Cook ahead - snow is coming!

Don't be fooled by the nice weather - snow is on it's way. With snow comes the inevitable slow drive home. Here's our suggestion - take a couple hours on the weekend and prep some meals ahead of time and toss them in the freezer. Sounds easy enough everyone always says it so I put it to the test.

First I needed to come up with three different but tasty meals I'd want to eat after a long drive and also meals that the boys are going to like to. Yeah I'm saying 'I' as Charlene is away big game hunting or something so I'm flying solo and I think the plan has gone according to plan!

Ok first - the plan. Make brown bread - in the bread maker sorry not fancy this time. The bread was just because I felt like it and if timed properly bread and food should all be ready around the same time. Next on the menu - chicken stew, fish pie and spaghetti sauce.

Chicken stew - decided to do that in the croc pot - easy peasy. Took some chicken breasts cubed, carrots diced into chunks same with potatoes, chicken stock a little veg stock, red pepper - diced, some flour and the usual seasonings you'd expect. Why red pepper you ask? Cause I had one I wanted to use up. Remember it's stew - that's the idea. 'Cause I know I'll be up late I elected to cook it low heat for 7 hours - you can do it on high heat for 4 hours or so. The stew tastes superb - of course if you like stew it always does. Oh forgot to mention I only had one small boneless chicken breast, so I used two breasts bone in. Trimmed the chicken off of those but tossed the breast bone into the mix too (pull it out afterwards of course) but I'm guessing that's where the extra flavour came from - other than my prefect seasoning of course! Have fun play around combine a couple recipes into one and voila - a meal that is delicious and everyone will love.

Fish Pie - Those that read my blog about the fish pie know I wasn't happy with it - despite the rave reviews. They were rave so don't snicker. So, I tackled the fish pie next - I cubed the onion this time. I've posted this story before so I won't repeat it. I did however use cod and haddock this time. No peas so I used corn. This is where I mixed it up a bit. Before pouring on the white sauce I grated cheese over the fish then added the white sauce. If it tastes like it smells it's going to be brilliant.

Spaghetti sauce - there are a million recipes all claiming to be the best. Today I was looking for quick and easy. A little disappointed I didn't have any Italian sausage on hand - I wanted a little spice in there to give it some zing - so I tossed in a jalapeno instead for some bite. I took what I had in the fridge and cupboard and wanting to be different I elected to go for a smoother sauce than I'm accustomed to. I used the magic bullet on the sauce ingredients - except the hamburger of course. Whole tomatoes, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, onions, celery, garlic, red pepper, jalapeno all blended up with the usual seasonings. End result a really smooth yummy sauce with just enough heat to warm you up on a winters night.

Sounds like a lot of work I hear the nay sayers moaning. Not so says I! Total time - stew 20 mins prep, fish pie - 25 mins prep and sauce 20 mins prep - 1 hour for enough food for easily 7 days of meals. Okay of course you have to cook it so yes there is cooking time as well. But really are you going to stand there and watch the croc pot and spaghetti sauce simmer?

The result three really tasty easy meals - nothing fancy here. Prep - cook - clean up time - start to finish - 2 1/2 hours - stew of course a bit longer. So, yes if you have a couple hours which most of us do if we pull ourselves away from the goggle box and Internet - you have half your cooking done for the next two weeks. Now I wonder does that mean I get to relax while Charlene cooks the other seven days? Probably not - in the words of Rumpole "She who must be obeyed" will find little humour in that!

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