If the last time around, I found myself in a new MO from having 1 child, this time around - I'm really finding myself looking with new perspective at cooking, with 2 children. With a 1-month old Baby2 in tow, though this time around it's not as all-so-new as with Baby1, adjusting to having two kids pulling at my attention is an experience all in its own. I'm still cooking, though I'm finding juggling not as easy as with just 1 - and, on top of it all, I had gotten used to having Baby1 as a toddler, curious about my cooking, and eager to help, and had forgotten all about how difficult it is to juggle having a newborn in my arms while I'm trying to navigate slicing and dicing this that and the other thing.
So knowing what we went through the first time around with Baby1, we requested some special bechamel wheat lasagna from our good friends Bondrew, and we have them stored away for those days when I can not get around to cooking. This summer being my maternity leave, I'm taking advantage of spending time with Baby1 during the day, and trying to navigate still cooking in the evening - so we are carefully rationing out the lovely bechamel lasagna for just those days when I'm full out of steam. And my cooking experiences so far this summer have yielded the following results:
1. Pre-cut meats are a must.
2. Keep the produce drawers well stocked
3. Fruits are excellent as desserts and snacks
4. Premake sauces as a time-saver.
So item 4 was my most recent discovery. Dad had come to visit and brought a take-out left-over to share with us, but he ramped it up by adding tofu to make a new dish in larger quantities. The leftover was this hyper-spicy beef and vegetable dish. We had some for lunch while he was here, and then I most recently used the leftover of the leftover again by adding more tofu and making Ma-Po Tofu. It got my brain gears going: if I had some basic spice mixes and sauces stocked (which I already do), it makes cooking that much easier, especially on nights when I don't have the brainpower to think up something new. So I already have stocked a marinara sauce, a soy/ginger pork or chicken braise, and Puerto Rican sofrito. All these items, I have frozen (par-frozen, hand smushed, then refrozen so that it comes in smaller pieces in my ziploc bags) for longer storage and easy access.
Not the most original idea. But, that being said, I'm not going out to buy a bunch of preprocessed sauces and premixed spices with chemicals I can't pronounce - I'm making my own sauces and spice mixes. Therein is the difference.
What else in my freezer? My previous discoveries of pre-cut meats, preseasoned meats (Middle-Eastern, Italian, Chinese, and Indian seasonings), basic broths, and preseasoned whole chicken. I'm going to run with this for a while, to see how well we can live off of these pre-prepped ingredients to create a variety of dishes. In the mean time, I'm also going to think up additional sauces and mixes to stash away. If all else, at least I have some marinades ready to go for anything we'd like to cook.
