chefdennis
Veteran Expediter
Ok as i said in a previous post, one of my businesses is a "personal chef" service...in that business i do an indepth onterview with the client to determeine the food likes, dislikes, and diet or medical restrictions and any special recipes that like. I then use that info to plan the menu that i will cook for then. That menu can be enough food to allow the client to feed whatever size family they have for as few as 3 days or up to 2 weeks....just depends on the clients needs.
Anyhow the reason i bring this up is that this is what i do for myself when i am at home and out of service. I have been Out Of Service since last sunday and will go back in service this coming monday. So yesterday i did menu planning, went grocery shopping today and cooked this afternoon and will finish tomorrow afternoon.
I thought I'd put the menu up here so you can get an idea of some of the things that can be cooked ahead of time, vacuum sealed and ate within a 28 day period.
I planned and cooked recipe to feed 2 people for 10 days. That is a total of 20 meals...I will eat everything twice...I seal everything seperate if there are sperate items such as a starch, veggie and protein. That way while i planned the menu one way, i can always mix and match items as i go instead of always following the planned menu. When there is a "casserole" or "crockpot" type meal, they will normally have all 3 food classes within on "pot" so the whole meal is sealed together.
So with that here is the menu i will have for the next 21 days...
Oh, i still eat out a few times a week and do the fast food deal also....so you can still get smoe variety...
(1) Italian Sausage, potato, onion and bell pepper Pan Fry...a simple meal with boiled petite redskin taters, red and green bell peppers and onions sauted in Italian salad dressing and olive oil and served with fresh Italian Sausage
(2) Smoked Babyback ribs and vinegar slaw...
(3) Apricot & Pork Stew...Pork loin chops cut into pieces cooked browned in red pepper infused olive oil, then a mixture of diced potatoes, celery, carrots and green beans along with Apicot juam and chopped dried apricots....mmmmm good
(4) Apple Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and sweet corn cut from the cob and pan fried. A 6 oz meatloaf made with grated carrot, diced onion, and diced granny smith apples...glazed with picante sauce...the corn is cut from the cob, the cobs scrapped to get all of the natural sugars from the pulp then it is pan fried in an iron skillet with diced red peppers and olive oil
(5) Grilled Pesto /stuffed Chicken Breast, Brown Rice with golden raisins , and fresh green beans steamed in chicken broth
A boneless skinless plump chicken breast sliced at the center line to form a pocket..make your own or buy a good quality pesto... i like to make mine with fresh basil, garlic, olive oil and mac nuts....fill the pocket with the pesto, and grill on a George Foreman....Brown rice is made in a $6 ricer/steamer from walmart, raisins are cooked right along with the rice. The same $6 steamer does the fresh green beans,,for a really tasty treat, once the beans are done and plated, splash them with a good quality Balsamic vinegar.
(6) LOL, this one is a old fav of mine from when i was a kid growing up poor..We called it "Shipwreck" Sliced potatoes, fresh green beans and browned ground beef, layer it in a cassorle dish and bake it...add whatever spices you like to add some flavor, i use cumin...
(7) Caliente Pot Roast A Mexican "style" slow cooker pot roast. Sear a 2lb pot roast in a cup of coffee on all sides. Remove asnd drain coffee add 1 cup of red wine ( advise, always, and only cook with a wine that you would drink! No reason to use a wine that you don't like to flavor the food you are cooking, and thise socalled "cooking wines", are garbage..) Now add sliced mushrooms and a chopped bunch of cilantro and 12 ozs of picante sauce, add all of this to a crockpot and set it on high for about 6-7 hours or until the roast can be easily pulled apart with a fork. At this point add 3 quartered roma tomatoes and cook for 15 more mintues.
(8) This one was a recipe from a renal client that i cooked very meal he and his wife ate foe 18 months, breakfest lunch and dinner... luckily his kids had it good in the work a day work, because they paid me dearly.
Shrimp and White Bean Ragout This is really juat simple seafood stew made with shrimp and creole spices and alot of diced fresh veggies.
(9) Chipotle Mac and cheese... I love good homemade Mac and Cheese and it needs at least 3 different cheeses to be good, but this one also add 7 ozs. of canned Chipotle peppers, you have to like it hot!! MMM good....3 cheeses pecorino, mozzarrilla, and parmesan green onions and diced mild green chili peppers....oh and dijon mustard is added to the milk and flour sauce, mmmmmm good!
(10) ok this one, chances are if you ever see me early in my turn back in service, i will probably have this meal. I buy it from a friends hot dog/chili joint in toledo..."Toledo style Chili Mac..." i have been eating it a few times a month since i was old enough to go out and buy it myself, i love this stuff, while i can make it and it is pretty darn close, its never as good as "jims".. A simple highly spiced meat sauce, served over spaghetti noodles and covered in pinto beans...a handful of onions if you so desire and also some shredded colby jack cheese.....for me, just meat, beans!!
So there you have it... most of the time i will eat 1 one those meals a day for dinner if i am sitting, if i am really bored, ill eat 2 of the a day.....
One other thing some of you might what to think about... i think it is Reynolds makes a battery powered hand held vaccum sealer. It takes their special bags, but what it does do is lets you buy a dinner that you really enjoyed and get it "to go"...take it out to the truck and vaccum seal it, those it in the frig and you are set to go!!!!
If anyone wants any of the recipes for any of the above, just ask......
OH!!! I forgot 1, i have a recipe that i got from another personal chef from cinncy ohio. She was from a large Italian famliy that her dad and his brother came to this country in the 50's. They did very well snd they brought their parents here. Well Grandma was a rather frugal lady and even while the sons did well she wouldn't over indulge. This is one of my friends favorite recipes form her gramdma and it is sooo simple and easy and sooo full of flavor!!
We call it "Grandmas italian beef, pork and onion stew"....thats was all that grandma use , well she used butter to brown the meats and to saute the onions and 2 crushed roma tomatoes.... Becak made a few changes, but nothing big. She uses tomato paste instead of whole crushed tomatoes, she also adds fresh italian herbs and some lemon grass...thats it....eveything is to taste, nothing over the top and the flavors make your mouth water....mmmm good!
Anyhow the reason i bring this up is that this is what i do for myself when i am at home and out of service. I have been Out Of Service since last sunday and will go back in service this coming monday. So yesterday i did menu planning, went grocery shopping today and cooked this afternoon and will finish tomorrow afternoon.
I thought I'd put the menu up here so you can get an idea of some of the things that can be cooked ahead of time, vacuum sealed and ate within a 28 day period.
I planned and cooked recipe to feed 2 people for 10 days. That is a total of 20 meals...I will eat everything twice...I seal everything seperate if there are sperate items such as a starch, veggie and protein. That way while i planned the menu one way, i can always mix and match items as i go instead of always following the planned menu. When there is a "casserole" or "crockpot" type meal, they will normally have all 3 food classes within on "pot" so the whole meal is sealed together.
So with that here is the menu i will have for the next 21 days...
Oh, i still eat out a few times a week and do the fast food deal also....so you can still get smoe variety...
(1) Italian Sausage, potato, onion and bell pepper Pan Fry...a simple meal with boiled petite redskin taters, red and green bell peppers and onions sauted in Italian salad dressing and olive oil and served with fresh Italian Sausage
(2) Smoked Babyback ribs and vinegar slaw...
(3) Apricot & Pork Stew...Pork loin chops cut into pieces cooked browned in red pepper infused olive oil, then a mixture of diced potatoes, celery, carrots and green beans along with Apicot juam and chopped dried apricots....mmmmm good
(4) Apple Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and sweet corn cut from the cob and pan fried. A 6 oz meatloaf made with grated carrot, diced onion, and diced granny smith apples...glazed with picante sauce...the corn is cut from the cob, the cobs scrapped to get all of the natural sugars from the pulp then it is pan fried in an iron skillet with diced red peppers and olive oil
(5) Grilled Pesto /stuffed Chicken Breast, Brown Rice with golden raisins , and fresh green beans steamed in chicken broth
A boneless skinless plump chicken breast sliced at the center line to form a pocket..make your own or buy a good quality pesto... i like to make mine with fresh basil, garlic, olive oil and mac nuts....fill the pocket with the pesto, and grill on a George Foreman....Brown rice is made in a $6 ricer/steamer from walmart, raisins are cooked right along with the rice. The same $6 steamer does the fresh green beans,,for a really tasty treat, once the beans are done and plated, splash them with a good quality Balsamic vinegar.
(6) LOL, this one is a old fav of mine from when i was a kid growing up poor..We called it "Shipwreck" Sliced potatoes, fresh green beans and browned ground beef, layer it in a cassorle dish and bake it...add whatever spices you like to add some flavor, i use cumin...
(7) Caliente Pot Roast A Mexican "style" slow cooker pot roast. Sear a 2lb pot roast in a cup of coffee on all sides. Remove asnd drain coffee add 1 cup of red wine ( advise, always, and only cook with a wine that you would drink! No reason to use a wine that you don't like to flavor the food you are cooking, and thise socalled "cooking wines", are garbage..) Now add sliced mushrooms and a chopped bunch of cilantro and 12 ozs of picante sauce, add all of this to a crockpot and set it on high for about 6-7 hours or until the roast can be easily pulled apart with a fork. At this point add 3 quartered roma tomatoes and cook for 15 more mintues.
(8) This one was a recipe from a renal client that i cooked very meal he and his wife ate foe 18 months, breakfest lunch and dinner... luckily his kids had it good in the work a day work, because they paid me dearly.
Shrimp and White Bean Ragout This is really juat simple seafood stew made with shrimp and creole spices and alot of diced fresh veggies.
(9) Chipotle Mac and cheese... I love good homemade Mac and Cheese and it needs at least 3 different cheeses to be good, but this one also add 7 ozs. of canned Chipotle peppers, you have to like it hot!! MMM good....3 cheeses pecorino, mozzarrilla, and parmesan green onions and diced mild green chili peppers....oh and dijon mustard is added to the milk and flour sauce, mmmmmm good!
(10) ok this one, chances are if you ever see me early in my turn back in service, i will probably have this meal. I buy it from a friends hot dog/chili joint in toledo..."Toledo style Chili Mac..." i have been eating it a few times a month since i was old enough to go out and buy it myself, i love this stuff, while i can make it and it is pretty darn close, its never as good as "jims".. A simple highly spiced meat sauce, served over spaghetti noodles and covered in pinto beans...a handful of onions if you so desire and also some shredded colby jack cheese.....for me, just meat, beans!!
So there you have it... most of the time i will eat 1 one those meals a day for dinner if i am sitting, if i am really bored, ill eat 2 of the a day.....
One other thing some of you might what to think about... i think it is Reynolds makes a battery powered hand held vaccum sealer. It takes their special bags, but what it does do is lets you buy a dinner that you really enjoyed and get it "to go"...take it out to the truck and vaccum seal it, those it in the frig and you are set to go!!!!
If anyone wants any of the recipes for any of the above, just ask......
OH!!! I forgot 1, i have a recipe that i got from another personal chef from cinncy ohio. She was from a large Italian famliy that her dad and his brother came to this country in the 50's. They did very well snd they brought their parents here. Well Grandma was a rather frugal lady and even while the sons did well she wouldn't over indulge. This is one of my friends favorite recipes form her gramdma and it is sooo simple and easy and sooo full of flavor!!
We call it "Grandmas italian beef, pork and onion stew"....thats was all that grandma use , well she used butter to brown the meats and to saute the onions and 2 crushed roma tomatoes.... Becak made a few changes, but nothing big. She uses tomato paste instead of whole crushed tomatoes, she also adds fresh italian herbs and some lemon grass...thats it....eveything is to taste, nothing over the top and the flavors make your mouth water....mmmm good!
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