eeking out an extra hour by making meals ahead

New York Magazine says that "vegetables are the new meat". Meatless Mondays is a popular catch-phrase with a celebrity studded site to boot. And chances are, as we enter the New Year, you are either aspiring to eat more veggies, hoping to eat more meals as a family, or maybe both!

If you've kicked off your new year with a juice cleanse then you may find yourself drooling over my upcoming posts, because while my meals are always simple and healthful, I am not doing anything so extreme. My resolution was more of a macro one: focusing on getting a little more balanced...in the hopes that my overall health and happiness (and, achem, a svelte body) will follow.

If I am going to get more balanced, I am going to have to find another hour in my day. One area I know I can gain some of this time back in is the cooking department. The key is to figure out a few go-to recipes that freeze well or can be stored in the fridge for a few days. Once you get in the rhythm of cooking this way, you'll be able to enjoy homemade most meals, but you won't have to cook each meal each day. Sounds too good to be true? Here's my example from the past 5 days. Note that when we came back from vacation our fridge and freezer were bare. As in, no backlog of meals whatsoever, so I am starting this cache of meals right along with you this week:

Wednesday (cooked lunch)
We arrived home from 24+ hours of travel in time for lunch (which is another whole blog post...)
Breakfast: whatever my kids picked out with their $6 food voucher from the airline...gross
Lunch: Cilantro-Walnut Pesto over Whole Wheat Rotini
Dinner: Take-out pizza & salad for dinner

Thursday (cooked breakfast & dinner)
Breakfast: Make Ahead Oatmeal
Lunch: choice of pizza or pasta from Wednesday
Dinner: Polenta & (Soy) Chorizo Lasagna

Friday (cooked breakfast)
Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs
Lunch: choice of Polenta & Soy Chorizo Lasagna or PB& J
Dinner: (New Year's Eve) Local gourmet shop Aux Delices' Mac & Cheese for the kids, and a decadent cheese, cured meat, dried fruit and nut selection from Darien Cheese Shop for the adults

Saturday (cooked breakfast and lunch)
Breakfast: Frittata loaded with broccoli, zucchini and kale
Lunch: Giant pot of 21 Bean Soup
Dinner: Out to a friend's home for dinner, where I brought a hearty homemade dip...and as an added bonus, she sent us home with a big plate of kid-pleasing fried chicken

Sunday (no cooking)
Breakfast: Frittata loaded with broccoli, zucchini and kale (which I made ahead on Sat morning)
Lunch: choice of Cilantro-Walnut Pesto Rotini or Fried Chicken with the last of the Mac & Cheese
Dinner: Bowls of the 21 Bean Soup and some of Saturday night's dip I kept around here for snacking

Still in my freezer to be enjoyed in coming weeks:
8 servings of the bean soup
8 servings of the Polenta & (Soy) Chorizo Lasagna

As I prepare more meals going forward, I'll make extra of some and tuck them in my freezer. As the meals build up, I'll get more time off. Also, we'll have more variety to choose from. (In the beginning, you may only have one or two things in the freezer to choose from...) It's a simple solution to that "What's For Dinner" question. I'll be sure to highlight when recipes I share are freezer-friendly so you can join me in "cooking ahead". This Polenta & Soy Chorizo freezes beautifully, and is actually a re-post of the very first recipe I ever shared on this blog. Here's the recipe in step-by-step photos:

First, one onion and two packages of soy chorizo were sauteed in a bit of olive oil. The soy chorizo is found in the produce section, because it's a vegetable product. (Trader Joe's has their own brand, and I also saw it at another supermarket by the brand, Frieda's.) That said, you can always substitute real sausage if you'd like, or you can use ground beef or ground turkey with your favorite herbs/spices if that's more your speed. The recipe is totally adaptable to your tastes.

I used ready-made polenta this time, which can be found in the pasta aisle of most supermarkets. If you want, you can make your own polenta using cornmeal and water or broth, but adding another step definitely isn't going to help my whole balanced gig so I'm sticking with store bought for this recipe!

The first layer is simply thinly sliced polenta...

next some dollops of Fage 0% Greek Yogurt...

and a layer of sliced zucchini.

Then, a thin layer of the sauteed soy chorizo and onion mixture,

and a sprinkling of mozzarella or Feta, your choice.

Topped by another layer of thinly sliced polenta and

a layer of canned diced tomatoes (partially drained).

Then I added a sprinkling of Feta

and a little more soy chorizo & onion mixture.

One last layer of thinly sliced polenta and a last sprinkling of Parmesan, mozzarella or Feta before it goes into a 350 degree oven for a half hour or so.

There you have it! Dinner is ready, house smells amazing, and the second dish of this I made at the same time gets popped into the freezer* for another day when we want a homemade meal but don't have time to cook. Now that is a beautiful thing!

* You can freeze the make ahead meal uncooked or cooked. If you freeze it uncooked, just double the cook time, and put the frozen dish into the oven as it is heating up so you don't shock the glass going freezer to oven. No need to defrost. Just enjoy the hour it is cooking!

Super Easy Creamy Pesto Pasta

Here’s a very simple, and delicious, comforting meal that pleased both our kids and the parents in our house last week. This past summer, my sister-in-law made a "chocolate cream pie" using tofu as the "creamy" base, and none of us was the wiser. So, I improvised using the same concept on a creamy pasta sauce and it totally worked. Unlike some of the magazine recipes I gave a whirl this weekend, this one I excitedly pass along to all of you busy parents looking for an alternative to pasta with red sauce, meat sauce, or plain pesto...

Super Easy Creamy Pesto Pasta

1 tub of store bought pesto*
1 pkg of firm tofu (preferably organic)
1 large can of diced tomatoes (optional)
Your favorite brand of pasta, cooked according to package
Shredded Parmesan (optional)

In a blender, combine the tub of pesto with the block of tofu. Blend it to a creamy consistency. Then heat in a saucepan and serve over pasta, with shredded parmesan cheese if you’d like.

I added a big can of diced tomatoes as well, to give it some texture. One unexpected (or at least unexpected to me, since I didn’t have a color wheel in my head) is that the sauce is really pretty when it’s light green from the pesto and tofu. If you add tomatoes, it turns it orange-y brown…..not pink, as my two-year-old sous chef hoped for given his current favorite color! Still, it was delish.

* Some of you may have some pesto you made this summer in your freezer. Here’s a good opportunity to use it.

Simple Multi-Tasking Meal: Pasta with Red Sauce becomes Papardelle with (Soy) Chorizo Sauce

Today was one of those days when I needed my meal to multi-task…and I only had a short time to prepare dinner before my kids started spiraling downward. It was so cold and rainy here today that I wanted to give my kids a warm, hearty meal. Got home at 5pm, dinner was ready at 5:30 and the kids were bathed, read to and asleep by 7pm. Delicious success.

1 pkg Trader Joe’s (TJ’s) Sprouted Wheat Papardelle
1 jar TJ’s Organic Pasta Sauce
1 pkg TJ’s Soy Chorizo
Freshly shredded Parmesan

After preparing the papardelle according to the directions on the package (boiling it for 7 minutes with a dash of kosher salt), I mixed in a healthy dose of tomato sauce and freshly shredded Parmesan for the kids and served it with a side of finger-friendly strawberries, mango, cucumbers and carrots. (The consistency of the sprouted wheat pasta went unnoticed, in fact, everyone really liked it.) While they started eating (underfoot) I simply sautéed the chorizo until browned, added the remainder of the sauce, and stirred in the papardelle until warmed and nicely blended. Then I sat down and ate with them. This made a simple, but healthy, pasta dinner a little more interesting and zesty… and it’s another meal that holds up well until your husband comes home from work if you also eat in shifts at your house.

Creating Supper: Polenta and (Soy) Chorizo Lasagna

Before having children, I provided numerous Fairfield County families with healthy, organic meals through my personal chef service, Dinners by Eila. While I loved the “a ha” moments my clients had when they’d enjoy my cooking and learn that they could have an indulgent tasting meal that was also very healthy, having me do all the cooking limited the number of families who could experience this joy. Plus, the cost of having someone come into your home and cook for you is a luxury most of us cannot rationalize in these economic times. Nowadays, more families are eating at home instead of going out…but what if a mom feels like she isn’t a very good cook? Or she only feels comfortable cooking exactly what a recipe calls for? Cookbooks are great for inspiration, but a “Momalicious” mom can whip up a scrumptious meal with whatever is on hand! My goal now is to help local moms feel confident and excited to be in the kitchen, and to look forward to entertaining at home.

Last week I had really random things left in my fridge/pantry, but with two sick kids, going to the supermarket was just not going to happen. So, I improvised and concocted a pretty darn good supper. So good that: a) my sweet husband did not realize it was meatless and b) I recreated it tonight for supper: Polenta and (Soy) Chorizo “Lasagna.” It’s time for me to get the kids to bed so I can sit down to this nice dinner with my in-laws, but for anyone who might like to give this dish a whirl here are the layers:

• Organic tomato sauce (spoon a thin layer in bottom of casserole dish)
• Polenta (1/2 log thinly sliced, forming a layer)
• TJ's 2% Greek Style Yogurt (1 tub, spread over the polenta)
• Feta cheese (1 tub, crumbled on top of the yogurt layer)
• Polenta (1/2 log thinly sliced, again forming a layer)
• 1 or 2 pkgs TJ's soy chorizo (out of casing, sautéed in a bit of olive oil, then spread evenly as layer...1 pkg is sufficient but 2 pkgs makes it more "meaty")
• Polenta (1/2 log thinly sliced, another layer)
• Organic diced tomatoes (1 large can, partially drained, spread evenly as a layer)
• TJ’s Shredded Quattro Fromaggio (1/2 bag sprinkled on top...voila, you're done in a matter of minutes!)

Ingredients need not be precise. Add or delete items you have on hand or do not enjoy. I baked the dish at 350 for somewhere between 40 minutes and an hour. The beauty of most of the week night meals I make is that precision is not key! As long as this dinner is heated through and the cheese is lightly browned on top, you can do very little damage leaving it in too long. A beautiful thing in case the children’s baths go longer than you anticipated, or you’re catching up with your neighbor in the yard and forget to come in…

Guaranteed to make your kitchen smell amazing, and to make you feel pretty "mom-a-licious" for whipping up something interesting, and yet so easy!