umommy: salad

Family Meals: Meal Plan Week of 1/20

The weather forecast for the week looks like there will be many cold nights, so looking to make some warm and hearty meals. This week's meal plan includes a bunch of recipes from Flour, Too: Indispensable Recipes from the Cafe's Most Loved Sweets and Savories as I cook my way through it (loving it so far). The week ends with International Night at school, so I'm looking forward to making scallion pancakes for the first time (!), and sampling some ethnic dishes from the diverse school community. Recipe links below.

Monday: Chicken and Orzo Soup with Veggies from Flour, Too. I was going to make this last week but an impromptu dinner at a friend's house has us trying it this week instead.

Tuesday: Pork Tenderloin and Asian Celery, Fennel and Edamame Salad with Candied Lemon from Flour, Too

Wednesday: Spicy Turkey Burgers with Tomato-Onion Jam from Flour, Too too!

Thursday: Weeknight Bolognese and salad from Ina Garten

Friday: Scallion Pancakes with Soy Dipping Sauce from Flour, Too!

Have a great week!

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, by umommy

Be a Lazy Cook

I will be the first one to admit that I can be lazy in the kitchen. I will avoid any recipes that require lots of ingredients (which means lots of shopping - which I hate). A dish that requires multiple cooking techniques? Forget it. I will only make risotto once or twice a year because I can't bear the thought of constant stirring. Well, it just so happens that my ~~laziness~~ efficiency is actually saving energy and money.

Oxfam GROW Method #4: Cook Smarter

"We rely on precious fossil fuels to cook and heat our food, and these everyday tasks add up to big emissions, as well as big energy bills. Try cooking with as little water as possible, using a flat bottomed pan, covering your pan with a lid and reducing the heat as soon as the water starts to boil - you 'll save energy, water and money!"

1. Change How You Cook
Did you know that by 1) using just enough water to cover your food while cooking on the stove (rather than filling the pan up to the top); 2) Using a flat-bottomed pan and covering with a lid; and 3) reducing the heat as soon as the water starts to boil can reduce up to 70% of the energy you use?

And the next factoid is truly amazing to me: If all urban households in Brazil, India, Philippines, Spain, the UK and the US took these three steps, we would save over 30 million megawatt hours of energy a year. You're picturing Doc from Back to the Future shouting "1.21 gigawatts?! Great Scott!" right about now, huh? Or put in another way, saving 30 million megawatt hours a year is greater than if the same households each planted a seedling and let it grow for ten years. Woah. That's heavy.

2. Change What You Cook
Another way to save energy is to make things that don't require energy, like sandwiches, salads, cold soups or no-bake treats. So those nights when you'll eat a bowl of cereal for dinner because you don't feel like cooking for yourself? Great! Or you can try some of these one-pot or no-cook recipes such as Chicken Pho Naan Sandwich, Shrimp Gazpacho, Baby Bok Choy, Carrot and Apple Slaw, Peach Plum Salsa, Almond Butter, Cream Cheese and Strawberry Sandwich, or Chicken Sofrito. And be sure to check out Oxfam's pinterest board for more recipe ideas.

Some of my favorite no-cook and one-pot meals

So go ahead - be lazy in the kitchen. Just make sure you put don't leave a mess, because I would NEVER do that (wink, wink).

This post (and my sharing on social media) was inspired by my participation in a compensated program initiated by Women Online/The Mission List to raise awareness about Oxfam America's GROW Method. All commentary and opinions are, of course, my own.

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, by umommy

In chicken, cucumber

Not Your Everyday Asian Chicken Noodle Salad

Sesame Chicken Cucumber Noodle Salad

What do you bring to an end-of-summer potluck? On a man-made island, capped off by excavated dirt from the Big Dig? To celebrate your child's friend's half-birthday and his mom's (ahem) birthday? I wanted to bring something different befitting of the day's festivities. And it needed to be a crowd-pleaser. That's when I turn to Ming Tsai.

In one of my favorite cookbooks, Simply Ming One-Pot Meals, Ming starts of by saying, "Just about everyone loves sesame noodle salad, including me." I knew I had to give this a try. Click here for Ming's recipe in Eating Well.

The Good: It was a big hit with everyone. And pretty easy to prepare. Ming was right - again.

The Bad: While this is not a complicated dish, it does take some time in terms of prep. Love that the dish is packed with veggies, but prepare to do a lot of chopping.

Grade: B+. Will definitely be making this again. Will experiment with ways to make this even lighter.

A couple of tips if you are preparing this for a crowd -

I doubled the recipe and there was enough to feed a small army (8 adults, 8+ kids)
There was way too much peanut dressing - but okay if you plan to set some aside for salad dressing later in the week
Wait to dress the salad just before serving
Splurge and use some good quality toasted sesame. I used Toasted Sesame Ginger Seasoning by Victoria Taylor's Seasonings.