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Noel's Kitchen Tips
A Busy Mom's Kitchen
A Minute with Noel

 

dinner syndrome  

 

Greetings! 

 

"What am I going to fix for dinner?"
You've probably asked this question to yourself; every woman has, It's a classic. You've probably also experienced the sinking feeling that can accompany it, the one Victorians used to call "pang." I call it "a panic."
  
Scene: It's about four o'clock in the afternoon, and you are tired. You've been working hard all day, concentrating, coping with one thing after another. The phone. The mail. An unexpected problem. Then you hear someone talk about plans for the evening or perhaps you check the time and realize that five o'clock is in sight. Suddenly you think, "Dinner! What are we going to have for dinner?"
  
If you're like many working woman I know, you then have a conversation with yourself that sounds like this:
  
You: Chicken
Yourself: No, we had that last night.
You: Beef stew?
Yourself: No, no George requested that for his birthday tomorrow night. (How am I ever going to lose weight?)
You: There's always steak.
Yourself: But it's so expensive!
You: Fish has too many bones....An omelet.
Yourself: No
You: I give up. Hamburgers.
Yourself: God, am I tired of hamburgers!
  
This conversation is a symptom of The What-to-have-for-Dinner Syndrome.
  
I believe there is a solution. I know what it's like to be busy, what it is like to be tired. I get up at 5:00 A.M., and I arrive at work in the mornings by 8:30 A.M., so I put in a long day. But I don't suffer from The Syndrome. I know that dinner is already solved.
  
My website, kitchen tips and recipes isn't just for family people, for woman with husbands and children to think of every evening. If you're single, it's for you, too.
  
For the next few weeks, I'll be sharing Cooking Sessions, Helpful Habits, Sample Cooking Sessions, Tips on Freezing, More Ways to Organize; Shopping smart and so much more!
  
I believe you will find help and answers to the question of what to have for dinner and bring wonderful meals to the table to share with your family.
  
 

  

Noel

 
From The Blog:
 
Noel's Kitchen Tips
Noel's Kitchen Tips.com
Here is a recap of what we shared on the blog last week, just in case you missed a post or two!

 

 

 


 

 

Here are some things I blogged about last week: 

  • How To Stock Your Shelves, or Where's The Pantry: When your feeding a household, it's always wise to keep a good supply of your basic pantry items on hand. When you get yourself to a point where your organized enough to start using your meal plans on a regular basis.
  • The Power Of A Mom's Cooking Club: Putting together a notebook binder filled with a bunch of recipes for weeknight family meals can be a ideal activity for a weekly cooking swap and provide practical and easy help to the moms in your group.
     
    Baking On A Saturday Afternoon:The comfort of casseroles with their multiple layers, perfectly flaky pastry, bubbly cheeses, and crispy coatings make for impressive family meal times and are very easy to pull off.
  • The Magic of a Cooking Session: The magic that solves the major dinner problem and puts that smile on your face at four in the afternoon is the accomplishment of a cooking session. Definition of a cooking session: anytime spent in the kitchen preparing food for more than one meal.
  • Procedure for a Cooking Session:  To have a successful cooking session, follow these basic steps.
Family Time

Busy Moms

Time Savers For Busy Moms! 


How about some tools that will help busy moms easily plan meals, quickly organize, and budget so that you can have more family time!

 

Cooking Tips To Save Your Family Money

 

Need a quick cooking tip? Here are a bunch of little things you can do to save a lot of money in the kitchen!

Put flour in an old spice bottle to use when flouring cake pans.

Unsure what a Dutch oven is? It's just a 6-8 quart saucepan or large pot.

Having leftovers again? Serve them by candlelight with tablecloths or place mats. A tablecloth and candles make even plain meals look special.

This is an unexpected canape and a handy little finger food. Take your favorite cream cheese dip and roll about 1 teaspoon full into a ball. Press it between two walnut halves. Lay on a platter to serve.

Save dry cereal odds and ends to add to your Chex mix when you make it.

Wrap celery in aluminum foil when putting it in the fridge. It will keep much longer.

When you have one hot dog, hamburger, sausage patty, or slice of ham left over, put it in a container in the freezer. Use these leftovers to make a meat lover's pizza or to add a little more zip to a regular frozen pizza.

Add a few of your favorite spices to a frozen pizza or add extra cheese and toppings.

Mix and match any of these:

Bread and honey butter. This is an old fashioned easy stand by. Place some soft, fresh bread on a plate and honey butter in a bowl for something that is good and couldn't be easier. (Make honey butter by mixing a little bit of honey into regular butter.)

Sliced fruit of any kind. Cantaloupe, watermelon, strawberries, kiwi and others work well.

Sliced veggies of any kind. Try tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots or celery.

Sandwiches of every kind. You aren't committing a sin by serving your family easy sandwiches on a hot summer day. Combine them with fresh fruits or veggies and you've got a meal.

Salads - Jello, fruit, veggie, pasta or potato salads make great summer fare.

Desserts - Ice cream, ice cream and more ice cream. Make it into floats, banana splits, brownie sundaes or regular sundaes, milk shakes, ice cream pie or ice cream sandwiches.

If you have leftover brownies or cake, add a few pieces to the bottom of a dish and then top with pudding and whipped cream.

Keep a bag or container in your freezer to store that 1 or 2 pieces of coffee cake, donuts or other baked goods that are sometimes left over (which doesn't happen often in my house ;-) . Then when you get enough for your favorite bread pudding recipe, use them instead of bread.

  
Featured Recipe: A Favorite Cooking Session
  
After a while, you'll develop a favorite cooking session once you do a few. In other words, what works best for you and your family in the long term. Rather that just sharing a simple recipe with you, I thought I would share a sample of a favorite cooking session.  

 

Menu for Cooking Session:

 

Hearty Chicken Soup

Barbecued Chicken on the Grill

Chili
Spaghetti Sauce 
Salad dressing for the week from scratch
 

You can do your cooking sessions alone or with your husband, kids, friend or a group of moms. I'll use two random names as examples of how the cooking session should work.

 

1. The chicken for the grill is defrosting while,

2.  Sheri cleans, cuts, and cooks the chicken soup

3. The chicken is basted with barbecue sauce and put on the grill.

4. The ground meat is browned for Chili and Spaghetti Sauce.

5. The chicken is turned on the grill. Now it is time to wash and recirculate the pots. Tom does the dishes.

6. While all of the above is going on Tom has also been making the salad dressing for the week from scratch.

7. Take the chicken off the grill.

8. Make the Spaghetti Sauce together (one chops and one stirs)

 

When they are done, they sit down together to a dinner of barbecued chicken, salad, and maybe a dessert--while the food they prepared is cooling. Then they package and freeze--and don't worry about dinner for the rest of the week.

 

*Adjust your portions according to the size of your family.

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Do you have something to share? Write to me at [email protected]

I'm so thrilled with the new recipes I'll be sharing with all of you in 2011!  I'll have fresh new recipes as well as many new article additions each issue of A Busy Mom's Kitchen Newsletter.  In 2011 we'll be working through simple menus, saving money all along the way.

I would love to hear about your family's kitchen stories and ideas. 

Show us your family kitchen stories, favorite family recipes or what tips work for you in preparing family mealtimes! I'd love to showcase your kitchen talents or oganization in the kitchen, but I need to hear from you soon! Send me your story.

Until Next Time! 


Sincerely,


Noel Chapman
Noel's Kitchen Tips
In This Issue
From The Blog
Family Time
Featured Recipe
Noel's E-CookBook's For Family Meal Planning
Quick Links
Cookbooks & Kitchen Digests
A Busy Mom's Guide To Family Meal Planning E-Cookbook
A Busy Mom's Guide To Family Meal Planning E-Cookbook
Get your copy today for just $8.95

The official desciption:

Isn't it worth the investment of effort and time to gather your family to the dinner table?

Want to make that special connection with your kids?

As a Busy Mom myself I share tips and tricks in the kitchen to Revitalize family meal times and give Busy Mom's like you more time to spend with those you love!

What makes spending time in the kitchen even better are shortcuts in food preparation from useful tools to cookware.

Get ready for an unforgettable experience as I share with you how to create those memorable family meal times, in my first E-Cookbook........

A Busy Mom's Guide To Family Meal Planning Fast Recipe Ideas For Busy Moms On The Go


Just click the link above to get yours today!
 
Make-Ahead Cooking for Busy Moms: Cook It, Freeze It! Volume One: Beef Recipes
Make-Ahead Meals

Are you like many of the rest of us, so busy with work and the kids that it's hard to find the time to cook a decent meal for your family each night? Would you like to be able to enjoy a family dinner each night and not have to eat fast food or take-out?

 

 Let me introduce you to Make-Ahead Cooking for Busy Moms: Cook It, Freeze It! Ebook Volume One:Beef Recipes

 

And it's yours, for just  $3.95!

Get your copy today!    

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