I have never really gotten into once-a-month cooking. There are several reasons for this: I don't usually have a whole day to devote to cooking. I tend to forget about what meals I have in my freezer or I don't plan ahead enough to get them out & fully defrosted in time for supper.
I like bargains. I like to shop in bulk when the price is right. And I do fairly well at planning a weekly menu. This week I found a great price on extra lean ground beef from the local grocery store, so I bought 25 lbs. and divided it into thirds. I cooked it with chopped onions, then divided it into baggies that held about a pound each (2 c.), I made meatballs & cooked them up, and I made two meatloaves (frozen raw) & meat pies (recipe below). I also bought sausage & bacon, and cooked & divided them for future recipes. I love to get chicken breasts or tenderloins at Sam's when I can, and do the same with them. It saves me time to defrost a bag of cooked hamburger meat, than have to mess with cooking it each time I make a recipe that calls for it.
This recipe for meat pie may not look all that appealing, but it is very tasty & filling. I like to serve it with brown gravy.
Pastry for 2 double crust pies
2 c. potatoes, peeled & grated
1 1/4 c. chopped celery
1 c. grated carrots
3/4 c. chopped onion
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
3/4 lb. uncooked lean ground beef
Roll out pastry & cover 2 pie pans. Combine potatoes, celery, carrots, spices & ground beef; mix well. Spoon meat mixture into crusts. Roll out pastry for top crust; place over filling & seal edges. Cut vents in top pastry. Bake @ 375 degrees for 1 hour. Pies can be frozen (raw) for up to 3 months. Bake frozen pie (or partially thawed) @ 375 degrees for 70 minutes.
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2 comments:
That sounds good. Have you checked out momsmenu.com? Lately I've been finding good family recipes there. In fact, all my meals this week are ones that I found there...I'm trying some new recipes.
This is the first week I haven't posted a WFMW. I've been preoccupied with entering giveaways. :) Can you believe how many there are? The kids are crossing their fingers to win a webkinz!
That looks good! And wow...25 lbs. of meat? That's practically a whole cow! (Well, maybe a skinny cow.)
It's funny, this morning I was looking over some recipes at Recipezaar for OAMC cooking. I don't 'do' OAMC either, mostly because I like to cook and I wouldn't want to do it all in one day, anyway. But it's always nice to have some meals made and frozen ahead of time. My trick is that I take out one or two meals every Saturday afternoon with plans to eat them in the following week. They thaw out safely in my fridge that way. Try making a 'take meals from the freezer day' for yourself, and always take out one or two--then you'll have them when you need them!
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