Another cost/time saving recipe: #2 Chicken vegetable soup

 Hi friends,

Yesterday I shared my meat sauce recipe. Some of you might be wondering "WHAT DO YOU DO WITH ALL THE LEFTOVER CARROTS AND CELERY??"

Well, good question. You can always eat them as is 👍 Costco has great individual hummus. (BTW, I don't work for Costco nor they sponsor me here 😂) But when you come home exhausted, you're too tired to chew crunchy vegetables. #iykyk

This time, I made chicken and vegetable soup, using leftover Costco Rotisserie Chicken. This Rotisserie chicken is my son's FAVORITE food in the world, so we buy at least one a week. The leftover meat turns into soup or Japanese curry (more on this later).

Here's my rough attempt of my soup recipe:

1. Feed your son his favorite parts of the chicken, then take apart the leftovers and dice

2. Chop up carrots and celery (leftover from meat sauce)

3. Dump the carrots and celery in a giant pot, add chicken broth and simmer for 20 minutes

4. Add chicken and simmer for additional 10 minutes (or until you remember it's still cooking)

5. You can portion them off into freezer-safe containers, and freeze for the days you have zero motivation to cook.

I keep this soup pretty basic, so I can add flavoring depending on how I feel. Sometimes I add chili oil, curry powder, or "Italian" seasoning, so I don't get sick of it.

Also, I still had plenty of carrots and celery left, so I chopped them up and froze them in few batches. I'll use them in soups or curry later. 

Buon appetito!

Fall 2024, here we go! & Meat sauce recipe

 Hi friends,

Fall 2024 semester started this week! It's going to be a great semester.

I know some of you have started a new job, student teaching, grad school, etc., and I wanted to share some ideas to take care of ourselves. We get so busy worrying about our work, taking care of our family/pets, and forget to take care of our basic needs. Consider Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: 

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

from Simply Psychology

We need to make sure our physiological needs are met before we go up the pyramid. This includes food and sleep. As a night owl, I need to follow my own advice of getting enough sleep, but luckily I can function pretty well with 5+ hours of sleep. 

Food, on the other hand.... I'm an Asian mom, so food and feeding my family is very important to me. I do most of the cooking, and I wanted to share some ideas that save time, energy, and money.

I make a giant batch of meat sauce for pasta every few weeks to keep in the freezer.

I used 3 pounds of ground beef, half a bag of Costco baby carrots and celery sticks, and onion flakes.

1. mince carrot and celery in food processor

2. brown beef (drain any fat/liquid)

3. add celery, carrot, and onion flakes (I add enough to cover the pot), garlic or garlic powder

4. add 2 cans of tomato sauce and about 4 cups of chicken broth

5. simmer for 2 hours

6. add salt and pepper to taste

7. divide up the sauce per portion and freeze.

This time I made 6 batches of 3 portions = 18 servings! 

These come in handy when you have zero energy to make dinner. It has enough vegetables, so if you have no salad, it's ok! 

Buon appetito!