The Family Table: Make time, make it ahead
A few months back, we added a chest freezer and a downstairs refrigerator to our home.
I wondered, quite honestly, how I’d fill either. We’d existed for several years with the lone fridge with its two freezer drawers in our kitchen. I kept both filled; often to the brim with cooked ahead meals and other necessities.
I also made trips to the grocery store a couple of times a week.
Boy, was I missing out.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner for five people is no small feat — my mom remains amazed at the amount of meat and produce we go through. Our household, however, is comprised of five good, hungry eaters.
I’m particularly lucky because all three kiddos will try anything once. They all have their preferences: Gabe doesn’t care for quinoa; Wesley isn’t a fan of mushrooms or raw tomatoes, and Josie doesn’t prefer shrimp.
Mike likes to say he and I are like human garbage disposals. While his delivery isn’t flattering, his point is true: we’ll eat anything.
I’ve certainly made some stuff that’s off the beaten path: tempeh chili, octopus stew, beet and bean burgers.
The kids give it all a whirl, and generally try to be polite in their suggestions.
I appreciate the freedom to experiment.
Our brood, however, does have some favorites — they love Mexican, Chinese and pretty much anything that involves a noodle – so I try to keep those things in frequent rotation.
It’s much simpler to do now that I have a filled second fridge/freezer, and a filled chest freezer. Not only has it cut down on my trips to the grocery store dramatically, but I have more room to make meals ahead of time and freeze them.
Since I made several large batches of chicken stock to freeze, I had way more chicken than I could ever use for soup. I stripped the chicken from the bones and shredded it, sauteed some peppers and onions, seasoned it all with cumin, cilantro, salt and pepper. I squeezed in a lime, tossed in some shredded cheese, and vacuum sealed three bags worth of fajita mix.
Boom. Dinner done.
All we’ll need to do is defrost them, heat and serve it over rice, or rolled up in tortillas.
Either way I top them off with one of the kids’ favorite things: roasted tomatillo and garlic salsa.
It’s super simple, doesn’t have to be spicy if you don’t want it that way, and is a nice fresh element to the dish.
Tomatillo salsa
1陆 pounds tomatillos, paper peeled off and washed
2 poblano chilies
3 cloves garlic, still in the paper
1 medium onion, chopped into big pieces
陆 cup fresh cilantro
Salt/pepper to taste
Oil
Coat the first four ingredients in oil and roast in a 425-degree oven until they are softened and slightly charred, about 15 minutes. Squeeze the garlic out of its paper once it’s soft enough to handle. Peel the skin off the peppers and remove the seeds. Add all cooled ingredients into a blender with the cilantro.
Puree it together and season with salt and pepper.