I have heard it said that the heart of the home is the kitchen and I truly believe that.. it is where we eat, talk about our day, play board games, but most importantly where we have family devotions after dinner with my singing & daddy reading from the Bible.
The kitchen also tells all of my girl's senses that they are home. My girls love to run by and get a big sniff of whatever I am cooking. Just tonight my oldest hugged my at the stove and told me that I cook because I love her...so true.
So needing to get back to really cooking for them lead me to cook ahead meals. Cooking ahead is not a new idea by any means..I have no idea who did first so I can't give honor where it is due. Also, I am not a recipe person so you may want to look those up. Basically this is just making the meats & things and putting it all together at dinner time. Enjoy!
I just add fruit & milk~ Here are the meals:
BBQ Chicken
Mashed Potatoes
Carrots
London Broil Roast
Baked Potatoes
Green Beans
Fajitas
Corn
Refried Beans
Chili
Corn bread or Chips
Celery
BBQ Sandwiches
Raw Veggies
Fruit Snacks (because it is Friday!!!)
So this is what I did...
1. Tossed a bunch of boneless Chicken (I know it is better to prep your own, but I that is just too much right now) & into the crock-pot with some cleaned end pieces of celery, onion, & carrots(as well as some sticks to serve on day 1) & some S&P & Tony's seasoning then filled it half way with water.
Cooked on low till tender and almost ready to fall apart.
The the celery & carrots were chopped and put in clear containers, & some in baggies for snacks. Half of the onion was diced, and the other half chopped long(with 2 bell peppers of the fajitas) for the other recipes.
When fully cooked & cooled, remove the meat and strain the broth. I like to pop this in the freezer to make a nice quick soup stock when someone gets the sickies...
Set aside chicken for fajitas for on day 3 you will chop some of the chicken and add it to your peppers & onions about half way to warm it through..
The last day I pull the left over chicken apart with 2 forks add more sauce and serve on buns.
2. I Start some Pinto Beans in my large pot...added some of the diced onion for flavor. Let them simmer most of the day till tender...honestly don't stress about them they pretty much cook themselves just make sure they have water.
I take about a 1/4 of the beans out and make refried beans.
To the rest of the beans I make chili by tossing in seasonings & cans of tomatoes and add any left over corn, peppers, & onion from the night before & the chopped beef from 2 nights before>>see below.
3. London Broil cooked the night of and sliced at the table, take the other half back to the kitchen and dice it up for the chili.
Dice up the other half for the chili you can also slice some for fajitas as well.
4. Bake some potatoes. Have them baked one night & smash them with milk & butter for the other.
There are other things I could do if I had more leftovers...shredded chicken from fajitas could make chicken salad sandwiches, or add an Asian sauce and put in lettuce for wraps for lunch. Put extra diced beef with rice & creamed soup for Beef Tips & Rice. Oh, and my fave~leftover chili makes great Frito boats!!! There are so many ideas and this is just to get you started...Enjoy! Oh, and please feel free to post your ideas!!!
