Three Dinners at Once

 Do you work full time?  Kids?  No kids?   Maybe,  you are a stay at home mom. It doesn't matter!  Getting  a healthy, delicious dinner on the table is an arduous task.  So here's my solution.  I make 3 dinners at one time.  Sunday is a great day for this, especially as the weather cools down. 

 The key is to choose recipes with good staying power.  Chicken, Beef or pork or good choices! Fish, not so much! Braising, roasting and slow cooking will all work well.  

Here's the Plan:

Pull ALL your ingredients out and group by recipe.

Slice all the onions . Quarter the mushrooms.  Trim the brussel sprouts and cut in half.

Drain the Sun Dried tomatoes and Slice.

Dice the sweet potatoes. 

Caramelize 2 onions for the chicken recipe

While the onions are cooking, sear the brisket. 

Make the BBQ sauce. Add to the Rock Crok and put in the oven to Bake.

Prepare the Pork Recipe.  Put in the oven to Bake .

In the 20 minutes it takes to cook the pork, prepare the chicken recipe.   

This should all take about 2 hours.  The chicken and pork will be completely finishes and the Brisket will need an additional 90 min in the oven. 

COOL before putting the in refrigerator. Cover TIGHTLY.  Use the Pork dish on night #1, Chicken , night #2 and Brisket night #3.  

BONUS! Use the additional caramelized onions to make a pizza on Night #4.  Spread pizza dough with fig butter, Top with caramelized onions and grated Fontina cheese.

Barbecue Beef Brisket

 1 Beef Brisket ( first cut) 5-6 lbs, well trimmed

4 garlic cloves pressed

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ground pepper

1 1/2 cups Ketchup

1/3 cup cider vinegar

¼ cup brown sugar

¼ cup Worcestershire Sauce

2 Tablespoons yellow mustard

2 large onions sliced

 Preheat oven to 325F.  Press Garlic over brisket, spreading evenly.  Sprinkle with salt , pepper and Paprika.  Using the Pampered Chef ROCK CROK, either the 4 qt or the XL ( preferrred)  sear the brisket over high heat. Left the brisket and out onions under meat and cook for 5 min. 

 In small batter bowl, combine ketchup, vinegar, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce and mustard.  Pour over brisket.

 Slice onions using Quick Slice.  Arrange onions over brisket. Cover.  Bake Brisket 2 hours 30 min to 3 hours until fork tender.  Remove brisket from ROCK CROK  and let cool 10 minutes.

 Slice brisket thinly across the grain ( the direction the meat fibers are running) .  Place slices back into the baker with the sauce.  REFRIGERATE at this point. This can sit as long as 3 days!   Bake 20 to 30 minutes when ready to serve.

 Braised Chicken with Caramelized onions, Mushrooms and Sun Dried Tomatoes

 ½ pound white button mushrooms ( or large white mushrooms, quartered)

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

3 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 2 -3 inch chunks

1 cup all purpose flour or RICE  OR ALMOND FLOUR  for dredging

¾  to 2 cups cup homemade or low fat chicken broth

¾ cup caramelized onions**-( see below)

 1 6 oz jar oil packed sun dried tomatoes, drained and thinly sliced

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

¼ teaspoon Tabasco sauce

¼ cup chopped flat leaf parsley

In medium bowl, toss the mushrooms with ½ teaspoon salt and a few grinds of pepper.  Heat the oil  in a large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering.

 Meanwhile season the chicken with ¾ teaspoon salt and a few generous grinds of pepper.  Spread the flour on a large plate and lightly dredge the chicken.  Sauté the chicken pieces, flipping after 2 minutes until they’re lightly brown on both sides, about 4 minutes total ( it’s OK if the sides of the chicken are still raw.)

 Add the mushrooms and cook stirring until they start to soften and brown in places, about 3 minutes.  Add the chicken broth, caramelized onions and sun dried tomatoes.  Bring to a boiland then reduce to a gentle simmer.  Cover and cook until the chicken is firm to the touch and cooked through and the mushrooms are tender, about 6 minutes.  Stir in the vinegar, Tabasco, and half the parsley.  Taste for salt and pepper and serve sprinkled with the remaining parsley.

Caramelized onions

2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 ½ pounds Spanish or large yellow onions, peeled trimmed, halved and thinly sliced lengthwise (Ultimate slice and Grate is perfect!)

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Heat the oil in a 12 inch skillet over medium high heat until it immediately bubbles when an onion touches it, about one minute.  Ad the onions and sprinkle with salt, and cook, stirring frequently, until they wilt completely and begin to stick to the bottom of the pan, 10 to 20 minutes (much of the onion’s moisture will evaporate and the pan will begin to brown;  the cooking time varies with the onion’s moisture content).  If the pan begins to look like it’s burning, add 2 tablespoons water stir and lower the heat a bit.

 Cook, stirring and scraping and adding water as needed, until the onions are a uniform caramel brown, another 30 to 40 minutes.  (if they haven’t begun to brown much after 20 minutes, raise the heat to medium) Add a couple of tablespoons of water and scrape the pan well.  Use right away or spread on a baking sheet and let cool to room temperature.  Store in refrigerator up to one week.

Roasted Pork with Sweet Potatoes. Apples and Brussels Sprouts

 2 sweet potatoes (1 lb)

3 tsp rosemary leaves, divided (about 1 sprig)

3 tbsp Olive oil

2  garlic cloves, pressed

1 ½  tsp salt, divided

1  tsp black pepper, divided

2 Honeycrisp apples (8 oz)

2 cups Brussel Sprouts, trimmed and halved

4 1"- thick boneless pork chops

½ cupFig  butter ( Trader Joes!)

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

     Preheat the oven to 425°F  Lightly oil Half sheet pan or 2 large  Pampered Chef Stoneware Bar pans.

Grate rosemary with the Herb Mill . Combine 2 tablespoons rosemary, oil, garlic pressed with the Garlic Press, 1 tsp of salt, and ½tsp  of black pepper in a Large bowl.  Core and slice the apples with the Apple Wedger. Trim and Halve Brussels spouts. . Peel and cut the sweet potatoes into large dices .

Add Apples , Sweet potatoes and Brussels Sprouts to the rosemary oil Mixture and toss 

     Grate the remaining rosemary leaves into a small bowl with the Herb Mill. Add the fig butter and Worcestershire sauce, and stir to combine.

Using a boing knife or small knife make a horizontal slit through the pork chops, leaving ¼ inch . ( Eg Butterfly) Season the pork chops with the remaining salt and pepper. and place them on the sheet pan or Bar Pan.   For each Pork chop, place half of the fig butter mixture in the center cutand half on top.

Surround Pork chops with the veggies

        Bake for 20 minutes. Until the internal temperature of the pork reaches 145°F and the sweet potatoes are tender.

        If cooked on 2 pans, recipe can be combined for storing and reheating.