recipes for the working mom : by amy

I work about 50-60 hours a week, so having a home-cooked meal is pretty difficult.  I used to love poring over recipe books and clipping recipes for future experiments, but who has time for that now!?  I still want to cook for Logan (oh yeah, and my husband too, ha), so I've now resorted to semi-homemade cooking.

I try to have 3 things in the fridge every week for Logan: 1) some type of meat dish; 2) a soup with vegetable that I can ration out and freeze; and 3) a finger-food vegetable.  Typically, 2 out of the 3 require hardly any cooking.  Additionally, I always keep a batch of Korean-style brown/grain rice in the freezer, also rationed out into smaller containers.  Logan's typical dinner consists of a small bowl of rice in soup ("bap and gook") with some finger-food (vegetables) and cut-up meat.  We finish each dinner off with some fruit and milk.  The vegetables are often roasted sweet potatoes, carrots or some other root vegetable or frozen broccoli/peas/cauliflower that I steam or boil.  Logan LOVES peas-- I think he thinks they're snacks since they're so small and round :).

Here is my current and favorite meat dish of the week: Roasted chicken with onions in Wegman's organic lemon and garlic marinade (P.S.: can you tell what my favorite grocery store is?)

I get 2 packs of chicken-- I usually mix them up but it's typically thighs and drumsticks.  Yeah, yeah, breast is healthier... ANYway, you literally dump the chicken, 2 or 3 cut onions, and whatever roast-able vegetables you have in your fridge (carrots, potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, turnips, squash, etc.), pour on this AMAZING marinade, and bake this at 400 degrees for about an hour or until your chicken is cooked through.  Done.  Another substitution for the marinade is Italian dressing.

The next semi-homemade "dish" that I made for this week was kale soup.  You're going to laugh because this isn't cooking at all: kale + chicken broth = kale soup.   Hey, I never promised any Bobby Flay recipes on this blog!  I promise I cook forreal, but when it comes to Logan's "bap and gook," sometimes I keep it pretty simple.

A little note on chicken broth: homemade is always the best, but I just don't always have time to make it.  So, when I'm in a time-crunch, I use Pacific organic low-sodium chicken broth.  In the past, I used Swanson, but Swanson's low sodium is not that low-- I always diluted it by half.  Pacific's low-sodium is legit-- no dilution needed.  They also sell them in bulk at Costco :)  I use 1 quart of chicken broth and bring it to a boil; toss in a healthy 1.5 handfuls of kale and let it simmer/boil for about 10 minutes or so, or until the leaves are pretty wilted.  Kale is a pretty tough leaf, so you want to make sure it's cooked down enough for your toddler to chew and swallow.

After it's cooked down, I take scissors and cut up all of the kale leaves so they're in smaller bite-size pieces  After it cools down a bit, I pour them into my little freezable containers.  When it's dinner time, I nuke one small bowl of rice with 2 containers of soup.  Sometimes I add a few pieces of dried seaweed ("gheem") for a little extra flavor.  You can use this same "recipe" with spinach, onion, carrots, celery (mirapoux) or use beef broth.  Again, I was feeling a little lazy last night because I was actually excited to make the next and last dish...

I saved the best for last: roasted tomato and basil soup.  The origin for this recipe was from Ina Garten (she pretty much taught me how to cook), but I made a few changes to it based on my pantry and preferences.

Around 2-3 pounds of tomatoes (Roma or vine), 1-2 bunches of basil, 3 onions, a small handful of garlic cloves (I think I used...10), and 1 or 2 cans of diced tomatoes (I've made it with either 1 or 2-- doesn't make much of a difference).  For seasonings, you need salt, pepper, 1 teaspoon of thyme and 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes.

Slice the tomatoes long ways and put them on a sheet pan in a single layer.  Drizzle olive oil and season lightly with salt and pepper.  Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes-- don't shorten this step!  The longer you roast, the more sweet, roasted tomato flavor you get.

In the meantime, dice the onions and chop up the garlic.  Cook in a deep pot for about 10-15 minutes or until your onions are browned and cooked down.  Add in the red pepper flakes, thyme and basil and cook for a few more minutes.  Once everything's cooked through, add in the 1 (or 2) cans of diced tomatoes and 1 quart of chicken stock.  Start bringing your pot to a boil.  Once your roasted tomatoes are done, carefully place them in your pot, along with any juices in your pan.

Now, you're going to let this come to a boil and then simmer (uncovered) for another 30-40 minutes.

Next, it's time to bring out the secret weapon: the Cuisinart hand-held Smart Stick.  After you've simmered, turn off the heat and start hand-blending away until the soup is silky-smooth with no chunks.  To get the right consistency, I add in about 3/4-1 cup of whole milk and stir it in.  It's not heavy/creamy like a bisque, but light and smooth.  It's also surprisingly sweet and not salty, with just a *touch* of heat down the back of your throat, thanks to the red pepper flakes.  I actually don't add any additional salt or pepper to the soup-- it's perfect just the way it is.

But, I do make a small grilled cheese sandwich, drizzled with some olive oil and sprinkle of sea salt  to dip into my luxurious tomato soup :)  Logan likes it too!  I would toast one piece of whole wheat bread with 1 slice of cheese on top.  I cut it up into little pieces, and he likes to throw them into the bowl of soup.  Then the bread absorbs all of the soup, and he semi-spoon-feeds himself. 

So, there you have it: 3 "home-cooked" dishes in 1 night and something that toddlers and parents can enjoy for the week.

This entry was pretty much a commercial for Wegman's, wasn't it?  They should pay me...