Timing a Meal by Judy Lyden

So often people ask me, "How do you do it?" And the answer is easy. It's fun; it's a hobby; it's play. For me, working in the kitchen is play. When I was a little girl, I loved to make what I called pretty salads from all kinds of plants I found in my wanderings. I would balance the colors, arrange them nicely in a pile and then add flowers and berries. I made my first pie at four and my first turkey dinner at eleven. I lured my husband in by making a blueberry stuffed capon with all the trimmings when I was seventeen. It's simply a matter of two things: interest and doing. If you have an interest, but you never get off your duff to actually do, you will never learn. I tell the children in music, "If you don't sing, you won't know the words." Same thing with all of life. If you don't participate, you won't know how to do anything.

Today, the grocery store and the kitchen are two of my favorite places. I know most of the people who work there, and I speak with them frequently about new foods and bargains. It helps. I always use the mini carts to shop because I shop with thought not habit. I buy carefully and with a plan. I spend relatively little compared to most people simply because my rule of thumb is, "If I can make it, I will buy the parts, and the parts are always cheaper."

With a scheme of what can and can't be done with and to foods, it's not hard to throw just about any meal together in under an hour with ease. It's a matter of knowing how tastes mesh, how long things cook, and what each food needs to be at its best.

Today at school, we will have an pseudo African meal. I will bake yams, mix peanuts with brown rice, serve fresh fruit, and make a kind of baked steak that hopefully will taste like it came off the grill.

So on Sunday, when I shopped for school, I made sure I had brown rice and dry roasted peanuts. I bought enough yams to bake in the oven and slice that would feed forty children and faculty. I bought enough fresh fruit to serve everyone, and then I concentrated on the meat which is the center of this meal.

I was able to buy sirloin steak cheaply at the Grocery Outlet. On Monday, I cut the steak into strips and tossed it into a re-seal able bag. I added olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, ketchup, pepper, Worcestershire, and soy sauce.

To produce this meal for forty children and faculty, I will put the yams into the oven first at about 350 degrees for about an hour. Then 45 minutes before lunch I will start the rice in the ricer and open the peanuts. Thirty minutes before lunch, I will put the meat on a tray and bake it. Then I'll cut the fruit. Ten minutes before lunch I will remove the yams and slice them and add a honey butter, pour the milk, mix the peanuts into the rice with some butter, remove the meat from the oven, and voila!

At home, a simple meal of slightly breaded fish, broccoli and noodle medley takes about thirty minutes. Here's how:

Thaw or open your fish pieces. Take three soup bowls. Into one bowl, place 1/2 cup of flour; into the next a beaten egg with a little milk; into the third, bread crumbs or cracker crumbs or ground walnuts and Parmesan cheese - whatever you like. Dip fish into flour, egg, and then bread crumbs and place on a plate and set aside.

Place hot water into a big pan and bring it to a boil. Add your noodles and cook till tender but not limp. Buy whole grain noodles because they are better for you and taste better.

While your noodles cook, cut your broccoli into manageable plate pieces and place into a microwavable bowl with a few drops of water and cover and set aside. If you like tartar sauce now is the time to make it. A spoon filled with mayonnaise and some salsa makes a great fish sauce. Cut some onions and mushrooms or green peppers now.

When the noodles are done, drain. Place 2-4 tablespoons of olive oil, and 1 tablespoon butter into a frying pan. Melt, add ground pepper and some chopped onions and mushrooms. Stir in enough noodles for dinner and then add 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese and leave on very low temp or turn off your burner.

In another frying pan, use the same oil and butter and pepper combo and cook fish at medium high temp until cooked - probably 8 minutes.

When you start your fish, place your broccoli into the micro and cook five minutes. When broccoli is done, drain, and put a little cheese on it, cover and set aside.

When fish is done, grace your plates with your food and serve - thirty minutes tops.

Cooking is not as hard as some people think it is. It's really quite simple, and with a little thought and some creativity, it's fun and rewarding.