Supper Swapping Book Give Away
May. 11, 2006 at 4:10 PM
family
Scott Somerville recently asked a group of homeschoolers the question. "If Jesus returned tomorrow which part of homeschooling would you give up?" If I had been in the audience I wouldn't have given the answer a second thought.
Cooking.
Now some may balk at my answer and say, cooking isn't really part of homeschooling. (Not you homesteaders, of course!) But that's not true around here. Just try teaching your son biology while every cell in his body is craving food. No, my sister said it best, "Homeschooling would be a lot more fun if I didn't have to constantly feed them." (She's a homeschooling mom of 7.)
It's not that I don't enjoy cooking. I do. But with everything going on some days, I just don't want to think about "what's for dinner?" Susan Thacker is aiming to fix that. She's written a new book called Supper Swapping.
Supper Swapping is defined as an arrangement to trade fresh meals with one friend for the benefit of two households...
Each person selects one cooking day a week. On that day the assigned cook delivers two meals to the recipient. By the end of the school/work week, you will each have four meals with typically enough leftovers for one day.
The theory sounds simple enough. It's the practical application that needs a little refining for us. After all, cooking enough for a family of 8 has its own set of rules. Susan has those covered in the a section called "Exploring Variations of Supper Swapping." She suggests co-op cooking. That's what my friend and I are planning on doing. She's just built a new home with a large gourmet kitchen. Between the two of us and our daughters we're hoping to eliminate meal prep for a few meals each week.
Susan's book also provides recipes by master chef's from around the country. Some of the recipes were a bit much for my taste. But I do enjoy the challenge of a new recipe and ingredients occassionally. Most receipes were quite doable. My 12 year old daughter made the Grilled Lemon Rosemary Chicken (page 132) and we all gave it two thumbs up. She's eager to try out even more of the recipes as well.
So even if I can't give up cooking completely, it's nice to know there are women out there like Susan who are thinking of ways to make it more manageable. As soon as my friend get's her kitchen in order, I'll let you know how our swap goes.
In the meantime, I'd love to hear your suggestions for meal planning, quick lunches, or funny food stories. If you have any favorite websites to share pass those along as well.
I don't plan on turning this blog into a recipe blog. But I love new cookbooks. Susan graciously provided her book to me for review and I couldn't pass it up.
She'd also like me to give another one away to a reader. So I'll select one commenter at random to win a copy of Susan's new book. I'll pick a winner tomorrow evening. Even if you don't have a tip to share, go ahead and leave a comment to enter the contest.
There are more great suggestions at my other blog as well.
10 Comments and Trackbacks
posted by mum21angel on May. 11, 2006 at 4:32 PM
really easy (no brain) foods like savoury mince - 500g cheap ground beef/turkey/whatever plus 1 cup TVP, 1 cup dried onion (I hate chopping onion!!) 1/2 cup rice 4 cups water and roughly 3 cups of whatever veggies I have handy. It gets left to gently simmer until it all looks cooked (about half an hour but it's pretty elastic!) and sometimes I need to add in a little more water (depends on the choice of veggies) then I use a hand blender to make it all smoother and to hide the veggies from my DH (sigh) Add in enough stock cubes to make it taste good and beefy and serve with flour tortillas. There are only 3 of us so that lot makes up about 3 or 4 days worth, 1 lot for the day it's cooked then the rest gets frozen in old marg tubs that are just the right size :D
Ps I'm in the UK so I probably don't count for the prize draw but it's a good recipe anyway!
posted by spunkyhomeschool on May. 11, 2006 at 5:36 PM
I don't think shipping to the UK is a problem. I'll check with Susan.
Also, I should note that this contest is running on both my blogs.
So entries will be from both blogs.
posted by jacobsacademy on May. 11, 2006 at 6:03 PM
Now that's truly a great concept - even if a family or families didn't want to do it long term - it would be a fun short term project (co-op unit study) - would be an easy way to get all the kids in on the cooking/planning part, too. Good way to increase some fellowship, too.
.......might make them appreciate Mom's cooking???........my luck - they'd want the other Mommas to cook for them all the time..........
I may have to send out a query to our local homeschoolers to see if anyone would want to do this over the summer just for fun..........
As always - you post some great stuff........thanks!!
Harriette
posted by chickadee on May. 11, 2006 at 8:56 PM
i agree! cooking, eating and cleaning up, once you finish it's time to start all over again.
posted by Anonymous on May. 11, 2006 at 11:40 PM
At first I thought this was a misprint, but what a great idea. Now if I could just find someone to partner with.
posted by spunkyhomeschool on May. 11, 2006 at 11:43 PM
Anonymous, make sure you sign your name. If "Anonymous" wins the book I think I'll have many people who will want to claim the prize!
posted by homekeeper4him on May. 12, 2006 at 12:13 AM
I love cooking too. But, on some days I just think "on no, not again. didn't I just fix a meal?"
I like my crockpot and the book "Fix It and Forget It". I also like the book "30 Day Gourmet". There are lots of good recipes and a great way to cook with another person to accomplish more. Another great thing about having dinners in the freezer is that when a friend is in need of a meal, you can just pop one out, thaw, cook and take it to them. I also think it is nice to take the frozen dinner and directions to them and they can fix it when they need it. Lots of new moms get plenty of meals and then find a week later that they could really use a quick meal and that is the perfect opportunity to use that freezer meal.
Tracy
posted by gabalot on May. 12, 2006 at 11:53 AM
I actually do like cooking and even better I love to bake! I like to take my time when I cook and well have an abundance of time just doesn't exsist. I do make extra at dinner so there is something to reheat for lunch and that makes it quick. But what probably makes it easy for me is...the kids make their own lunch. hehehe. I look at it as part of learning. My husband 90% of the time makes breakfast, so...that really only leaves me having to make one meal a day, spoiled?...just a little.
I will throw an easy dinner out there. Rather than serving spaghetti and the sauce over it, I do it casserole style. I brown my ground beef and put it on the bottom of a 13x9 and sprinkle some cheese on top, followed by the noodles and the sauce of your choice. Bake it on 250 degrees about 30-40 minutes before your dinner time. I use 300 if I've had it in the frig, if I've had time to make it ahead. This makes a great meal to give a family who's had a new baby or just is experiencing a need of help. It can get put into the freezer as well.
posted by spunkyhomeschool on May. 12, 2006 at 11:56 AM
I do a similar spaghetti casserole. Only we add in two more ingredients. Blend together sour cream (small container) and a slab of cream cheese (softened). Spread over the noodles before adding more sauce. Bake the same way. It's awesome. I use this one a lot for meal sharing with new moms etc.
posted by 2cupsOjava4me on May. 12, 2006 at 2:09 PM
Cooking is such a challenge to so many homeschooling moms (including yours truly) in our group. Thanks for the opportunity to win this great cookbook!
Blessings,
Lori