THAT'S THE COOLEST THING!": Meals in a Minute!

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Meals in a Minute!

Impossible I know, but that's what I'd like. I don't get home from work until 6:00...and I'm hungry and have an equally hungry husband.

His name is "Sugarboots".

That's what the girls called him in high school

so from now on, in this blog he shall go by that!

Back to I want dinner fast! I made a list of quick to fix meals on a 5x7 index card. I'll start referring to that each night or on Saturdays when I plan meals for the following week. to see what I need to buy and what has to be pre prepped (Is that correct grammar?) Yes, meals in a minute will involve some advanced prep and it's totally it's worth it.

Here is one meal I can make quickly this week. Grilled steak (defrosting in the fridge during the day, slice and grill when I get home) salad (out of a bag plus some crunchy stuff), and garlic (opt) mashed potatoes. These delicious potatoes will be ready in a minute! Here's how....

I will get out my freezer bag of mashed potato balls and take out however many I want. Nuke them for a 30 seconds or so in their little bag (explanations in a sec) ...stir or smoosh heat a little more and scoop onto a plate which has the lovely meat and veg already on.

Here's the back track. Today I made garlic mashed potatoes. Here's how.

1. boil a 5# bag of Yukon gold potatoes (no peeling necessary and they freeze well, (russets do not)

2. drain when soft and add 2 T butter, 6 oz cream cheese, a handful of bacon bits (I used Hormel bottled bacon bits), and some garlic salt or 4 cloves of garlic finely mashed. (or leave the garlic out, this is all to taste.) Add milk, 2 green onions, finely chopped, 2 T. seasoning salt, and cup or so of shredded cheddar cheese. Salt and pepper to taste. Let cool.

3. Scoop out the mashed potato mounds with an ice cream scoop, put on a tray and freeze.