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Savoring life in the Berkshires

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What I Cook When I Can’t Really Cook

Published on May 20, 2010 By Emily. Updated on May 20, 2010

I love cooking.  There are days when I’d be content to never leave the kitchen (assuming, of course, that someone else is going to do the dishes).  But lately, but life’s been so swamped that I haven’t had much time for hanging out in the kitchen and cooking complicated meals.  So, what do I cook when I don’t have time or energy to cook something exciting?

Often, we have leftovers.  I try to plan my menus a week in advance and if I know an afternoon/evening is going to be busy, I try to make a big meal the night before that we can eat twice (or more!).  When that doesn’t work out (like this week, when I somehow ran out of planned meals for the week), I have a few stand-bys that I go to.  For most of them, the freezer is key.  Keep a stock of “go-to” meals in the freezer and you’ll be set–and now that there’s almost no meat in ours, we’ve got lots more room.

Emily’s Top 6 “No Planning” Meals

Mark Bittman’s pancakes, with 1 cup of whole wheat flour substituted in for one cup of the All Purpose Flour.  Pancakes for dinner are a surprisingly excellent meal.

Stir Fry, usually with frozen vegetables and sometimes with tofu.  I frequently use the sauce recipe from The Pioneer Woman’s Sesame Noodles, because I’m pretty much obsessed with it (and her).

Tuna Melts There’s an awesome Emeril recipe in the May issue of Everyday Food for a tuna melt that involves tomatoes, capers and red onion.  Tuna melts are great on their own, but adding more ingredients makes them even better.

Whole Wheat Pasta, with my favorite marinara sauce, fresh from the freezer.

Pizza I keep extra dough in the freezer and you can top pizza with whatever’s seasonal or in your pantry.

Frittata A perfect way to use up leftover meat, cheese and vegetables, frittatas are ridiculously easy.

What do you cook when you have nothing else planned?

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Filed Under: food Tagged With: cooking

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Trackbacks

  1. Oven-Fried Fish Sticks and Lemon Risotto with Summer Squash Review says:
    September 14, 2011 at 9:28 pm

    […] a lot of the meals I’ve cooked have been off of this list of last minute meals, although they’re not really last minute, they’re actually part of my meal plan.  When […]

  2. » Pantry Meal: Whole Wheat Waffles says:
    July 23, 2014 at 1:41 pm

    […] about what I make for meals when I don’t know what to make or have a lot of time (like here and here).  This recipe satisfies three needs in my meal making life:  I have all the ingredients on hand, […]

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photo of EmilyWelcome to Relishments! Follow along with my adventures in cooking and eating in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts.

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Emily
New year, new theme word! This year's word is "enr New year, new theme word!
This year's word is "enrich" and I'm really excited about it.

I've written more about this year's theme on the blog. Click in the link in my profile or follow the link below to read the post.
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https://www.relishments.com/blog/my-2023-theme-word-enrich/
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#YearlyTheme #MyOneWord #2023 #enrich2023 #NewYearsResolution
It's not New Year's Eve without a Top 9 post. It's It's not New Year's Eve without a Top 9 post.
It's almost all #Berkshires content this year, which is great.
1. A pasta salad reel that took longer to create than the recipe took to make.
2. A reel from North Carolina where I could have watched birds all day.
3. The @thelazygenius book giveaway.
4.@plantconnector 
5. @berkshiremuseum 
6.@sculpture.now at @themountlenox 
7. @massmoca 
8. @mountainviewfarm413 
9. The #AshuwillticookRailTrail
New on the blog: My 2022 reflections on last year' New on the blog: My 2022 reflections on last year's theme word - resume. 

I was able to get back to many activities that were meaningful to me this year and I'm calling this theme a success. Follow the link below or click the link in my profile to read more.
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https://www.relishments.com/blog/reflections-on-resuming-in-2022/
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#resume2022 #newyearsresolution #myoneword #yearlytheme
New on the blog: My Favorite Recipes of 2022. For New on the blog: My Favorite Recipes of 2022.

For the fourth year, I've recapped the best new (to me) recipes I made this year in the hope that they'll give you some new dishes to try. This year's list is short, but delicious. It includes @budgetbytes My Favorite Recipes of 2022
Published on December 30, 2022 By Emily. Updated on December 30, 2022

It’s hard to believe that 2022 is basically behind us. Though overall this year found me getting back to the person I want to be (post-babies and “post”-pandemic), I did not try nearly as many new recipes this year as I used to. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I’d made note of any new-to-me recipes I wanted to share in this post. This year’s list is short, but delicious. It includes recipes from @budgetbytes, @smittenkitchen and @howsweeteats.
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Read the post by visiting the link in my profile or 
https://www.relishments.com/blog/my-favorite-recipes-of-2022/
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#RecipeRoundUp #BestRecipes2022 #FavoriteRecipes
@coastalmainebotanicalgardens continues to be one @coastalmainebotanicalgardens continues to be one of the highlights of all my return trips to Boothbay and their annual Gardens Aglow event continues to impress. It was great to be back to walking the gardens instead of the pandemic drive through and there seemed to be more lights than ever.  I'm already looking forward to next year.
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#Boothbay #BoothbayMaine #CoastalMaineBotanicalGardens #GardensAglow #BotanicalGarden #MidcoastMaine
It has been a while, but there is finally a new CS It has been a while, but there is finally a new CSA menu plan on the blog! Visit the link below or in my profile to see how I plan to make use of some of the @mightyfoodfarm produce seen here.
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https://www.relishments.com/blog/welcome-to-winter-farm-share-csa-menu-plan-148/
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#MightyFoodFarm #EatLocal #EatSeasonal #VermontGrown #CSApickup #CSAshare #KnowYourFarmerKnowYourFood #MenuPlanning #MealPlanning #igers413 #igers413_food #BerkshireFoodies
Fall in the Berkshires is always incredible, but t Fall in the Berkshires is always incredible, but this year we've had weather that has also been outstanding. The past 2 weekends have included time at Jaeschke Orchards, the Greylock Glen, and the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail as well as stopping to photograph any random foliage I see. 
Check out the last slide for video of some feathered friends we saw on a walk.
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#igers413 #InTheBerkshires #EatLocal #WesternMA #WesternMass #Berkshires  #VisitTheBerkshires #FallFoliage #FallColors #autumn #AshuwillticookRailTrail #JaeschkeOrchards #GreylockGlen
@freshgrassfestival continues to be one of my favo @freshgrassfestival continues to be one of my favorite events each year, and it doesn't hurt that it's just minutes away from home. Enjoying the festival with my kids is definitely a different experience than without, but it's still a good time. The weather was especially cooperative today which was great for all the laps I did around the @massmoca campus pushing a stroller. I'm already looking forward to next year.
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#igers413 #InTheBerkshires #WesternMA #WesternMass #Berkshires  #VisitTheBerkshires #NorthAdams #NAmazing #FreshGrass #FreshGrassFestival #MassMoCA #MusicFestival
A few more photos from our most recent trip to Mai A few more photos from our most recent trip to Maine:
- a foggy afternoon at Ocean Point
- kid-free lunch at @shannonsunshelled, followed by beers at @footbridge_brewery
- watching birds from my parent's deck
- dinner at @bucksnakedbbqsteakhouse and dessert at @gelatofiasco
- a hot dog and Belgian waffle sundae from @wannawaf
- a visit to the Boothbay Railway Village Museum, featuring an impressive model railroad
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#VisitMaine #MidcoastMaine #Boothbay #BoothbayHarbor
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