Does being in the kitchen stress you out?  Are you overwhelmed at the thought of coming up with a nutritious meal after a stressful day?  Well, I’d like to tell you that STRESSED spelled backwards is DESSERTS and your problems will all melt away into a sugary stream of goodness.  But reality says it doesn’t matter what stressed spells, you are still stressed and you still have to make a meal for your family…or else hightail it down to the nearest fast food joint and get their version of  “smart” food!

Welcome to my meal plans for “low stress” to “high stress” days.  Over the next few posts I will be adding recipes that fit any kind of stressful day to make being in the kitchen a stress reliever.

Let’s start by learning how to evaluating your stress level.

High Stress- You are in a hurry, worn out, over-worked or tired of answering 101 questions over the past hour (some questions multiple times) and kids are hanging on your leg!

Medium Stress-You have low energy but not tired, not a lot of time but not in a rush, helping kids with homework but it’s manageable!

Low Stress- You have all day to prepare, music is playing in the background, kids are all gone, spouse is asking to help (that might be pushing things) and you have lots of energy to pour into your meal!

You may or may not fall into those descriptions exactly but I think you get the idea.  Evaluate your stress level and find a meal that will fit it.  This will not only help you to prepare better for different types of days but give you the freedom to know every meal doesn’t have to be a production of epic proportions. 

Here is a meal for a High Stress Day. ( truth be told, I make this even on low stress days )
 

Baked Beans on Toast

Serves 6

1 can ( 28 oz) Pork and Beans
12 slices of bread (sour dough or wheat preferred)
Sliced cheddar cheese

Heat pork and beans  and set aside.  Toast all bread slices.  Place toast on a cookie sheet and spoon pork and beans on to the individual toast. (hint: try to drain most of the liquid off the beans so the toast doesn’t become soggy)  Place sliced cheese on each piece of toast and put under the broiler until cheese is melted.

Serve immediately.

Gourmet Additions:  Grilled onions, Bacon slices, Tomato slices, Ham, Eggs

Now add a quick spring green salad mix from the grocery store, cut up some carrots with Ranch dressing and you have a quick, nutritious meal your whole family will enjoy.

A few days ago, my sister-in-law dropped off about 10 lbs of potatoes (from her 100 lbs) at my door. I was eager to accept the free food but soon realized that my one son, who absolutely refuses to enjoy even one bite of a potato in any form except fried little sticks, would probably be hitting up his friends for invitations to dinner to avoid having to eat a potato.  So I knew I had a real a challengeto deal with, but not one I was going to back down from. I needed to find a way to use 10 lbs of potatoes before they go bad AND so my son would enjoy them.  Obviously one task was going to be easier than the other.

The first step was deciding how to have potatoes for dinner.  That is never too hard when I turn to the internet and browse around until I find something that sounds good.  This time I landed on a potato soup recipe which sounded fabulous (to me) but in the back of my mind the voice kept saying, “Mom, you know I don’t like (we don’t use the word hate but I know he’d want to use it here) potatoes!”  So the bigger challenge now was to find a way to hide the fact he was eating potatoes.

Coming up with a recipe isn’t difficult but passing it off to the critics is daunting.  I had to be sure to get all my ingredients together and in the pot before anyone saw what was going in.  If one critic saw a potato near the stove, it was over!  Working quickly I sauteed, boiled, mashed and blended in record time.  Lucky for me the added carrots gave the soup enough color that it wasn’t distinguishable as any kind of soup they would recognize. 

As we all know, the mere mention of vegetables can either excite a child or send them into the ugly cry (depending on the day, right mom’s?).  This day was a good one in our house.  When I mentioned dinner was a vegetable soup, I didn’t get the myriad of questions regarding “which vegetables”.  Nope!  Instead, I got a few uncertain stares and one brave child who dug in and quickly said “MMMmmmm, that’s good mom!”  Eureka!  The sign the rest of them were all waiting for (and she didn’t even fall over dead).

I think it is safe to say, this one is a hit…and yes, I did tell Keaton he was eating potatoes.  After choking on his spoon, he looked up with big, fearful eyes and said, “What?!” 

I love it when a plan comes together. 

(I don’t have a picture of the soup because I was so anxious to see if the critics would like it or not that I forgot to have a picture moment.)

Herb Potato Soup

     8 small potatoes, diced (4 large russets)
     2 carrots, diced
     1 large onion, diced
     2 celery, diced

     2 cups warm milk
     6 cups vegetable stock
     2 cups potato water

     ½ teaspoon crushed rosemary
     ½ teaspoon thyme
     ½ teaspoon parsley
     ½ teaspoon garlic powder

     ½ cup parmesan cheese

     Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

In a large pot add  diced potatoes and enough water to cover them.  Bring to a boil then cook until the potatoes are soft.  Drain, reserving 2 cups of cooking liquid, and mash with potato masher.  Set aside.

Dice the carrots, onions and celery.  Heat a pan over medium heat and add 1 tablespoon oil.  Add diced vegetables to the pan and cook, stirring often, until they start to get caramel color on them.  Be careful not to burn the vegetables.  Now add 3 cups of vegetable stock to your  pan and bring it all to a medium simmer.  Let it simmer until vegetables are soft and liquid cooks out.  If you need to add more stock because the vegetables are not soft yet, do so and continue to cook.

When the vegetables are soft, add them along with any liquid that remains to the mashed potatoes.  Add 2 cups of warm milk and combine.  Add the remainder of vegetable stock to the pot and use an immersion blender to blend ingredients together into a smooth soup (you can use a blender for this step but be careful with the hot liquid).  Now add 2 cups of reserved potato water.  The soup should be smooth but not really thick.  Add enough liquid to make it the consistency you like.

Add herbs, parmesan cheese and salt and pepper.  Heat until warm and serve.

You can serve with a garnish of shaved parmesan cheese, fresh herbs or herbed croutons.  I used small herbed croutons to add crunch.

When people hear the term “vegetable stock” they usually think; vegan, health nut, yuck or what?  Turns out vegetable stock is not only healthy for you but very simple to make.  …and it adds so much flavor and richness to your sauces, soups or gravies without adding a lot of calories.

As incentive to try this recipe, I will soon post another favorite recipe that uses this vegetable stock.  It is one you won’t want to miss – so spend a few minutes cutting up some veggies and get them boiling in a pot.  I promise it will be worth all the little effort this takes  (seriously, yoga is more difficult than this is)!

Here is my basic recipe for vegetable stock (if you want to call it a recipe).  It is also adaptable for whatever you have on hand at the time I make it.  For example, today I added mushrooms and potato skins…who knew. 

Basic recipe:

      1 large onion (skins and all, they give the broth a brown color)
      4-5 stalks celery, including some leaves
      3-4 large carrots (unpeeled, tops and all)
      8 cloves garlic, (skins and all, smash cloves with side of a chefs knife)
      8 sprigs fresh parsley (or 1 tbs dried)
      6 sprigs fresh thyme(or 1 tbs dried)
      2 bay leaves
      6-8 peppercorn (optional)
      Enough water to fill the pot

Directions:

1. Chop scrubbed vegetables into 1-inch chunks. Remember, the greater the surface area, the more quickly vegetables will yield their flavor.
2. Add everything into the pot.  Cover with water until water reaches 2 inches below top of pot. Cook over high heat until stock begins to boil.  Then turn heat to low and simmer, uncovered, 45 minutes to 1 hour.  Continue adding water while cooking to keep water level high, if needed.
3. Strain the stock into a large bowl, press the vegetables to get all the liquid out and discard vegetable leftovers.  Then pour into ice cube trays or any plastic containers.
4. If you choose to freeze the stock, use ice cube trays and then transfer cubes to freezer bags for storage.  Lable the bag with the date and what’s inside.
5. Stock will keep a week in the fridge, or about a year when frozen.

To download this recipe click here.

 Other ingredients to consider:

• Mushrooms, eggplant, corn cobs, fennel (stalks and trimmings), bell peppers, pea pods, chard (stems and leaves), celery root parings, marjoram (stems and leaves), basil, potato parings . . .I think you’re getting the idea.  Just about anything goes!  Oh, I haven’t tried an apple yet but they have said it adds great flavor.

Scraps to avoid:

• Vegetables like cabbage, cauliflower, brussel sprouts or broccoli can be overpowering in the stock since they release unpleasant smells and flavor that can be too much.
• Vegetables that have gone bad, grown mold, or smell rotten should also be avoided.  Basic rule of thumb to follow is this; if you don’t want to eat it, don’t throw it in the pot!

Good Idea:

• Freezing all your vegetable scraps in a large gallon size freezer bag will make it even easier to make your stock.  You’ll know it’s time to make stock when you can no longer put anything else in the bag. It’s so easy — there’s almost no work involved.  Just get in the habit of throwing your vegetable scraps in the freezer instead of the garbage.  Recycling, but better!