to the brim last year. I had to thaw enough chicken for 4 or 5 meals at once, and it wasn’t easy being that it was such a big hunk of meat. Just be sure to package the meat in portions that are good for one or two meals.

2. Cut some chicken into bite-size chunks and freeze it raw. I most frequently use bite-size chunks of chicken in stir-frys, soups, casseroles etc. This way the chicken will be ready to use as soon as it’s partially defrosted (I really like defrosting a small bag of chicken in a bowl of hot water–it takes about 15-30 minutes, but it doesn’t get cooked or dried out like it does in the microwave).

3. Freeze some chicken strips in a marinade. I’ve found a Fajita Marinade that I’ll be sharing soon–it works well, because the recipe is for about 6 servings, so I can make the marinade once, package up the chicken and marinade in freezer bags and then it’s all ready to go.

We’ll see how far I get with these tactics–I’ll have an update in a week or so.

Tips on Freezer Storage