FF Cooking Club…What’s On The Menu This Week?!

Hi everyone! If you are new to this blog, and haven’t read what FF Cooking Club is all about, please refer back to my prior post, FF Cooking Club.

This week I picked 4 dishes that are healthy, tasty, quick and easy to make.  If you are just starting off learning how to cook and the thought of making 4 weeknight meals is overwhelming or not feasible for your busy family, try picking 1 or 2 meals or spread the meals out over 2 weeks. Happy Cooking 🙂

A Few Tips Before You Begin:

• If you decide you do not want to cook all 4 meals, when you print the shopping list, just cross out the row associated with the meal you do not want to cook. I organized the shopping list so you can easily cross off meals and the associated ingredients listed.
• When I get home from the grocery store, I place the meat for the Wednesday and Thursday meals in the freezer.  The night before I make the meal, I will take it out of the freezer and place it in the refrigerator to defrost.
• Everything highlighted in yellow on the shopping list are “Pantry Essentials”.  Over time, you won’t have to purchase these items every week because you will have them stocked in your kitchen.  That’s when your weekly grocery shopping becomes easier and cheaper!
• For our novice chefs out there that may not have all the essential basic cooking tools to cook a meal, please refer to Basic Kitchen Tool Essentials.
• Read the entire recipe ahead of time before you begin cooking so you know what you need to do.
• I recommend doing all the prep work before starting to cook the meal (chop, peel, and get all ingredients ready).
• For all you new chefs, read my tips and watch the various YouTube videos for each recipe before you begin cooking.  Before you know it, you may just not need my tips anymore!
• Clean as you go and leave the last set of dishes for your significant other to clean (we have a rule in our family- if one cooks, the other cleans).
• Have a glass of wine, get your kids involved, and enjoy the process 🙂

What’s On The Menu This Week?

Mediterranean Chicken

• This is a new recipe on the food network (I know…I have a problem).  Anyways, it is delicious, so easy and I have already made it 4 times (and it aired like a month ago).
• If you do not like olives- skip over this dish (or give olives a second chance…you may find they taste AMAZING in the right recipe).
• When I first started cooking, it took me forever to get the skin off of garlic until I learned this easy technique-  peel and chop garlic.
• I like to serve this with white rice.

Citrus Chicken Recipe

• This dish requires you to marinade the chicken for 7 hours, so make sure to whip up the marinade in the morning (or the night before), and stick the chicken in a zip lock baggie in the refrigerator. (I admittedly have forgotten many times to marinate the chicken and just throw it in the oven when I get home from work- it is still amazing, it’s just not as flavorful.)
• I love this recipe because it is so delicious and so easy- you just get home from work and pop it in the oven.
• This recipe asks for white balsamic vinegar, but I always use traditional balsamic vinegar.
• The recipe calls for bone in chicken thighs, but use whatever type of chicken you like (boneless skinless breast is awesome with this).
• Watch this quick video on how to chop shallot.
• Peeling and chopping ginger always confused me when I first started cooking. Here’s a quick video on how to peel ginger.
• I make a side of roasted asparagus with this recipe.  Here’s a great Roasted Asparagus Recipe– (of course it’s from Barefoot Contessa).

Asian Peanut Noodles With Chicken

• This recipe is more difficult than the others and requires many steps.  I always like to pick one weeknight meal that is a bit more challenging (and then have Rob make it while I’m bathing Luke..hahaha), so if you are feeling up to it…..GO FOR IT!
• This dish is SO DELICIOUS and I love anything with a peanut sauce.
• Purchase the already shredded carrots, broccoli slaw, and bean sprouts- so much easier.
• Peeling and chopping ginger always confused me when I first started cooking. Here’s a quick video on how to peel ginger.
• When I first started cooking, it took me forever to get the skin off of garlic until I learned this easy technique-  peel and chop garlic.
• Sometimes I use less noodles to get more of the yummy sauce flavor.
• I like to add extra peanut butter in the sauce too!

Beef with Brocoli

• DELICIOUS- first off anything the Pioneer Woman makes is amazing. She is my new fave (she took Giada’s spot for number 1, OMG I can’t believe I am admitting that) and I am kind of obsessed with her (I maybe asked Rob a few times if we could move out to a ranch in the middle of no where and be like the Pioneer Woman and her family.  He respectfully said, “I’m concerned for you.”)
• There’s not so many tips you need for this one…it’s just that simple!
• I like to serve this with white or brown rice!

Click here to get your SHOPPING LIST FOR THE WEEK 

We are loving all the feedback and great responses we are getting on the FF Cooking Club.  I absolutely love doing these blogs and sharing all these awesome recipes.  I would love to hear what you make for your families and any recipes that you love.  We are opening up the FF Cooking Club to everyone and would love to invite guest FF Cooking Club bloggers to recommend their favorite weeknights meals and tips.  Next week, my sister in law, Jamie is going to be recommending her favorite weeknight meals and some easy prep tips.  She is an amazing home cook and has the best recipes.  I am excited to read her post and cook her favorites.  Please contact us if you are interested in being a guest blogger! We look forward to making all these amazing recipes!

Email us at foreverfreckledblog@gmail.com if you would like to be a guest FF Cooking Club blogger, and don’t worry…I’ll create the links and shopping lists!

Also, these are my recommendations for the basics and what you need to easily master cooking a simple meal.  Happy Cooking!

1. set of nonstick pans 2. set of pots and pans 3. peeler 4. basic cooking utensils 5. cheese grater 6. microplane 7. wood chopping board 8. plastic cutting board 9. set of good knives

*Use the wood cutting board for chopping veggies, cheese, etc.  Use the plastic cutting board for all meats (it’s easily washable and does not absorb the bacteria from raw meat).