The Everything Meals For A Month Cookbook : Smart Recipes To Help You Plan Ahead, Save Time, And Stay On Budget

424 Pages·2010·1.63 MB·English

by  Larsen

The EVERYTHING Series
®
Editorial
Publishing Director Gary M. Krebs
Managing Editor Kate McBride
Copy ChiefLaura M. Daly
Acquisitions Editor Kate Burgo
Development Editor Christina MacDonald
Production Editor Jamie Wielgus
Production
Production Director Susan Beale
Production Manager Michelle Roy Kelly
Series Designers Daria Perreault Colleen Cunningham
Cover DesignPaul Beatrice Matt LeBlanc
Layout and Graphics Colleen Cunningham Daria Perreault
Series Cover ArtistBarry Littmann
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Visit the entire Everything Series at www.everything.com
The EVERYTHING MEALS for a MONTH
®
COOKBOOK
Smart recipes to help you plan ahead, save time, and stay on a budget
Linda Larsen
Adams Media
Avon, Massachusetts
I dedicate this book to my dear husband, Doug, who has always encouraged my every endeavor.
Copyright ©2005, F+W Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.
This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher; exceptions are made for brief
excerpts used in published reviews.
®
An Everything Series Book.
® ®
Everything and everything.com are registered trademarks of F+W Publications, Inc.
Published by Adams Media, an F+W Publications Company
57 Littlefield Street, Avon, MA 02322 U.S.A.
www.adamsmedia.com
ISBN 10: 1-59337-323-6
ISBN 13: 978-1-59337-323-8
Printed in the United States of America.
J I H G F E D C B
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Larsen, Linda.
The everything meals for a month cookbook / Linda Larsen.
p. cm.
(An everything series book)
ISBN 1-59337-323-6
1. Cookery. I. Title. II. Series: Everything series.
TX714.L3717 2005
641.5—dc22
2005009549
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold
with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional advice. If legal advice
or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.
—From a Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of
Publishers and Associations
Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those
designations appear in this book and Adams Media was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed with initial
capital letters.
This book is available at quantity discounts for bulk purchases.
For information, please call 1-800-289-0963.
Contents
Introduction
1 How to Make Meals for a Month
2 Bulk Cooking Model
3 Appetizers
4 Start with Ground Beef
5 Start with Cuts of Beef
6 Start with Chicken Breasts
7 Start with Chicken Pieces and Whole Chicken
8 Start with Turkey Pieces
9 Start with Pork and Sausage
10 Start with Ham
11 Start with Fish
12 Vegetarian Recipes
13 Freezer to Slow Cooker
14 Freezer to Grill
15 TV Dinners
16 Breakfast and Brunch
17 Sandwiches
18 Sweet Endings
19 Mixes and Basic Recipes
Appendices
Acknowledgments
I'd like to acknowledge the efforts of my agent, Barb Doyen, and my parents, who told me I could be
anything I wanted to be and made it possible for me to get the best education. I'd especially like to
thank my mother and sisters, who always encouraged my experiments in the kitchen and cleaned up
the messes while I was learning to cook.
Introduction
Did you know that you can cook and bake on one day and make meals that will feed your family for
a month? This increasingly popular form of conveyer-belt cooking isn't as difficult as it sounds, and
can actually be a lot of fun. You will learn how to use your freezer, oven, microwave, grill, and slow
cooker to cook and store delicious, healthy meals that you can just pull out and reheat for breakfast,
lunch, or dinner in minutes. Imagine having the pressure of planning, shopping, cooking, and serving
dinner every single day lifted from your shoulders—it's an incredible feeling.
This type of cooking can be adapted to any cuisine. Do you love Mexican food? You can make and
freeze a base of meat and vegetables that can be used for enchiladas, tacos, burritos, taco salad,
Mexican pizza, fajitas, and Tex-Mex soups and stews. Is your family hooked on Italian cuisine? A
base of ground beef can be used for spaghetti, cannelloni, manicotti, and lasagna. The variations are
almost endless!
There are a few ways to tackle making meals for a month. You can cook triple batches of your
favorite recipes and freeze them in mealsize containers; you can cook ten to thirty individual recipes
and freeze them; or you can buy a large quantity of meats and ingredients, cook a big batch of starter
foods, and then make lots of different casseroles and entrees from the starter batch.
And did you know you can bake and freeze breads, cookies, bars, cakes, and other desserts?
Storing these foods means you will always be prepared when company drops in unexpectedly, and
you will be ready for any holiday meal or family celebration.
You'll save money because you can buy what's on special in your supermarket and use every bit.
And there's really no better feeling than knowing your freezer is stocked with enough food to feed
your family for a month. Once-a-month cooking is one of the best timesavers in the kitchen.
You can also be the best friend and neighbor when you are a devotee of once-a-month cooking.
Whenever life becomes difficult for someone you know, you can offer the most wonderful present: a
hot, healthy, delicious home-cooked meal at a moment's notice.
Probably the most important bonus of this cooking method is this: preparing fresh, delicious meals
for your family helps them live a healthy lifestyle. You won't have to order takeout foods or depend
on expensive drive-through restaurants with their sodium-loaded, high-fat foods. Cooking healthy
foods for yourself and your family is a way to make everyone feel well fed and cared for. So let's get
®
started on the adventure of The Everything Meals for a Month Cookbook!
Chapter 1
How to Make Meals For a Month
On the busiest days of the month, you can come home and have dinner on the table in thirty to forty
minutes, with virtually no effort. Think of it: Your freezer will become a grocery store where you can
browse for complete meals; you just place a dish in the oven and relax while dinner reheats to
perfection. Mealtime can be always this effortless if you learn how to cook once a month and freeze
your meals.
What Is Once-a-Month Cooking?
Once-a-month cooking is a marathon cooking session that involves deciding what you want to cook,
making lists, shopping, then preparing and freezing enough meals to last for a whole month. With
organization, planning skills, and some food-science knowledge, you will never need to order takeout
again. You'll pull delicious, healthy meals out of your freezer and reheat them in minutes.
Plan your month by using a blank calendar page. Write down the recipes you want to serve each day,
making notes regarding vacation times, times you'll be entertaining, holidays, and days when you're
invited out to dinner.
Not only will you find plenty of recipes that are meant to be reheated in the oven or microwave,
but this book includes some new variations on once-a-month cooking: meals that go from the freezer
to your Slow Cooker, and meals that go from the freezer to your grill. And you can even make your
own TV dinners with these recipes. Your family members can choose exactly what they want to eat
and reheat their own individual meals.
Foods for breakfast, including waffles, breakfast pizzas, egg sandwiches, and muffins, are also
great freezer candidates. You can schedule a special session just for cooking breakfast foods, or add