Keepers of the Home - Basic Cooking

Things to help you save time, and money:

Cook once/eat twice: *If you are planning to freeze soups or casseroles, omit noodles and cream, as they do not freeze well. Add these items when you take out of the freezer and reheat them.

Dry beans hydrate dry beans overnight, or do the quick cook method. Do enough beans so that you can bag up the extra and freeze them for future use in recipes.
Chop veggies once for the whole week. You could chop all the green peppers, red peppers, onions, carrots, etc. for the whole week and put them in baggies and this will save you a lot of time. You can also freeze chopped onion and peppers into baggies and just pull them out when you need them. Freeze in one cup amounts. Use a food processor to do this. *I have found food processor’s at the thrift store for very little money. A lot of people don’t use them and so they give them away. Bread machines are another wonderful item to find at thrift stores for about $5.00. We make fresh whole wheat bread every day. If I put all the ingredients in when I get up, we have wonderful, healthy, hot bread ready for lunch. :) (And it makes our home smell soooo good!)
Baked potatoes are a wonderful thing to cook once and eat twice. Regular potatoes and yams and sweet potatoes work with this and are so good and tasty. They are wonderful as left overs, and warm up so nicely. At Wal-Mart there is a bag of large baking potatoes for under $4.00. There are 9 to 10 large baking potatoes in it. (Costco, has a 20 lb. bag of large baking potatoes for about $7.50) This is very inexpensive compared to other stores for baking large baking potatoes. This would be wonderful for either a large gathering at your home to provide a potato bar of baked potatoes and many different type of toppings like broccoli, cheese, chives, bacon, sour cream, chili, tomatoes, salsa, black beans mixed with salsa, left over taco meat, chicken, left over veggies…the ideas are endless for what you could offer as some toppings. When baking this many potatoes, I pierce them with a fork on both sides and then wrap them with foil. You can brush them with olive oil and roll them in sea salt before wrapping in foil, if you would like to. Then I put the foiled potatoes in the oven. We do this many at 400 degrees for about 2 to 3 hours…depending on your oven. I would suggest that even if you are not serving these potatoes to guests that you go ahead and make the entire bag of them, and then eat them once more as baked potatoes or make home made scalloped potatoes with garlic, heavy cream or ½ and ½, shredded cheddar, parmesan and provolone. You could also cube these cooked potatoes and make a sort of hash brown potato with onion alongside of a meatloaf, or chicken or to serve with eggs. You could also make a very quick and easy potato soup with the left over baked potatoes. You would just slice them up and put them in a pot with some ½ and ½, butter, chopped onions, frozen peas, garlic, seasoned salt, and pepper….heat through and serve! :)
Scrambled eggs. This is another dish that reheats so nicely. When you make scrambled eggs, make twice as many or three times as many. They will last a whole week in your fridge. When reheating, you can add chopped ham, green pepper, onion, salsa, shredded cheddar cheese, tomatoes, mushrooms, or scallions.
Casseroles. Most casseroles reheat so nicely and most freeze well. Lasagna is a wonderful dish to double. You could eat it twice that week, or take it for lunches. Or when cooled freeze ½ of the lasagna for another meal for your family at a later date or to share with another family who needs a meal. When preparing you could use two pans and just divide ingredients as you go to fill both pans, that way you’re only baking one pan and the other you can cover, seal and freeze. We make a veggie casserole that is so yummy and so good for you. This casserole is so wonderful to reheat and even tastes better the second time as do most spaghetti and lasagna dishes. J Rice Sabrosa, zucchini boats, baked spaghetti, tuna noodle, macaroni and cheese (could put in spinach, to add a veggie). I have found foil pans that are wonderful for freezing at the dollar store. This is also a wonderful place to purchase foil pans of different sizes to be able to take meals to other people and not have to worry with getting your pans back.
Oatmeal. Is a another wonderful thing to make once and eat twice. We make baked oatmeal and this is so yummy and so healthy. You could easily cook this once and eat it for several morning breakfasts. We also serve this with plain yogurt or vanilla yogurt. It is healthy, tasty and inexpensive.
Homemade Granola. We serve this over plain yogurt that we mix with brown sugar. It is so yummy! This is a wonderful thing to make ahead and put in Tupperware or baggies. It is also nice to give as gifts at Christmas time!
Soups. Most soups are wonderful as leftovers. They reheat so nicely and will last for a week or more. They also freeze well. So definitely consider cooking at least twice to three times as much soup each time you make it. Leftover soup is wonderful for lunch as well. Freeze your soup in Tupperware containers or large freezer baggies. Soups can be cooked in a crockpot. You could put ingredients in first thing in the morning to have soup ready for lunch….or at rest time to have ready for dinner. Our family’s favorite soups are cream of potato soup (could put broccoli or peas in this soup or clams and make New England clam chowder), beef barley soup, veggie/beef soup, split pea soup, chicken noodle soup w/ broccoli and carrots, corn chowder, clam chowder, tortilla soup, white bean chicken chili, regular chili, 15 bean soup, black beans and rice, red beans and rice, chalupa and navy bean soup. All of these are pretty inexpensive to make and so good for you! :)
Chicken and Hamburger: You may have heard about the type of cooking where you cook everything when you get home from the grocery store. As your putting the groceries away you would begin to brown all your hamburger. You could put onions in part of it or all of it and then divide it up into the serving size you’d need for most of your meals and freeze it. You could also add taco seasonings to some of the hamburger to have this step done ahead of time as well. The same goes for chicken. You could boil your chicken at the same time and then shred it up and bag it and freeze it in serving sizes for most of your meals. If you know that you’re having chicken in several meals that you’re serving that week…just boil all the chicken at one time and then allow it to cool and bag it. Keep in the refrigerator until ready to use for your menu. *I purchase frozen chicken breasts at Wal-Mart. I spend about 7.50 for 3 lbs. Which is usually about 6 breasts. I put these frozen chicken breasts into a pot of water and boil them. I don’t defrost them. I also bake chicken using the frozen chicken breasts….I don’t defrost them first unless I’m making parmesan/bread crumb chicken then I do defrost it. Baked chicken is also so yummy if you make twice as much as you need and then reheat left over chicken for lunch or dinner. When I grill chicken, I will often put it on frozen as well. When I make meatloaf, we love to make twice as much so we can serve meatloaf sandwiches for lunch. :)

Big Gatherings:

I have had several women ask me what are some good meals to serve when having company over or large crowds.

When having a large crowd the most important thing that would be helpful is to do anything you can ahead of time. Often certain meals taste better prepared a day or two ahead. Especially tomato based meals.

Here are some ideas for large gatherings. These meals are easy and inexpensive. I would print this list out of ideas, adding any of your own that you might have that you think will work. Rather than worry about repetition of how often you serve these meals, it is more important to make hosting people more “doable” so that we’ll want to do it more often. J If we have a few meal ideas that work, and are cost effective, and we do not feel overwhelmed by making them and serving them….we will be much more likely to have people over. God wants us to be hospitable…but for some of us it is so stressful, especially with several small children. We need to find ways to make it affordable for our budgets, and also not so overwhelming and time consuming. :)

Potato bar – make baked potatoes and then either allow the guests to each bring something to put on top (everyone likes to help when they come to visit) or you could provide some steamed veggies, cheese, chili, sour cream and butter, taco meat, salsa etc. to put on top. There is very little prep to this and it is inexpensive and quick and easy. Plus everyone is usually happy as they can make their potato the way they like it. The cleanup is quick on this as well…another added plus! Serve all items on your counter or kitchen island and allow everyone to serve themselves.

Taco bar- you could provide the meat (mixed with beans…which makes it go farther, and is much healthier) and allow the guests to help by bringing the other things that go on the bar….or you could downsize what is offered and do it all. We put beans in our meat to make the meat go farther. Also, it is healthy to add beans. We sometimes don’t use meat at all. We sometimes just use black beans in our taco salad. They are delicious. You could also use just pinto beans and they would be great too! This is a huge way to cut down on cost and still have plenty of flavor and nutrition. We use dark green lettuce, beans (and or meat), tomatoes, shredded cheddar cheese, salsa, sour cream, avocadoes (in season, when less expensive), black olives (can purchase already chopped up!) and tortilla chips. You don’t have to have all of these items…do what you can and what you can afford! This is an easy, quick to make and clean up way of hosting a dinner. Serve all the items on your counter or island and allow everyone to help himself or herself. Or serve it in the backyard and have a wonderful picnic.

Chili – This is another easy meal that can feed quite a few. If serving for a couple of families or a large crowd, I would also make some shell macaroni or elbow macaroni and serve the chili over it. This definitely is inexpensive and makes the chili go sooo much farther! Remember to add extra beans to make it go farther! We will set out a big pot of chili, elbow macaroni, and shredded cheddar cheese, chopped onions, and jalapeno’s, and sour cream if desired. We usually also make cornbread (our favorite is Jiffy cornbread mix…muffin style) Cornbread tastes good, but also is filling when feeding quite a few. We let people serve themselves off the bar. This is wonderful and again, each person can make it the way they want it.

Sloppy Joes – We make ours from scratch. The canned sloppy joe mix is also good but if serving a lot of people the scratch method is probably less expensive. We put in ketchup, brown sugar and a bit of mustard, and worst shire sauce. We also add chopped onions and green peppers in ours as well. This goes soooo much farther than you would imagine! When served on buns, people are only using a small amount…and the bun is filling so it goes a long way! It is a fun meal to have when serving a crowd too. You could serve it with baked beans, and potato salad (that can be made a day or two ahead of time!) deviled eggs, salad, French fries, potato chips, veggies and dip. Serve bar style and allow everyone to help themselves.

Barbecued Pulled Pork – This works for chicken too! Again this goes soooo far! I am always amazed at how much we have left even after serving 20 or 30 people! We usually have enough left over for a lunch for our family or a dinner! We buy an inexpensive cut of pork roast and roast it all day long in the oven with the pan filled ½ with water. Cover with foil and bake at 400 for one hour, then turn down temp to 250 and cook for another 4 or 5 hours. Take out of oven and pull off pork and put in another bowl. Mix in barbecue sauce and refrigerate for up to a couple of days. This is awesome because it can be done so far ahead of time and then warmed up in a crock-pot to serve it on the day you are having company. We also serve this with homemade potato salad and this too can be made ahead of time. The baked beans can be made in the morning and then just put in the oven an hour or two before the company arrives. That way there is very little mess or prep work on the actual day of company. Yeah!!! :) You have a lovely dinner, but everything is done ahead of time…which allows you to enjoy the evening with your guests! We also serve a fruit salad with this sometimes as well. This too can be made a day ahead of time or in the morning of the day you’re serving.

Chalupas – Make this a day or two ahead of time. Then warm in the crock-pot the day of the event. You can serve this over rice and this is made with beans with is very cost effective. You can have shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, black olives, scallions, tortilla chips, and guacamole to go on top if you would like to….or just he chalupas and rice is great too!

Baked potato soup – follow recipe on menu plan. Set up a bar with crumbled bacon, sour cream, sliced scallions, and shredded, cheddar cheese.

Soups - are another wonderful thing to serve for large crowds. Almost any of them would work. Serve with warm, crusty bread or whole wheat bread. Have herbed butter (whipped butter mixed with fresh snipped rosemary mixed in) for the bread.

Lasagna and Baked Ziti – is another meal that works for large crowds easily and can be made a day or two ahead. This actually makes these dishes taste better. Any tomato based dish always tastes better a day or two later. Make ahead and then bake day of the gathering. A fresh, green salad can be made in the morning. Bread would also be nice with this. For Ziti – make ziti noodles. Layer sauce on bottom of 9x13 pan (could use two pans if crowd is large enough), then put a layer of ziti noodles next. Another thin layer of sauce, then drop tab. Spoonfuls of ricotta cheese (mixed with parmesan cheese, and parsley) spread out a bit to almost cover noodles. Sprinkle Mozzarella cheese on next. Then a layer of noodles, sauce, ricotta mixture, mozzarella and then noodles, then sauce again. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 45 min. to one hour. Take foil off and sprinkle more mozzarella cheese on top and let melt. *We like to add fresh spinach in the layers or cooked, cut up turkey Italian sausage on the noodles of each layer.

I would post a list of all these ideas and list all the soup recipes you have and then when you have company coming, look at the list and decide what you’re having. Don’t worry about making it perfect, or unique. When you’re serving a large crowd, you need something that is cost effective, easy to prepare ahead of time, and something that can be made to feed that many. It is more important that you not be completely stressed out by making the meal. J If you want more variety than this…you could have the variety be in the dessert, or the bread and salad parts of it. Just a thought!

If you are hosting a party or a gathering at your home. Decide the week before what decorations you might need. If you need to iron a table cloth and napkins…do this a week ahead and fold the tablecloth or hang it up on a hanger in your closet till you’re ready to set the table. Set out and wash any dishes that you might be using or serving platters. Find the serving spoons and extra utensils you’ll need. Set these out. If you’re using special salt and pepper shakers (not your everyday ones) then make sure they are filled and ready to use. Doing these things a week or at least a few days ahead makes it so much easier not to be stressed when the special day comes. :)

Sometimes when we’re having a large gathering we will make some of the food and purchase some of the food. Don’t feel bad about this. I know that this greatly helped me when I was a young mom and wife and I had many small children.

We also sometimes want to make the night so special that we plan many wonderful things that are so intricate or so involved that it makes us stressed and not able to enjoy the night.

Proverbs 17:1 says “Better a dry crust with peace and quite, than a house full of feasting, with strife.”

We need to stop and think on what is….TRUE. Are we having people over to impress them? No. Are we having people over to bless them and to fellowship with them? Yes. And we can bless them by not being stressed out. We don’t want to make our family miserable and create strife…just to have company over.

I know when growing up, it was so stressful for my mother to have people over, because she often tried to make things that were much more work and she would get so stressed that it was unpleasant for me as a child and my sister. She would get sooo flustered and irritated because she was putting a weight too heavy on herself and wrongly thinking what the night should be. I know I found myself falling into this same trap as a young wife. My mother in law is a wonderful cook and a wonderful hostess. She is did not have small children and she had been hostessing for years so it looked so easy for her and I felt I had to do what she did. I didn’t need to though! I was putting a burden on myself that the Lord did not want me to. Sometimes I felt my mother in law expected certain things from me, or me to do certain things…and I had to learn to rest in the Lord. To not try to be a “man pleaser” but instead to desire to please and honor God more. I wanted to make the dinner nice and the evening special…but I needed to be more concerned with honor and pleasing God with my words, actions and attitude….then my mother in law!

I needed to learn my limitations and boundaries and realize that there are seasons to life. I also needed to realize that it takes A LOT Of practice to get the hang of entertaining people and blessing them. It takes time to figure out how to do it in a way that is easy and relaxed. You may have a friend who is able to put on large parties and to hand make the invitations, hand make the decorations, and do all the food from scratch…and you may wrongly think that you need to be just like that. While it is good to learn from others…we need to be wise and to realize what season of life we’re in and to look to the Lord and our husband for what we should or should not be doing in the current season of life that we’re in. We begin to wrongly think that it is too hard to have guests over or to host gatherings….when in truth it is just the way we’re preparing and serving that has made it difficult.

If we can establish some core meals and accompaniments that are easy to make ahead and to prepare…then we will be much more open and willing to having people over and to opening our home for hospitality. Having menu plans and ideas written down to refer to will greatly help us. We can slowly add to this list as we find recipes that are easy, inexpensive and that can easily be multiplied to feed more people. Any recipe can be doubled, tripled or made in multiples. But not all recipes are cost effective for families on a budget. Often adding beans to a recipe helps it to go so much farther!

God desires that we be hospitable. He wants us to share our home with others. Most husbands are much more willing to have people over, when they see that our home is in order more often and that we are not so stressed out in cleaning and preparing and cooking. Two things that will help GREATLY with this is your daily schedule to keep your home always relatively clean and neat and learning some menu ideas that are easy and inexpensive. J I had an older woman once share on hospitality….she was sooo encouraging. She said that hospitality isn’t about the food or decorations…it’s about fellowshipping with others and about encouraging them in the Lord. It’s about blessing them….but she encouraged us as young women that this blessing can be watermelon out in the back yard! It could be a bowl of ice cream and good company! She and her husband had very little money when they started out. Her husband was in the ministry and one of the places the Lord provided for them to live at one point was in the back yard of someone’s home, in a little “house”. It was more like a children’s fort than a house. They had enough room for a double bed, a dresser and one kitchen chair. She showed us pictures of how she still was able to be hospitable. They would just sit outside on blankets and have watermelon or home made ice cream and just visit and fellowship. She was trying to say that we can and should be hospitable…and it doesn’t matter what size our home is (hers was literally a child’s fort!) or how much money we have.

Never be afraid to use paper products to make the clean up faster and easier. Don’t feel bad…do what you need to. Remember that you are just reaching out in love…don’t put unnecessary burdens on yourself.

As I was able to, and as time and money allowed….I began to build up our things to use for hospitality…things like cloth napkins, table cloths, pretty dishes and serving pieces. I still use paper though sometimes, especially if I am very busy and cannot do all the clean up that china and cloth takes. While paper goods are a bit more expensive…there are times when they are more wise to use. You never want to not be hospitable because, because of the time it takes. Make it work for you! If you only have a small amount of time and energy to give, that is fine….make it work. Use paper goods and do something very simple for refreshments….remember the important part is not the food, or the things you eat on or how the table looks…it is the fellowshipping and encouragement that is important!

If you’d like to begin to build up a supply of serving items I enjoyed shopping at garage sales and thrift stores, and antique stores for inexpensive but pretty dishes, bowls, and serving platters. I have often been able to also find wonderful silverware at garage sales, and thrift stores…that is pretty and can serve a crowd. Often I don’t mind if all the silverware do not have matching patterns…it’s more inexpensive to find multiple sets and just combine using all of them. This also works well for china. My mother in law had a lot of money and could have bought anything….but the table setting that was my favorite of hers is when she would put a different antique china set at each place setting. It was beautiful and so fun! She was very creative!

Also I was able to find tablecloths that were so cute and fun to use at thrift stores and antique stores. New table cloths can be very expensive. But the ones I was able to find or make were so inexpensive and so pretty and fun to use!
I learned how to make table cloths and napkins and this too was sooo inexpensive and helpful as well as being a fun project to do with our children!

Another thing that helps is to have all your tablecloths, napkins, candles, dishes, and things you would use to serve or decorate with together and in a place that you can easily access them. This makes it so much easier to be ready and to use them more often.

If you have china, and nice glassware, and pretty tablecloths…don’t just save them for company…use them to bless your own family! I tend to “forget” to use these things unless I schedule it! J You might want to schedule once a week or once a month to use your fine china and glass ware on your own family, letting them know you think THEY are special and that you’re enjoy honoring them! :) Light candles and play pretty music and have it be a night that celebrates your family and the love you have for one another. It can also be a wonderful training time for your children as they learn to use proper manners and how to handle nice things and be more careful.

Or you could do these family celebration nights once a month to celebrate the wonderful things that the Lord has done that month. I would encourage you to write down things throughout the month that each person has done or that the Lord has done and then read them aloud during this supper. Let it be a time of celebrating and rejoicing over God’s goodness! J Sometimes we get our china and stemware for our wedding and we seldom use it. We keep thinking we will one day or that when something is special enough we will use it…but that rarely happens….and we want to make sure that we’re saying with our words, actions and attitudes that our family is special and worthy of blessing! :)’

What you serve on the china is not important. You can serve pbj’s on china…or pizza, or something else easy and simple…it is the fellowship that is important. It might also be fun if your children cook the dinner to serve it on china and make it fun for them and a special night of celebrating! :)

I pray these ideas are helpful and encouraging. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me. :)

God bless you all!

Lori