This week I’m approaching the column from a little different direction. Everyone knows how I preach prepping on the home-front. Getting foods ready ahead of time will help when you’re 1) In a rush, 2) Tired of cooking, 3) Want to work on other projects. In my case, during the past few weeks it has been #3. It is difficult to be painting, cleaning, organizing and then all at once the family yells: ‘I’m hungry, when do we eat?”
For some reason everyone likes it when meals involve things like shells and wraps. Foods like tacos, burritos, enchiladas, and won tons, for example, provide an element of surprise. Therefore I make efforts to keep foods on hand 24/7, for making creative personalized foods.
Below you will find a list of grocery items that can guide you through many meals during this time at home:
Tortilla shells, (can be frozen, I use whole wheat for the lower carbs)
Rice and/or beans
Fresh tomatoes or canned tomatoes
Onion, sweet or green
Cheeses
Lettuce, cabbage, Sour Cream
Avocado
Canned Enchilada Sauce, (For simplicity and beginners.)
Green chilies, chopped
Various meats or seafood, pre-cooked & seasoned
Eggs, usually scrambled
Tater Tots
Tortilla chips or Fritos
Stock or Cream
Sloppy Joes?????
Look at this list carefully and you should see several meals looking back!
For simple cooks this could be a lifesaver, with the kids. For novice cooks you’ll be excited to cook a couple of meats early in the week and create different meals all week long.
Breakfast Burritos: Sausage, bacon, onion, scrambled eggs, peppers, cheese and tater tots.
Fish/Seafood Tacos: Shredded cabbage, onion, tomato, shrimp or white fish, dill sauce
Triple enchilada plate: Cheese enchiladas, bean enchiladas, various meats or fish enchiladas.
Fried Rice
Beans & Cheese
Taco Salad
Layered Southwest Dishes
Dips for vegetables or chips, make lots!
Pinwheels
Regular sandwich wraps
This is just the tip of the iceberg. Yesterday I made a big batch of sloppy joes. My husband, Ervin, surprised me last night as he said: ‘Tomorrow I’m going to make myself a fun wrap with the sloppy joe filling.’ Phillip likes to melt cheese over sloppy joes and scoop with Fritos or tortilla chips.
Kids like to dip things period! Make the avocado dip recipe provided today and they can dip it with vegetables. You could also use it inside a wrap or over a taco salad. Pinwheels are fun to make and the children can help make them. These are great with soups or a mid-afternoon snack for kids or adults.
Also as we talk about avocados, I purchase the individual guacamole containers for our son, Phillip. It’s a quick snack with the chips or vegies.
On Sunday or Monday fry up burger or sausage and cook chicken. Or, you buy a rotisserie hen and pull it apart. Pick up all the ingredients above and you’ve got several meals for the week.
Most of the dishes I’ve mentioned making can also be frozen. Especially the sloppy Joes, or sloooopy Joes as I call them. Make a double batch and have them again, in a couple of weeks. Make breakfast burritos so the kids can just ‘nuke’ them for breakfast. Don’t kid yourself, my husband and son ‘love it’ when I make these.
Keeping a stocked kitchen is imperative right now whether you cook much or not. I’d like to attach a couple more recipes this week that are quick meals, but my editors might not appreciate that too much. Email me parents, grandparents and neighbors. If you need a handful of fast meals usually I can rattle them off pretty quickly. Sometimes we all get stuck in a little cooking stall-out where we can’t think of anything for dinner.
Everyone keeps asking me what I’ve been doing, so here are a few things: Gardening, painting, cleaning the basement, ironing, repairs on the home-front, deep freeze defrost, reading and zooming now and then, and…sleeping in!! We are hustling and getting things done. I’m enjoying the birds, at the feeder, in the morning and being around my family, so very much.
Stay safe this week and shoot me an email if you need any meal suggestions. All the cleaning is very gratifying, give it a whirl. Until next week. Simply yours, The Covered Dish. www.thecovereddish.com
Sloppy Joes
2 pounds burger or chuck
1 large onion, very finely diced
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
1 (10.5 ounce) can tomato soup
1/4 cup Hickory BBQ Sauce
2 tablespoons prepared mustard
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
Fry the burger and onion, drain thoroughly through a sieve. Return meat to the skillet and add the minced garlic, sautéing lightly. Stir in the remaining ingredients mixing for a good blend. Cook the dish down for 15-20 minutes resulting in a thick mixture of beef. Consider making for a large event and then reheating in a Crockpot! Serves between 10-14 sloppy Joes, depending upon how big you make them! The meat also freezes well.
Avocado Ranch Dip
2/3 cup mashed avocado
(About 1 1/2 avocados)
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
3 tablespoons nonfat milk
2 teaspoons dried parsley
1 1/4 teaspoons white vinegar
1 1/4 teaspoons dry onion powder
1/2 – 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Optional fresh snipped chives for garnish.
Mix everything together except for the chives. Serve with fresh vegetables or whole grain tortilla chips.
My friend, Mindy, shared this with me over St. Patrick’s Day, 2018. As I recall, it was found on line. That’s about all I remember on the history of this recipe. From a flavor aspect I found this quite enjoyable, especially with the vegetables. For the tomato fans out there; yes, I think you could add a Roma tomato, finely chopped. However with the vegetables it may be better without. Be sure and remove the tomato seeds, before adding them to the recipe.
