Ok!! Sorry for the delay, but checkout my post in the main forum on the MAY locations....i been runnin all over since tues...finally get to sleep at night instead of driving and i am doin it with a broken AC in West Palm Beach Fla.
So now to the cookin.....
In my past business endeavor i was a "Personal Chef", now thats after goin to culinary school in my late 40's to become a Chef in a commerical kitchen... instead I found this Personal Chef deal and figured i was better suited for that, since i don't "play well with others" for an extened amount of time, so working in a commerical kitchen lost its appeal quickly (i have always wanted to be a chef, waited till i retired to do it).
As a Personal Chef, you are basically a "private chef" , but you have more then one client and you don't cook in the same kitchen each day. The premise is to cook anywhere from 6-24 complete meals for whatever number of people in the family to last them 2 week.... That food is cooked, cooled, then sealed, frigerated or frozen to be heated and cooked at a later date.
So with that little bit of backround, heres what i do for myself. When i am home i will make 7 complete meals to feed 2 people (large portions) seal them seperately and then when i eat them, i heat them in the microwave. So thats 14 dinners that i will eat mon-fri weekends are for eating in sit down steakhouses with a good bar for me....Unless i pickup a steak, baking potato and fresh green beans for sunday to watch nascar or football....
Now unless you are a team, not too many of my meals are to be eatin while driving...thats what fast food is for, for a solo driver....
Now as to what i cook....think "one pot meals"..... the advantage to these meals is you can get a starch, veggie, and a protein all in one meal, sealed all together....Beef Tips and noodles, with onions and carrots..... pot roast with your fav veggies and red skin taters.....shepherds pie with either chicken or beef, ground or cubed, mixd veggies and mashed taters....Lasagna.....Italian Sausage with peppers and onions....
Thats just a few that are quick and easy and filling. In the frig right now is a half a rack of smoked babyback ribs, no sides for them.... bbq'd beef short ribs with fresh corn cut from the cob,diced red bell peppers pan fried in olive oil no starch with these this time.....Chicken Shepherds pie.....Chili Mac... and meat sauce with pinto beans and spaghetti noodles....liver and onions with boiled red skin tater.... and i think there is one oakage of my fav, turkey meatballs in a white sauce with fresh dill served with egg noodles.....
Now I also no a few different rice meals, but they are cooked in the van and not sealed.... I have a half a dozen of those rice or pasta meals with somne different powdered spice mixture in the box, I cook them in a $7 ricer/steamer that i picked up at walmart yrs ago (everyone should have one) then, I'll pickup some of those packaged Tyson meals, the chicken or beef. They are large chucks of meat, i cut them up add them to the rice and also add some "gravy" from a jar.....
Also when ever i stop at aBBQ place, I ALWAYS get a pound of their shredded pork and beef bbq....i then make bbq rollups with torillia shells in the micro wave...
As for my fav, it changes often, last month i had 4 "pesto stuffed chicken breast in the truck, I ate all 4 in a week....right now i have the turkey meatballs with the dill sauce...i been thinkin i need to make a mess of chicken raviollis that i make with "wonton wrappers and serve with a sauce made from heavy cream and sun dried tomatoes......mmmm good Beef tips and noodles is always in the frig.......quick, easy and very tasty....
Most anything can be cooked and vacuum sealed. The food will remain "fresh" for 10 days, no problem. After 10 days, it gets a bit "stale", but it is still good...stay away from meals with brocoli, broccoli puts off a gas the breaks down the vacuum seal of the bag and it isn't worth a dang after 3 days.....and i make a broccoli , emon, and garlic side that is to die for.....
So there you go. If you have any questiones, ask, ill answer anything i can...if you want any recipes, ask for them too, i'll share..or even find you something you can't, i have a massive data base of cookbooks.....Enjoy....
