My Idea of a Pre-Packaged Dinner

I may have forgotten to defrost something for dinner but fortunately I have back-up meals that can quickly be thrown together. Tonight it is carnitas that I purchased pre-cooked from Trader Joe's. They are frozen but easily defrosted in the microwave. I remove the carnitas from the packaging, place in a microwave safe bowl and set the timer for 2 min increments.

On top of that I picked up a can of whole organic pinto beans during my last shopping trip so I open those and throw them into a saucepan to heat up. Luis is a bean purist so he prefers I leave them plain. However, adding a crushed clove of garlic enhances the flavor a bit.

My first plan was to make some fresh guacamole since I had a large avocado, some tomatoes and cilantro. Unfortunately, when I cut open the avocado I find it is has gone bad so I have to change my plan and make a fresh tomato salsa. This salsa has to be made quickly since my meat is already warmed up and Luis is making the quesadillas as I set everything up. I core two tomatoes and slice each into eight wedges. I remove some of the seeds as I go but don't get too picky about it. I mince some onion (about 1/4 cup worth) and add the juice of 1/2 of a lemon. (Lime would be preferable but I am making due with what I have.)

As I look for the cilantro to finish it off I realize that I threw it out two days ago. Fortunately, I purchase frozen herbs as a backup. Many grocery stores sell little flats (4x3 inches) of cubed servings of frozen herbs and garlic. I keep basil, cilantro and garlic in the freezer in case I happen to have a recipe that calls for them and I have either run out or not had time to buy fresh herbs in advance. I throw three cubes of cilantro into the salsa and add a pinch of salt.

While I have been setting everything up, Luis was making quesadillas on the comal. He briefly heated each corn tortilla on the comal, add a bit of shredded monterey jack (about 2 tablespoons per tortilla), folded and placed back onto the comal to heat them each enough to melt the cheese. (If you don't have a comal you can us a skillet for this. A pan typical to what you would use for a grilled cheese sandwich but don't add any oil.) You want to time them so that they come off the comal as you are serving your food since they get cold really easily.

Broiled Pesto Chicken

This is a quick and very tasty way to cook boneless chicken breasts in the broiler. I typically keep a stash of frozen pesto in my freezer and the brand I use is Armanino as it reminds me of homemade pesto.

This whole meal won't take more than 20 minutes or so. First turn the broiler to high and line a cookie sheet with tinfoil. Next place your chicken breasts in a plastic bad and give them a few whacks with a meat tenderizer. This will flatten the breasts out and allow for more even cooking. Place the breasts on the cookie sheet, apply pesto to the tops of each and place in the broiler. (When you flip the breasts you will add more pesto to the other side.)

You can make any type of side to go with this; mashed potatoes, boiled potatoes, pasta salad. In the picture, I chose to use a pasta grain blend that I find locally. It has quinoa, couscous, orzo pasta and lentils that cook up in about 10 minutes.

After I put on the pasta grain blend to boil and set the timer for 10 minutes, I check the breasts to see how they are coming along. It has been about 5 minutes so I take the sheet out of the oven, turn over the breasts and coat the other side with pesto. I then pop the cookie sheet back in the oven and let cook for an additional 3-5 minutes. [Depending on the temperate of your broiler you may need a bit less or even more time. It is important to not overcook the breasts to avoid having them dry and stringy.]

When the breasts are done and the side it cooked have everyone serve themselves. We decided to forgo the vegetables this evening but you can make a salad as a side to this for your greens.

Crab Cakes with Salad

This is a great warm weather dinner but is also a good quick meal. Honestly I have never made crab cakes because there are so many options to buy tasty, ready-made crab cakes. You can purchase fresh ones at many seafood markets or counters i.e. in San Francisco you can find them at Whole Foods or Marina Meats. Alternately, you can also find them frozen - I typically buy them frozen at Trader Joe's.

Since I had the frozen crab cakes, I set them out to defrost about an hour before dinner (you can defrost in the microwave as well). When I was ready to assemble everything, I set up each plate with a bit of baby spinach and topped them with some fresh scallions, yellow pepper and shredded carrots. Additionally, I had a package of steamed lentils (yet another Trader Joe's item) so I heated them up and put a small portion on the side.

When we were ready for dinner, I simply heated some lemon-infused olive oil in a large skillet and cooked the crab cakes for about 2-3 minutes per side. Although the crab is typically cooked this step browns and re-heats the cakes .

I serve the salad with a choice of two dressings. My preference is a balsamic vinaigrette while Luis prefers a thicker, Russian dressing. The following are the recipes for both:

RUSSIAN DRESSING (Joy of Cooking 1964 page 316)

(This portion makes enough to fill a 12-ounce bottle that you can keep in the fridge indefinitely.)

Combine;

• 1 cup of mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon of grated horseradish
• 1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup of ketchup
• 1 teaspoon of grated onion

Aunt Melanie's One-Cup Salad Dressing

(I tend to double this recipe so that I can store it a 12-ounce bottle and have it in the fridge indefinitely. Ideally you should make a bit beforehand because the flavor of the garlic needs at least 20 minutes to really infuse the dressing.)

Whisk together;

• 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons of white vinegar or lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• pinch of pepper
• 1 teaspoon of honey
• 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
• dash each of paprika, Worcestershire sauce and lemon juice

While whisking, slowly drizzle in 1/2 cup of olive oil. Add one or two whole, garlic cloves - crushed. Let sit for about 20 minutes.

Re-tooling and Re-using Leftovers

RE-TOOLING

Last week when I made the cornmeal crusted pork I had quite a bit leftover so I decided to re-use it two nights later but with different side dishes. Originally, I used the quinoa with peas and oven roasted cauliflower. Today I decided for something lighter and more summery to accompany the pork.

Since I had only used 3/4 cup of ricotta cheese for the dinner crepes I still had more than half a container to use up. I decided to make the ricotta sauce pasta to complement the cornmeal crusted pork and serve a tomato and red pepper salad with it. The pasta will take about 20 minutes and you will merely heat up the pork briefly in the microwave right before you are ready to serve. Unfortunately, re-heating the pork in the microwave will soften the cornmeal crust but it is an efficient way to get it warm. Alternately a toaster oven might be a good option - I don't happen to own one but if anyone tries it please let me know.

For the pepper and tomato salad, I simply cut one medium tomato in quarters and gently de-seeded it. I repeated the process with a red pepper and then I cut the tomato and pepper into bite-size portions. I tossed them with a bit of olive oil (1 tablespoon) and balsamic vinegar (half a tablespoon). This salad adds a light, crisp complement to the thyme and lemon flavoring of the pork and the cheese sauce of the pasta and is purposely simplistic.

RE-USING

The next night dinner was again made with leftovers. I had enough of the dinner crepes leftover to re-heat for the two of us as well as the last of the vegetable soup. I set to oven to 350 degrees, placed the remaining crepes in a pie plate, and set into the oven to re-heat for 10-15 minutes. I set the soup in a small pan on very low heat on the stove top and set the table for dinner. I rounded it out with some wheat crackers and iberico cheese to go with the soup.

Warming the crepes in the oven is perfect - the bottom side that lays on the pie plate is lightly crisped, the filling is warm all the way through and the top part is soft. The crepes go well with a nice bowl of steaming vegetable soup.

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So with a bit more effort in making dinner sometimes you are rewarded with multiple meals: the pork made dinner one night for four people; three lunches and dinner another night for the two of us. The package of sukiyaki pork wasn't more than 1.5 pounds either. The crepe recipe was good for dinner on two separate nights and two lunches. For flexibility and convenience, I sometimes just freeze leftovers of larger recipes on the same night so we can have them for the future rather than being obligated to eat them the same week. Most of my meals typically serve dinner for two and there is enough for two lunches the next day.

Mahi Mahi Braised with Green Mole

My favorite use of green mole is as a sauce for fish. I have some mahi mahi defrosted so I decided to braise it with a bit of the mole and serve with rice and green peas. I start some white basmati rice in my rice steamer and - to make it more flavorful - I add a few sprigs of cilantro and use chicken broth rather than plain water (1 cup basmati rice, 2 cups liquid and 3-5 sprigs of cilantro). Alternatively, you could chop the cilantro and stir it in after you cook the rice - this is a bit more work but would give you a "fresh" cilantro flavoring.

While that is cooking, I rinse my fish fillets, pat them dry and set aside. I also set up some frozen, organic peas in a pan of water that I will boil later. I wait until the rice is cooked to start both of the fish and peas because I don't want to overcook the fish. Fish is very delicate and cooks quickly; many times people who don't like fish have eaten either overcooked or not very fresh fish. When you buy fish it should smell fresh and only faintly like fish - if it smells strong or even overpowering then it is starting to turn bad and you shouldn't buy it.

My rice cooker turns itself off when the rice is cooked with a loud pop. It cooks that small amount of rice quickly (10 minutes) but this will be enough for dinner and a few lunches. I set the heat under my saucepan with frozen peas to high - I will turn them off as soon as they boil.

Under a large, skillet I add about two tablespoons of olive oil and a scant tablespoon of butter. I turn the burner on to medium-high heat. When the butter is melted and starts to sizzle, I add my mahi mahi fillets (I have about four-medium sized fillets no more than 1/2 an inch thick) and when a bit of white edging appears on each fillet, I turn them over. I then add about 1/3 of a cup of green mole to the pan and cover. I cook this for no more than 3-5 minutes depending on the size of your fillets. (I don't mind my fish even a bit underdone so in this case I turned the heat off after about two minutes and left it on the burner covered while I set up plates for dinner.)

With the mole already made, the rest of the meal takes no more than 20 minutes. It does payoff to make some items ahead of time and freeze them in batches that are easy to take out and use to enhance small meals. This recipe serves two for dinner and leaves leftovers for two lunches over even another meal if you don't like reheating a fish lunch at work.

Tamale Follow-up

The tamale-making event was exhausting so all meals last week were either left overs, quick meals and even a few nights out. Monday night we had a 20-minute meal; frozen, meatballs (store bought - not my own); spaghetti; a can of pasta sauce; and warm bread.

Tuesday night I decided to steam a bag of tamales. When we packed up the tamales, we put about 20-25 tamales in Ziploc Freezer bags. I feel it is most efficient to steam a batch versus just a few at a time so I set up a large steamer pan. Ideally, you would set up a bed of wet corn husks on top of the steamer pan to protect the tamales from direct steam contact and enhance flavor. However, I have none left from our Sunday event so it is okay to just steam them directly in a pinch. I prefer a pan large enough to stand the tamales upright so that they cook more evenly. However, some people cook them by stacking them.

If you defrost the tamales, it should take about an hour to steam them. (Frozen tamales can take 60 to 90 minutes to cook.) The masa becomes light and fluffy - similar to a muffin. When I believe the tamales might be done, I take one out and unwrap it to confirm that the masa is cooked all around. If it isn't, I just return it to the pan and let it cook some more. Having 20-25 tamales is a bit much for two people to eat in a week so after we eat a few for dinner I return the rest of the cooked ones to the freezer. Now when I want to have some more we will only have to heat them for about 10-20 minutes (depending on whether the tamales are defrosted or frozen) in a steamer.

Additionally, I discovered that the sweet tamales were really good drizzled with honey just after they were taken out of the steamer. The honey enhanced the flavor just a enough. However, I still feel the need to perfect this recipe.

Also, we have one injury confirmation - a sprained finger from kneading masa dough. Marnie joked that she might have hurt herself but she said later her finger was swollen and she purchased a splint to minimize movement. So far she says she is impressing everyone who asks how she injured herself that it was due to making tamales.

20 Minute Meal

The weekends are at times a toss up as to whether we will eat at home or go out. I try to have something in the freezer or fridge that we can cook at the last minute if we decide to just stay home. Sunday night was the perfect example of this; we had spent our morning on our bicycle rides, followed by brunch and some errands. By the time we got home we were getting hungry but were not feeling up to going out for dinner so a quick meal was in order. However considering we both burned over 2,000 calories during our workout we also needed to eat something that packed enough nutrients to help us recover.

Thanks to a visit last Fall with another Trader Joe's junkie we discovered their marinated fish in the freezer section. Trader Joe's has Ahi Tuna or Mahi Mahi marinated in oil, garlic, lemon, cilantro, red chili flake and black pepper. The marinade is very flavorful and to highlight it the best thing to do it serve it with a boiled grain and steamed vegetable. The beauty is that you can broil or pan-fry the fish and even frozen is doesn't take more than about 15 minutes.

I had defrosted the marinated Ahi Tuna steaks in the fridge for whatever night we decided to eat in. I decided to pan-fry them since the day is still warm and the oven being on will only heat up the house. I look around the cupboards for some quinoa grain, which is one of my new favorites; it is quick cooking (about 10 minutes) and high in protein, plus its mild, nutty flavor goes well with the marinade of this fish. Unfortunately, I seem to have run out and that is a bummer because I just went to buy all my bulks goods about a week ago so I am going to have to make an extra trip or go without for a while.

My next option is another Trader Joe's product - Harvest Grain Blend; this is a blend of couscous, orzo pasta, baby garbanzo beans and red quinoa that will also fit the bill of being quick and not a distraction to the marinade. My next option would have been plain pasta or even rice but my goal is to find the quickest option that has more of a nutrient kick. Following the instructions on the package, I boil some chicken broth (I happen to have a container open in the fridge and would rather use it before it goes bad). When it boils, I add a pat of butter and the Harvest Grain Blend, lower the heat, cover and set the timer for 10 minutes.

I have broccoli that I will steam so I set that up in the pan with water and turn the burner heat to medium. I have a tendency to forget to turn on my vegetables until everything else is about to be ready. This causes delay in eating and cold food that I hate so I find it is better to turn the vegetables on earlier, cook them at a lower temperature, and monitor them closely. If they happen to be ready a few minutes beforehand it is easy enough to drain and set them aside while you finish everything else.

Finally, I turn on the burner under my skillet and wait for the pan to heat up. Since I am cooking Ahi Tuna - which is typically served seared and raw in the middle - I have decided to not follow the instructions on time; it indicates 5-6 minutes of cooking time per side. I feel that the fish would be overcooked with so much cooking time so I decide to reduce it to a total of six minutes or three minutes per side.

When the pan is smoking a bit, I add the tuna steaks and pour on the marinade as well. Not the best idea really as the oil sputters and spatters all over my stovetop but I like the flavor of it and putting a lid over everything would ruin the browning I am striving for. I stir the Harvest Grain Blend because it has a tendency to stick and burn; the timer shows that I have a bet less than six minutes for it to cook. My broccoli is just starting to steam so everything should come together at the right time.

At about three minutes, I flip each steak - making sure I get the side in a bit of marinade for flavor. I stir the grain blend again and there is very little liquid left so I turn it off (it is a bit early but by to letting it sit there while the fish cooks and the broccoli steams it will finish cooking and not get overdone). With a bit over a minute left, the broccoli is done so I turn off the heat under the skillet with the fish and drain the water from the broccoli steamer. I then serve up our dinner that may only take 20 minutes to cook but we are so hungry it probably won't take more than five minutes to eat...