Menu Planning & Freezer Organization

One of my new year's resolutions for 2013 is to eat out less to save our hard-earned moula and to eat healthy. You see, I never did weekly planning menu in my four years of married life.  I just think of whatever I want to prepare when ever I'm grocery shopping ending up with a cart full of snacks and only one or two ingredients for the week's dinner. With only 2 dinner meals in the freezer, we usually end up driving to the nearest fast food for some fries and burgers. It has already started to eat a big chunk of our monthly budget and worst is both my husband and I are getting bigger and bigger!

So I decided to start the year right by managing our weekly menu and grocery shopping.  I followed a weekly menu plan that i found on the Heavenly Homemakers website, wrote down the dish for each day and the ingredients under it.  After completing the menu, I checked our pantry for available ingredients and made a separate list for my grocery shopping.

 At the grocery, I made sure I'd stick with the list and not to go around all the aisle to prevent me from buying unnecessary items that will only end up at the back of our pantry.  Armed with my grocery shopping list, I first went to the meat section to check if the items I wanted were all available.  I had to adjust my menu when 2 of the items that I wanted were not available.  (Note:  make two or 3 back up dishes in case this happens.) I proceeded with the rest and was at the check-out counter in an hour!  That's a record breaker for me since I'm notorious in strolling along the aisles for hours. The best part of this trip was I didn't go overboard our budget and no tempting chips to munch in my eco-bag.

Normally, I just put all the meat that I bought in the freezer in their original plastic bags and take out whatever I plan to cook for dinner.  This  process of taking out a bag of meat includes stabbing a knife in between the packs that are piled on top of each other.  Does this sound familiar? Haha.

Since I'm organizing everything this year, I included my freezer to my long list of "to organize".  I first separated the meat according to the dish I plan to make them with.  For this grocery trip, I bought 2 whole dressed chicken, asked the butcher to chop "adobo" style and divide them to four packs. Four because I have "tinolang manok, adobo, arroz caldo & fried chicken" on my menu.  I put them in brown paper bags and labeled them.  Dividing the meat in smaller quantities will prevent the risk of spoilage.  I  used to thaw an entire chicken, cook half of it and put the rest back to the freezer.  I know, this is a no no...I'm a changed person now so please be nice to me. =)

My freezer with all the items labeled.

 The picture shows how my freezer looks like now. It's easier to pull out meat because paper bags don't stick to each other. The labels also help in reminding me on what to cook for the day. 

 All in all, it looks better,  cleaner and no more frozen blood that dripped from the bags of meat.  The husband is also happier because we were able to save and he can now check the freezer and tell me what he wants for dinner. No more fattening take-outs for us.  This is a good way to start the year.

 Happy New Year everyone!

Funnel Cake

We recently had a long weekend and it gave me more time to try new recipes. Usually, we have hotcakes for weekend breakfast but I thought of making something different to serve my family.

  I got the recipe from A Taste From Home website.  I just added a tablespoon and a half of Vanilla in the mixture for extra flavor.

I find using a squeeze bottle easier and a lot less messier than funnel.  I just cut the tip to of the the nozzle to make it bigger and squeeze the mixture directly to the hot oil. Fry until golden brown and drain excess oil on paper towel. 

Made a small one for our little Luna

Dust your funnel cake with powdered sugar and cinnamon or brown sugar / cinnamon mixture.  I like the latter because it has more texture and the brown sugar somehow melts on the hot funnel cake. 

Enjoying her Funnel Cake with orange juice

I always have a pre-mix of this in the pantry for a quick breakfast.  Just mix together all the dry ingredients and store it a jar or a zip bag.  It's preservative free plus it's cheaper than the ready made mixes!


Difficulty Level: 1  ( Three simple steps: MIX, SQUEEZE & FRY)

Paksiw na Pata (slow cooker recipe)

I never knew how to cook this until my husband and I accidentally added too much vinegar while preparing Chicken Adobo.  To balance the flavor, we decided to put in more soy sauce.  Unfortunately it became too salty so we kept on adding sugar until we ended up with Chicken ala Paksiw na Pata.

Again, a very simple recipe.  If you know how to use a measuring cup and squish garlic, then you can make this for dinner.

Ingredients:

1 kg. pork knuckles (ask your butcher to slice it crosswise)
3-5 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 pack dried banana blossoms
1/2 c. vinegar
1/2 c. soy sauce
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 - 3 pcs. dried bay leaves
 whole pepper corns

Place dried banana blossoms at the bottom of your slow cooker and put pork knuckles on top of it.

In a separate bowl, combine vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar and garlic and stir. Pour mixture in the slow cooker.  Add bay leaves and pepper corn.

Set slow cooker on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours.

*notice the dark spots on the meat?  Those are the parts that were not submerged in soy sauce/vinegar mix.  I will add water and adjust soy sauce/vinegar mix the next time I make this to make sure there's enough sauce to cover the meat.

Chunky Creamy Chicken

This chicken and cream combo can be eaten as an open-faced sandwich (just add lettuce), make it a pasta dish or like me, I just eat it as is.

Ingredients:

oil for sauteing
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
3 pcs. boneless chicken breast, cubed
1 small can of sliced button mushroom (Shiitake mushrooms can be used)
1 tetra pack all purpose cream
3-5 tbsps. oyster sauce ( amount will depend on your taste)
salt and pepper

1. saute and sweat garlic
2. add chicken pieces until slightly browned
3. toss in the button mushrooms
4. mix in a pack of all purpose cream
5. add the magic ingredient, oyster sauce and stir well.

Easy Tuna Pasta

I prepare this dish whenever we have unexpected guests or I'm too lazy to whip something up for dinner.  It's fast, easy and budget friendly. 


Ingredients:

• 2 cans of tuna in oil ( i use a combination of one can spicy  and one in original flavor ) 
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
• butter
• olive oil
• fresh or dried basil 
• pasta noodles

Cook pasta according to package instructions.   Drain the canned tuna and save the oil.  Saute garlic in butter and olive oil then add tuna.  Let the tuna absorb the garlic flavor for about 2 minutes then stir in the cooked pasta.  

Sprinkle basil and grated  cheese before serving.  

* i forgot to buy a new bottle of basil. Hence, the lack of green specks. 

Korean Beef Stew (Slow Cooker Recipe)

This is my husband’s favorite dish whenever he eats at Kimchi’s. I Googled for recipes specially made using a slow cooker but failed to find one that is simple and hassle free to prepare.  So I tried and tweaked a recipe that I found in one of my recipe books.  The end result is a fall off the bones, juicy ribs in a spicy sauce.

Ingredients:

500 g. to 1 kg. beef short ribs

4 cups water

5 tbsps. soy sauce

½ cup sugar (I used light brown sugar because that’s the only kind available in our fridge.)

1 red siling labuyo, cut into small pieces (use more if you like it extra spicy)

2 thumb size ginger, sliced

1.5 – 2 tbsps.  sesame oil

Half a tbsp toasted sesame seeds (toasting the seeds will add more flavor to the dish)

Put the ribs in the slow cooker and add water, making sure the meat is fully submerged.  Set slow cooker on high for 2 hours.

Add soy sauce, sugar, sili, ginger and stir a little. Adjust the setting of your slow cooker to low for 1-2 hours.

Stir in sesame oil and sprinkle sesame seeds and serve.

It’s that simple! I made a mistake of adding 3 siling labuyo instead of 1.  It was so spicy that I added about a quarter cup of sugar to balance the flavor. 

Please let me know if you've tried this recipe. I'd love to hear from you.