Dinner's done, now to invite guests!

We are having a dinner party and I plan on serving this yummy dish along with a dessert and salad.   Having the main part already done means I can focus on the presentation of the salad, fuss over the table and have a clean kitchen, as never before seen at my house until freezing became my friend.  Who knows, I might even have time to get myself ready too.

Creamy Balsamic Si-auce

2 Tablespoons butter
18 white mushrooms, cubed
2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 large cloves garlic, pressed
1 teaspoon dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup sweet onion, graded finely
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons (good quality) balsamic vinegar
3 Tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 pinch lemon zest
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 1/2 cups water
1 Tablespoon Ultra Gel (optional)

Melt butter in sauce pan on medium-high.

Brown mushrooms for 4 minutes.  Set aside until cool.

Add to quart-size Ziplock.  Some people don't appreciate the fine taste of mushrooms, my kids come to mind.  This is the advantage having the mushrooms in a separate bag then the sauce.

Heat oil in sauce pan on medium-high.  Add onion, thyme, salt, pepper, and garlic; saute for 2 minutes.

Add flour and stir for 2 more minutes.  Let it cool.

In a quart-sized Ziplock, lining a pint jar, add parsley, lemon juice, zest, cream, balsamic vinegar, and onion mixture.  Seal and flatten for freezing.

Cut up Costco chicken and put in a quart-size Ziplock.

Measure Ultra Gel into a separate Ziplock.  Because mushrooms have extra water, the sauce may be too runny so this is why it's nice to be able to add a thickener while sauce is hot.

Label gallon-size Ziplock bag and place all three smaller bags inside.  You may also want to put the dry orzo package and the Ultra Gel inside too.

Sample Label Below:


Family Name, Date Made:                                                                      Prep Time: 10 minutes, stove
Cook orzo as directed.

Bring 1 1/2 cups of water to a boil.  Add sauce packet to water.  If everyone likes mushrooms and thawed chicken, add now along with Ultra Gel.   Cook on medium-high until thick.  Option:  Heat mushrooms and chicken, serve on the side.  (Ultra Gel is not necessary in sauce if mushrooms are not added).


Suggested Sides:  Fresh Green Salad,  Peas, Bread                                                                       

For my family, I will heat the mushrooms in the sauce and serve the chicken on the side for my kiddos who will only eat buttered orzo and chicken.  When will my kids get tired of bland food?  Well, I guess that means my husband can have thirds again, he never wants seconds of food so I'm excited to see what my co-opping friends think too.


Recipe at a Glance:

Creamy Balsamic Sauce

2 Tablespoons butter
18 white mushrooms, cubed
2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 large cloves garlic, pressed
1 teaspoon dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup sweet onion, graded finely
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons (good quality) balsamic vinegar
3 Tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 pinch lemon zest
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 1/2 cups water


Melt butter in sauce pan on medium-high.  Brown mushrooms for 4 minutes.  Set aside until cool. Add to quart-size Ziplock.

Heat oil in sauce pan on medium-high.  Add onion, thyme, salt, pepper, and garlic; saute for 2 minutes.   Add flour and stir for 2 more minutes.  Let it cool.  In a quart-sized Ziplock, lining a pint jar, add parsley, lemon juice, zest, cream, balsamic vinegar, and onion mixture.  Seal and flatten for freezing.

Cut up Costco chicken and put in a quart-size Ziplock.

Measure Ultra Gel into a separate Ziplock.

Label gallon-size Ziplock bag and place all three smaller bags inside.  You may want to put the dry orzo package and Ultra Gel inside.

-Anna Marie

Whole Grain and Healthy

Brown Rice and Quinoa

1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion

3 garlic cloves minced

1 cup rice

1/2 cup quinoa

3 cups water

3 teaspoons chicken soup base

Sauté the onion in olive oil until clear. Add rice and cloves of garlic sauté a little more.

Combine everything together in rice cooker and turn on.

Quick Dinner on a Stick

Shish Kebabs Fresh or for the Freezer

Serves 6

1 zucchini, cut half, lengthwise
1 red or green bell pepper, cut into a rectangle, then in half, lengthwise
1 large yam, cut in quarters, lengthwise
2 spears of fresh pineapple, cut lengthwise
1/3 bottle Berentsteins Italian dressing
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1 pound beef sirloin, cut into 1 inch strips or substitute chicken or pork strips
6 bamboo skewers, presoaked 30 minutes

Cut all vegetables and the meat into similar sized strips. Blanch the zucchini, yams, and bell pepper, by steaming each veggie separately in a steamer. Steam the zucchini and bell pepper for 3 minutes and the yam spears for about 7 minutes. Mix the marinade by combining the Italian salad dressing with the fresh lemon juice and zest. Lay out the spears like stripes in the USA flag. Put a flat surface "weight" on top of the lined up strips and hold on to the flat "weight" while inserting skewers at 1 1/2 inch intervals along the bottom edge of the "flag" pushing through each layer of food clear to the top of the flag. After inserting all six skewers, cut between the skewers, and you have six kabobs. Either marinade and grill the same day, or place in into freezer bags and pour dressing into bag. Seal, and freeze.
To cook: take bag from the freezer, and thaw in the refrigerator overnight, or at least 8 hours. We suggest grilling your kabobs on a George Forman grill, or use the broiler or barbeque outside. Brush with the marinade left in the bag before placing them on the heat, and once during grilling.

We suggest this be served with rice pilaf and a salad.

Lentil Soup Cooked Two Ways

Stovetop or Crockpop

Lentil and Sausage Soup

"Lentil soup flavored with sausage and herbs. Serve with Romano cheese
sprinkled on top of each serving."

1/2 pound precooked sausage from Sam’s Club food court

1 large onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 (16 ounce) package dry lentils, rinsed
1 cup shredded carrot or ½ cup dried carrots
8 cups water
4 tablespoons) chicken soup base cans
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1 tablespoon salt, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 pound orzo pasta

Place precooked sausage in a large pot. Add onion, celery and chopped garlic, and saute until tender and translucent. Stir in lentils, carrot, water, chicken broth and tomatoes. Season with garlic powder, parsley, bay leaves, oregano, thyme, basil, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat. Cover, and simmer for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, or until lentils are tender. Stir in pasta, and cook 15 to 20 minutes, or until pasta is tender.

Variation: all the ingredients except the water, lentils and pasta could be layered in a quart container and frozen into a crockpop. Then on cooking day, add crockpop and 8 cups water to crockpot. Stir in lentils. Cook on low all day, then add pre-cooked pasta at the end.

--Diana

Terrific Teriyaki

Teriyaki Chicken

Source: Diana Rice

Equal parts water and soy sauce

¼ cup or more of brown sugar

dash of powdered ginger

Mix a cup or two of soy sauce and water with a little brown sugar and a shake or two of ginger. Pour over raw chicken and bake about an hour at 350 degrees. Sauce will thicken and make a wonderful glaze on the chicken. This is one of those recipes that turns out great every time. It doesn’t matter whether the chicken is boneless or with or without skin. The parts can be assorted. The amount of time in the oven does vary, you have to watch it—when the chicken is well glazed and tender when tested with a fork, it is done! Good served with rice and a green salad.

A Great Way to Start the Day

Breakfast Burritos

Source: Heather Rice

1 lb. ground sausage, cooked and drained (half hot and half mild turns out great)

12 eggs, scrambled (seasoned to taste, garlic salt and onion powder recommended)

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese

8 burrito size flour tortillas

Warm tortillas in microwave to soften. Fill each tortilla with 1/4 cup cheese (half cheddar and half pepper jack, 1/2 cup eggs, and 1/4 cup sausage. Wrap into a burrito, then wrap in foil. Bake in foil at 350 for 10-15 minutes until cheese is melted and they are heated through, rotate half way through baking time. You may also heat in the microwave, but it will be more soggy.

Another option is to mix all of the ingredients together and melt the cheese. Then split the mixture evenly between the 8 tortillas.

Instead of Lasagne, Try

Santa Monica Pasta

1/4 cup cubed, cooked bacon

2 cooked, cubed chicken breasts (prepare your own or use precooked)

1/2 cup pesto

1/2 lb fresh mozzarella cubes

5 dried tomatoes, diced

1/4 red onion thinly sliced

1/2 cup BBQ sauce thinned with1/4 cup water

1 lb cooked penne pasta

Toss everything together! Place in foil pan. Label and Freeze.

On Serving Day, place frozen casserole in 350 degree oven and bake, covered for 1 hour.

Idaho Taco Bar

A tasty variation on tacos, put the choices out for each person to pile on their own toppings. This is easy, delicious, and quick. Since most of the toppings are fresh, we recommend this be the ready to eat meal you take home on Co-op cooking day. The potatoes would be pre-cooked, just ready to reheat. We have found that Yukon Golds can be successfully substituted for baking potatoes such as Idaho or russets.

Idaho Tacos

Prepare 1 baked potato per serving

Top with a choice of:

Hamburger, browned (either plain, Mexican or stroganoff style)

Chopped onions

Tomatoes, diced

Green peppers

Mushrooms

Grated cheese

Diced avocados

Lettuce

Sour cream

Ranch dressing

It's Greek to Me

Greek Marinade or Salad Dressing

Recipe adapted from Our Best Bites

This makes enough for 6 families. Have ½ pint mason jars on hand, and just pour to within an inch of the top of each jar. This marinade keeps well for several weeks.

1/2 c. freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 c. white vinegar or white wine vinegar

1 teaspoon and 1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon Lowry’s seasoned salt

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (blended, this will be subtle)

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

8 cloves garlic, peeled

1 cup salad oil (olive preferred)

1 cup crumbled feta cheese

1 ½ teaspoons Italian seasoning

¾ teaspoon dried oregano

In the jar of a blender, combine all the ingredients. Blend until smooth. If possible, refrigerate for at least an hour before serving. It may separate, so shake the jar just before pouring. Use as a marinade for raw meats such as chicken, lamb, or flank steak or pour over meat after it is cooked. It is especially good poured over rotisserie chicken just before serving.

Meal suggestions:

1. Make pita pocket sandwiches, with olives (kalamata for the adventurous, black for most of the family), pepperoncinis, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, and extra crumbled feta cheese tucked in the pita bread and then topped with Tzatiki Sauce.

2. Make Greek-style Pizzas using the toppings listed for pocket sandwiches on Pita flat bread, a new product widely available. Add Tzatiki sauce on top or use as a dip for the pizza.

3. Make a big salad with crisp Romaine, pepperoncinis, kalamata or black olives, tomatoes, homemade croutons, peeled and sliced cucumbers, and crumbled feta, plus the cooked, marinated meat of your choice.

Tzatziki

Enough for six families to share

This is a wonderful topping for meat marinated in the Greek recipe above. Put it all in a half pita bread for a sandwich, or on top of a Greek-style Pizza.

Recipe adapted from Allrecipes.com

1 16 ounce plain Greek yogurt

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon lemon juice

3 green onions, sliced or ¼ cup diced red onion

2 teaspoons dry dill weed

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 English cucumber, unpeeled and grated

Combine ingredients in a small bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste. Store covered and refrigerated for up to 3 days.

Diana

Signature ideas

Still working on transparent backgrounds. It seems I might have to re-create my signature and save it as a different type of file... or you could just give the blog a white background...

So, here's a few ideas. Instead of me wasting time just playing around, anyone who wants me to make them one, let me know what type of font/dingbats/colors etc. you are most interested in and I'll see what I can do.

Versitile and Delicious: White Sauce Mix

White Sauce Mix can be used to make:

Condensed Cream of Whatever Soup (add mushrooms, chicken soup base or celery or cheese

Macaroni and Cheese

Chicken or turkey tetrazzini

Chicken or turkey pot pie

Sausage biscuits and gravy

Chocolate or Vanilla Pudding

Fudgesicles

Rachel’s White Sauce Mix

4 cups powdered milk

4 cups flour

4 cups powdered butter or margarine

Combine in a stand mixer.

Ratio is 1 part mix to 2 parts water. Whisk mix and water in saucepan and heat over medium until thickened.

White Sauce Mix Dessert Pudding

Serves: 6

Ingredients

1 Cup Sugar

2 cups White Sauce Mix

¼ cup Cocoa (if making chocolate pudding)

4 cups water

2 teaspoons Vanilla

Combine White Sauce Mix, sugar and cocoa in saucepan and mix well.

Add water, stir over medium heat until pudding thickens. Stir in vanilla.

Cover and Cool.

Instantly Italian

Lasagne Soup

Source: Stephanie

1 jar prepared spaghetti sauce

½ jar of water

3 lasagne noodles

2 tablespoons frozen pesto

¼ cup grated romano cheese

Break up and boil 3 noodles per batch. Saute ¼ cup grated onion, add cube of frozen basil, and ¼ cup grated romano cheese to the container. When ready to heat, place spaghetti sauce in pan on top of stove, stir in extras, and ½ jar of water. We highly recommend serving with Pepperidge Farms cheesy garlic bread. (This delicious ready made bread can befound in frozen food section of grocery stores. There is also a store outlet just North of Logan, UT)

Pot Pie Perfection

Chicken Pot Pie

Serves 12

2 packages Pepperidge Farms puff pastry sheets or cups, prepared according to package directions.

2 cups rotisserie chicken pieces, bite-sized

3 cups white sauce made from mix with 2 tablespoons chicken base

1 cup onions finely diced

3 cup celery, cut on the diagonal, into ¼ - inch pieces

2 cup carrots cut, on the diagonal, into ¼ - inch pieces

½ to 1 cup frozen petite peas

salt and pepper to taste

While puff pastry is baking, make white sauce, cut up the cooked chicken, and sauté the sliced veggies until tender. Add frozen peas, and adjust the salt and pepper. Keep the pie filling hot. When it is time to serve, spoon filling into the pastry cups or place filling in 9 by 13 pan and top with a sheet of prepared puff pastry.

Diana

Corn Chowder, fast and easy

Corn Chowder

1 tablespoon diced pre-cooked bacon per serving, set aside for garnish

1 medium onion, sliced

3 tablespoons bacon grease

2 scoops mashed potatoes

2 cups water

1 cup White Sauce Mix

1 ½ cups frozen corn

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

Cook sliced onions in bacon fat until light brown. Combine mashed potatoes, water, white sauce mix, corn, salt and pepper and heat through about 10 minutes. Top each serving with crumbled bacon.

Diana

Perfect Meatballs

Apricot Meatballs

1 bag frozen meatballs (commercial) or make a large batch of your own

1 4-pound jar of Rocky Mountain All purpose Apricot Sauce

Combine any amount of the above, place in crock pot and cook for 4 or 5 hours before serving. You may order Rocky Mountain Apricot Sauce by calling 1-800-574-2308 or if ordering by mail Rocky Mountain Products, P.O. Box 1007, Redmond, OR 97756 This is available at some Walmarts.

This is great served as an appetizer, as a main dish, or in mini sandwiches on slider-sized rolls.

Diana

Hawaaian Adventure

Kalua Pig

An oven alternative to burying a whole pig in a pit wrapped in banana leaves that is actually very close to the authentic Hawaiian Kailua Pig. We were given this recipe in 1970 by friends who's son-in-law was from Hawaii.

Brush pork loin roast liberally with liquid smoke. Salt and pepper as you would any roast. Place in heavy baking pan and cover tightly with aluminum foil. Bake in slow oven-175 to 180 degrees for 10 to 12 hours (can be held longer.) Cool and portion the roast into quart sized zip top bags. After the bags are closed, gently knead each bag to shred the meat.

Nice to serve with: baked yams and butter, fresh pineapple or other fresh fruit, salad, rice or long rice, fresh bread.

Diana

Another Classic Recipe

Chicken Tetrazzini

Source: Diana Rice

3 cups water

1 ½ cups white sauce mix

2 tablespoons chicken soup base mix

1 to 2 cups cubed cooked chicken or turkey

salt and pepper

cooked spaghetti

In advance, place white sauce mix and soup base in a zip top bag. Fill separate bag with cooked chicken or turkey. Clip together, label and freeze.

On serving day, while you are boiling the pasta, place water and flavored white sauce mix in saucepan. Wisk and cook the mixture at medium-high heat. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve over the cooked spaghetti.

Diana

Tried, True and Trusted Main Dish

Stroganoff

Source: Diana Rice

1 pound hamburger, browned, or round steak, cut into strips and browned

2 cups beef broth (or water with equivalent amount of beef soup base)

¼ cup corn starch

1 cup sour cream

Prepare the meat, add beef broth mixed with corn starch and stir until thickened. Just before serving add sour cream (make sure meat mixture is not too hot, or cream will curdle). Serve over rice.

Diana

What Is A Caper?

A caper is the bud of a certain bush that has been pickled. Capers are a little tangy, with a definite, delicious flavor. For the benefit of those who have never tried them, (i.e. children) we scaled back and put only a teaspoon in, then blended the sauce to avoid the unfamiliar texture.

Chicken Piccata

Serves six

3 skinless boneless chicken breasts, cut in half lengthwise, into cutlets

¾ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

3/8 cup oil

2 cups chicken broth

1/4 cup sautéed mushrooms

¼ cup minced parsley

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus a little lemon rind

1 teaspoons capers (six batches = half a jar)

¼ cup flour

optional: ¼ cup chopped artichoke hearts

Dredge chicken breasts in flour seasoned with salt and pepper. In a skillet, heat oil until sizzling. Saute chicken breasts until lightly browned. Remove breasts to plate to cool, then wrap and label for the freezer. Blend chicken broth, mushrooms, parsley, lemon juice and capers and flour. Pour into container and label and seal for the freezer. Put artichoke hearts in separate baggie. When serving time comes, thaw chicken and piccata sauce in fridge overnight. Before serving, heat sauce, then simmer the chicken and artichokes in the sauce until heated through. Serve with mashed potatoes, rice or pasta.

Note: next time I would like to try chicken tenders baked in the oven without dusting in flour. I don't think the directions above were worth the effort. By the way, the first batch turned out so strong, I deluted it by half, so we already have the sauce for another batch in the freezer.

Diana

This Should be Quick enough to avoid being A Fried Rice?

Fried Rice

Source: Diana Rice

This is a recipe that does not need precise measurements, but I have never had this fail.

about ¼ cup onion, sautéed

about ¼ cup celery, sautéed

about ½ cup meat, such as ham, bacon, spam, chicken, shrimp or roast pork

leftover rice, about 1 cup per person

soy sauce to taste

1 or 2 raw eggs

green garnish of your choice, such as peas, minced parsley or chives.

Sauté a little diced onion in a little oil in a frying pan or wok. I usually use about ¼ cup or half a small onion. If you have celery, finely dice one or two stalks and sauté it with the onion. Add diced cooked meat to the frying pan. I usually add diced ham or bacon, but leftover roast pork or spam works well, and you could even try sausage or chicken or (gasp: shrimp). This addition is mainly a flavoring, so use whatever amount you wish.

Add as much leftover rice as you desire, estimating about a cup per serving. The rice should be at least 1 day old (fresh can be used, but the dish turns sticky.) At this point, stir constantly. As it warms up, drizzle soy sauce over the mixture, to taste. When the mixture is hot, drizzle 1 or 2 raw scrambled eggs into the mixture and stir thoroughly so that the egg mixture kind of scrambles and blends in with everything else.

Just before serving, add frozen peas or minced parsley or chives. The green color is a nice addition. If your family doesn’t like any of the green choices, leave them out.

We haven't tested this one yet.

This is one recipe that didn't make it home. It needs to be put in a kit and labeled. We can pick these up on Sunday. I hope everyone is looking forward to our Valentine's dinner on Sunday at 6:00 pm.

Rosemary Chicken in a Crockpot

½ to 1 pound raw chicken, any size or shape

1 cup water

1 teapoon seasoned salt

1 teaspoon dried onion

¼ cup butter

¼ cup flour

¾ cup powdered milk

6 inch spring of fresh rosemary leaves removed from stem

1 cup sour cream, or combo of sour cream and Greek yogurt.

Place chicken in quart size deli container. Blend water, butter, flour and spices. Pour over chicken and freeze. Also freeze sour cream. On cooking day, place quart sized “popsicle” in crockpot in the morning. At serving time, add sour cream “popsicle” and stir until it is melted. Serve as soon as the sour cream is combined. This is great with rice, pasta or mashed potatoes.

Diana

Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta

Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta

servings: 6

1 pound linguine, cooked al dente

½ - 1 pound rotisserie chicken or raw chicken tenders baked 5-7 minutes

1 tablespoon cajun seasoning

3 green onions, cut in thirds

2 tablespoons chopped sun-dried tomatoes

¾ teaspoon salt

¾ teaspoon dried basil

¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

½ teaspoon garlic powder or 1 clove fresh garlic

1 cup water

¾ cup grated parmesan cheese

1 pint heavy whipping cream

Prepare chicken, either by dicing rotisserie chicken, or baking chicken tenders and place in quart containers. Blend Cajun seasonings, onions, tomatoes, basil, salt, garlic, and black pepper in 1 cup water and put in 1 quart container with chicken. Freeze packets of parmesan cheese and cream separately. On serving day, put quart size frozen crockpop into crockpot at least five hours before it is needed. Thaw heavy cream and stir in to sauce just before serving. Pour over hot linguine and toss with Parmesan cheese.

Diana

How we converted a recipe to crockpop

Hearty Beef Stew

from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

*Note: this stew recipe has a few steps that I am going to strongly encourage following - even if it makes you roll your eyes to have to go to the work/mess of browning meat before adding it to the slow cooker. I get it, I do! But let me emphasize that there is a reason this stew has more flavor and deliciousness than any other slow cooker stew I've had - and I believe it is because of the few minutes you have to spend at the beginning browning up the meat, onions and quickly bringing the sauce to a simmer. Browing = flavor. Now, if you absolutely refuse to do it...don't worry, I'll still like you. Go ahead - throw it all in - but don't tell me before you do or else I'll spend the day cringing. Also, unless you can find prepackaged stew meat in large pieces, it pays to buy a whole chuck roast and cut it up yourself, plus if you look for chuck roast on sale, it will probably save you a penny or two!

*Serves 6-8

5 pounds boneless chuck roast, cut into 1-inch pieces

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons canola oil

2 medium yellow onions, finely chopped

1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste

2 cups low-sodium chicken broth or beef broth

3 tablespoons soy sauce

2 bay leaves

1 pound carrots, peeled, and cut into 1-inch pieces

1 pound red potatoes, washed and cut into 1-inch pieces

1 teaspoon dried thyme

2 tablespoons Minute tapioca

2 cups frozen peas

After the meat has been cut into chunks, pat it dry with a paper towel and season all the pieces with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium heat until the oil is rippling and hot. Cook half of the beef until it is well browned on each side, about 4 minutes. No need to cook it all the way through - just get some great brown color all around. Toss the meat in the slow cooker and follow the same process with the second half of the meat (you may need to add another tablespoon of oil to the pan if it looks a little dry). Remove the meat to the slow cooker, trying to keep as much oil in the pan as possible.

Return the skillet to medium heat and add the onions and 1/4 teaspoon salt and and cook until the onions are translucent and golden, about 6 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, for about 2 minutes. Slowly whisk in the broth, soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon thyme and bay leaves. Bring the mixture to a boil and transfer it to the slow cooker, pouring it over the meat.

In a large bowl, toss the carrots, potatoes, 1 tablespoon oil, 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. On the counter, lay out a large piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil (use two sheets of regular foil on top of each other if you don't have heavy-duty). Place the tossed vegetables on one side of the foil. Fold the foil over the vegetables and crimp the edges really well to form a little foil packet that will fit in the top of your slow cooker. Stir the tapioca into the slow cooker. Place the foil packet of vegetables on top of the stew, cover the slow cooker, and cook on high for 6-7 hours or low for 10-11 hours.

When the stew is finished cooking, carefully remove the foil packet from the top of the stew. Discard the bay leaves from the stew. Carefully open the foil packet (be careful of steam that may escape as you open it!). Return the vegetables and any juices to the slow cooker and gently mix them into the stew. Stir in the frozen peas and let them rest in the stew for 5-10 minutes, until they are heated through. Serve.

To adapt to a crockpop:

Prepare and pan sear meat, and place in 1 quart container. Add the rest of the flavorings, substituting 1 tablespoon soup base (either chicken or beef) for the broth. (Use only 1 bay leaf, because the flavor intensifies while frozen.) The quart container will be filled. Prepare the veggie packet by steaming the carrots and potatoes in two separate batches for 5 minutes each. Make the foil packets, making sure the packet will fit in the crockpot. On the morning of serving day, put 1 cup water in crockpot. Add frozen crockpop and put foil veggie packet on top. Simmer on low all day. Just before serving, remove bay leaf, and combine veggies with rest of the stew.

Diana

Tasty

Some pictures just make you SO hungry, don't they?

My Big Fat Greek Pita Pizzas

I don't know how it happened.  I found pita bread that is actually pita pocket bread and then somehow my brained must have turned to pita because when I unloaded the groceries at home I realized I had grabbed flatbread pitas!  I couldn't wrap my pita brain around serving pita sandwiches with that thick flatbread, so I had to adapt:  we made Greek Pita Pizzas!  I was so proud of my kids' adventureousness (uh-oh, that word is underlined in red)!  Granted, the peperoncinis and kalamata olives were not found on the kids' pizzas, but at least they had the tomatoes!  Baby steps, right?  The marinated chicken was heavenly!  We filled in with cheese sticks (split up, of course) and parmesan cheese and baked them in a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes.  Then we dipped (if you're a kid) and smothered (if you're me) with the cold cucumber sauce.  For some reason I kept calling my kids Nic or Nicki and saying, "there's a hole in this kek!"  Thanks Nanna, for this Greek party in my mouth!

Changed settings

OK, I just changed the settings so that each of you should get an email whenever someone posts or makes a comment.  I did that because I gave you an assignment in the last post but you might not know about it if it's only starting to email you with this post.

Read all the posts I've done so far, comment if you'd like, and be sure to write a post, too!   Can't wait to see what you do!

Try adding:
a picture
a link
changing font size
changing font color

We'll be deleting these, it's not a contest.  Just play with it.
OK, well there IS a contest for the best food poetry, but that's it.  Just TRY to out-do mine in the second post.  Ha.

Calling all authors!

Ok, ladies thank you for joining in as authors.  Now it's YOUR turn! Each of you give it a whirl.  Anything you want... a recipe, a thought, a quote, today's diary entry.... whatever, but test drive your ability as an author.  If you have any questions, call me.  We'll get rid of these posts soon so it's all pro-fesh-un-ul and stuff, but for now don't worry about what you put up.  I just want to see if you can do it... it's a challenge!

Don't forget:  see if you can add a picture even!  Woo hoo!!

(This picture I took of Alex is something Benson made into a poster for his workplace/movie theater for an ad campaign and won first place, as voted by the general public!)

Fabuless Freezer Cooking, a website

This is another test post we can delete later but that I wanted you (Rice fam) to see.

Ladies, in doing some research, I came across this website  about frugality that includes a section about freezer meals with a lot of hints, recipes, and how-to's (like how to start a freezer meal group).  I think it could help us get thinking about what would be helpful to include on our site.

2nd post for testing

There once was a bag in the freezer.
Without label, the meat was a teaser.
It might be delish
(Unless it is fish)
So I cooked it and it was a pleaser.

Getting going

This post is only temporary.  Just trying to get an idea of what the layout looks like.