Usually try to do a soup or chili to freeze individual portions for the week. And I'm trying hard to get in the habit of making a batch of biscuits (now that I can make them). They will last most of the week for breakfasts. These are AnnT's biscuits and very good!

Country Biscuits (AnnT)
2 cups of flour
1 Tablespoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening, lard, crisco or butter (I use butter)
1 cup of milk (cream) or buttermilk
if using buttermilk add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda)

Optional. Add a little sugar if you prefer sweet rather than savory.

Mix the flour with the baking powder, and salt. Cut in shortening until it resembles coarse meal. Stir milk or cream in to flour mixture. Mix quickly with fork until dough comes together. Using hands gently pat the ingredients together. Do not over-handle. Pat out to about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick on a lightly floured board. Cut with biscuit cutters and place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and bake for approximately 12 to 15 minutes at 450F.

If making cheese biscuits add the mustard and cayenne to the dry ingredients and add the cheese after the shortening has been cut into the flour.

Tip: An easy way to cut the butter into the flour is to use a box grater. The large side of the grater makes the perfect size pieces of butter.

I don't have specific recipes so much as general foods: soup (lots of soup), pasta (with sauces stored separate and added at the last minute, roasts for sandwiches or to add to green salads. Some pached chicken breasts can end up as all kinds of quick dinners.

I make extra rice, so that I can do "fried" later in the week.

Just made some this afternoon: BBQ seitan and cottage cheese burgers (vegetarian). We ate half of them before I had a chance to take a picture! LOL But here it is...

I love braised foods, not only because as they sit the flavor ripens and improves, but because then the fat hardens and can be skimmed off the sauce.

Pork chile verde - just a pork butt roast, baked in a covered casserole with a large jar of spicy green salsa, a sprinkling of cumin, and lots of chopped garlic. Takes about 3-4 hours at 325 degrees for a 5 lb roast. Remove all remaining fat from the meat, refrig sauce separately so you can remove the fat. Reheat meat in the sauce, thicken if you want although you don't need to. Serve with cheese quesadillas, rice and beans, or even toasted French bread.

Roasted veggies - I prefer to roast slow and long, also I separate the different veggies; it seems to work better for me. Some we eat right away, some I save to reheat later or put into stews (marvelous flavor!) or soup. In fact, tonight I have just added roasted yellow bells and red onions to enrich a meatball Bolognese gravy to serve over orecchiette pasta.

Italian pot roast - just a chuck roast browned and braised in a good tomato-based sauce, simmered until tender - usually 2-3 hours. Take it out, cut away away any fat, refrig separately from the sauce so you can pull the fat off the next day. Reheat meat in the sauce and thicken it - I use cornstarch rather than flour, but whatever works for you.

Portugese chicken stew - 6 boneless/skinless chicken thighs, lightly browned in EVOO with some chopped garlic, remove from pan. Add 1-2 Tblsp turmeric to oil and let 'bloom' for a minute over medium-low heat. Add 2 cup low-sodium or homemade chicken stock, one 15-oz can chopped diced no-salt tomatoes, 6 chopped green onions and bring to boil. Put the chicken back in and add 1-2 lbs of Portugese linguica, cutting each link in half. Season lightly with McCormick's lemon pepper (much less sodium than using regular salt) and 1 Tblsp dried oregano. Simmer until just done, about 15 minutes - you are going to cool them in the sauce, so they will finish cooking but remain juicy. Refrig for at least 48 hours. Remove fat, reheat gently in sauce and thicken as desired. Serve over rice or with mashed potatoes, not pasta.

Jeff Smith, the Frugal Gourmet (way, way back before Food Network was even thought of), gave a recipe for a wonderful beef chuck roast in a Port sauce that's outstanding - rich, beefy flavor that begs to be mopped up by a steaming Idaho baked potato.

I love roasted garlic for the different touch it adds to recipes where you'd normally use fresh garlic. But it's easier to buy the refrigerated jars of cleaned whole garlic cloves and make oil-poached garlic - just as good, and great to keep on hand in the frig. Put in a small saucepan (deeper is better than wider); cover with olive oil to at least 1/4" above the cloves. Heat over medium just until the first bubble appears, then turn the heat down to a simmer, and cook until the garlic becomes very, very soft (it should not brown). This may take 20 min if the garlic is fresh, or up to 1-1/2 hours if not.

Use these cloves in anything you'd use roasted garlic in. The garlic oil is sensational to cook anything in, from scrambled eggs to toasting baguette slices. Use both oil and cloves up within 3 weeks, always keeping them refrigerated, to avoid danger of botulism. I usually pack small glass containers with the poached cloves and oil, and freeze them for longer storage.

About the only thing I make ahead for the week is bread. I try to bake enough bread on my days off to last until the next week.

Ann

Al, how do you make cottage cheese burgers? They sound good - cottage cheese is a favorite.

Soups for sure! I made a couple of gallons of Clam/Shrimp Chowder today, cooked a pork butt in BBQ sauce, yesterday I cooked 4 stewing chickens in about a gallon of water with aromatics. I have 3 1/2 lbs. of chicken meat, and chicken broth. I made 2 homemade pizzas, one to eat, one for the freezer. I made pita bread. I have the juice from the pork in the fridge solidifying the fat. In the morning, I'll skim the fat and toss in some baked beans for the crockpot.
I prepped a gallon bag of mixed raw veggies and made a black bean and veggie salad.

I shouldn't have to cook all week!

We ate pita sandwiches for lunch yesterday and pizza last night.
Clam chowder for lunch today.
Tonight was some of the pork butt with roasted veggies.
Tomorrow I'll have Bean/veggie salad and pita sandwich for lunch, and either chowder or chicken for dinner.

I do this alot. It sure save time during the week. DH and I both pack a lunch every day too, so this gives us many options and we don't eat the same thing all the time.

Deanna

dirtgirl07, I use cottage cheese, oatmeal, eggs, wheat bran, spices, and other seasonings like salt & pepper, onion powder, garlic powder & ginger etc. If I use 1.5 C of cottage cheese I usually put in 1.5 - 2 C of oats, 3 eggs, then a few tablespoons of wheat bran. Flax and other nuts and seeds can be used in the recipe too, if you like a little crunch. I also like to put in whatever fresh herbs I have; fresh parsley and basil make a big difference.

Once I mix all ingredients together, I form 8 - 12 balls, depends on the size. Roll them over some bread crumbs, flatten them out then fry them in a frying pan with a bit of oil, or bake them in an oven for about 20 minutes. You can eat them just like that. I like to add a bit more flavor and moisture to them by cooking a bit longer in a frying pan with some sauce i.e. BBQ sauce, that's my family favorite. You can use any white sauce, gravy, or even a can of soup for that purpose.

For tonight's dinner. I fried the burgers in a little bit of BBQ sauce and served them with a spinach cranberry salad in olive oil/vinegar dressing. A great vegetarian meal.

Al

Today I made pork carnitas and a pan of enchiladas. I also have some chicken thighs marinating to make souvlaki and made an artichoke rice salad to have on hand for lunch. Took the last container of Brunswick stew out of the freezer to have for lunch tomorrow.

Teresa

Thanks Al, that is really interesting! Never heard of it before, it sounds good.

In warmer weather, which is about 8 months of the year in my part of California, I usually stick with fresh fruits and salads for lunches, so there's not much to prepare ahead of time, other than maybe cut up some leftover meat occasionally to add to my salad.

But for the other 4 months of the year I love to make stoups (not quite a stew, not quite a soup) for lunch. I "look at" a recipe for inspiration sometimes, but it is rarely the same twice, LOL. Right now, I just can't get enough of lentils. Last weekend I made a red lentil soup with 2 entire heads of cauliflower in it that was so yummy. I froze 6 individual servings and took the rest to work to eat for the entire week. I can eat the same thing every day for a week and not get tired of it. Yesterday I made red lentil soup and tossed in diced leftover pork roast, and leftover broccoli and green beans. Froze 6 portions and taking the rest to work for lunches this week.

Can you tell I like lentils? I mean, I LOVE lentils. But if my first taste of lentils was the canned ones I recently bought to try, I probably would never have tasted homecooked. Like the difference between canned spinach and fresh. No comparison.

I'm a vegetarian so I won't post any recipes unless someone specifically asks since most people don't eat like me. But I really only cook on weekends due to a super hectic work week. I deal with whatever vegetables are languishing in the fridge. I almost always make soup. Often roast vegetables, sometimes mixed with marinated tofu for protein. Often make stir fry, and like Terri said, make extra brown rice which I freeze for quicker meals later.

The other thing I get going on the weekends is the crockpot. Besides soups and vegetarian stews, some of my favorites are doing a batch of caramelized/stewed onions, which I freeze in smaller containers to later toss into soups and pastas and casseroles. I also will do a big pot of some kind of beans, most often italian style canelinni beans or curried garbanzos or mexican style black beans. And once and a while some kind of chicken dish, since I am not a very strict vegetarian. Most often I do curried chicken with a jarred sauce that I buy or make myself. A common seasoning I use for that is pepper jelly that hasn't jelled. This year it will be this tomato jelly I made that didn't jell. It is like barbecue sauce. The other kind of chicken I make is caciatorre style, which is a tomato based sauce. Don't overcook chicken in the crockpot, it only needs 4-6 hours on high.

I also make muffins and cookies or a quick bread on the weekends that I can put in my lunchbox for breakfast or a snack. Occasionally I make bread in the bread machine, but I got a bunch of free bread last fall which is in the freezer so I am set for bread for a while and I'm trying to use that up.

The only other thing I frequently make on the weekends is coleslaw. In the summer, I might make a pasta salad instead of a pasta dish to take with my lunches. Potato salad would be another kind of thing to make on the weekends in the summer, I make a kind with sweet potatoes too. I also do cold bean salads, like a three bean or a hoppin john kind of salad, or marinated lentils or white bean salad italian style. I also sometimes do something called "chopped salad" which is a mix of crunchy vegetables in an italian marinade. You can just then plop them on fresh lettuce during the week for a quickie salad. In the winter it is most likely to be green pepper, carrots and celery and maybe cherry toms. but in the summer I add cucumbers and occasionally broccoli or cauliflower. Lightly steamed pea pods would be good in this but I never buy them, too pricy for my budget.

Well, I like you, in spite of your being a vegetarian.

I do about like Bean-- I try to make a bunch of protein foods like grilled chicken, shredded pork, or roast turkey. I am extremely prone to getting bored of foods, so if I make a big prepared dish, I'm more likely to freeze it in portions than bring it all to work, but if I have the basic meats, I can throw them on a salad, into pasta, make into chicken salad, have a roast turkey sandwich, make a soft taco, throw it into some chili, etc, etc. If I have a busy weekend, I at least try to stop for some lunch meat and sandwich toppings.

Like Ann T, I bake bread for the week while I'm home on the weekend.

I never did make foods ahead before but now when Elery is here on a weekend we both tend to do cooking and then I have leftovers for the week. Not purposely, I just do, LOL, good thing I have Cooper here to help me eat all those leftovers!

I do usually roast a big sheet pan full of vegetables so I can have those the rest of the week, but that's about the only thing I purposely make in advance besides bread.

Annie

Thanks Jessica, lol! I am totally cool with my weird eating habits, I know they are not mainstream and I'm fine with that. I've long been marching to my own drummer. I eat a lot of health foods and lowfat stuff, so the combo just isn't what most people are used to and I don't expect it to be. I love this forum but I know there are only a few folks who eat like me so I'll post if someone out there thinks they might make a recipe, or if someone is specifically looking for something like what I make, but otherwise it is just a lot of typing. I don't mean to sound snitty, really, just the opposite! I'm more than happy to post a recipe if someone would like it and I want people to know that. But to try and be more efficient with my time I've cut down on posting recipes.

Well, I'm a former vegetarian-- don't tell anyone-- I have a reputation to uphold :-P -- and although I'm not big on any of the fake meats, am interested in healthy stuff that actually tastes good. I think there are many lurkers like me who are interested in healthy food. I feel like at least half of the stuff I read sounds good, but isn't something I could eat regularly without letting myself go, so to speak. It is frustrating when people post pages and pages of recipes, many of which don't even fit what the person was asking for (especially when reading on an iPhone!!), but I would hate for you to feel censored. I've thought about uploading some recipes to google docs or photobucket or drop box, or something. It would be nice if some kind of linking system caught on, so we could all read through threads faster while still having that recipe information available to anyone who wants it.

Lpink: posting a separate request for your sweet potato salad.............

:-)

Deanna
(not vegetarian, but eating lots of vegetarian dishes anymore. They can always be a side dish for us carnivore/omnivore types! Sometimes the vegetarian cooks are far more creative than I with non-meat dishes.....thank goodness! Lots of ideas!)

Vettin:
I have a lot of recipes here are a couple.
I'll put in Pre Baked Pizza Dough later.

Lou's Pizza and Spaghetti Sauce

I use canned tomatoes but make sure they are Italian or a red color. Some choices are Contadina , Red Pack , Hunts , All Red, = Tutto Rosso, Chento

To use Fresh Tomatos Pulse them in a blender but leave some small pieces.
Add one can of Tomato Paste.

Pizza Sauce

1 Large can of Tomato Puree and Crushed Tomatoes or all Crushed Tomatos

1 teaspoon Garlic Powder ( add more later to taste ) or
use 4 fresh Garlic Cloves smashed ,sautéed and chopped small.

I use all Powdered Spices now, and get the same results

1 tablespn. of Onion powder.
1 teasp. Salt. or to taste
3 teasp. Sugar ( add more if it tastes too acidy ).
An Italian pinch of pwd.cloves.
3/4 teasp. Oregano ( or to taste ) if it is strong.
1 teaspoon of Parsley,
1/2 teasp. Basil.
1/4 teasp. black pepper.
½ teaspoon + of ( Chicken flavored Soup Base )
Simmer for about ½ hour or use without cooking.
Large handful of Parmasan Cheese, when done , after 1/2 hour.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Continue for Spaghetti Sauce

This recipe can be used for Spagetti Sauce , just add a can of Tomatoe Paste ,
with water to thin a little ,.if the Sauce too thick to start it will burn easily.
It will thicken as it cooks.

Add to the Pizza Sauce:

½ cup of fine chopped Onion.
And 3 bay leaves .
Don't forget the Chicken flavored Soup Base.
I add uncooked Meatballs, couple at a time or ,
( I bake about 3 dozen meatballs and freeze them )

Sausage and Chicken Thighs, when you start cooking.
(cook at least 1 ½ to 2 hours )Take the chicken out when it is done.
( About 1 ¼ hours )
Add the Parmasan Cheese " after " the sauce is cooked & stir
ALSO !!! season to your own taste. Add more or less of what you like.
- - - - - - - - - - -

Lous Italian Hamburgers or Meatballs

Do you use your KA for mixing Meatballs ???
I watched many of my relatives making Meatballs, thru the years.

Break the eggs on the meat and start mixing with their hands.
Then throw some bread crumbs in , with all the spices and keep mixing.

Always thought there should be another way to mix the Spices,
thru the crumbs and meat evenly throughout..
I did it this way now, for years.

Ingredients:
4 ½ lbs. of Ground Sirloin
1 ½ lbs. Of ground Pork
½ Cup of fine chopped Onion ( micro wave 2 minutes ) let it cool.
3 cups of Italian Bread crumbs ( including 1 cup of Corn Flakes, ground to crumbs )
3 tablespoons of Parsley
1 tablespoon of Salt
1 tablespoon of Garlic powder
1 tablespoon of Onion powder
.3 tablespoons of Parmesan Cheese.
3 tablespoons of Powdered eggs or 2x large eggs beaten
1 tablespoon of Chicken Soup base , mixed in 1 cup of warm water,

Put the meat into the mixer , in alternate spoonfuls . Use the paddle beater.
Turn on low speed to mix.
Meanwhile , in another bowl, put in the bread crumbs, Onions and all the spices.
Add the Chicken water mixture, if needed add more water, to make a damp mixture.
Add this to the meat in the mixer.
Everything mixed thru evenly. And the paddle took all the Gristle, from the meat.
- - - - - - - - - - - -

Measure out the meatballs ( I use an ice cream dipper ) and roll them.
Place in an oiled baking pan. And Bake at 350 Degrees for about ½ hour or,
Until they are browned slightly or cooked thru.
I made 38 meatballs. BUT

I stole a piece of the meatball mix and made an Italian Hamburger.
It was delicious in a slice of bread , with nothing else on it.

Reminded me of when I used to steal a meatball and run out of the kitchen,
before my Grandmother grabbed the Wooden Spoon.

LOU

The Recipes I put in, can be portioned and Frozen.
Lou

L, Amanda was a vegetarian for years, in spite of the fact that Dad told her that vegetarian was simply a Potawatomie word for "lousy shot". (grin)

I like a lot of vegetarian dishes and I even like tofu, so I like it when you post recipes. Heck, if you hadn't visited I'd have never made that bean salad that's so good.

Annie