Good to see you back in action, lpink.

I like that tomatoes and green beans are harvested about the same time of year so I can make this dish. Sometimes I substitute marjoram for the curry powder. Although the recipe originally had beef in it, about half the time I omit it and serve the vegetable stew over cooked orzo or brown rice.

BEEF AND GREEN BEAN STEW - 4 servings

1 lb. lean beef
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 large onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 vine-ripened tomatoes, peeled, diced
1 cup tomato juice
2 Tbs. lime juice
1/4 tsp. curry powder
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 Tbs. chopped fresh mint
salt and pepper to taste
1 clove garlic, minced
1 pound fresh green beans, tipped and cut

Cut the beef into 1 1/2 inch cubes. Brown the meat cubes in the oil in a Dutch oven. Stir in remaining ingredients except green beans. Lower heat to simmering. Cover tightly and simmer over low heat until beef is tender - about one hour. Stir in green beans. Cover and cook five minutes. Uncover and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until green beans are tender-crisp and liquid is reduced to a thick sauce.

One easy way to experiment with herbs and spices is to make a paste. It's like making salad dressing with less oil. :) You can use it as a seasoning rub, as something to brush on bread, or even as a condiment, depending on what you put in it. Start with a flavor profile in mind, look through your collection to see what fits it, and put some of each in a small bowl. Dampen--just dampen, no more--with light olive oil, sesame oil or a nut oil. Something with not too strong a flavor, that you would use in salad, but that it's okay to cook with (by normal standards, unlike that article that Grainlady posted), so not EVOO if you're going to use it on a roast. Taste and adjust the flavors. If it needs something add a little pepper. I wouldn't put salt in unless you're using it all on something you want salt on. Different uses want different amounts of salt, and some want none.

Anyway, you can make pepper paste, curry paste, Greek paste, Mexican paste. etc. I like the combination of ground ginger and mustard seed, and will build upon those. Thyme works well with them, and ancho transforms them.

You can also make blends for yourself. Sometimes, when you're busy, the difference between one shaker bottle and having to measure out seven things can be huge!

Have fun with your new treasures! (And the offer is still open if you want some of my chervil ;) )

Hey, L, I'm glad to see that you have spice in your life again!

I do still have a LOT of rosemary from last year's bush, do you still need some of that?

Annie

You enablers!

Transition times are tough. It is good to year from you. And wonderful of GWers to help you spice up your life.

At this time, your freezer is your friend! When you cook, cook up a large batch and freeze single servings for future meals.

I just had a funny brief idea flash--one of those things that zips through your head--or at least through my head. (And probably should stay there, but I cannot resist sharing. . . .)

I saw multiple areas of the freezer labeled with days of the week. I saw you this afternoon toting a double handful of packaged up leftover meals from today's cooking to the freezer and tucking one into the Monday area, one into Tuesday. . . .
I saw you going tomorrow to the Tuesday area, sorting through the Tuesday area, plucking out a meal, and heading for the microwave.

(If you didn't label the meals, you could add a bit of mystery to your life as well :-)

No wonder a friend hints that I am the poster girl for anal-retentive behavior! I DO love to organize and label things.

This post was edited by Bellsmom on Mon, Jul 7, 14 at 11:44

I see you have curry -- this is an adaptation of a Bon Appetit recipe. I have made it with chicken, pork (can't remember if it was a leftover cooked or uncooked pork loin). I think you could also use one or more beans for the protein and it would be yummy (black and garbanzo come to mind for some reason, but use what you like). I have pumpkin puree in the freezer but first made this with canned. Butternut squash comes prepped if that is easier for you -- or prep enough for several meals and have it already done.

Pumpkin Shrimp (or whatever) Curry

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup sliced onion
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 plum tomato, chopped
1 15-ounce can pumpkin purée
2 cups vegetable broth
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 cup butternut squash, roasted and diced
1 zucchini, sliced (or baby zukes if available)
1/2 cup or more green peas (fresh or frozen)
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
Steamed rice
Cilantro
Lime zest

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and ginger; sauté until soft, about 8 minutes. Add garlic; cook for 1 minute. Stir in plum tomato and pumpkin purée; cook, stirring frequently, until pumpkin is golden brown, about 10 minutes. Add vegetable broth, coconut milk, curry powder, and cayenne pepper; simmer for 20 minutes. Add butternut squash, zucchini, peas, shrimp, and lime juice. Simmer until shrimp are cooked and squash is warm. Serve with steamed rice. Top with cilantro and lime zest.

Another good idea is to make a batch of marinara sauce and freeze portions you can put over pasta, something simple like stuffed zucchini (we're having it tonight), use it for pizza sauce.

Meals in the freezer are a great way to maximize the benefit of your time in the kitchen and control cost. Even if you don't want to have the same meal over and over, roasting a whole chicken gives you a hot meal plus cooked meat that is ready when are. Veggies like pumpkin, butternut and other winter squashes are so nice to have on hand already prepped and they freeze well -- cooked or raw.

When we had our kitchen redone, I cooked ground beef and froze it in ziploc bags. I seasoned some for tacos or taco salad and made sloppy joes with some. I had some cooked chicken and turkey. For me it was a good way to lessen the icky dishes I had to wash in the bathtub, but the same idea can make your time easier to manage with whatever proteins you use.

Salads are a great way to eat this time of year -- some sliced meat, fish or chicken (a great way to use leftovers), beans or cheese with lettuce that's ready to go plus fruit or fresh veggies or not. Also things like a bean salad, pasta salad (can include beans, tuna or chicken), corn salad or other marinated salad. Most of those will make a nice lunch or casual supper -- but they don't freeze well, so you need to learn to make them with leftovers, what's on hand or other ways to keep the scale down. I tasted a bean salad at Trader Joe's today that was just 3 cans of different beans, a container of their prepared chopped veggies (broccoli, cabbage, red cabbage, carrots, radishes and celery in about 1/2 inch dice - easy enough to do yourself) and a bottle of Tuscan Italian Dressing. That and a Southwest Bean salad (made with salsa and lemon or lime juice for the dressing) are things I could eat a bowl of for a meal. If those appeal, let me know and I'll look up the recipes.

Sandwiches and breakfast for dinner are usually both economical and on the quicker side. Also -- baked poatatoes, white or sweet.

Athenian Stuffed Potatoes

4 8oz baking potatoes
1 6 oz jar marinated artichoke hearts
2 tsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced (I've used mixed reed,yellow and orange too)
1 tomato, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 c (4 oz) crumbled feta cheese
2 T minced kalamata olives
1 tsp dried oregano

The recipe says to foil wrap and bake the potatoes at 375 for an hour, but knowing that you don't want a long hot bake, I will tell you that we have always cooked the potatoes in the micro and move on.

Drain the artichoke hearts, reserving the liquid. Chop artichokes.

Heat oil in nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add onions, peppers, tomato and garli. Saute about 8 min. Add artichokes, 1 T of the reserved marinade, cheese, olives and oregano. Saute 1 minute more or until thoroughly heated.

Slit the cooked potatoes, fluff with fork and scoop 1 cup vegetable mixture into cavity.

If you have leftover filling and don't want another potato, the filling is great tossed with pasta and grilled chicken or sausage -- though not vegetarian. I had a large group to feed this spring and doubled the filling, added a can of petite diced tomatoes, tossed it with pasta and served it with sliced grilled chicken and sausage on the side so we had a vegetarian and a non-chicken option. I liked all three variations.

Hope that helps.

I've made this recipe for lentil soup and my whole family loves it.

Well, I haven't actually made this exact recipe as I don't usually have chipoltles in adobo sauce on hand. Also, I don't know what French lentils are and I've not seen something labeled that in the stores around here. I have lots of Indian lentil types on hand and have made it with different ones depending on my mood.

I've varied the greens depending on what I have on hand adding them earlier if they are a tougher type.

It's a soup and very flexible.

Here is a link that might be useful: lentil soup recipe