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05/27/2020 07:00 AMBorn Virginia Dolores Weber in 1922 in Brooklyn, New York, my mom lost her mother at age 14, at the height of the Great Depression.
She was the only girl in her family and so she became the homemaker for her father and two brothers.
In high school, when asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, she replied, “A mother.”
Married in 1942, she and my father, Joe Bermel, moved to the South Shore of Long Island as their family grew with 15 children by 1963.
Sunday dinner set the tone for the week’s entire menu.
A roast, a fresh ham, or a turkey, Sunday dinner would be prepared by my father and would be our most extravagant meal of the week. We would often entertain cousins. We would always eat in the dining room with china.
My mother then took the helm at the kitchen for the rest of the week, setting her course based on Sunday’s meal.
A ham on Sunday made for fried ham steaks in orange juice on Monday, macaroni and ham on Tuesday, and pea soup on Wednesday.
Ground beef became meatballs or meatloaf depending how much we had. Friday might bring a can of sauce with a box of pasta, and leftover tuna salad from lunches.
As I remember it, everything was eaten.
Nothing was ever thrown out. Nothing was wasted.
The Process of Transformation
Even the smallest amount of leftover green beans would find their way into a soup or stew. Leftover corn was transformed into corn fritters for dinner.
I realized recently, watching that process of transformation of one meal into many new and delicious meals is a skill that prepared me for our current situation.
As we are asked to continue to stay at home as much as possible to help keep hospitalizations low and ourselves healthy during the ongoing current COVID-19 pandemic, and to venture out only as needed, I find myself depending on the cooking skills I learned as a child. I want to make the precious groceries purchased last as long as possible in as many different and creative meals as possible.
Not only does it make financial sense, it means fewer trips to the grocery store.
All my mother wanted to be was a mother. She did her best with what she had. While they may not have always been “more” because we were such a large family, there was always “enough.”
Enough
Today, I think of her often, and am thankful. I am blessed. I have enough.
Now that I am grown and have a family of my own, I use different recipes that I have come across from family, friends, and online.
Like my mother, I hate to see any food wasted and these recipes use leftovers in creative ways. When I try something new by adding in cooked leftovers, it always adds more flavor and diversity to the new dish.
I wanted to share a sample week of recipes, working off of a basic list of groceries with meals that are inexpensive, fun, and a balance of comfort and healthy eating. The ingredients cost me about $150 at a local grocery store. Feel free to substitute in ingredients your family might prefer. This should easily feed a family of four. If it’s just for two, you’ll have even more leftovers.
You’ll see that we end the week with Cook’s Choice, Support Your Favorite Restaurant. After a full week of cooking, cleaning, and then getting ready to do the same thing the next day, supporting our favorite restaurants is a real treat. We look forward to visiting them as they start to open up, remembering to follow all the directives and being patient as they work through new rules, regulations, and reality.
Let’s all remember, too, to keep washing our hands, to not touch our faces, to keep our masks with us at all times so we can wear them when we can’t maintain a proper social distance, to stay six feet or more away from others, and to be courteous and thoughtful as we continue to figure all of this out.
If you have ideas or recipes that help use up leftovers or help reduce trips to the grocery store, let Pem know at p.mcnerney@shorepublishing.com and she’ll try to include it in an upcoming story. Also, if you have any questions about recipes or ingredients, let her know and we’ll try to answer your questions.
Here is a week’s worth of menus, a suggested shopping list, and a recipe guide for Sunday’s dinner. To find all of that, plus recipes and recipe guides for the remainder of the week, visit zip06.com and search for “Purposeful Menus” and you will be able to read and download everything in one file.
Liz Egan is an artist and a retired art educator who lives in Clinton with her husband, The Bike Guy.
Purposeful Meals: Menus
Sunday Menu:
Baked Chicken Thighs
Roasted Potato Medley
Roasted Vegetables
Monday Menu:
Cheesy Chicken Casserole over
Rice with Green Beans
Optional: Side Salad
Tuesday Menu:
Sausage and Pepper Hoagies
Potato Salad
Baby Carrots
Wednesday Menu:
Vegetables Plus Frittata
Crispy Roasted Potato Skins
Salad
Thursday Menu:
Chicken Vegetable Soup
Salad
Homemade Baking Powder
Biscuits
Friday Menu:
Pasta with Favorite Sauce
Salad
Saturday Menu:
Cook’s choice!
Support Your Favorite
Restaurant Take Out
Cold pasta salad
Purposeful Meals: Shopping List
Here is my shopping list for a week’s worth of meals for four. Please feel free to substitute in your favorites. For example, if you don’t care for chicken thighs, or can’t find them in the store, substitute chicken breasts, or a whole chicken. Use your favorite jarred pasta sauce and shapes, or, if you’re feeling ambitious, make your own sauce.
You might have voracious milk drinkers in your house, so you might have to go to a full gallon or more.
If you want to try to make a full Sunday dinner, plus leftovers for the week on one shopping trip, the key to success is to read all of the suggested menus and recipe guides beforehand, substitute in anything you think your family might like better, and adjust the shopping list according.
Suggested Shopping List
family-sized pack of chicken thighs - about 10 thighs, bone-in
(optional: a rotisserie chicken if you think your family will eat all of the chicken thighs in one seating. You can use the rotisserie chicken for the remainder of the week)
baby potato medley - one bag
Yukon Gold potatoes - 3 to 5 pounds
zucchini - 1 large, or 2 small
summer squash - 1 large, or 2 small
rainbow medley of peppers - 1 package of three, or one red, one orange, one yellow.
green peppers - 2
carrots - 1 bag, or 6 to 8 regular-sized carrots loose
baby carrots - 1 large bag, 1 pound
onion - 4 large, yellow or white
green beans - 12 ounce bag
cream of chicken, celery, or mushroom soup - 1 can
chicken sausage - package of 6
chicken stock - 32 ounce container
cheddar cheese - 10 ounce block, extra sharp
pasta - 1 package, your favorite shape
pasta sauce - 32 ounces, your favorite brand
salad greens - 1 bag or box
shredded carrots - 1 package
bunch of celery
apples - 3, any kind
lemons - 2
potato chips - 1 family-sized bag
eggs - 1 dozen large
whole milk - 1 half gallon
butter - 1 pound, salted
mayonnaise - 30 ounce jar
From your pantry: kosher salt, baking powder, flour, pepper, spices, sugar, grated Parmesan cheese, salad dressing, flour, ketchup, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, olives, and assorted spices and dried herbs.
Here is my roadmap for a typical Sunday dinner. I’ve made this start-the-week dish is many ways.
During the summer, I might first parboil, then barbecue the thighs. Sometimes, I bake a whole chicken. Either way, the time I spend on Sunday cooking sets me up for a whole week of eating.
Sunday Menu:
Baked Chicken Thighs
Roasted Potato Medley
Roasted Vegetables
Baked Chicken Thighs:
Trim and prep the chicken thighs with garlic, salt, and pepper. Place in a 13” x 9” pan or baking dish. Place in a 350 degree oven. Set timer for 1 hour.
Roasted Potatoes
Rinse one bag of baby medley potatoes. Cut in half lengthwise and place in a bowl. Toss with 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, and pepper to taste. Spray a rimmed cookie sheet with cooking spray. Place potatoes cut-side down on cookie sheet. Place in oven on bottom rack when timer for chicken reaches 40 minutes.
Roasted Vegetables
Wash and slice zucchini, summer squash, and green, red, yellow, and orange peppers. Peel and julienne three carrots. Peel and rough chop one onion. Place in large bowl. Toss with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, minced garlic (or garlic powder), kosher salt, and pepper. Spray another rimmed cookie sheet with cooking spray. Lay vegetables evenly on sheet. Place in oven on the rack next to chicken when chicken timer reaches 20 minutes. Take this moment to turn potatoes over in their cooking sheet.
When timer is done, remove chicken from oven. Set on top of stove to rest for 10 minutes. Remove potatoes. Flip vegetables in pan and return to bottom rack for these 10 minutes.
Planning ahead
While you are prepping for dinner, boil three to five pounds of Yukon Gold potatoes that have been scrubbed and rinsed. Once the potatoes are fork tender, remove them from the water, saving the pot of water. Store cooled potatoes in fridge with skins on.
After dinner
Take leftover chicken thighs and roughly separate the meat from the bones. Place the shredded meat in an airtight container. Throw the skins and bones into the potato water. Add tops of celery bunch, garlic, salt, pepper, and a bay leaf if you have it. I also save cores from cauliflower and other veggies in a bag in my fridge to throw in soup stock. Simmer on low for one hour. Strain the stock and discard bones, skins, and leafy vegetables. Put all small pieces of meat that have fallen from the bones into the soup. Add the leftover roasted potatoes and vegetables from dinner. Add a boxed container of chicken stock. Simmer 30 minutes. Cool and store.
Monday: Make a Long Hard Day a Distant Memory
Monday Menu:
Cheesy Chicken Casserole over
Rice with Green Beans
Optional: Side Salad
Cheesy Chicken Casserole over Rice with Green Beans
This is a favorite recipe my mother-in-law Phyllis “Fluff” Egan would make for us when we arrive on a Friday evening for a weekend visit at her lakeside home in New Jersey. Its easy and oh, so comforting on a cold and rainy night.
It makes a long hard day a distant memory.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a small bowl, mix one can or Cream of Chicken (or Cream of Celery, or Cream of Mushroom) soup and 2 tablespoons mayonnaise.
In a mixing bowl combine the leftover shredded chicken thighs or some of the rotisserie chicken with the soup mixture. Fold into a Pyrex pie dish, or square baking dish about the same size as a standard pie dish.
Top with shredded cheddar cheese.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Use the crumbs from the bottom of a bag of potato chips or crumble a handful of potato chips and spread on top of the casserole.
Bake 10 minutes more.
Rice with Green Beans
While the casserole is in the oven, put 4 cups water and 2 cups of your favorite rice in a pot to boil.
I sometimes add a chicken bouillon cube and a teaspoon of butter or oil to the pot to add flavor and keep the rice from sticking.
Bring rice to a boil and simmer 20 minutes on low until water is absorbed.
In a steamer pot or using a steamer insert, steam the green beans until just tender. Want something more updated? Try this is you have these staples on hand: Braise the green beans in a cast iron pan with olive oil and garlic. Add some slivered almonds for crunch. Or spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray, and lay broccoli pieces and roast until browned and tender.
Make a salad to finish the dinner.
Dinner Clean-Up:
Add the leftover green beans or other vegetable leftovers to the stored soup.
There won’t be any Cheesy Chicken Casserole leftover.
Note: My mother-in-law would often buy a rotisserie chicken and make this casserole with most of the meat, and put all the discarded skins, bones and pieces into a pot as a soup starter. If you want more substance to the casserole, you can add canned chicken, chop a couple ribs of celery, or other vegetable into the casserole mixture.
Tuesday: Skillet Supper
Tuesday Menu:
Sausage and Pepper Hoagies
Potato Salad
Baby Carrots
While you could make sausage and peppers in a crock pot, I prefer to use my cast iron skillet for a easy and fun dinner.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a heavy skillet (cast iron is best), brown the chicken sausage in 2 tablespoons oil.
While the sausage is cooking, coarsely chop an onion, and two cloves of garlic.
Core and cut the green and red peppers into strips.
When done, remove the sausage from pan.
Saute onions and peppers in same pan for about 3 minutes.
Add a chopped tomato and a can of tomato paste, or a half a jar of sauce.
Slice sausage and add it back into pan.
Add in oregano, basil, salt, and pepper to taste.
Cover with foil and place in oven 20 minutes.
Make potato salad.
Peel 6 to 8 of the stored potatoes.
Save peels in container in the fridge.
Slice potatoes into a bowl.
Peel, chop, and add an onion.
In a small bowl, mix ½ cup mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons oil, and 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar.
Fold together with potatoes.
Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
Add a bit more mayo if needed.
Slice hoagie rolls and place face down on cookie sheet.
Place in top rack for last few minutes of baking to lightly toast the rolls.
Serve with baby carrots or other raw cut veggies. Makes 6 servings.
Dinner Clean-Up: Set aside a tiny bowl of the sausage and peppers.
Wednesday: Oh, So Tasty Frittata Night
Wednesday Menu:
Vegetables Plus Frittata
Crispy Roasted Potato Skins
Salad
When you have leftovers, you have the ingredients for a frittata. They are easy, filling, and oh so tasty. Best of all its one pan. The oven fried potato skins make a nice textural contrast.
Frittata
In a heavy cast iron skillet, saute ½ of a chopped onion and 2 cloves chopped garlic in 2 tablespoons of oil or butter, saute for 2 to 3 minutes.
Chop leftover roasted veggies and add to the skillet with salt and pepper, and saute for 4 minutes.
In a small bowl, beat 4 eggs and ¼ cup milk.
Shred ½ cup cheddar cheese (or any other favorite cheese you might have on hand).
Add eggs to pans and stir gently just to even them out in pan. Top with shredded cheese. Put skillet in the oven for 15 minutes.
Let set on top of stove while you finish up potato skins.
Potato Skins
While frittata is baking and setting, take all the potato skins you have saved, and toss in a bowl with some olive oil and kosher salt.
pread out on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray.
Place on bottom rack.
Flip when you put the frittata in the oven.
Thursday: Super Special Soup Meal
Thursday Menu:
Chicken Vegetable Soup
Salad
Homemade Baking Powder
Biscuits
We often had soup for dinner. Here the biscuits make the meal. These, which were identical to my mother’s, were reintroduced to me by my friend Ken Bowen, who started with a recipe from the Sugar Spun Run website.
Soup, salad, biscuits, and good friends make this a super special meal.
About 10 to 20 minutes before you start making dinner, pop six tablespoons of butter in the freezer. You will use this to make the biscuits and you want the butter to be very cold.
In a large pot, warm the chicken vegetable soup you made from leftovers on Sunday and Monday, while you make the biscuits.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Baking Powder Biscuits
(makes 6)
Ingredients:
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoon chilled butter
• ¾ cup milk
Directions:
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt into a large bowl and mix.
Use a box grater and shred cold butter into flour mixture.
Cut the mixture with two knives, until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Add milk, mix using a wooden spoon or spatula until just combined, taking care not to overwork the dough.
Transfer the dough onto a well-floured surface and gently work the dough together with your hands.
If sticky add more flour until the dough is manageable.
Once the dough is cohesive, flatten, and fold over itself.
Rotate 90 degrees and repeat.
Flatten and fold over in this way 5-6 times.
Gently flatten out the dough to 1” thick with your hands (do not use a rolling pin).
Dip a 2-3/4” round cookie cutter, or a glass turned upside down, in flour and cut biscuits. Place on parchment paper lined cookie sheet no more than ½ inch apart.
Gently combine remaining dough and cut until all dough is used.
You should have about 6 biscuits.
Bake 12 minutes or until tops are just turning brown.
Brush with warm salted butter (optional).
Serve warm with soup and biscuits and a salad.
There will be no leftovers.
Friday: Pasta Night
Pasta and Favorite Sauce
Salad
In a heavy sauce pan saute any remaining onions, peppers, and veggies you have leftover in the fridge with a tablespoon of oil.
Add your favorite pasta sauce and heat.
Boil 4 quarts of water in a pot and cook pasta according to package directions.
Serve with shredded parmesan cheese, and a salad.
Dinner Clean-Up: Leftover pasta makes for great cold salads. Add oil and vinegar, mayo, or both, shredded carrots, chopped onion, sliced olives, whatever you like!
Saturday: Cook’s Choice!
Saturday Menu:
Support Your Favorite
Restaurant, Take Out
Cold pasta salad
A Note on Salads:
When it comes to salads, I keep it simple. I generally keep a large container of mixed greens on hand along with a bag of shredded carrots, olives, and a few apples. I top a handful of green with shredded carrots, a chopped apple, and a few olives. I sometimes add in ready-made cheese crumbles if I have them and add my favorite dressing. Its crunchy, tart, and sour. Be sure to add that into your shopping list if that sounds good to you.