Dumb Blonde in the Kitchen

Introducing - Prep Steps!

2011-12-22T17:52:00.000-05:00

As I've spent more and more time cooking for my family, I've discovered that most of my time is spent on prep work. Actually cooking the meal? That's easy! It's the prep that takes the time. That's why all those TV chefs make everything look so effortless and "dinner in under 10 minutes" and all of that. They have everything cleaned, chopped, pre-measured and ready to throw in the pan! I've

Mashed Potato Cakes

2011-12-02T11:47:00.001-05:00

I've been wanting to do something creative with leftover mashed potatoes for a while now. The hubs is great with leftovers, but if there's no gravy, who wants to eat plain leftover mashed potatoes? I do freeze them and mix them in with fresh ones later on - but why not make a potato pancake out of them and mix in some fun ingredients to make something interesting? After scouring the internet

Classic Pillsbury Ad

2011-11-28T18:54:00.001-05:00

With a site titled "Dumb Blonde in the Kitchen" - how could I NOT share this?

Freezable Festive Cranberry-Orange Relish

2011-11-21T20:52:00.001-05:00

A must-have in your freezer in order to serve at other times of the year, as fresh cranberries aren't available year round - so stock up!12 oz. whole cranberries1 seedless orange1 cup light brown sugar1/2 cup chopped walnutsRinse cranberries. Cut orange into 6-8 wedges, leaving the peel on. Run the cranberries and the orange wedges through a food processor together until nicely ground up. Dump

How to prep and cook a large field pumpkin

2011-11-19T12:41:00.001-05:00

You know - a large field pumpkin? The kind that your kids turn into Jack-O-Lanterns for Halloween? Yea, those field pumpkins. This one weighed in at over 20 pounds. I've always been a bit fearful of large food items. I mean, look at the size of this thing! Where do you start? Anybody can dispatch one of those little baby sugar pumpkin dealies - but it takes a real woman to hack up one of

Nothing like a power outage to make you clean out your freezer!

2011-11-08T13:21:00.000-05:00

Winter storm Alfred not only left its mark on CT - it left its mark on my freezer! Thank goodness I didn't have the thing stocked to the brim as I normally would this time of year. Since I packed my kids up and went to Cape Cod for the week during the power outage (leaving my husband alone in the cold and dark) I also packed two coolers full of my most expensive freezer items - roasts, steaks,

Freezing rice

2011-10-16T11:40:00.000-04:00

I really should start a series on making and storing your own convenience foods, but it would be an incredibly long series. More than likely, it will be what this blog will eventually become, but for now - let's talk about rice! Rice is one of those things that cooks up easily, will take on the flavors of pretty much anything you mix into it, and stores incredibly well in the freezer. It can

What I froze today

2011-10-13T16:04:00.000-04:00

It wasn't much, but I managed to score some bars of Cracker Barrel cheese on sale, so in addition to making my famous "big mac & cheese" casserole for dinner last night, I bought extra and froze a meal-sized portion of pre-sliced cheddar so I could thaw it to make another one later. I also made a pot of spaghetti and meatballs, but I baked and flash froze the extra meatballs I made, I'd say @ a

My freezer is empty

2011-10-12T11:22:00.000-04:00

Well, ok, not completely empty. There are some bags of miscellaneous gravy, some acorn and butternut squash, a few quarts of chicken broth, and other various little bits of this and that. There are also a couple of packages of stew beef, a chuck roast, a rack of ribs and some raw chicken that didn't get prepped into anything. No more meals I can pull out at will, heat and serve - except for a

Freezing onions

2011-09-18T20:11:00.001-04:00

No need to buy dehydrated minced onion in a shaker. Just chop up fresh onions and freeze them in 1/2 cup increments. All you need are the cheapie fold & close sandwich bags and baggie ties. Store them in a gallon freezer bag, and don't forget to label what they are. When you're ready to use them, just thaw and either sautee, or just add to you favorite recipes. This is also a great way to avoid

Sauteed Summer Veggies

2011-08-10T14:11:00.000-04:00

Since joining a CSA this year, I've had a plethora of veggies in my fridge. Maybe I've been watching too much Anthony Bourdain recently, but I decided that good food needn't be difficult to prepare - and less is best. In fact, it's what you don't do to your food that makes the difference sometimes. This dish you see pictured too 10-15 minutes to prepare, from fridge to table. It is all veggies

Plum tomatoes

2010-11-27T09:43:00.001-05:00

Over a year ago I froze a couple of quarts of fresh plum tomatoes from the garden. Nothing fancy, I just blanched them quickly to remove the skin, then I chopped them up. I figured I'd turn them into sauce at some point, but I had completely forgotten about them until last night! Thank goodness I used my food saver, because after thawing, pureeing and seasoning, this was some of the best

I've been commissioned to make cheesecake and cranberry relish

2010-11-19T15:40:00.001-05:00

Thanksgiving is at my sister's this year, and I'm happily making my mom's cranberry relish recipe, much to the delight of my niece, Emily. My nephew Josh will most likely want an entire cheesecake for himself, so I'd better make extra. :)I love Thanksgiving!

When I don't feel like cooking

2010-11-02T17:44:00.000-04:00

Today was one of those days. It's getting colder, I'm tired, we got to the end of the day and my son asked "What's for dinner?" Went downstairs to the freezer - and I had choices galore! Meatloaf, sloppy joes, pulled pork, crispy chicken, chicken wings, chicken tenders. We decided on sloppy joes. Thaw, reheat, thank-you-very-much. I remain indebted to Jill Bond who wrote the book (literally

Mega cooking session for the next couple of days

2010-10-05T16:09:00.000-04:00

Out of this Sam's Club shopping trip I'll get 3 meatloaves, 2-3 meals of chicken wings, 2-3 meals of baked chicken thighs, 5 meals made out of boneless skinless chicken breasts, 3 meals of pulled pork, 2 large mac & cheese casseroles, and 8 two-cup portions of shredded cheddar cheese to use later in recipes. Plus I promised my youngest son I'd hard boil a couple of dozen eggs for him to have as

Vacation!

2010-08-23T15:28:00.000-04:00

So we're going to be taking a week's vacation at our family house, and there's a full kitchen! Hooray!!! I can cook!! Wait a minute...hooray? Cooking? It's vacation - why on EARTH would I want to cook? But, if you know what I know, that's not really a bad thing - and we can save a lot of money by eating in most nights. But do I really want to cook? Yes - and no. Cooking, I don't mind,

Quick dinner

2010-08-21T18:08:00.000-04:00

It's summer, and I really don't like cooking in the summer...meaning, the grill rules! We spent the day at the Hartford County 4-H Fair, so by the time I got home, I realized I hadn't pulled anything out of the freezer for dinner. Glen stopped on the way home and grabbed some ears of corn at a roadside stand. I pulled a few boneless skinless chicken breasts out of the freezer and thawed them

How to make yummy roast chicken & potatoes in the same pan

2010-08-12T16:07:00.000-04:00

This is what we're having for dinner tonight! Let me know if you try it and how it comes out! 1 whole chicken (4 pounds) 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 1/2 teaspoon sea salt 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano 1/2 teaspoon dried basil 1/2 teaspoon paprika 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional) 5 medium potatoes, washed and diced, peel if desiredextra virgin olive oil

Cream of Everything Soup

2010-08-09T13:04:00.001-04:00

Dinner was so great last night - steak, baked potatoes, grilled zucchini, corn on the cob. As is frequently the case in my house, there were a few miscellaneous leftovers. 1 cooked ear of corn, 1/2 piece of grilled zucchini and 2 baked potatoes. My first thought - chowder! First I slowly sautéed 1/4 cup of finely diced onion in 2 tbsp. of butter so it wouldn't brown. Then I added 1/4 cup of

Chopped salads - the way to go for a quick, healthy & cool summertime dinner!

2010-06-24T16:50:00.000-04:00

Yes, Jamie Oliver is on to something with regards to healthy, nutritious and downright delicious food. Chopped salad is the way I got my family to eat salad. There's something about everything being all mixed up together that just, I don't know, makes it! Here's a list of stuff I've chopped up and thrown into a big bowl: Organic romaine hearts Organic packaged spring mix/other assorted

Recent mega-freezing session

2010-03-19T10:48:00.000-04:00

The other day I stopped at Sam's Club and picked up the following: 6.5 lbs. of ground chuck 9 lbs. of sirloin steaks 2 lbs. of cheddar cheese 12 lbs. of boneless/skinless chicken breasts 3.5 lbs. of Kayem Natural casing franks 3.5 lbs. of Ballpark Beef franks 2 lbs. of sweet italian sausage Here's what I put in my freezer2 family meals of marinated sirloin steaks, with enough for planned

Flash Frozen Pepper Strips

2010-03-06T18:27:00.000-05:00

This is what flash frozen pepper strips look like in my house. I lined the cookie sheet with waxed paper and then spread out the pepper strips. I froze them until solid, then transferred them into a gallon Ziploc bag to store in the freezer to add to recipes later. The quantity you see here is one large bell pepper.

Meat in marinade

2010-03-04T15:42:00.000-05:00

Raw meat in marinade almost always freezes better than just plain raw meat. For one, the meat soaks in the sauce for weeks to months, making it even more delicious when you finally get around to cooking it. Secondly, the marinade juices protect the meat from freezer burn and freezer "taste" - you know what I'm talking about. I thought of this today as I pulled out a few pounds of short ribs I

What I froze this morning

2010-03-03T11:19:00.000-05:00

I made a batch of pancakes for the kids' breakfast, let the extras cool, then wrapped them individually in plastic wrap (so they don't dry out) and put them in the freezer. After they're frozen, I'll transfer them all into a gallon Ziploc bag and store them for another morning when the kids want pancakes for breakfast. They just pull them out and pop them frozen into the toaster to heat up.

BBQ pulled pork is unbelievably easy to freeze

2010-03-02T00:08:00.000-05:00

I made a killer bourbon-mango pulled pork for our super bowl party a few weeks ago. I cannot stress how good this stuff was. But here's the best part! I was able to freeze all the leftovers (and there were tons) in meal sized portions, and my husband thawed some out and reheated it for dinner last night for him and the kids. It was so good even from the freezer that he can't wait to have it