OAMC Monday

Thought I would take a few minutes to post a few recipes that are favorites from www.30daygourmet.com

French Toast Casserole - serves 12

1 pound french bread loaf
8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 C. sugar, divided
1/2 t. vanilla
1/2 C. pecans, chopped, optional
4 egg
2 C. milk
1 t. cinnamon
2 T. butter, melted

Assembly Directions: Cut bread into one inch cubes (about 14 cups). Place half of the bread cubes in a greased 9x13 inch-baking pan. Place the cream cheese in a microwaveable bowl or measuring cup. Cover the container with plastic wrap and cook on 100% power for 30 seconds. Stir it with a spoon, cover again and cook another 2 minutes. It should be completely melted. Stir half of the sugar and all of the extract into the cream cheese. Spoon the cream cheese mixture over the bread cubes (it will not completely cover them). Sprinkle the nuts over the cream cheese layer. Top with remaining bread cubes. In a bowl, beat the remaining sugar, eggs, milk, cinnamon, and melted butter together. The egg and milk mixture will make about 3 cups for each recipe.

Freezing Directions:Pour the egg and milk mixture over the bread cubes. Slide the pan into a labeled two-gallon freezer bag, seal and freeze.

Serving Directions:Thaw the casserole completely. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until browned. Allow to sit at room temperature for 5 minutes or so before cutting.Serve with warm syrup or purchased or homemade fruit toppings.

Home Made Fruit Syrup

1 2/3 C. Fruit, canned, frozen, or fresh (drained of liquid)
1 C. sugar
1 C. corn syrup or honey
1/2 t. vanilla or almond extract

Assembly Directions: Chop fruit into pieces no more than 1/2 inch square. Combine fruit, sugar and corn syrup or honey in a saucepan. Bring to a boil stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove the sauce from heat and stir in the extract. Serve warm over the French Toast Casserole (also good over pancakes, ice cream, waffles, ice cream, pound cake, ice cream, etc.)

Jenni's Note: This has a become a Christmas morning tradition as I make the topping the night before and nuke it while the casserole is sitting for the required 5 minutes - I throw the casserole in the oven just before we start unwrapping presents and it/we are generally both finished about the same time!

The following is a recipe I got from http://snider.mardox.com/OAMC.htm

Roast Sticky Chicken (from busy cooks)Servings: 6

Spice Mix for 1 Chicken
4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. white pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 large roasting chicken -- as big as you can find
1 cup chopped onion (I never use the onion and it is still delish!)

In a small bowl, thoroughly combine all the spices. Remove giblets from chicken, clean the cavity well and pat dry with paper towels. Rub the spice mixture into the chicken, both inside and out, making sure it is evenly distributed and down deep into the skin. Place in a resealable plastic bag, seal and refrigerate overnight.

When ready to roast chicken, stuff cavity with onions, and place in a shallow baking pan. Roast, uncovered, at 250 degrees for 5 hours (yes, 250 degrees for 5 hours). After the first hour, baste chicken occasionally (every half hour or so) with pan juices. The pan juices will start to caramelize on the bottom of pan and the chicken will turn golden brown. If the chicken contains a pop-up thermometer, ignore it. Let chicken rest about 10 minutes before carving.

To Freeze.. This can be frozen with just the spice rub on before cooking, but I prefer to make several of these and cook them completely and freeze fully cooked. Simply bag and freeze. Warm in the microwave before serving.

Jenni's note: This chicken just falls off the bone! I throw this in the oven just before we run out the door to church and by the time we get home it has got some good juice going and I just bast from there - never fails - delicious, juicy chicken!

Anyways, I hope you enjoy these recipes - let me know what you think as you try them!

A few OAMC tips

Okay, there was some interest in this so.....

1. If you have small children - it is easiest if you arrange to have a sitter the day you are planning on cooking. When my kids were younger I had a group of ladies that I cooked with that we would rotate cooking days. i.e. They would shop on Monday, I would babysit on Tuesday while they cooked. I would shop on Wednesday and they would babysit on Thursday. OR I would get a sitter that would sit for 3 - 4 meals in lieu of $$$$ letting them choose from the meals I was making that session.

2. At one point I was also in a meal cooking group - several of us got together one day a month - we were all assigned a group - beef, chicken, vegetarian, sides, etc. - we all brought recipes we were interested in cooking and we agreed or made SLIGHT adjustments to the recipe - i.e. if the recipe called for onion and we had a child who refused to eat onion - it would be noted on the top of the recipe to substitute onion powder for the diced onion, etc. - we would all shop for and cook our assigned meal(s) and then meet back on a certain day with coolers in tow and exchange meals. It worked out really well - sometimes the meals were a little more costly than other months but in the end it worked out pretty even - we always rotated who got the chicken month, beef month, etc.

3. On both shopping day AND cooking day it is important to wear comfortable, supportive shoes. You will be doing a lot of walking back and forth and your feet will really thank you for that.

4. Shop early in the morning on the first day and then spend the rest of the afternoon dicing, chopping, shredding, etc. I personally spend the extra few cents on the preshredded cheese at Sam's simply because the price difference, in my opinion, is worth the saved time that it would take to shred the cheese and then clean the food processor or if you are still using a hand shredder all the time it would take to shred the 5 pounds (give or take) that you might be using.

5. Use disposable pans when possible - I know there is some concern about tomato based products in aluminum pans - I don't make this suggestion lightly as I have a brother in law who is an Alzheimers researcher at the Univ. of Wis. - he states that as long as you aren't storing the sauce in the pan long term that it poses very little risk - having said that - I found that the disposable pans I use fir right down inside my glassware ones so I freeze the layered items in the disposable pans, freeze overnight and the following day I pop out the meal and seal it in freezer wrap, a Ziploc of use my Foodsaver and seal it.

I hope some of these tips are helpful. I will post more ideas/recipes here next Monday and if there is enough interest - sometime after the first of the year - when the holidays are over and life calms down a bit - I would be glad to have you over as a group to discuss ideas and you can look at the recipes I have.

OAMC

One of my passions is OAMC (Once a Month Cooking). You shop and chop one day and assemble recipes the next. Since the weather is cooling and my springtime OAMC is nearing the end of its offerings - I have been putting together the recipes for my next session. A common question I get is "Isn't it lots of casseroles?" - yes, it can be a lot of casseroles but NOT every meal is a casserole. Personally, I would rather feed my family a casserole every night if necessary, than go to say, McDonald's - at least I know the casserole is fresh!

Anyway, tonights dinner consists of Teriyaki Chicken, brown rice and broccoli.

Teriyaki Chicken - serves 4

1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons oil
1 small garlic, minced
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup rice
4 cups broccoli flowerets

Mix soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, oil, garlic and ginger to make marinade. Freeze chicken in marinade in 1 gallon Ziploc squeezing out as much air as possible. To serve, thaw chicken mixture. Pour chicken and marinade into a baking dish. Bake in a preheated 350° oven for 35 minutes. Serving ideas: rice and stir fry veggies or broccoli.

Anyway, it is a lot of work - but only for 2 days - and then all you do is take it out to thaw (preferably the night before) and it really frees up time every evening. Maybe I will post a new recipe every Monday - anyone interested? Or do you want some OAMC tips first to make things go a bit smoother? Oh, and you really don't need an auxillary freezer - your fridge freezer can accomodate meals too!