My wife told me that when I retired she was retiring from being the household cook. She gave me fair warning, but I never believed her until I learned that if I didn’t cook we didn’t eat.
My wife is mainly a vegetarian living on a starvation diet. She learned long ago that she could not eat normally without gaining excessive weight. She tried lots of fad diets and diet clubs but it finally got down to exercise and limited food intake. That's why she doesn't eat much or often.
I’m a bit overweight myself. The only way that I can dump the pounds is to use one of my Big Fat John. forms. I hang the form on my refrigerator door. There I record everything I eat. I stop eating when the list reaches the kitchen floor or when I feel considerable guilt, whichever comes first.
Being the family cook and sometimes the only eater I’ve learned how to cook fast. I don’t cook until the hanger pangs say RUN TO THE KITCHEN AND COOK SOMETHING!
To cook fast I keep the following in the cupboard:
Chicken broth
Cans of soup (some creamed, some not) Stay away from soups that have tons of salt if you want your soup to have flavor. I get the larger cans that you don’t have to add water to. It’s okay to get the smaller creamed soup cans to which you may or may not add milk, broth, or water.
Canned Vegtables
Canned mushrooms
Rego Sauce, Parmesan Sauce or other creamy Italian souces
Rice
Spices and bacon bits
Teriyaki sauce
Parmesan cheese
In the refrigerator I keep:
Biscuit dough (in the store under refrigeration) of various types (butter rolls, croissant, baking power biscuits, and such)
Garlic cloves
Onion
Tillamook Cheese (Okay, use another brand if you want to.)
In the freezer I keep:
Frozen chicken breast
Frozen stir fry vegetables or other frozen vegetables.
Now that you have your larder loaded, you can make any number of concoctions, none taking more than thirty (30) minutes. Most take less time.
It takes about 20 minutes for rice at our altitude and dumplings require 10 minutes of boiling with no lid followed by 10 minutes of boiling with a lid. If you are much over 3000 feet elevation, you may need to cook longer. So if you are going to have rice or dumplings, you must allow a little more time but not over 30 minutes.
I find it is best not to think while cooking. Just start throwing things together and see what comes out. My wife always says, "Now did you write down the recipe for this so you can make it again?"
My answer is always, “Oh, I think I could make it again if I had to.?br />
Here are some typical recipes that I cook:
Crack Speed Soup with Dumplings
The Soup
Decide if it is going to be creamed or broth soup. Get the appropriate cans.
Get a big pot or smaller. I use a big pot because I don’t like to cook more than twice a week.
In the pot dump cans of soup that look good. If it doesn’t look like it has enough liquid, add a can of chicken broth. Throw in a can of mushroom bits and stems or whatever. Throw in a can of carrots to make it pretty. Get the pot boiling. Flavor to taste. I use chicken seasoning quite often.
The Dumplings
Drop biscuit dough on top of the soup. I find it best to use the sections as they come from the tube but you can break them into smaller segments if you want to.
I like to spoon hot broth over the top of the dumplings when I first drop them in the broth. It makes me feel good.
Boil without a lid for 10 minutes.
Turn down the heat and put the lid on and keep it on while boiling for another 10 minutes.
Turn off the heat and let it sit for a few minutes.
Scoop into bowls and eat. Yum! Yum!
Creamy Chicken and Rice
Place one cup of rice and two cups of water into a sauce pan or larger.
I usually double this recipe, but then what do I know?
Get the rice boiling. Keep the lid on for 20 minutes under low heat. You mustn’t remove the lid.
I use a glass lid to fool the rice. It hardly knows I’m watching.
Take a couple of chicken breast from the freezer. Toss them in the microwave oven, flipping them once after about a minute. I usually don't use the defrost function. That takes time.
When the the breast are cold but not completely frozen, take them out of the microwave and put them on your chopping block.
Put a large frying pan on the stove with cooking oil. Drop a clove of garlic into the oil. If you want, you can chop the garlic. Either way, don’t get the oil too hot so that the garlic is charred. It doesn’t look nice.
Slice the chicken, season it with poultry seasioning and such, and throw it in with the garlic. Throw in a can of mushroom pieces or stems, etc. I like to drip Teriyaki sauce onto the chicken. I like to see it sputter.
If you are not in a hurry place the chicken breast in the refrigerator with Teriyaki sauce and orange juice or other citrous juice. Leave it there overnight or shorter. You do this BEFORE you cook it!
When the chicken is done, which takes only a few minutes, dump a bottle of Parmesan, Ragu or other creamy Italian sauce onto the chicken. If the concoction looks too thick, add a can of creamed soup of any variety (the spice of life).
When the rice is done, pour the concoction over the rice and stir it in. Season to taste.
Put parmesan cheese on the table when you serve the stuff.
Creamy Chicken and Vegetables
Use the above recipe. Do not use rice. Be clever and use frozen vegetables. Just stir fry them in with the chicken or steam them separately. Add your creamy chicken sauce. You will be done in a flash. Don’t forget the parmesan cheese!
You can bake some biscuits up too if you like.
Creamy Potato Soup
Take your favorite pot and add a couple of cans of creamed celery or other creamed soup. I prefer creamed celery soup. Thin with chicken broth rather than water or milk if you like but don’t thin too much.
Add a can or two of potato slices. Why mess with fresh potatoes if you are in a hurry? Add a can of carrots. Grate some cheese and drop that in. If you have bacon bits, toss them in too.
Prepare chicken as in the other recipes and add it to the soup.
If you want dumplings, just take a tube of biscuit dough and drop the individual biscuits in the soup. You must boil without a lid for 10 minutes followed by boiling with the lid on for another 10 minutes (don’t forget to turn the heat down and NO PEEKING).
I think that croissant dough is the best for dumplings, but do as you please.
If you don’t want dumplings, consider taking the dough and baking biscuits in the oven.
GOOD EATING!
Copyright©John T. Jones, Ph.D. 2005
John T. Jones, Ph.D. (tjbooks@hotmail.com)is a retired R&D engineer and VP of a Fortune 500 company. He is author of detective & western novels, nonfiction (business, scientific, engineering), poetry, etc. Former editor of international trade magazine. Jones is Executive Representative of International Wealth Success.
More info: http://www.tjbooks.com
Business web site: http://www.bookfindhelp.com (IWS wealth-success books and kits and business newsletters / TopFlight flagpoles)