Intro to February Month-of Recipes

Welcome to my annual recipe crush. Each February I choose a theme, and provide one or two recipes each day for the whole month. It gets exhausting, so that’s why I picked the shortest month!

Each year I go into my file of possible themes for this month and choose one. It was a no-brainer this year. Every family cook—man or woman—whom I know, struggles with putting meal after meal on the table day after day, week after week, and month after month. Me, too!

Working full time and being the main cooker for the family stretches your creativity, right? That’s when it hit me. One way to not just survive but thrive in meal prep is to systematize it. That’s my go-to for most areas of my life, so why not cooking family dinners? This month is inspired by a women’s magazine I used to subscribe to. It had a monthly menu, something new each night, so that, were I to choose to use it, I never had to wonder “What’s for dinner?”

I’d make the grocery list for the week and cooked the foods they described and gave recipes for. Did I do it each night? Nope, but often enough at one period in my life so that the stress of “what’s for dinner ?” was off my plate, so to speak. I carried that on later to planning our camping meals (no Safeway nearby; we had to pack it in) or for extended family/friend visits. Even now, I make weekly menus to take advantage of leftovers and to vary our meals.

What if you had some tried and true recipes that you simply rotated on a regular schedule and added on a focus for each day so nobody has to ask what’s for dinner? This is “Taco Tuesday” or “Fishy Friday.” With one or two recipes from here each day, you’ll have a month of rotatable recipes. And your family will know what to expect.

So here’s the plan. I will provide you with at least one recipe each day in a category. By the end of the month, you can make a calendar for the month of different recipes. With your own family favorites and the inevitable leftovers, I’ll bet you could stretch it to two months.

You might even make one Friday a month, a take-out or order-in dinner. Then, with your plan in front of you, you just cook away each day. By the end of two months, you start over, repeating the recipes from the beginning. That way, with the distance between dishes, your family will never again ask, “Spaghetti again?”

You’ll notice many of the recipes are “thrifty” or “worldly” (ethnic) or “fishy” despite the category I assigned them to on the blog. That means you can move them around to give even more flexibility.

What are the categories, you ask? We have Sunday Special, Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday, Worldly Wednesday, Thrifty Thursday, Fishy Friday, and Celebrate Saturday.

Come back on the first of February, and we’ll begin our Month-of-Easier Meals. Well, the easier planning of them, anyway. And you know me, they will be easy. I don’t cook hard!

Facebook post: Looking for quick, easy recipe ideas your family will eat? Check out the Month-of-Easier meals by Sharon Arthur Moore at “Parsley, Sage, and Rosemary Time” http://bit.ly/2Dwraep

Twitter post: Looking for quick, easy recipe ideas your family will eat? Check out the Month-of-Easier meals by @ Good2Tweat at “Parsley, Sage, and Rosemary Time” http://bit.ly/2Dwraep

Month-of-Mini-Desserts: Cherry Pie-in-a-Jar

On February 2 I shared Lemon Chiffon in these cute half pint canning jars. They make easy storage for desserts and extra cute serving dishes. I first started using canning jars for desserts when I happened upon pie-in-a-jar recipes. How clever is that? Single servings of pie that you bake in the jar. Couldn’t be easier!

Here’s a pie-in-a-jar site I happened on that went step-by-step. I followed those steps the first time, and then I noted what I needed to know that wasn’t there and changed some of her directions. Here’s how I make Pie-in-a-Jar! There’s always some in my freezer for when I need a quick dessert that looks like I spent the day in the kitchen!

Cherry Pie-in-a-Jar (makes 5 pies) 

1 can cherry pie filling

1 can sour cherries, drained

2 single pie crusts

In a medium bowl, mix the cherry pie filling and the drained sour cherries together and set aside.

If using store-bought pie crusts roll them to make them a bit larger and thinner.

Using the ring for the canning jar, cut 5 rounds from one pie crust with the lid. Repeat with the second pie crust. Save the scraps for patching. Set five rounds aside for tops.

The remaining five rounds will be the bottom crust for the pie. Fit one round into one jar, tearing off the excess and patching with it and scraps of dough until the entire inside, but below the rim, is covered with dough. Press out air pockets so the dough fits tightly against the jar.

Repeat the process with the four remaining jars.

Divide cherry pie filling among the jars.

The set-aside pie crust rounds are the tops. You can cut some into strips to make a lattice crust and/or use a small cutter to make vents in a solid top. I use the end of my funnel to cut out little circles.

Preheat oven to 375°. Place jars in a baking pan with sides so you don’t have them sliding off. Bake for at least 45 minutes (more if needed to brown the crust).

NOTE: Cover each jar with a canning lid and ring. Put in freezer to bake later. When you want to bake the frozen pies, remove the rings and lids (wash to reuse). Place spaced apart on a baking sheet with sides and put into cold oven. Turn oven to 375°. The jars will warm up as the oven does. Bake for 60 minutes (or until crusts are browned). 

DH’s Rating:

5 Tongues Up! He has had this dessert many times and has been known to ask what kind of pie (apple or cherry) is in the freezer!

Month-of-Mini-Desserts: Lemon Chiffon

Welcome back. I hope while you’re here you’ll go rummaging around in my past posts for recipes. I’ve been doing this Month-of-Recipes gig for a few years now. In 2012, I did a month of soup recipes; 2013, a month of chicken; and, in 2014 I posted recipes for appetizers. So go looking. I’ll bet you find some new and interesting recipes to try out.

How do I decide what my month-of-recipes will be? Each year my readers here, on Facebook, and Twitter cast a vote for the category I will post recipes for. It was a squeaker this year, but mini-desserts finally won the day.

Today’s recipe is in the extra-easy category like yesterday’s. The hardest part is waiting two hours to eat it! I’ve included a picture, but I am NOT a food photographer! (I didn’t really have to tell you that, did I?)

This time of year with my lemon tree laden, I look for ways to use them up. I found a package of lemon pudding in my pantry, and voila! A dessert was born!

Lemon Chiffon (four servings in half pint canning jars; or 8+ shot glasses)

1 ounce package lemon instant pudding

1½ cups milk

4 ounces Cool Whip (or homemade whipped cream, extra stiff)

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

zest of one lemon

graham cracker crumbs

Whisk together the pudding and milk. When smooth, add whipped cream, lemon juice, and zest. Mix thoroughly. Let sit while you prepare the canning jars.

Put a heaping tablespoon of graham cracker crumbs into bottom of each half pint canning jar. Add two heaping tablespoons of lemon mixture spreading to cover crumbs.

Layer on two tablespoons graham cracker crumbs, spreading to cover lemon mixture. Divide remaining lemon mixture among the four jars. Top with a sprinkling of graham cracker crumbs.

Cover with canning lid and ring and refrigerate for at least two hours to allow the lemon mixture to soften the crumbs. Serve in the jar for a rustic look.

NOTE: You can make this into a mini-dessert by dividing the crumbs and lemon mixture among liqueur or shot glasses.

Oops! I forgot my rating system yesterday. I use DH as my tester. Lucky guy, eh?

Tongues Up:

Yesterday’s Hot Chocolate Nuts and today’s Lemon Chiffon each got 5 Tongues Up! He’d give the Hot Chocolate Nuts more tongues if I let him because the man loves chocolate more than any other man I’ve met!

Month-of-MiniDesserts: Hot Chocolate Nuts

You won! Well, everybody who voted for mini-desserts for February’s Month-of-Recipes won. And I like to think that even if you didn’t, you still win because some great stuff is coming your way.

Interestingly, on my search for some new recipes for this month, I realized that a search for “mini-desserts” turned up two kinds of recipes: single serving and actual tiny desserts that are smaller than a usual serving. So, I am going to do both.

Also, cookies by definition are mini-desserts. Each cookies is a tiny serving. Now if you eat a dozen, I can’t help that! By the same token, cookie bars/brownies in a pan also can be mini-desserts. But you already do those. You came here for something a bit different. And, boy, do I have some that are a bit different for you this month!

I hope you have those cute shot glasses with tiny spoons and mini-muffin pans and half pint canning jars. We’ll be using those a lot!

So let’s start with something easy for a Super Bowl Sunday treat. You probably already have the ingredients, so if you need to throw something quick together for the party this evening, here you go!

I adapted a recipe from Good Housekeeping for their 2-ingredient chocolate almond clusters. We all know that dark chocolate and almonds are both on the good-for-you list, so these are practically a health food! And when I changed up the nut combo and added the red pepper flakes, well, almost a health food.

Hot Chocolate Nuts (makes 48)

8 ounces best-quality bittersweet chocolate, rough chopped

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

½ cup roasted almonds

½ cup pecans, rough chopped

½ cup walnuts, rough chopped

NOTE: You can use any nut combo you want adding up to 1 1/2 cups.

 

Arrange 40 mini-muffin/candy paper or foil cups in mini-muffin pans (to keep from spreading) or on a large cookie sheet. Alternatively, cover the cookie sheet with parchment paper and use that for each nut cluster.

In a glass bowl, microwave half of the chocolate for about 20 seconds. Stir and heat again until all the chocolate has just melted. This will likely take up to a minute and a half. But monitor it by using 20 second intervals. You don’t want the chocolate to seize up.

After the first half of the chocolate has melted, add the remainder and stir until all the chocolate is melted. Add the red pepper flakes.

Cool chocolate for about 3 minutes and then blend in the nuts thoroughly.

Working fast, drop teaspoonfuls into your mini-muffin/candy cups or on the parchment paper.

Cool in the refrigerator for 20 minutes or more until set up. These keep refrigerated in a covered container for about a month.

Vote Now for February Month-of- Recipes

Each year for the past several years, I have posted a daily recipe in a category during the month of February. Three years ago, it was soup. Two years ago, I posted chicken recipes. And last year was appetizers.

You, Dear Readers, selected those categories. Because it takes me a while to assemble, create, and try out recipes in a category, I have you vote now so I have enough time to prepare and post 28 recipes in a row.

This year, I have four categories (listed alphabetically) for you to consider. During February, should I post 28 recipes for …

Eggs

I’ve read that the traditional chef’s hat has 100 pleats. The toque was earned when the chef demonstrated he (because they were only he initially) could prepare eggs 100 ways.

Mini-desserts

Season 52, a marvelous restaurant chain, created the first restaurant mini-desserts and now everyone is doing them. They are a staple at my parties.

Muffins

Both savory and sweet muffin recipes abound. Let me share some favorites with you and show you some you might not have tried.

Slow Cooker

Your slow cooker can deliver hot-and-ready breakfasts, entrees, sides, and desserts.

Your choice.

Vote in comments or on the poll. You have one week. Your votes in the poll and comments below will be tallied as will votes on Facebook and Twitter. You have one week to register your preference. All votes entered by midnight MST, January 13^th will count. In February you will find out what category won!

Next week, I am so happy to have guest blogger Patricia Gligor, author of the Malone mysteries, telling about the fun of writing mysteries. Stop in and read what she has to share.