Menu Planning and Effective Grocery Shopping

One of the biggest excuses I hear from my fellow workaholics is that they cannot cook gourmet-ish food and must eat sad little lean cuisines because grocery shopping takes too much time and they never have the right things in their houses to make what they want when they get home from work. 

I have the solution. It will revolutionize the way that you grocery shop. It's called...the Plan and Plot method. It takes a little bit of time on a Sunday, but trust me, it will make your life so much easier, and coincidentally, will lower your grocery bill.

The first thing you must do is you must take one sheet of paper and plan out your menus for the week. I typically restrict planning in such detail to dinners, as I either eat lunch out or eat leftovers or scavenge. This method is also good for planning a big holiday meal, such as Thanksgiving (or in my example, Rosh Hashanah lunch). 

So here we have a menu that I have created for a lunch I am hosting on Rosh Hashanah. Typically, my menu plan would just have "M, T, W, R & F" listed in the spots where 1-5 are listed on this menu. Put down every thing you plan on having for dinner--from sides to veggies to sauces/condiments and main dishes.

If you do not know your recipes (or your pantry) well, I would suggest you take a second piece of paper and list every single ingredient you're going to need for each dish, including the quantity. It doesn't matter what order you're putting it in yet, just list everything. Then, take that list and go into your kitchen and cross off the ingredients that you already have in your house. If you have any doubt whatsoever about whether you have it, go check. I'm serious, you'll thank me later. And make sure you have sufficient quantities (for Thanksgiving, this typically means I have to buy several extra pounds of butter). I didn't do it with this round of menu planning because I know my pantry well and I know these recipes like the back of my hand. I'll let you know next week whether this omission will backfire.

Then, take a third/second piece of paper, and divide it into four quadrants. At the top of each quadrant, you will list the following headings:

• Meat/Seafood
• Dry Goods
• Produce
• Freezer/Dairy

In most grocery stores, these are your major geographic areas. You will want to transcribe the list of ingredients that you still need to purchase into these quadrants. If the quantities are specific, list the amount you need of each thing as well.

(My list includes items I need for other meals, not just the one specifically shown above)

Then, take your shopping list with you to the store, and enjoy a very directed shopping trip that does not leave you running from one end of the grocery store to the other, back and forth!!!!

"Mexican" Stuffed Cubanelle Peppers

I'll be honest. There was no way to plate this one prettily. And I bet that any person of Mexican heritage would probably hate me for calling this a Mexican dish, hence the quotation marks. But I will tell you that it's good, and when your vegetable delivery includes several large cubanelle peppers, it's time to get creative. This is a surprisingly filling dish, and pairs nicely with either a tomato, avocado & feta salad, black bean and corn salad, or some tortilla chips and guacamole.

Total Prep Time: 30-40 minutes

Total Cook Time: 10-20 minutes

What you will need:

3/4 lb of ground turkey meat (in my grocery store, this only comes in packages of approximately 1.3 lbs--I used the remainder of the meat to make a small batch of spaghetti sauce at the same time I cooked this dish)

3-4 cubanelle peppers (if you are in a part of the country where they have them fresh, poblanos work too)

1/2 cup uncooked rice (you can use brown or white)

1/4 white or yellow onion

1/2 tbsp of olive oil (not pictured)

garlic salt

cumin

Enchilada Sauce (I used a packaged sauce that was very low cal/low sodium and it wasn't bad)

Four cheese mexican blend shredded cheese

1 lime

a handful of chopped cilantro

Preheat your oven to 400.

First step: start cooking your rice. The general rule of thumb with rice is that you want to add two parts water for 1 part rice. So if you have 1/2 cup rice, then you will cook it with 1 cup of water. Make sure you rinse the rice first in cold water--it makes a world of difference in the texture of your rice after it's done cooking. I throw some margarine in with my rice as well, just a small bit, which helps prevent it from sticking. Rice is low maintenance--pretty much put it in the pot and leave it well enough alone.

Next up, dice your onion. You will only want to use about 1/4 of a yellow or white onion. Then, heat your olive oil in a medium skillet (10 or 12 inches) on a medium high heat. Sautee your onions for a few minutes, until they become translucent.

Next step will be to cook up your ground meat. I buy the 43% fat ground turkey meat. Put it in the same skillet as your onions are cooking, and use a wooden spatula to break it up into very small pieces as it cooks. You do not want huge chunks of meat here. Add in a few good shakes of cumin and garlic salt to season the meat as it cooks.

While the meat is cooking, turn your attention back to the peppers. You will want to halve them length-wise, and de-seed/vein them.

Turn your attention back to the stove. By now your meat should have cooked, and there may be some fat which has liquefied in the pan. Drain off the excess fat in the sink, but do not dump all of the meat into a colander to do so, as we are going to continue to use the skillet. Just tip it if possible and try and get as much of the fat out of the pan as possible.

Reduce the heat on the stove to medium, and add in your rice. Mix the rice, meat and onions together, adding additional seasoning if you find it needs a bit more taste. Let these flavors meld together on a low heat. Add in a small bunch of chopped cilantro if you like the taste of cilantro. You can also add a pinch of your cheese blend here to make the rice a bit ooey gooey.

Place the halved cubanelles into a glass baking dish. They should be snug.

Spoon the meat and rice mixture into the cubanelles. Try and fill them as much as possible, using a spoon to press down a bit to get the mixture down into the deeper parts of the pepper. 

Pour your enchilada sauce over the peppers, and top generously with mexican blend cheese.

Place in your 400 degree oven, and let it bake for approximately 15 minutes, or until the cheese is melty and the sauce is slightly bubbling. Then, flip the broiler on and watch it until the cheese starts to brown. Then, serve and enjoy!!!

Moroccan Salmon

This is a great, flavorful recipe that helps you put a lot of veggies in your diet in a non-traditional way. It makes a great main meal, but its also good to make as an appetizer (with smaller pieces of fish) for a Shabbat meal as an alternative to gefilte fish, or any sort of company meal where you may want to do a fish course as well as a meat course. This can also be made with tuna steaks, or any other type of thick fish. It probably would not work as well with a flaky white fish, as the fish would fall apart.

One thing you will need to make sure you have in advance, and if you have a Middle Eastern food store in your area, you are lucky, but if not, you can purchase the magic ingredient here. Israeli Fish Seasoning.

Seriously, this is a MAGICAL ingredient. Not only for this dish, but any time you feel like sauteeing, baking, or grilling ANY type of fish--this seasoning works. It has paprika, cumin, garlic powder, and who knows what else in it. It's inexpensive and a little goes a long way. You will NOT be sorry you've added it to your spice cabinet if you make seafood at all!

So, down to the brass tacks of the recipe.

Total Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Cook Time: 30 minutes

What you will need:

1 lb salmon filets (when you shop for salmon, I recommend trying to buy fresh, never frozen, wild caught salmon if it is available and affordable. If only farmed salmon is available, then try and get the leanest pieces you can, as farmed salmon is notoriously fatty and often doesn't have the same great flavor as a wild salmon. Also try and get thinner pieces, as the thicker it is the harder it is to get an even cook time).

3/4 of a yellow onion

1 red bell pepper

1/2 green bell pepper

handful of cilantro, chopped roughly

2 tbsp tomato paste

1 can chickpeas, drained

Israeli fish seasoning!

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil (not pictured, I know, I know)

Rinse the salmon filets and pat dry.

Chop your onions and bell peppers roughly, in large strips.

In a 12 inch non-stick frying pan (with a lid), heat your olive oil on medium high heat. When it is hot, dump your onions in and sautee for approximately five minutes, until they begin to become translucent. 

Toss in one or two shakes of the fish seasoning to coat the onions, then stir and let cook for an additional minute. Then add the red and green peppers, and continue to cook for approximately five additional minutes, adding another shake of the fish seasoning and stirring.

After the peppers begin to soften, pour in the drained chickpeas. Mix well in the frying pan so the vegetables are evenly distributed. Let cook for an additional 5 minutes.

In a measuring cup with approximately 3/4 cup of water, mix 2 tbsp of tomato paste. Pour over the vegetables, and stir to make sure the vegetables and sauce are evenly distributed.

Lay your salmon filets on top of the vegetables, then give some generous shakes of the fish seasoning on the salmon. Put your roughly chopped cilantro on the fish and sprinkle on other vegetables.

Reduce the heat to a medium or medium-low heat, and cover tightly. Let cook without disturbing it for approximately 10-12 minutes. Return, and check the fish to make sure it flakes in the thickest part and is done.

If it's done, then serve and enjoy!

Bubbe's Tuna Salad

This is nostalgia at its finest. My grandmother (Bubbe Elaine) made this tuna salad recipe, and taught it to my mom. In turn, my mom made me sandwiches (like the one pictured above) with the tuna salad from the time I was a little girl...and truth be told, the tuna sandwich was the only thing that would get me out of the pool in the summertime! This recipe is foolproof, and I've even fed it to one of the world's pickiest children, and he liked it. So you will, too.

Total Prep Time: 15 minutes (not counting the time it takes to hardboil your own eggs if you choose)

What you will need:

2 cans of solid white albacore tuna packed in water

1/2 cup of Hellman's light mayo (brand specific to make sure it's just like Bubbe's!)

2 hardboiled egg whites

2 tsp dill

1 tbsp minced onion

1 1/2 tsp garlic salt

Note: This dish is infinitely easier if you have a hand-held chopping blade. I actually have one of my mom's, and can't imagine life without it.

If you are hardboiling your own eggs, a tip: Peel them after letting them sit in cold running water for at least five minutes. And if you can, peel them underwater; it keeps them intact. All you need is the egg white for this dish.

Open and drain the two cans of tuna. Dump them into a large shallow mixing bowl, along with the egg whites.

Using the chopping blade, chop the tuna and the egg together until it is a fine mixture. 

You will have to constantly move the bowl around and toss the tuna/egg mixture, but ultimately it should look like this:

 Dump in 1/2 cup of mayo, the dill, garlic salt and the minced onion.

Mix well using a wooden spoon (again, the wooden spoon is a Bubbe tried-and-true trick).

Taste and if necessary, adjust the seasonings (sometimes I like to add more dill and minced onion, as it gives it a little bit of a crunch). Although it tastes good just after you make it, it's REALLY delicious the next day when all of the flavors have had a chance to meld together. So, then, just serve and enjoy!

Balsamic Herb Roasted Chicken Breasts

This recipe makes boneless skinless chicken breasts very juicy and flavorful. You get the taste of the balsamic but the cooking takes away a lot of the tart mouth-puckering qualities, and the vinegar marinade really helps the chicken retain its juice during the cooking process. The herbs (fresh, of course) also infuse flavor during the marinating process. Best of all, it's an extremely convenient recipe as long as you remember to put the chicken in the marinade the night or morning before you plan to cook it! It pairs nicely with any green vegetable cooked with just some olive oil, lemon and garlic, or a salad, or even a small serving of pasta or potatoes.

Total Prep Time: 15 minutes (not including the time you marinate the chicken)

Total Cook Time: 20 minutes

What you will need:

1 package boneless skinless chicken breasts (anywhere between 1 - 1 1/2 lbs)
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
dried italian herbs
5 cloves of fresh garlic, peeled but not minced
fresh herbs (when I made this, I only had rosemary in the house, but this would taste wonderful if you put in fresh thyme, basil or sage as well)
red pepper flakes

To Prepare for Marinade:

Cut the chicken breasts so that each breast is two pieces. You can do it either through the horizontal or vertical plane of the chicken, however you prefer.

In a gallon size freezer ziploc bag, pour your vinegar and soy sauce. Then add the garlic cloves, and add your fresh herbs as well (I used two sprigs of whole rosemary, but a few leaves or stems of each type of herb you want to use is all you will need. It will take a lot to go too overboard with them). Cut the herbs roughly so that they release their oils into the marinade. Then add two or three good shakes of the dried italian seasonings, and as much red pepper as you'd like (that is very much to taste).

Add the chicken to the bag, close tightly, then move the chicken around in the marinade, trying to get the marinade to cover as much of the chicken as possible. If you find that you truly do not have enough marinade to get all over all of your chicken, then add just a splash more balsamic and soy to the bag; be careful, because the chicken does not need to go swimming! I really think of this as giving the chicken a nice spa bath, more than anything else; enough liquid to relax it, but not enough so it can do laps.

You can marinate the chicken in the refrigerator anywhere between 3 hours and 24 hours. I typically make up this mixture the night before I want to cook it, or sometimes I'll do it right before work, since it really takes no time at all. When you marinate the chicken in the refrigerator, try and lay it as flat as possible so all of the chicken stays in its little spa. 

To Cook:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. While the oven is preheating, take the chicken out of the refrigerator, crack the bag a little bit, and let the chicken come up closer to room temperature. When you cook meat, it's always better to try and let it warm up a little bit from the refrigerator; you will get a much more even cook on it, and the inside and outside of the meat will cook at the same rate.

Place the chicken pieces on a roasting rack. If you don't have a roaster, then you can lay them flat on a baking sheet covered in tin foil or even a glass baking dish. Try not to crowd them in the baking dish, they need some room to breathe and for the juice to evaporate.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, turning the pieces once during the cooking process.

Serve, and enjoy!!!

Florida Avocado Guacamole

Florida avocados are different only in size and shape from their more expensive cousins, the Hass avocados. I've also read that Florida avocados have a little less fat in them than the Hass avos do, but the taste difference is minimal. This is a quick dip/spread that is full of good fats, veggies, and flavor!

Total Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Cook Time: NONE!

What you will need:

1 Florida avocado, very ripe
1 tomato (vine ripe is good)
1 lime
1/4 of an onion
1/2 tsp Cumin
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
chili powder, to taste
salt, to taste

Remove your avocado from the skin. The easiest way to do this is to cut it in half, remove the pit, and then use a knife to loosen the avocado from the skin.

Dice your tomato and 1/4 of a sweet onion, and add to the bowl with the avocado.

Add all of your spices, and salt and add chili powder to your own tastes. Squeeze in the juice of the lime.

Mash and combine using two forks.

Serve, and enjoy!

Chicken Schnitzel

Ahhh, schnitzel. It's Jewish fried chicken. I won't even pretend this recipe is healthy, but I'm so nostalgic for it.

Total Prep Time: 15-20 minutes

Total Cook Time: 20 minutes

What you will need:

1 1/2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breast
3 eggs
Breadcrumbs (I used plain here, Italian is good too, and if you want, Panko, but it's hard to get a good crisp with those)
Canola Oil

Wash the chicken breasts, pat dry, and slice into thin chicken cutlets (not strips)

Prepare two large plates and a bowl. In the bowl, crack the three eggs and lightly beat (do not WHIP the eggs). Pour a generous amount of breadcrumbs on one of the plates.

Take each chicken strip, and dip it in the bread crumb mixture on both sides, then dip in egg mixture, then dip again in the bread crumb mixture. Set aside on the second plate until you have coated all pieces of chicken.

In a frying pan, heat up canola oil on medium high heat. You want it to be about 1/2 of an inch deep in oil.

When the oil is hot, but not crackling, place chicken pieces. You don't want the pan to be overly crowded, so you will have to cook your chicken in shifts.

Let the chicken cook undisturbed for a few minutes. After approximately 5 minutes, use a fork to lift a piece of chicken and check to see if the other side is becoming crispy and golden brown. If so, flip the pieces of chicken to let the other side cook.

Make sure you pay attention to the heat of the oil. The oil will continue to heat up and retain heat, so you will have to reduce the power of the stove every now and then. You want the oil to continue to sizzle, but be very mindful of how fast your chicken is cooking. You want it to take approximately 5 minutes per side.

Toward the end of the cooking you may have to flip the chicken again to get the first side to a matching level of crispiness as the second side. Try not to move the chicken too much as it cooks as that prevents the chicken from forming the delicious crispy coating.

When you pull it out of the oil, put it on a paper towel-lined plate. Layer schnitzel and paper towels.

Serve and enjoy!