THE PEG BRACKEN CHALLENGE

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/23/arts/23bracken.html

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/co...icle2795660.ece

Some months back, I was spending a lot of time on this forum. I was eating low carb, writing in my journal, searching out recipes, checking out low carb books from the library, researching articles, shopping for low carb products, cooking elaborate meals, furiously tending to garde a mange, using leftovers in exciting new recipes, and spending an inordinate amount of time on it all -- upwards of two to three hours a day.

I think it all finally came to a head because of a cabbage. See, this local grocer had "cabbage for sauerkraut" on sale for 19 cents a pound. Nineteen cents a pound! For a cabbage so big, it required it's own shelf in the fridge. I'm telling you, this was a ten-pound monster of a cabbage. The Sultan of Cabbages.

First, I made cabbage borscht with lamb and Moroccan spices. Next, a Chinese stir fry ("Dragon's Teeth"). I froze some portions, and gave away others. And I still had 4 pounds of cabbage! What the f&ck was I going to do with all this cabbage? I actually tried to share the cabbage bounty by giving some away, right from the start, but my neighbors told me they were all set for cabbage. I kid you not, I really did this.

What to do? Sure, I could make cole slaw, or sauerkraut (as the grower suggested). But I felt that the cabbage had taken over my kitchen. I resented having to expend that much energy on a cruciferous vegetable. No matter how noble.

Finally I rebelled, and threw out the mutilated remains of the once perfect globe. And then I remembered Peg Bracken, the humorist who wrote the cult classic, "The 'I Hate to Cook' Book", back in the 1960's. It is absolutely charming. One learns how to create satisfying, "home-cooked" meals that take virtually no preparation but will fool any guest into thinking the cook has spent all day in the kitchen. While the meal is cooking, the chef can put the sherry to its best use, ponder the state of the universe, and chain-smoke Pall Malls. My kind of gal.

Right now, I have no time to play Suzy Homemaker. So I've been doing everything I can to avoid cooking. Ideally, I would have my own cook, or as a second best, eat every meal in a restaurant. It's not that I don't like cooking, it's just that I'm busy. Plus, it's not so much fun to be always cooking for one.

So Peg Bracken is my idol. I wish I could have known her. Using her strategies, I have cut my kitchen time to the nub. You might think it expensive, using all these shortcuts, especially if you think you have more time than money to spare. But what is more valuable than time? NOTHING. If you pay more for pre-prepared deli goodies, it is because you are paying for the labor involved to make them. Better Homes and Gardens recipes, that calculate your being able to serve a delicious, nutritious meal for $1.64 per person, don't figure in an hourly wage for your labor. If you can side-step some of that labor, that is time well-saved, for time is your most valuable commodity.

So, how do you spend less time in the kitchen? Here's how I do it:

1. EAT OUT. You'd be surprised at how many places you can have a perfectly legal meal, especially with Happy Hour and Early Bird Specials.

2. BE A WONDERFUL GUEST - at other people's dinner parties! Be lavish in your compliments to the host/ess, bring flowers, a bottle of wine or what have you. (And secretly pack a few hard boiled eggs, just in case your hostess is serving pasta for dinner...)

3. BUY PRE-PREPARED FOODS. You'd be surprised at how many places you can find fully cooked chickens, carnitas, roast beef, etc.

4. LOVE YOUR MICROWAVE OVEN AND CROCKPOT. Nuff said.

5. DISCOVER EVERY SALAD BAR AND DECENT DELI/TAKE-AWAY your municipality has to offer - especially the ones in grocery stores.

6. BUY pre-washed, pre-cut veggies and salads.

7. BUY good tasting chicken, beef, turkey & vegetable stock.

8. WHEN YOU BUY FROM THE BUTCHER, tell him how handsome he is. Then ask him if he would please spatchcock the chicken (or cut your lamb into cubes, or whatever)?

I'm sure you have many more time-saving tricks.

How is your time best spent - in peeling celery root, or reading Voltaire? Ultimately, only you can decide - but I vote for Voltaire. If you feel as I do, please share your kitchen cheats and quick recipes right here. In honor of Peg.

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Here is my first contribution to the Peg Bracken Challenge!

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Sweet 'n' Sour Hamburger Soup
Serves 3

7 oz container Gill's Onions Fresh Chopped Onion or get them from the salad bar
9 oz (255g) container Chef Essentials Veggie Mix (contains peppers, cabbage, radish, jicama, corn, carrot, zucchini, cauliflower, turnips, broccoli, and celery, not necessarily in that order. The amounts of corn and carrot in this mix were very small. Please, do not waste time in picking them out. They provide nice little bits of texture and color.) Or whatever brand is available, fresh or frozen. Or get them from the salad bar.
1 lb lean ground beef
Beef stock
Olive Oil
Heinz SF Ketchup, salt, pepper, garlic powder, dill, Splenda or other sugar sub
Lemon juice

Heat your soup pot and add enough olive oil to coat its bottom. Dump in the onions and sautee for a few minutes. Add the ground beef and mash it about until it's browned and in bite sized bits. Add the chopped veggies. Add enough beef stock until you consider it soup. (Or, add less and call it a stew!) Cover, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Add a few squirts of SF ketchup, salt, pepper, garlic powder and dill to taste. (Don't be scared. If you over season it, you can always add more water.) Cover and simmer for 5-10 minutes more to marry flavors. Finally, add lemon juice of about one wedge of lemon per serving, and 1 tsp Splenda per serving.

This turned out very well, and prep time was almost nil. The carb count on this is certain to be lower than just about ALL pre-packaged soup available in the market, and contains much more protein, too.

haha- funny thread!

I use the following convenience tricks:

1. I buy the pre-bagged salad, the pre cut celery, pre sliced mushrooms, etc...

2. pre-portioned bags of almonds

3. frozen seafood, salmon burgers and fish filets, where all the prep work is done for you. You just thaw and bake.

4. when in doubt, it takes like 5 minutes to fry a few eggs

5. oh, and hubby often does the dishes

Ha! I think I'm falling into your "before" trap, IOMW! But I have a ton of work to do so I'll do my best to work on being more Bracken-esque.

My "trick" is rotisserie chicken, but I don't just eat it plain. I usually think it only tastes good plain before you put it in the fridge, so I eat it like that for one meal, and then afterwards I shred all the meat off it (if I'm feeling particularly ambitious I save the bones in the freezer to one day make stock) and then play around with the leftovers. Yesterday I heated up the shredded chicken with some hot sauce and butter for mock buffalo (Rochester?) chicken. Have also done it with mushrooms and a little wine etc. for lazy marsala and ro-tel and cheddar for not-tacos.

I also like to make a massive pork shoulder in the crock pot, shred all the meat and put it into small freezer bags in one person portions so I can do the same sort of thing with the meat.

But when I'm really lazy? It's my hard-boiled egg maker, all the way.

Ah, and now I'm going to save you some time because you don't have to defrost the fish before you cook it! Check it out:

http://cookitfrozen.com/home.html

http://www.ehow.com/way_5479128_can...ish-frozen.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_2290827_cook-frozen-fish.html

Now if only I had a dishwasher...

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You have a hard boiled egg maker? Is that a person or a device??

Those are great tips for what to do with the rest of the rotisserie chicken! I'm going to try it.

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Here's another one:

Swiss Chard & onion cooked with smoked turkey wings


Easy one pot meal: Put 2 smoked turkey wings or 2 ham hocks and one chopped onion into a big pot, cover with water. Add two bunches of chard or other greens, chopped, into the pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer the bleep out of it indefinitely, until you feel it's time to eat (I let mine cook for an hour).

Serve it up with all of that delicious pot liquor. Season to taste with lemon wedges and hot sauce, if desired. It tastes great without anything added. This made four servings for me, no kidding! There's a lot of meat on those turkey wings, even after discarding the skin (which had a disgusting texture after being boiled) and the bones.

By the way, you can buy the onions and the greens pre-washed and chopped.



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I haven't had turkey wings in ages - my Mom used to make them. I think I will try that soon, probably with some mustard greens - inexpensive but yummy!

I wish my hard boiled egg maker was a person. I'm a decent cook, but I can't make a peelable hard-boiled egg to save my life, so my hard boiled egg maker is in fact a machine. Looks sort of like this, but a different company (and that one has some terrible reviews) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...&pf_rd_i=507846 A friend who also can't make eggs to save her life got it for me - it's a lazy girls best friend if you like a nice HBE.

In fact, I'm going to go throw some in there now. I'm not a huge fan of single-purpose gadgets, but I wouldn't give this one up for the world!

Oh, and I had a great Bracken day yesterday - went out for fajitas and ate everything on my plate (which didn't include, tortillas, rice or beans). Talk about easy and on plan!

sounds like my way of eating,lol

OK, so you DON'T like the West Bend model? What brand do you have?

Way to go on a Bracken Day!

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I don't have any experience with the West Bend one, but it has some lousy reviews on Amazon. Mine looks similar, but was made by Toastmaster (they call it the Egghead and it has a silly egg cartoon on it) sometime in the early 2000s. Never had a problem with it.

Just had another Bracken type of lunch with some of the eggs I made - I call it deviled egg salad. All the stuff you'd put in deviled eggs, plus bacon bits because why not? Plus the eggs. Plus the blender. No scooping or piping required! Lol.

LAMB STEW WITH PEPPERS & ONION

2 large skewers of lamb with peppers & onion, bought pre-prepared from the butcher, about 3/4 lb
garlic powder
Beef stock

Unthread the lamb and pepper and onion pieces from the skewers and dump them into an appropriately-sized pot (2 qts?). Add enough beef stock to give it a stew like consistency. Sprinkle on some garlic powder. Cover, bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until it submits to your will. (I think I cooked mine for about 1/2 an hour or more.)

This makes a nice gravy. It was delicious.

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My easy lunches at work...

I buy a bag of salad, lunch meat (turkey, roast beef) a chunk of cheddar cheese and eat on it all week. I keep salad dressing in the fridge at work.

I took some celery and a block of cream cheese. Just tore off the celery & scooped up the cream cheese - no utensils needed.

I like cheddar wrapped in turkey for snacks, too.

Way to go on saving time and $$ at the office! And good for you on your "green" habits! Maybe if you point out to your boss how much money you're saving the company on plastic cutlery she'll take you out to lunch.

Peg Bracken tips: put on disposable latex gloves to peel the meat off the skin and bones of smoked whitefish. You don't have to get your hands greasy/smelly in processing this product!

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