Taos News

Easy-peasy entrées for the chef who needs a break

Lucy Herrman youtube.com/c/LucysKitchenShow or visit lucyskitchenshow. com.

As much as I love to cook, by the time January rolls around, there are days when I really need a break. While I adore the wonderful and sometimes complex food that make the holidays special, all that cooking can leave me a little worn out. But we have to eat, right? And in these times of COVID-19, I still really prefer to cook at home and make something delicious and nutritious myself.

So that brings me back to my favorite standbys from the days my children were little. Things were often very hectic, and I looked for ways to use shortcuts in my meal preparation. I’d like to share some of the dishes that provided me with tasty and convenient respites from cooking that satisfied my family without sacrificing taste.

I always have a jar of spaghetti sauce around for “emergencies.” You probably do, too. So let’s make some Easy Spinach Lasagna.

All you need is a tub of ricotta, mozzarella cheese, frozen spinach, an egg, uncooked lasagna noodles and a jar of your favorite sauce. Mix the cheeses with the spinach and egg to create a filling. Make layers with the uncooked

noodles, the filling and the sauce. Pour some water around the edges, cover with foil and bake. Nothing could be easier. I’ve gotten compliments on this lasagna for years, even when I explain that it is not made from scratch.

Many of us pick up a good rotisserie chicken when we look

for an easy supper. I love doing this, because you can get more than one meal out of it. Two of my family’s favorite meals involve the

leftover meat from a roasted chicken. So, eat half the chicken on the first night when you get it home still warm from the roaster. Then save the other half for one of two entirely different second dinners.

The first is a recipe I learned many years ago called Moravian Chicken Pie, which is nothing

more than a good pie crust filled with a generous amount of cooked chicken and savory gravy. This

pie is a delicious alternative to the common frozen pot pie, and ideal for meat-lovers. No leftover gravy in the fridge? No problem. My

super easy version uses canned cream of chicken soup instead of

gravy. And store-bought pie crust can be just as satisfying as rolling your own. While the pie is cooking,

get the family involved in preparing the meal by slicing carrots, dicing celery, chopping broccoli, and even crumbling feta cheese for a chock-full-of-vegetables side salad.

That’s dinner.

The second option is a kitchensink approach to Chicken Enchilada Casserole. Look around for leftovers that can be incorporated into the filling. Here’s your chance

to sneak in an abundance of vegetables, perhaps adding some

roasted squash or even frozen corn. Once again, cans of cream of chicken soup, black beans and

green chiles step in to save the day. Layer corn tortillas alternately with

the filling and cheese in a baking dish, and bake until bubbly. No complaints here.

And by the way, don’t discard the chicken bones. Combine them with vegetable trimmings and

scrapings in a pot of water and boil for an hour or so. Then strain

the solids so you have a couple of quarts of chicken broth. To make

soup, simply add your favorite ingredients — cooked beans, rice, diced onions, sautéed mushrooms,

barley, cooked sausage. Almost anything you choose to put in the pot will make a great soup.

So next time you can’t face cooking another meal, try one of these easy-peasy dishes for an effortless dinner. Don’t be surprised if you get inspired to add your own touches. That’s what creative home cooking is all about.

For more recipes, check out Lucy’s Kitchen Show on YouTube

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2022-01-13T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-01-13T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://taosnews.pressreader.com/article/282037625522593

Santa Fe New Mexican