Layers of flavor : part 3 (dinner construction zone)
Growing up, the structure of the dinners my mother cooked were pretty basic. You had your one-dish-meals; casseroles, stir fries, meatloaves, etc. Then there were the main dish/side dish meals. These usually meant some sort of meat being the focus of the meal, with a starch and/or vegetable along side. My cooking style has morphed into pretty much the same deal, just different kinds of foods than what I grew up with.
A great example of a one-dish-meal: stir-fried chicken with baby corn, snow peas, red peppers, and rice. I also have a variation of this that I make with ground beef, lots of different colored peppers, a heaping pile of cabbage, and soy sauce.
An example of a meal with main dish and sides: Spinach manicotti with a side salad and ciabatta bread with olive oil/balsamic vinegar for dipping.
The best way I found to organize our meals was to make a chart. As you can see, some of our dinners have just a starch or just a veggie on the side. Many have both, a few have neither. A lot of it depends on the style of meal and what we all like. But the great flexible thing about this is that I can interchange those side dishes however I like! To do this, I needed to make myself lists of the options!
Standard Starches
(and Evil Carbohydrates... har har.)
- mashed potatoes
- rice
- couscous
- pasta
- garlic bread
- cheesy bread
Standard Veggies
- corn
- carrots
- asparagus
- beets
- green beans
- peas
- salad
Veggie Alternatives
- gratin
- roasted ricotta tomatoes
- zucchini fritters
- tomato or vegetable soup
- stuffed mushrooms
- raw veggies cut or sliced: carrots, cucumbers, celery
Then I just plug in whichever sides go best with the specific meals. I can also make allowances for sales, offerings from his parents' garden, etc.
Layers of Flavor:
Part 1 - (the intro... or appetizer, if you will)
Part 2 - (breakfast, snacks and lunches)
Part 4 - (sometimes easy is... easier)
Part 5 - (the run-down)
5 comments:
Hi! I'm in Iowa myself and after a discussion about groceries with a friend in FL ... well our food prices aren't that bad ... depending on what you buy.
The other important thing is I can only track what comes in and out of our budget so anything that Gram & Gramps buys is "Free" to me. I do the bulk of the shopping but not *all* of it.
I love the bento post! I've seen more and more information about bento type lunches. I'm thinking I might have to move in that direction.
I like your chart. It is very similar to how I approach meals only I'm not that organized and everything in is my head. I have Main - fruit - veg as a goal for each meal. Starches are easy as we love them so they are always present and accounted for!! :D
Jasie, we should'a been roommates. I have the same psychedelic napkins (and matching glasses) to go with my ikea table. Our dishes aren't so different either. We use lime green c&b melamine (bought on closeout because assholes hate lime green) and thrift store porcelain bird plates.
In more important matters, I'm liking your lunch ideas. I get really tired of my "salami salad" lunches with baby carrots. I need some variety but I'll be goddamned if I pay $8 to buy a lunch on campus. I'm going to make a copy bento box for wednesday.
you have a chart of dinners?! how organized are YOU mama?! I'm jealous, so jealous.
Bobbi - Ah, the midwest. My ex-husband spent ages 11-18 living in Missouri and I remember always being shocked by how cheap his mom had bought their house for, how little a block of cheese cost, etc... If I didn't have a visceral need to live right by the water, I'd be moving in a split second to be able to live that affordably.
JJ - Is it too late? Would the boys be up for a commune?
Joni - Every Friends quiz I've ever taken online has said I was Monica. Which kind of upsets me, since I always hated her character. But atleast everything was clean, organized and well-decorated! :P
i am jealous of your organizational skills and how delicious those meals look!!
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