Mastering the Ease of Home Cooking ™ Week One
Rosemary Rubbed Pork Chops, Chicken Schnitzel & Asian Style Meatballs
Hello my friend and welcome to the inaugural week of Mastering the Ease of Home Cooking ™! I am so excited that you are here and have found the answer to the most annoying question, “what’s for dinner?”.
Let me tell you a bit of how the idea for this came to be. In September 2023, while my husband and I were in Italy on vacation, we received a call in the middle of the night. Our neighbor was letting us know that there was a storm and our home had been struck by lightening. It was on fire. Within 45 minutes our home and all of our belongings were gone.
We finished our trip and two weeks came back to Texas to see the charred remains of our lives. The good news was we had a rustic hunting lodge on our property that had a former life as a place where hunters hung their hats and more recently, my youngest son had lived during COVID. Now by rustic, I mean there is running water, heat and a/c but that is about it. While insurance would have paid for us to rent somewhere for a year, we decided to stay on our property, in our neighborhood so we could be close to our dear friends and keep an eye on the rebuild.
The cabin is 556.5 square feet. It is one room, except for the bathroom and there is no kitchen, It is more of a kitchenette, meaning a sink.With the help of people in our community, neighbors and our church community, we were able to piece together our living quarters.
I am a former caterer of 35 years, a content creator, recipe developer not to mention cooking instructor while writing a cookbook, I was at a loss. Moving into the cabin with no oven or cooktop and my fridge was the size that I had when I was 20 years old in a gross college apartment was stressing me out. How was I going to continue to share my love and passion for cooking, when I couldn’t cook myself?
My parents didn’t raise a quitter. I am the descendent of pioneers for goodness sake! I had to figure this out for my sanity. I finally sat down and put pen to paper. What could I do to not only help myself be successful, but share it with my community. So, I created the SIMPLE method. I took my skills and experience as a caterer and a mom of four very hungry children and broke it down into some easy steps.
S - Schedule - Check your calendar for what days are required to make meals
I - Inventory - Look in your pantry and check your provisions, shop here first
M - Menu - Plan a menu and don’t wing it
P - Procure - Go to the store, farmers market, order online etc. for your ingredients
L - Let’s mise en place - That is a fancy French way of saying, let’s prep to make each day easier. It saves room in my fridge/freezer and saves time daily.
E - Enjoy! - Every day is a blessing and creating a meal to nourish our bodies is a gift.
While that is a sad story, it truly is for sure, I have chosen to try to make lemonade out of these lemons. Now that you know how we got here, let’s master the ease of home cooking.
Rosemary Rubbed Pork Chops with Smoked Gouda Grits & Roasted Broccolini
Chicken Schnitzel with Arugula & Green Beans & Eggless Caesar Dressing
Asian Style Meatballs with Sautéed Snow Peas & Coconut Rice
Suggested leftovers: The arugula and green beans are a great salad by themselves. Try them cold, it is a delight. For the Asian Style Meatballs, try the next day in a lettuce cup with a dollop of coconut rice.
If you have not seen the Pantry and Provisions list, I highly recommend reviewing that article. This will help you stock up and have less to purchase weekly. Below is the grocery list for this menu.
This, my friends, is the secret sauce to success. This is how professional kitchens, private chefs and caterers create dishes in less time. They prep for more than one thing at a time.
This should take anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour, depending on the week and the number of people you are cooking for, but it will save you a lot more time on a daily basis.
Dinner time comes, open up your fridge and pull out your ingredients. Take you recipe and check for any pantry items and get them out. Make sure you have everything ready to go, give your recipe a quick read and you are good to go.
Look at you being a professional chef!
As always, these recipes are for families of 2-3. For me, it is always easier to double for a larger family, rather than divide so that is the logic behind this decision.
This weeks recipes are not super complex. I want you to feel confident trying some great dishes, getting a feel for how this is going to work before we dive into anything a bit more complicated. By a bit, I mean that, just a bit. I am getting ahead of myself.
I want you to have the confidence to look at this set of recipes and see what your family might not like or have an allergy to and be able to punt. Let’s take the coconut rice to begin with. The first time I made it, my husband didn’t think he would like it. Trust me, it isn’s sweet and it pairs so well with the meatballs. He ended up loving it. However, if he was adamant about not wanting it, I could have just cooked some rice in chicken stock and called it a day.
These recipes are to be thought of as guidelines. It’s ok to do them out of order. Its okay to substitute chicken thighs for chicken breasts and vice-versa. It is a framework for your own creation.
You are going to see anchovy and say no. Please don’t. I use anchovy paste, not the whole anchovies to help a bit, but if you have ever had Caesar salad dressing, you. have had anchovies. They do not taste fishy. I promise, they give an umami, or deeper flavor, than. you would have without it. Don’t tell your family what is in it and they will be fine. If you must, go ahead and leave it out. Add a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce, if you must, for a substitution.
I hope you enjoy this free week of Mastering the Ease of Home Cooking ™. Next week will begin the paid subscription. I hope you will consider joining us.
With grace, grit & gratitude,
xx, JeriLynne
This is very exciting for me-menu planning with a grocery list!!! 🙏
I am also happy for you. Way to go!
We are in the process of moving and am looking forward to being settled and diving into your recipes. 3 weeks and counting.
I love, love, love your spirit, style and amazing food my friend. Onward and upwards always! I'll be following you from England where I'll be sharing your fab recipes with family and friends.