One pot meals.

I love cookbooks. Very rarely do I ever actually make the recipes in them. I usually use them as inspiration for a new meal. While looking through a cookbook I may see a chicken recipe and think chicken sounds good. Then I'll see a roast recipe and in my mind I'll think rotisserie, mmmm. From there more ingredients are added from different pictures or recipes in the book and before I know it I'm craving rotisserie chicken that's got garlic, walnuts, baby onions and oranges crammed inside. So off to the store I run because I don't have any of that stuff, lol. I'm looking through a cookbook I have to actually do a recipe with the children for a cooking class. It's suppose to be one pot meals only when you start looking they're really not. To me a one pot meal means that you only need one pot. Or at least one item in which to cook the meal. But once you start looking into the recipes and the instructions you need one pan to braise, a bowl to mix ingredients, a dish to marinate overnight, one for on top of the range for sauce but another in the oven or any number of different things. I can kind of understand maybe understand a bowl to mix some ingredients, I can understand needing a cutting board or some other items in order to prep ingredients. But when I here one pot meal, I think you are basically need one pot to cook the meal. So I would like to share my one pot meal with you. This is one of the meals that I only cook when we are in the middle of moving. I pack one pot with us and I will use it to cook in during the time we are moving. I have over the years developed a number of meals that can be cooked from start to finish in the one pot and not need another. This recipe has been shared with our unit for the cookbook to help with fundraising. I hope you all enjoy it as much as we do.

Moving Pot Potato Soup

1-3 potatoes (peeled and diced into 1 inch cubes, approximately 1/4 cup)
1/4 cup Stock or broth (enough to cover potatoes)
1/4 cup cream (milk can be used instead just won't be as creamy)
1/4 cup cheese (shredded so it will melt easier)

In your pot put your potatoes and stock. Bring it to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to simmer for about 10-15 minutes or until the potatoes are soft. Mash potatoes in the stock. Add cream and cheese. You can add more stock or cream if you like a thinner soup.

Serves: 1 (simply multiply by the number of family members for more)

I have caramelized some onions and garlic before making this for a bit of a change. We have added a dollop of sour cream and topped with bacon bits or chives too. Let this be a base to start and have fun.

Our cooking club.

We use to have a cooking club from Scholastic. Unfortunately they have canceled the club. They no longer do that monthly club. We loved it. Each month for about $7.00 we got a little flip book that was a cookbook just for kids. Then there was always something that come along with the theme. One month we got a lunch bag that you could customize with some markers that it came with and a cookbook with different lunches. Another month it was all about desserts so we got some cookie cutters and a pastry bag with a couple of tips. We were wanting to do it for two years that way each of the children would be able to have a collection of the things that came. Plus it was fun trying to remember who opened the last one, trust me they always remembered! We still use the cookbooks and the items that came with them. The children recently entered a chili contest and tied for first place (they were the only kids who entered, lol) and they had found the two recipes in the children's cookbooks that they had. I did look around to see if I could find a way of ordering through Scholastic but wasn't able to find it. I did how ever find a great site for the book clubs. It's Book Clubs Directory. They have lists of book clubs that are out there and it's organized really well. When you pick the category you want: lets say Cookbook Clubs, they have the club, the offer, fine print (like you need a membership), and when it expires. They claim to have over 150 different discount book clubs with profiles. I'll be watching to see if a kids cooking club ever shows up, we loved it and miss it.