What’s for Dinner?

On Planet Mom, there is a kitchen and people waiting for you to feed them

New Baby Playgroup• Wednesday mornings, 10 am to 12 pm

• Essex Junction Teen Center

The Moyer Clan

Your Cooking History

• How did you learn to cook?

• Who taught you?

• How do you decide what to cook?

Here’s our Plan:

• Writing a Menu

• What’s in the Pantry?

• Going to the store

• Getting it on the table

Exercise #1

• What did your family eat for dinner last week? (If you can’t remember, write down the meals that you CAN remember. It’s all good.)

Writing a Menu

• How many meals CAN you cook? Thirty? Ten?

• Make a master list…just write them down.

• You will have this list to expand your menus. You can be creative on days when you feel creative, when you aren’t…check the LIST and pick something from there.

Exercise #2

• What can you cook…from memory…without consulting a cookbook?

• This is your master list – this will be the basis for MANY meals that you can make, but in a pinch, you can haul these out.

How to Cook Without a Book by Pam Anderson

• Millions of recipes…but only a handful of cooking techniques

• Pan Frying

• Deep Frying

• Broiling/Grilling

• Steaming

• Boiling

Same techniques = Many dinners

• Seared scallops with lemon parsley sauce = New York strip steak with horseradish pan sauce = pork tenderloin medallions with apple cider pan sauce

• If you can saute, you can sear

• Change up the ingredients and you have a whole different dinner

Soup

• “Saute an onion, then add vegetables, starch and meat. Cook in a quart of broth for a meal that can’t be beat.”

Mix up the Ingredients = New Soup

• Ham & Potato Soup with Leeks and Peas

• White Bean Soup with Sausage, Peas and Kale

• Chicken Vegetable soup with Noodles

• Spinach Soup with Rice and Lemon

• Gumbo-style Shrimp Soup

How about your Master List?

• Can you switch around the ingredients in your master list and come up with new menu items?

• Next exercise…taking the master list you created, can you make a “similar” dinner that could be the basis for next weeks’ menu?

Pan to Plate Challenge

• These four ingredients are in your pantry

• Consulting with the partner chefs at your table, what meals could you make with those four ingredients?

Your Pantry

• What do you have on hand that needs using up? “Shop at home first”

• Cindy’s Porch Pantry Lists www.cindysporch.net

• Freezer, Fridge, Pantry

• If you haven’t used it in a month…it is time to use it, or send it to the Food Shelf

Grocery Store Strategy

• Creating a Grocery Store master list

• Knowing the layout of your “favorite” store

• “Simplify Your Life” by Elaine St. James

Getting it on the table

Tips for cooking with small children underfoot

• How do you keep your children entertained and occupied while you cook?

Thank you!

• Thank you for your ideas and suggestions today.

• Moms sharing ideas and helping each other navigate the day-to-day work of caring for our families is what MOPS is all about!

• Bon Appetite!