I’ve been told by friends and family that I have “food-brain” because I’m always talking about food. Sometimes it’ll be sharing a new recipe I created. Other times, I’ll be waxing poetic about the best ways to convert a recipe into a slow cooker meal; but one thing remains the same–food is always on my mind. I probably didn’t help my case by getting a Kindle Fire for my birthday with the sole intent of turning it into the ultimate kitchen gadget.

Initially, wanted to get the Kindle Fire to keep track of all the printed recipes, torn magazine pages and hand-scrawled notes I’ve collected over the years. In the past month I have been using the Kindle in ways I never imagined and have been having a blast using it in the kitchen. It has been really handy to call up video tutorials about different cooking techniques, search for ingredient substitutions when ingredients were missing and I’ve even used it as a handy kitchen timer.

I’ve been having so much fun turning the Kindle into a super-charged kitchen tool that this week I am kicking off a three-part series on how you can turn your Kindle Fire (or any other tablet) into the best cooking tool you never knew you needed. We’re starting off by highlighting some of the best ways to keep the Kindle safe from spills, sticky hands and accidental drops in the sink. The next two posts will discuss some of the best cooking apps available on the Amazon app store and great online tools (like Evernote) you can use to keep track of recipes and kitchen notes.

A Guide for Keeping your Kindle Fire Safe in the Kitchen

Place the Kindle in a ziptop freezer bag.

Every messy cook knows that it’s impossible to keep their hands clean when cooking. Placing the Kindle in a gallon-size ziptop storage bag is the quickest and easiest way to keep it safe from spills and grime without having to constantly wash your hands before touching the screen. I prefer using freezer bags because they have a double zip seal for added spill-protection. The best part of using a freezer bag is it’s disposable so you can toss it and get a new one when it gets too gross.

Some people expressed concerns of the plastic melting or getting too hot from the heat generated by the LCD screen. The Fire’s screen does produce a small amount of heat but it really seems like it isn’t anything to cause concern. I’ve used the Kindle Fire in a Ziploc for up to an hour before and the plastic never melted or had any issues.
 

Loosely wrap the Kindle with plastic wrap.

Wrapping the Kindle in plastic wrap is a good alternative to using a ziptop bag. However, the plastic wrap doesn’t offer as much protection because it isn’t waterproof. Using plastic wrap is really a great way to protect the screen from sticky fingers while not spending a fortune on a special cooking case. Like the ziptop bag, the plastic wrap is disposable and can easily be tossed and replaced when it gets too worn or sticky.
 

Attach the Kindle to a cabinet or the refrigerator.

It may be a little extreme but my favorite way to keep the Kindle safe in the kitchen is to mount it to the cabinet above the kitchen’s primary workspace. To do this, I picked up an inexpensive Kindle skin from Amazon and attached it to the front of the cabinet using some 3-M tabs and (possibly an overkill amount of) Velcro. The case sticks to the Velcro very well and only comes off the cabinet when I give it some real effort. This concept would work well if you would rather mount the Kindle to the front of the refrigerator. Just use some magnets in place of the Velcro and you’re set.
 

(The Velcro setup for mounting the Kindle to a cabinet)

The only down side from this method is it really isn’t a way to protect the screen from grime. It’s really more of a way to protect the Kindle from spills and splatters while keeping it out of the way while cooking. An inexpensive stylus can be used on the screen when cooking so you don’t have to continually clean your hands before touching the screen. The stylus can be wrapped in plastic wrap or wiped off with a kitchen towel to keep it clean after cooking.
 

These are the top three ways I’ve found to keep the Kindle clean and safe while cooking. Come back next week to see a review of the best cooking apps available in the Amazon store.

As weeknight cooks, we all want the same thing…a clean and tidy refrigerator that’s fully stocked and ready for dinner. But let’s face it, cleaning the fridge gets lost somewhere between loading the dishwasher and taking out the trash.

So, what happens? Dinner leftovers, forgotten vegetables and specialty sauces get lost in the seemingly toxic wasteland known as the “back of the fridge.” Fear not, for today I’m going to share with you the greatest secret to keeping a tidy fridge while preventing unnecessary food waste–the weekly ‘clean out the fridge’ dinner.

Clean out the fridge meals are fun to make and don’t really follow a set recipe. Instead, they’re guided by whatever leftover ingredients you have from making a week’s worth of dinners at home. Here are the top three tips for making great clean out the fridge meals.

Combine complementary ingredients: Some ingredients just don’t go well together; like sliced cabbage and bell peppers. But, you can make some great impromptu quesadillas if you have leftover black or pinto beans and chopped bell peppers sitting in the fridge.

Rinse off leftover meat: Did you make a stew that people are tired of eating as leftovers? Try pulling out the meat and rinsing off the sauce and flavorings by running it under cold water. The rinsed meat can be reused to make a quick stir fry using some broccoli, bell peppers and sliced carrots.

Stash leftovers in the freezer: Fresh vegetables don’t freeze well. But, you can freeze small amounts of most ingredients and even some meals (like soups or fried rice) to use at a later date. For example, frozen soups make great lunches on the go. Steamed rice can be frozen in a zip top freezer bag and used the next time you need fresh rice for dinner.
 

For dinner this week, I’m delighted to present: Slow Cooker Twice Baked Southwestern Baked Potatoes, Healthier Sweet-and-Sour Shrimp with Mangoes, Slow Cooker Chickpea Curry, Tijuana Torta and “Clean out the Fridge” Frittata. Have a great week everyone!

Download Printable Resources (PDF):
 
Weeknight Dinner Menu, Grocery Shopping Lists and Recipes

Monday: Slow Cooker Southwestern Twice Baked Potatoes

Prep: 15 minutes | Cook: 30 minutes | Yield: 4-6 servings

Slow cooker twice baked potatoes filled with a mixture of black beans, onions, jalapeños, garlic and corn served topped cheddar cheese and non-fat sour cream.

Quick Prep Tips: The baked potato filling can be prepared the night before. Just mix together the filling ingredients (without the scooped out potato) and stash it in the fridge until you’re ready to fill the potatoes. Then, mix in the scooped out potatoes and fill away.

Tuesday: Healthier Sweet-and-Sour Shrimp with Mangoes

Prep: 10 minutes | Cook: 25 minutes | Yield: 4 servings

A healthy serving of sweet-and-sour shrimp made with mangoes, mixed vegetables and sweet-and-sour sauce served over a bed of brown rice.

Quick Prep Tips: Quickly thaw the shrimp by allowing the shrimp to sit in a bowl of cold water for 5 minutes just before cooking. You can also make the rice in advance and store it in the fridge until you’re ready to eat.

Wednesday: Slow Cooker Chickpea Curry

Prep: 15 minutes | Cook: 4-8 hours | Yield: 4-6 servings

A savory pot of slow cooker chickpea curry that tastes just like the dishes at Indian restaurants; chickpeas, onions, carrots, zucchini and spices slow cooked throughout the day and served over a bed of rice.

Quick Prep Tips: This entire soup can be assembled the day before and stashed in the fridge overnight. Then, all you have to do in the morning is allow the soup to sit on the counter for about 20 minutes to warm up a little before placing it in the slow cooker and setting it to cook.

Thursday: Tijuana Torta

Prep: 20 minutes | Cook: 0 minutes | Yield: 4-6 servings

Hollowed out baguettes filled with zesty black beans, jalapeños, guacamole and shedded cabbage.

Quick Prep Tips: Try making the black bean mixture the night before and store it tightly covered in the refrigerator until your ready to assemble the sandwiches. You can also pick up some pre-made guacamole to save even more time.

Friday: “Clean out the Fridge” Frittata

Prep: 10 minutes | Cook: 10 minutes | Yield: 4 servings

Frittata is a cross between an omelet and a breakfast pizza. This fluffy egg-based dish is super easy to prepare and can be made with any toppings of your choice.

Quick Prep Tips: This is a great way to use up leftover vegetables from earlier in the week. You can also prechop the vegetables and preshred the cheese the night before or earlier in the week.

Behold, the magic of the store-bought rotisserie chicken. Whole roasted chickens are great for making dinner. They’re pretty economical, easy to cook and produce somewhere between 3 to 3-1/2 cups of cooked meat. Yet, who has the time to cook a whole chicken during the week?

That’s where the store-bought chicken comes into play. They’re usually well-seasoned, full of juice and come in a variety of flavors. Whether you are pressed for time or just need a lot of chicken in a hurry, these cooked chickens are one of the best kitchen shortcuts for a weeknight cook.

The best part about getting one of these birds is you can use the leftover carcass to make some really awesome slow cooker chicken stock. Yes, you heard that right. You no longer have to spend hours making a hearty stock on the stove top. The good people over at TheKitchn have a great tutorial for transforming the humble slow cooker into a stealthy stock making ninja.

This week, we are making two dinners which need precooked chicken: curried chicken salad sandwiches and Asian chicken salad. You can save a lot of cook time by picking up a rotisserie chicken at the grocery store. When you’re finished cutting up the meat you can try your hand at making some culinary liquid gold in the crockpot.

This week, I am delighted to share with you: Vegetarian Bean and Cheese Enchiladas, Curried Chicken Salad Sandwiches, Slow Cooker Lasagna Soup, Asian Chicken Salad, and Fried Tofu Steaks with Sauteed Vegetables. Have a great week everyone!

Download Printable Resources (PDF):
 
Weeknight Dinner Menu, Grocery Shopping Lists and Recipes

Monday: Vegetarian Bean and Cheese Enchiladas

Prep: 10 minutes | Cook: 20 minutes | Yield: 4-6 servings

Healthy enchiladas made with flour tortillas filled with a black bean and cheese mixture then topped with enchilada sauce, shredded cheese, olives and sour cream.

Quick Prep Tips: Fill and roll the enchiladas on Sunday. Once assembled, just tuck the uncooked pan of enchiladas in the refrigerator until you’re ready to make dinner. Just pull the pan out of the fridge and let it sit on the counter while the oven preheats. Once the oven is hot, put the pan in the oven and continue following the recipe; though the enchiladas may take an additional 5-10 minutes to cook since they will be cold in the middle.

Tuesday: Weeknight Picnic: Curried Chicken Salad Sandwiches

Prep: 10 minutes | Cook: 15 minutes | Yield: 6 sandwiches

Picnic-style chicken salad sandwiches made with sliced grapes, slivered almonds and an exotic curry spread served with a side of potato chips, pretzels and carrot sticks.

Quick Prep Tips: Pick up a cooked rotisserie chicken or a couple cans of chicken breast from the grocery store to skip cooking the chicken. This can shave 10-15 minutes off the total recipe time since you won’t need to season or cook the chicken breasts.

Wednesday: Slow Cooker Lasagna Soup

Prep: 15 minutes | Cook: 4-8 hours | Yield: 4-6 servings

A zesty pot of slow cooker lasagna soup which tastes just like the real thing; Italian sausage, tomatoes, cheese, seasonings and pasta topped with a mixture of ricotta and Parmesan cheese.

Quick Prep Tips: Try boiling the pasta over the weekend. Once the pasta is cooked, drain the water and run it under cold water to stop the cooking. Then, place it in the fridge until you’re ready to eat. Mix the cooked pasta into the soup and let it warm up a bit before serving.

Thursday: Asian Chicken Salad with Honey Soy Sesame Dressing

Prep: 15 minutes | Cook: 15 minutes | Yield: 4 servings

A bed of chopped fresh napa cabbage topped with cooked chicken, crumbled noodles and topped with a honey soy sesame dressing.

Quick Prep Tips: Try using a cooked rotisserie chicken or canned chicken breast in place of the boneless skinless chicken to help move things along.

Friday: Fried Tofu Steaks with Sauteed Mixed Vegetables

Prep: 15 minutes | Cook: 15 minutes | Yield: 4 tofu steaks

Crispy garlic coated tofu steaks topped with soy and sriracha sauce and served with a side of pan fried mixed vegetables.

Quick Prep Tips: You can slice the tofu in the morning before heading out the door. Just place the sliced tofu between several paper towels and place it in the fridge. This way, all you have to do is fry the tofu when you get home.

Cooking dinners at home is a great way to eat healthier and add more nutrition to your diet. Yet, cooking at home takes time and a little practice in order to turn out a fast healthy dinners each night of the week. Whether you are just starting to cook mid-week or a seasoned pro, there are some things you can do to ensure meal time success.

The first thing is to start creating a weekly dinner menu and then figure out what can be prepped ahead of time to speed the cooking along. My favorite prep ahead tip is to chop the veggies over the weekend so everything is ready to cook when I am.

The other thing you can to is to stock your kitchen arsenal with six of the best tools for weeknight cooking. Continue reading to see what they are.

Top Six Tools for Making Dinner Fast

An Electric Rice Pot with Auto-Start Timer

The electric rice pot is one of the greatest secrets Marco Polo set out to discover on his many voyages to Asia. This seemingly mystical kitchen appliance can take water and uncooked rice and transform the two into a perfectly cooked pot of rice every time. And, it never seems to matter whether you are cooking white, brown, wild or any other incarnation of rice. The only time I’ve had a rice pot fail to make perfect rice was when I didn’t heed the suggested ratio of rice to water.

I prefer the Aroma 12-cup digital model because it makes enough rice for dinner with some left over for lunch the next day. Plus, the Aroma cooker is super reliable for how inexpensive it is compared to other digital rice pots. The best thing about using a digital rice pot is the delay start feature. Whenever we need rice for dinner, I fill it with rice and water in the morning and set the timer for the pot to turn on about 30 minutes before we’re set to get home. This way, the rice is freshly cooked and waiting without taking any precious cook time in the evening.

The 5-6 Quart Digital Slow Cooker

Similar to the rice pot, the slow cooker is the second greatest kitchen tool to make weeknight dinners in a hurry. We use our slow cooker to make everything from pork carnitas to soups and stews to beef burgundy. Practically anything you can make on the stove top or in the oven can be adapted for the slow cooker. The one thing to keep in mind when selecting a slow cooker is to get one with a digital control if you plan to let it cook during the day while you’re out.

A digital slow cooker will let you specify a specific cook time then automatically switch to a warm setting when it is finished. This is important because the auto-warm feature can save your dinner from disaster if you are cooking something for 6-8 hours but will be gone for 8-10 hours during the day.

A Handy Pair of Kitchen Shears

Kitchen shears are one of the kitchen’s miracle tools. They can chop vegetables, cut up fruit, cut bread slices into cubes when making croutons and the list goes on. Having a trusty pair of kitchen shears can save loads of time over using a knife and cutting board if you aren’t too picky about the size or shape of each piece of chopped vegetable. We have two pairs of shears because we use them so often; one is almost always in the dishwasher.

A Good Set (or 3) of Food Storage Containers

Food storage containers are great for storing bits of leftover ingredients from dinner but they are also essential for storing prechopped veggies. You’ll want to make sure you get BPA free containers to be safe because (if you’re like me) you’ll be chopping veggies on Sunday and the veggies will sometimes sit in the containers until the following Friday. I like to have a good mixture of sizes. Short, rectangular containers are perfect for storing chopped carrot and celery sticks. Just fill the container with chopped veg and then fill with enough water to cover everything.

The other benefit of having a healthy supply of food storage containers is you will be able to store more leftover dinners which can be saved for lunch the next day. Taking more of your own lunches to work will not only save money since eating out can get pretty spendy but it will also help ensure you have healthy home cooked meals for lunch. I find that looking forward to a home cooked lunch is the perfect way to calm me down after a stressful morning in the office.

The Trusty Ol’ Garlic Press

I’m not really a fan of kitchen one-hit-wonders and try to avoid the gimmicky tools all together. But, I have found the garlic press can be a handy little tool when I need crushed or minced garlic fast. This is especially helpful when you are using 6-8 cloves of garlic in some Italian or Southern creation. Most good models will allow you to even press the garlic cloves without first peeling off the skin. I also like garlic presses because they are dishwasher safe which helps speed along clean up time which is just as important as saving time while cooking.

Microplane Zester/Grater of Power

Along with the rice pot, the handheld zester/grater is another mystical tool. Most zesters are made so they only pick up the citrus zest and very little of the bitter pith (no matter how hard you try). I love using my zester to make lemon or lime zest when cooking because it is fast. But, it is also perfect for shredding small bits of cheese over a pile of pasta or bowl of soup. The zester has fine enough teeth that the shreds of cheese are super thin which helps the cheese melt even faster.

Handheld zesters come in all shapes and sizes. There are specialty graters for cheese or grinding whole pieces of nutmeg. We actually have three zesters/graters but I almost always go back to the citrus zester. It is my go-to tool for making lemon zest but it is also the tool I most often use when adding a little Parmesan cheese to a recipe.

Those are my top six tools for making speedy weeknight dinners. I’m curious to see if any of you have a favorite go-to tool when making dinner.

This morning we woke up to find 4 full inches of snow outside! And we’re talking real snow…the kind that’s not too wet nor too dry. It is the kind of snow that’s perfect for building snow people, forts and igloos. We Oregonians can usually count on the occasional winter snow storm in December or early January but nobody I talk to can remember having snow this late in the year. While strange, I have enjoyed the change in weather and am glad we have a pot of soup at home to help warm us up.

This week, I am delighted to share with you: Spicy Chicken Pizza, Beef Ragu, BBQ Tofu Sandwiches, Slow Cooker Beef Burgundy with Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Chicken Parmesan Soup. Have a great week everyone!

Download Printable Resources (PDF):
 
Weeknight Dinner Menu | Grocery Shopping List

Monday: Spicy Chicken Pizza

Prep: 15 minutes | Cook: 10 minutes | Yield: 4 servings

A spicy pizza topped with pepper jack cheese, bell peppers, shredded chicken, salsa, oregano and red pepper flakes.

Quick Prep Tips: Pick up a bag of preshredded pepper jack cheese instead of shredding your own. You could also get a cooked rotisserie chicken at the store so the chicken is already cooked and waiting for you.

Tuesday: Beef Ragu

Prep: 10 minutes | Cook: 20 minutes | Yield:6 servings

Al dente penne pasta tossed with ground beef and a homemade pasta sauce served with a side of bread and a tossed green salad.

Quick Prep Tips: Chop the vegetables over the weekend or earlier in the week when there is more spare time. Just tuck the prepared veggies in an airtight container and stash them in the fridge until you’re ready to cook.

Wednesday: BBQ Tofu Burgers

Prep: 10 minutes | Cook: 15 minutes | Yield:4 servings

Pan fried tofu slabs served on a bun with tangy barbecue sauce, coleslaw, pickle slices and onions with a side of your favorite potato chips.

Quick Prep Tips: Instead of shredding a head of cabbage, pick up a bag of preshredded coleslaw mix at the grocery store. I prefer to use broccoli slaw because it seems to have a better texture and variety than bagged shredded cabbage.

Thursday: Slow Cooker Beef Burgundy with Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Prep: 15 minutes | Cook: 4-8 hours | Yield:6 servings

Tender slow cooked beef bourguignon that’s full of flavor served with a side of green beans and freshly mashed sweet potatoes.

Quick Prep Tips: You can substitute 1 cup of chopped baby carrots in place of whole carrots to save some peeling and prep time.

Friday: Chicken Parmesan Soup with Garlic Cheese Bread

Prep: 15 minutes | Cook: 20 minutes | Yield:4 servings

Zesty chicken Parmesan soup which delivers all the flavor of real chicken Parmesan and is served with a side of garlic cheese bread.

Quick Prep Tips: Try picking up some pregrated Parmesan cheese from the refrigerated section of the grocery store instead of grating it yourself. The cheese might not be as flavorful but it will save some time when you’re cooking.

Over the past few months, I’ve shared some great tips to save time in the kitchen and make faster weeknight dinners. But, the best tip of all is to prechop your vegetables after returning home from the market or grocery store. I really can’t stress this one enough. This is a pretty long post so if you’re pressed for time try to read at least the first three sections which outline the ways to store your prechopped veggies.

Why Should You Prechop Your Veggies?

I usually prechop the week’s vegetables over the weekend when we have a little more free time. Depending on the week, this usually takes me between 35 minutes to an hour but I assure you it is well worth it. Every so often, we’ll have a week where we are more rushed and I don’t have time to prechop all our veggies. During these weeks, I’ve noticed we tend to eat less veggies and have more go to waste because slicing the vegetables as I go seems to take a lot more time during the week.

I’ve learned there are three main reasons to prechop your veggies.

1. Make dinners faster. Cooking dinner goes a lot faster when everything is ready to go. Depending on the recipe, having the vegetables chopped and waiting can save up to 20 minutes of prep time each night of the week.

2. Convenient & healthier snacking. By prechopping your veg, you’re much more likely to reach into the container of chopped broccoli florets or celery sticks instead of the bag of potato chips next time you’re looking for a mid-afternoon snack.

3. Composting made easier. I’ve noticed we compost more of our kitchen waste since the majority of the vegetable peels and cores are created at the same time. After a marathon chopping session, I usually fill a produce bag of peels, skins and end pieces which gets taken out to the compost bin. This didn’t happen very often before I started prechopping more regularly.
 

Which Vegetables are Best Stored in Water?

Most chopped vegetables can stand on their own without any real loss of quality for 1-2 days. But, you’ll want to put them in a container filled with water if you plan on keeping them in the refrigerator for up to a week. These vegetables are best stored in water:

Carrots, sliced and carrot sticks
Celery, chopped or as celery sticks
Corn, whole ears and shucked
Potatoes, whole (peeled), chopped or sliced
Sweet potatoes, whole (peeled), chopped or sliced

Which Vegetables Can be Stored Without Water?

These vegetables can be stored in an airtight container without water. Most of these veggies can stand on their own for up to a week in the refrigerator. However, you’ll want to toss the lettuce and spinach with a little lemon juice to help prevent of browning and wilting. Wrap washed whole leaves of lettuce or spinach in a couple paper towels before storing in an airtight container. This will help absorb any extra moisture on the leaves and help the produce last a little longer.

Bell peppers, chopped or sliced
Broccoli, chopped
Cabbage, sliced or chopped
Garlic, minced
Ginger, grated or minced
Lettuce, sliced (tossed with a little lemon juice to prevent wilting)
Mushrooms, sliced or chopped
Onions, chopped or sliced
Spinach, tossed with a little lemon juice to prevent wilting
Tomatoes, sliced or diced (last for 1-2 days)
Zucchini, chopped or sliced

Which Vegetables Shouldn’t be Presliced?

Some vegetables are too delicate to prechop and should really be left intact until you are ready to cook. These veggies include:

Cucumbers – Can get slimy after a day or so in the fridge

Tomatoes – If not using within 1-2 days

A Quick Note About the Downsides of Prechopping Vegetables

As convenient as prechopping vegetables can be, I feel it would be irresponsible to not inform you of the one major downside of this technique. Almost all vegetables lose some of their vitamins (primarily Vitamin C and folic acid) once they are cut. To make things worse, they continue to break down as they sit in the fridge. According to the USDA, cut or peeled vegetables will lose about half of their vitamin C content in one to two weeks.

Am I concerned about this loss of vitamins? Not really, for me, the convenience of being able to pop open a tub of onions and toss them in the pan far outweighs the loss of a few vitamins which will probably be picked up somewhere else over the course of the day.