Fine Old Recipes

Want quick and easy dinner recipes? Become an organized freezer pack-rat! Isn’t it such a disappointment to be cleaning out the frig and find a small serving of leftover food spoiled?

It’s natural to save the bits of food left over from mealtime. The trouble is, it’s not sufficient for a meal, so everyone ignores it until it’s a science project. This happened to me too many times, so I finally came up with a solution to this waste.

It so happens I’ve also made many a meal out of these little bits and pieces, which makes my heart smile, along with my wallet. A triple bonus comes with this method, in the form of quick and easy dinner recipes. Those little bits and pieces do add up. Just four or five small veggie portions can be combined with rice or pasta. Add a little meat and you’ve got a thrifty, quick and easy dinner recipe.

Just one piece of fried chicken leftover? Remove the skin, wrap it in plastic wrap inside a freezer container and freeze. Next week, when someone’s looking for a quick lunch, use the meat for a chicken pita pocket sandwich, garnished with a bit of lettuce, tomato and onion. You can also save these leftover chicken pieces until you have enough for a casserole.

Make a chef’s salad. Even with prices the way they are, I’ve been guilty of forgetting one tomato, nestled in its paper bag in the fridge (a paper bag lengthens the shelf life of many veggies), until it was no longer edible. The same with mushrooms, slap my hand! Here’s how to avoid this sort of waste. For tomatoes, store them in the paper bag. Stick a small pad on the frig door to remind you. If you buy six tomatoes, write the date of purchase and mark them off as you use them. If you just can’t find a use for them, dice up the remainder and freeze. The texture won’t be suitable for sandwiches, but work well in a casserole or addition to a pot of chili or beef stew. Save enough tomatoes and you’ve got a wonderful marinara sauce.

Buy mushrooms in quantity, when they look good and are on sale. Slice and sheet freeze, then pack in a freezer bag. Again, they’re not suitable for raw salads or sandwiches, but are just as excellent so long as they are cooked before serving. Every leftover is a candidate for a quick and easy dinner recipe creation! This stashing of little bits of foods in the freezer really pays. The practice becomes almost like a game. You’ll find yourself serving snow peas as a side for chicken breasts one evening, all the while planning to freeze a portion to gain a diversity of leftovers! While my husband thinks I’m a little strange with my pack-rat freezer technique, he also agrees that our food budget benefits and that he enjoys a diverse number of dishes. When you follow this practice over a period of months, you’ll also find you can have a rotating inventory of ad-lib, money saving, quick and easy dinner recipes from which to choose.

If you want to save money, time and effort, be a freezer pack-rat. Save those little green beans, corn and rice. If it might go bad, freeze it first! Your reward will be many quick and easy dinner recipes, accolades on your cooking ingenuity and plenty of meals that might have gone into the compost pile.

The cook with the most leftovers wins!

Many people get into a complete panic when faced with a romantic dinner occasion. Perhaps it’s your love’s birthday, your anniversary or simply a romantic evening at home. Are you entertaining a new love interest? Yikes, this really gets one into a tizzy.  Oh, no! What if it turns out terrible? I’ll order out and get some candles… Wait a second. Think about it. The whole point of the romantic dinner is that you’re cooking it, you’re dining in your own home and celebrating romance, whether it’s young, or simply young at heart. Even if your romantic dinner recipes do not fare well at your hand, you did it with love in your heart! Only then do you order out!

Your starting point for planning this romantic dinner interlude is to determine, if you don’t already know, what your beloved’s very favorite dish of all time is. If that dish is Southern fried chicken, you fill out that comfort food entree with a gourmet appetizer and some foods that lead to romance (Chocolate, anyone?). Your romantic dinner plans needn’t be extensive or extravagant in order to be successful. Besides, the romantic dinner ideas you’ll find here are easy and adaptable.

If you’re not a gourmet cook and your loved one’s favorite dish is Beef Bourguignon, you might call a French restaurant for a take-out on that one! Here we present some culinary ‘templates’ which you can use to match your cooking skills, accommodate your budget or time schedules. These romantic dinner ideas are all delicious, with a romantic flair appropriate to the occasion. Once you’ve decided on your menu, you don’t even need a cookbook. Just go online for specific recipes by the thousands. Gourmet foods, such as dried mushrooms, pesto, Alfredo sauce, fire roasted red peppers, Brie, or Nicoise olives provide lots of possibilities for dressing up a dish as garnishes, salsas and side dishes.

If you don’t know the first thing about gravies or sauces, you’re permitted to purchase a quality, packaged mix! The Surf n’ Turf entree is close to the top of the list of favorite romancing dishes, but even cooking at home, this is a pricey dish. However, if you can manage it, it is impressive to the palate. Is beef the meat of choice? Angus beef of any cut is the best there is. Be it a filet, T-bone or hamburger, it will be a romantic dinner recipe hit as a most delicious example of beef.

If it’s going to be a burger, serve with the bun open and inscribe the top half of the bun with a red ketchup heart. For the poultry lover, stuffed Cornish game hens make an elegant presentation. Stuffed with orzo, mushrooms, celery and sage, the hens are oozing with romantic specialness.

Whole, boneless chicken breasts may be served with a caper sauce that looks and tastes like it came from a fine Manhattan restaurant. Seafood lovers generally love it all. Seafood dishes are quick and difficult to mess up! King Crab legs are already cooked and any filet cooks to perfection in the microwave in minutes.

Maybe pork anything is your idea of a romantic dinner recipe. Try Wienerschnitzel for the upscale take on pork entrees. This wonderful German dish is simple and takes little time. A garden salad is a good first course. Feed each other forkfuls. Uncork your wine. Rice pilaf, wild rice, angel hair pasta with a thin butter and parsley dressing sauce or a twice baked potato all make nice sides.

If you’re not a baker, visit the best French bakery in town for a lovingly chosen dessert. Remember, when planning your menu, you don’t want to stuff yourselves silly. If you fall asleep in response to every last bite of a filling dinner, your romantic dinner recipe ideas might take the romance out of the evening!

Bon Appetit!