Marathon Cooking to Save Time and Energy!

Marathon Cooking to Save Time and Energy!

(wrote this while in Greece but just getting to blog)

This is an idea to do on a rainy day or a planned cooking day. Choose your recipes that inter-mingle ingredients.

Stock the freezer up!

My Grecian holiday is coming to an end!

Time is now not on my side, as I leave in two days from Greece and it is my “crunch” time for preparing a few things for my daughters freezer to surprise them in days to come.

So today I have chosen to cook and pack and settle the home back to its state of being a bachelorette home.  After being here one month, it is amazing how we (Bill and myself) settled in and have things from one end to the other in the house.

It is a bit of a marathon in the kitchen today, running from packing to cooking to cleaning to cooking!

I was cooking last evening some large meatball to freeze, so it was easy to chop double the amount of celery, parsley, onion and garlic than I needed for the meatballs.   So from those cut vegetables I made a pot of plan tomato sauce as the meatballs cooked. The sauce had not cooled fully to freeze and I had it available this morning to either freeze or incorporate in a “new” dish this morning.

Here is how my marathon went:

1.      Meatballs made and froze last evening. (chopping, rolling, baking, freezing)

2.      Chopped more veggies than needed for the meatballs (celery, onions, garlic, parsley) and made a tomato sauce.

3.      Next morning I used two chickens.

4.      Used one chicken to make a casserole with sausage and tomato sauce (from eve before).  Baked it and it is cooling awaiting to be frozen.

5.      Had leftover tomato sauce to freeze

6.      Used the wings and backbone of the one chicken used in the casserole and the neck and unused pieces of both chickens to make Chicken vegetable soup broth.

7.      Peeled Potatoes and cooked them in the soup broth that was simmering and with a slotted spoon removed them and placed them around the other chicken which then was seasoned and baked.

8.   Other chicken used with above potatoes, to make Baked Greek Style Lemon, Oregano chicken and potatoes.

                                                     TIPS:

·        Use a processor and chop veggies (onions, garlic, celery and parsley) in large quantities to use in a few dishes. Plan ahead just how much needed for all meals being cooked

·        Use heat in the oven to cook one- two –three casseroles at once to save energy.

·        Make sauces that can be used in more than one way.

·        Freeze meals in containers and zip lock bags in portions sized for your particular needs. Often casseroles will make two or three meals.

·        Meatballs can be eaten by themselves, with rice or pasta and tomato sauce or put in a sandwich. So make allot at once and freeze in a few containers.

·        Leftover Chicken and Potatoes   (meat, potatoes, and juice) cut up, makes a fabulous soup base  (I may add to what I have already started)

·        Leftover of the chicken and sausage casserole is great on pasta or rice for a second meal.

Recipes will be found within my blog for these dishes but use your own selection of meals.

As always be your own Creative Dump Cook and change this recipe to what YOU have on hand!