Lazy Day Gourmet

Once a Week Cooking Session

Whew, that was fun! I just finished up a Once a Week cooking session, Lazy Day Gourmet style! What's on the menu for this week?  Well, let's see. In about an hour, I was able to get the following recipes into the freezer for the week.

And, I found the perfect use for my XO Laptop from One Laptop Per Child. My XO is now my official Lazy Day Gourmet cooking assistant!

1. Easy Orange Chicken- This is what's for dinner tonight! Serving it up with jasmine rice, and my new favorite (okay, I'm obsessed) Amazing Spinach & Pear salad.
2. Pineapple Pork Chops- This recipe is such a welcome change on a cold winter's night. Try it this week, and transplant yourself to the beaches of Waikiki. I cheated and used canned pineapple chunks this week since there wasn't a pineapple in sight at the local grocery store.
3. Rosemary Roast - I couldn't find a tri-tip at the grocery store this trip, so instead I bought an oven roast, and will be cooking this in the oven instead of on the grill this week.
4. Chunky Beef Crockpot Chili- Now with pictures! This is one of the most popular recipes on the Lazy Day Gourmet site. And for good reason. It's SO easy, and SO tasty.
5. Roasted Chicken- No freezer prep needed here. Just stick the whole chicken in the freezer, and place in the fridge to thaw the night before you want to cook.
6. Little Village Chicken Wraps- This is a new recipe I'm introducing this week. It's one of my all-time favorite recipes, so check back this week for pictures and a step by step how-to.
7. Cheesy Chicken Tetrazzini- Another new recipe coming up this week. This recipe will wreck your diet, but is worth every single mouthful.  The Cheesy Chicken Tetrazzini recipe is another Make One - Freeze One that I think you will really enjoy. Recipe and photos coming up later this week, so stay tuned! Note:

Seoul Food Korean BBQ

Ingredients
1 pound sirloin steak
3 TBS brown sugar
3 TBS soy sauce
1 TBS rice wine (If you don't have it, skip it!)
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp sesame oil
3 cloves chopped garlic
Bamboo skewers

Freezer Instructions: Prop open a one gallon freezer bag. Add the soy sauce, brown sugar, rice wine, ginger, garlic, and sesame oil. Mix with your hand until well blended. Slice the sirloin across the grain into strips around a quarter inch thick. Once completely coated, let out the excess air in the bag, seal, and label the bag.  Tape skewers to the outside of the bag. Lie flat in the freezer*. Freeze.

* The freezer bag, that is. Not you. You do not have to lie in the freezer. But you can lie to yourself near the freezer that this recipe is calorie free.

Cooking Instructions:
Thaw.
Remove bamboo skewers from outside of the freezer bag, and soak in water for at least one half hour.

Pull the steak from the marinade, and throw away the remaining marinade and the bag. Thread the steak onto the soaked bamboo skewers.

Lightly coat your grill with cooking spray BEFORE you preheat to high.  Once the grill is nice and hot, grill the bbq skewers for 3 on each side. Remove the skewers and serve right away. Korean BBQ is best when served hot.

Serving Suggestion: Basmati rice and grilled vegetables.

Outlaw Sirloin Steaks

These amazing sirloin steaks get their name from the couple of shots of whiskey used in the marinade. I like to think of this an an old cowboy outlaw kind of recipe. "Throw a little bourbon on it, boys!"

Ingredients
1 1/2 lb sirloin steaks

Dry Rub Ingredients
1 Tablespoon garlic salt
1 Tablespoon black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon coarse salt

Marinade Ingredients
1/4 cup Worstershire Sauce
1 shot of bourbon (or 3 Tablespoons)
1 shot of bourbon for the cook (Optional)
2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 Tablespoons honey
1 Tablespoon garlic

This is a great recipe for doubling, tripling, or quadrupling since it's so easy to prepare. But beware of tripling the shots for the cook...

Freezer Prep: Prop open a one gallon freezer bag. Add all marinade ingredients, and blend well using your hand on the outside of the bag.  Once you have completed this step, take the remaining shot of whiskey and shoot it straight into the cook's mouth before proceeding.

After recovering from the shot, add the steaks to the bag, coat well by turning, seal bag, and label. Prepare the dry rub, and place it into a smaller bag. Attach the small bag to the larger bag with a little tape. Label, and place in the freezer.

Cooking Instructions
Thaw.
Remove steaks from marinade, and discard the bag.
Rub both sides with the dry rub mixture, and let it sit for 5 minutes.
Before grilling, brush lightly with olive oil. Grill over medium heat for 5-6 minutes, and then turn. Grill for an additional 5-6 minutes. Remove from grill, let the meat cool for a few minutes, and slice.

Serving Suggestion
Spring Mix salad with Parmasean Cheese & Mashed Taters

Ingredients
1 1/2 lb sirloin steaks

Dry Rub Ingredients
1 Tablespoon garlic salt
1 Tablespoon black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon coarse salt

Marinade Ingredients
1/4 cup Worstershire Sauce
1 shot of bourbon (or 3 Tablespoons)
1 shot of bourbon for the cook (Optional)
2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 Tablespoons honey
1 Tablespoon garlic

This is a great recipe for doubling, tripling, or quadrupling since it's so easy to prepare. But beware of tripling the shots for the cook...

Freezer Prep: Prop open a one gallon freezer bag. Add all marinade ingredients, and blend well using your hand on the outside of the bag.  Once you have completed this step, take the remaining shot of whiskey and shoot it straight into the cook's mouth before proceeding.

After recovering from the shot, add the steaks to the bag, coat well by turning, seal bag, and label. Prepare the dry rub, and place it into a smaller bag. Attach the small bag to the larger bag with a little tape. Label, and place in the freezer.

Cooking Instructions
Thaw.
Remove steaks from marinade, and discard the bag.
Rub both sides with the dry rub mixture, and let it sit for 5 minutes.
Before grilling, brush lightly with olive oil. Grill over medium heat for 5-6 minutes, and then turn. Grill for an additional 5-6 minutes. Remove from grill, let the meat cool for a few minutes, and slice.

Serving Suggestion
Spring Mix salad with Parmasean Cheese & Mashed Taters

Tex Mex Sirloins

1 1/4 lb sirloin steak
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
1 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano

Corn Salsa
15 oz can of corn
1 small red pepper
1/2 shallot or red onion
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 Tablespoons fresh cilantro
Salt and Pepper to Taste
1 hot pepper, chopped (Optional)

Freezer Prep: Combine the pepper, cumin, chili powder, brown sugar, salt and oregano in a small bowl to make an herbed rub for the sirloin steaks.   Spread and press the rub onto both sides of the sirloins. Once they have been rubbed, place the steaks into a one gallon freezer bag, and seal.

In a small bowl, mix the vegetable oil, Dijon mustard, vinegar, sugar, cilantro, and add a pinch of salt. This will make the vinaigrette for the corn salsa.

In a medium bowl, pour in the can of corn, and then add the red pepper, shallot or onion, cilantro, and any hot pepper you have chosen.  Mix together with a large spoon. Pour the vinaigrette over the corn salsa, and mix it in well.  Once the salsa is prepared, place it into a one gallon freezer bag, or a freezer safe container.

Place both the steak freezer bag and the salsa freezer bag into a one gallon zip log bag together. Label, and place in freezer.

Cooking Instructions
Thaw.
Preheat grill to medium heat.
Grill sirloins over medium heat for 6 minutes on each side, for a total of 12 minutes grilling time.
Remove steaks from the grill, and let them sit for around 5 minutes.
Slice and serve with a big helping of corn salsa.

Serving Suggestions
Baked potato and Biscuits

Rosemary Roast

1 1/2 lb Roast (Tri-Tip Roast, if available)
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 Tablespoons Worstershire Sauce
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 Tablespoons fresh rosemary
Salt & pepper to taste

Freezer Prep: Prop open a one gallon freezer bag.  Add the rosemary, olive oil, dijon, worstershire, balsamic vinegar, and coarse salt and pepper to taste.  Blend in the bag with your hand until mixed well. Add the roast to the freezer bag, and turn to coat.

Let excess air out of the bag. Label as Rosemary Roast, and lie flat in freezer.

Cooking Instructions:
Thaw. Remove roast from marinade. Discard marinade. Grill over medium heat for 10 minutes, seasoning with salt and pepper, and turning the meat once.  Switch the grill to indirect heat by turning off the burner directly underneath the roast, but leaving the surrounding burners on medium heat for an additional 30 minutes.

Once the roast has been thoroughly cooked to your taste, remove it from the heat, and let it sit for 5 minutes. Slice the meat against the grain into slices to serve.

Serving Suggestions:
Garden Salad with Ranch Dressing
 

Chunky Beef Crockpot Chili

This is the ultimate Lazy Day Gourmet way of cooking. Freeze ingredients to make a crockpot meal on a lazy day, and have a gourmet meal during even your most hectic week! This chunky beef chili is a meal everyone in our family adores!

One of the things that makes this recipe easy is that it uses canned ingredient. Normally, I shy away from canned ingredients in my kitchen, but not in this chili! Black beans, shoepeg (white) corn, and Rotel tomatoes with chili peppers...mmmm. Bring it on!

Ingredients
1 1/2 lb. stew beef chunks
2 15 oz cans black beans
1 15 oz can of corn (optional)
1 shallot
1 10 oz can rotelle tomato with green chiles (as hot as you want it)
1 teaspoon garlic
1 Tablespoon chili powder
1 Tablespoon cumin
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1 bottle of beer (I use a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale)
Salt and pepper to taste

Freezer Prep:
In a large skillet, brown the stew beef on both sides, approximately 3 minutes per side. Remove from heat. Let cool. The beef should still be uncooked in the middle.

Prop open a one gallon freezer bag, and pour in the black beans, tomato, shallots, garlic, chili powder, cumin, sugar, and the browned beef. Seal the bag, and mix all ingredients together in the bag. Unseal the bag to let the air out, reseal it, and label it as Crockpot Chili- Thaw- Add One Dark Beer- Cook for 6-8 hours. Place it in the freezer. Freeze.

Cooking Instructions:
Thaw overnight in fridge.
Pour into crockpot. Don't worry if it's still kind of frozen. It will thaw in the pot.
Add one dark beer, and stir.
Cook in crockpot for 6-8 hours.

Serving Suggestions:
Serve with crispy tortilla chips, and top with sharp cheddar cheese and sour cream. Garnish with fresh chives.

This recipe is a great make ahead meal, OAMC recipe, and great for freezer cooking. Enjoy!