Cooking One Time a Week

A couple of weeks ago, I was making some meals to put in the freezer at my inlaws’ home when the idea struck. “I could cook one time for the entire week.”

Now, this is not an entirely new concept because I have had some power cooking sessions in the past and everyone knows about once a month cooking, but if I could take the same amount of time that I normally would in the evening and instead of preparing one meal make three… or four… or six… that would be AWESOME.

So, I am making it happen and it works perfectly with the Pantry Challenge!

This week, I cooked three dishes in 90 minutes.

On the menu:

• Porcupine Meatballs
• Lentil Minestrone Soup
• Cheesy Potatoes and Ham Casserole

First thing that you need to do is click those recipe links above (they will open in a separate window), scroll down to the part of the post where you find the Ziplist recipe, and click on the PRINT tab to have a copy of the recipe ready.

 

The next step is to click the SAVE tab. (If you do not have a Ziplist account, you will need to create one or sign in using a social media account.)

Then, you can choose to either add this to your recipe box or to your shopping list. For the purpose of Cook 1X a Week, I recommend selecting your shopping list. Repeat this step for each recipe you intend to cook.

When you have selected each recipe, go to your “shopping list” and you will have a complete a list of your ingredients. Use this as a checklist to make sure you have everything you need and pull it all out. Having your ingredients at your finger tips before you start will save you a ton of time.

 

Start by prepping all of your vegetables for each recipe. I use a lot of prep bowls but you could use paper plates or coffee filters or batter bowls… whatever you have on hand to keep everything grouped up by recipe.

Have I mentioned that I have a love-hate relationship with onions?

Seriously. I don’t know why they make me bawl like a baby but it gets really, really ugly. I’ve tried everything. Candles. Fans. Wooden spoon between my teeth.

Pretty sad for a lady who used to sell Pampered Chef.

Don’t even remind me of the time I was chopping an onion at a show and it was really green and I was weeping uncontrollably and my nose started to run. Oh. My. Word. Drip, drip… right into the…

Anyway… 

It really helps as you prep your vegetables to have a spot available for the veggie shavings and pieces you will not use. I like using a grocery bag. Since we don’t have a compost bin {SIGH}, I toss my cans in too and it makes clean up a snap.

Have your pots and casserole dish ready and waiting. You can place the oil in them (or non-stick cooking spray) but do not turn on the burners until after you have chopped your veggies. Nothing like smoking oil to send you running.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees for the Cheesy Ham and Potato Casserole.

After you have your veggies prepped, get the minestrone started and then layer your ham and potatoes. Mix up the cheese sauce for the casserole, pour it over the ham, and pop it into the oven.

Add the ingredients for the Porcupine Meatballs to a mixer and get those started while the Minestrone comes to a boil.

As your meatballs begin to brown, you can add the remaining ingredients to your Minestrone to finish it up.

At this point, I clean up the kitchen. It really is not a lot of work since I rinse and re-use a lot of dishes while I am cooking. Then, I pile everything up on my humon-go cutting board to carry it all to the sink.

On this night, we ate the minestrone and I allowed the casserole and meatballs to cool slightly before packaging them up for the refrigerator. They will keep for three days in the refrigerator before I have to freak out about food poisoning but they also freeze well.

Cooking one time a week really does make life simpler. On every other night, I might have to heat up a vegetable or slice some bread but it takes minutes instead of an hour. The dishes are also fewer which I love!

On the menu for next week: Sour Cream & Cumin Pork, Buffalo Chicken Pasta, and Slow Cooked BBQ Ribs. I will also do the prep work for the Creamy Tortellini Soup and Corn & Ham Frittata. Can’t wait!

Have you ever tried to cook like this?

Linked with love at Mingle Monday and Good Cheap Eats and The Mommy Club.