Five ingredients: Less can be more

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Karen Freeman

March 10, 2010

Karen Freeman The Daily Southerner Wed Mar 10, 2010, 11:34 AM EST

I don’t know about you but it seems that I get busier and busier. The world has changed so much from my mother and grandmother’s time.

No matter if most of the cooking is done by women or men, we have less time to spend doing it. Unfortunately that often means that we stop for takeout or use frozen heat-and-eat meals.

Those are fine for occasional use but shouldn’t be the mainstay of our nightly meal. They don’t have to be. You can have a meal on the table in a just a few minutes, use five ingredients or less and still have a great tasting dinner. Give it a try.

Our first recipe is chicken in the Crockpot. If you are a busy person, your Crockpot should be your best friend. This is delicious and so easy that you will use it over and over. You can substitute different types of cheese and different flavors of condensed soup to change the flavor of this fabulous, easy slow cooker recipe.

Our second recipe is also chicken but it’s chicken with pasta. This simple fiveingredient dish uses foods that you can easily keep on hand; make this one part of your emergency repertoire.

Our third recipe is one of my favorites, Pot Roast. This dish only has 3 ingredient unless you make it into hoagies and then with the bun you have four. Be sure to stir this dish frequently as the pasta begins to soften, separating the strands carefully with your spoon or fork. You could add your own homemade meatballs or use precooked frozen meatballs.

Our fourth recipe is spaghetti – cooked in a skillet. You use 2 pans, one to boil the pasta (be sure to salt the water!) and one for everything else. How easy can that be? It’s also delicious and because you use jarred sauce, it’s pretty quick.

Our last recipe is an onion soufflé. I love onions. You can go wrong with a dish that highlights onion. This is a great side dish. Just four ingredients combine to make a delicious and easy onion and cheese flavored soufflé. Try it!

Crockpot ChickenSupreme

3 slices bacon

6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

10 oz. can condensed cream of chicken soup OR 10 oz. jar four cheese Alfredo sauce

4 oz. jar sliced mushrooms, drained OR 1 onion, chopped

1/2 cup diced Swiss or Havarti cheese

In large skillet, cook bacon until crisp. Remove bacon from skillet and drain on paper towels. Crumble bacon and set aside in refrigerator.

In bacon drippings in skillet, cook chicken over medium heat 3-5 minutes or until light brown, turning once. Place in 4-6 quart slow cooker. Top with mushrooms. In skillet, heat soup and pour over mushrooms and chicken. Cover and cook on low setting for 4-5 hours, or until chicken registers 160 degrees F on a meat thermometer.

Top chicken with cheese slices and sprinkle with bacon. Cover and cook on high for 10-15 minutes or until cheese is melted. 6 servings

Note: If you are preparing this dish using frozen chicken breasts. Brown them, as directed, in the bacon drippings, then cook on low for 6-8 hours, until no longer pink in the center.

Chicken Tortellini Casserole

9 oz. pkg. refrigerated tortellini

2 cups frozen broccoli, thawed and drained

10 oz. container refrigerated four cheese Alfredo sauce

10 oz. pkg. refrigerated grilled chicken breast strips

1/3 cup soft bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook tortellini according to package directions and drain. Combine with broccoli, sauce and chicken in large bowl. Transfer to 1-1/2 quart casserole dish and top with bread crumbs. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-35 minutes or until casserole is bubbling and bread crumbs are browned. Serves 4

Beach Boy's Pot Roast

1 beef roast (chuck, top round)

Jar of pepperoncini peppers

Slivers of garlic

Cut some slits in roast and insert garlic slivers. Place beef in your Crockpot. Dump peppers and all of the juice on top. Cook all day on low....at least 12 hours.

For serving, just slice and serve, or make BB's hoagies. When cool, fork-shred the beef, spread on hoagie (sub) rolls, squirt on some Cheeze-Whiz and enjoy. Put some of those delicious pepperoncini peppers on the sub, too.

Skillet Spaghetti

28-oz. jar pasta sauce

1-1/2 cups water

24 frozen precooked meatballs

12 oz. spaghetti pasta, broken in half

1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

In 12-inch skillet, combine spaghetti sauce and water and stir to combine. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add meatballs and spaghetti and stir well, making sure spaghetti is under the sauce, completely covered in it. If necessary, you can add another 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water.

Bring to a boil again, cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 20-25 minutes, stirring frequently. You may add more water or tomato sauce if the mixture appears to be too dry. Cook until spaghetti is al dente and meatballs are hot. Top with cheese and serve immediately. Serves four.

Onion Soufflé

1-1/2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

10 oz. can condensed cream of mushroom soup

6 eggs, separated

2 Tbsp. chopped parsley

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Combine cheese and condensed soup in a medium saucepan, stirring to combine. Cook over medium heat until cheese melts and mixture is smooth, stirring frequently. Let cool 10 minutes.

Beat egg yolks in a small bowl until very thick and light. Add soup mixture and beat well to combine. Beat egg whites in a large bowl until stiff peaks form, about 4 minutes. Fold into soup mixture along with parsley.

Pour soufflé mixture into an ungreased 2 quart casserole dish and bake at 300 degrees for 50-60 minutes until golden brown and puffy. Serves six.

Did you know?

With so much to do, how do you do it all? I know that I can't answer that question completely, but I do have a few tips that help me get in, and get out – of the kitchen that is!

1. Make use of kitchen appliances such as crockpots, microwaves and bread makers. Plan your meals around the use of these and other time-saving appliances.

2. Plan one night per week to be your "YOYO" night, which means "you’re on your own". On this night, each member of your family can decide for themselves what they would like to have for dinner. In my home, the kids heat up leftovers, frozen burritos, have cereal – you name it.

3. Plan one night per week to be a takeout night. In our family, we love to have pizza delivered on Friday nights.

4. Each weekend, jot down what the family will eat that week for dinner. Post it on the refrigerator so everyone will know what to expect. This helps to keep you focused on what meal is on what day.

5. Give each child in your home a specified amount of money to spend on dinner. You can allow them to go wild, or set rules such as no candy or dessert type items.

6. Have your children pick one of the meals for the family each week. This helps to make meal planning easier while also making sure everyone has a say in what is served.

7. Make use of prepared items in your store.

8. Think simple! Save elaborate meals for special occasions. I know that my children often prefer to have hotdogs and french fries over a meal that might take me an hour to prepare.

9. Bring your children into the kitchen and put them to work. Depending on age and skill level, many children can grate cheese, shred lettuce, mix batter, and more.

10. Once your children start to reach age 8 or so, they should be learning to prepare simple foods. Practice makes perfect and before you know it, they will be able to make a complete meal all by themselves!

Karen’s Kitchen is a weekly column by Karen Freeman of Tarboro. Contact Karen at:

kvfreeman@triad.rr.com

to exchange ideas, ask questions, submit recipes, tips or suggestions.

Check out her Web site: http://www.geocities.com/kvfreeman27886/

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