Delicious Dump Dinners

A dump dinner may not sound too tasty but it's actually a flavorful melange of meats, veggies and spices. It's an easy way to create lunch or dinner without so much fuss. Best of all, it requires very little prep time.

What is a dump dinner exactly? It's basically where you dump everything in a crockpot or Insta Pot and cook for a few hours. There's no elaborate cooking where you have to use everything from a bain Marie to a skillet. Prep time is a snap too,.It just cutting the ingredients into chunks, sometimes adding liquids and always adding spices. Another plus is that even tweens and teens can make dinner , freeing up their parents to do other household chores or errands.Another plus is that dump dinner ingredients can be bought in bulk, saving money along with being perfect for freezing. Many dump dinner affectionados make soup.It's an easy cook and an easy freeze. Try chicken soup, filled with the old fashioned goodness of  chicken, broth and carrots.You can turn it into a minestrone by adding tomatoes and chickpeas , along with some kind of small pasta and spinach. A comforting potage, especially during these blustery days is a dump potato soup.it's taking Yukon Gold potatoes and cooking them with chicken broth, onions and garlic.  After cooking it can be topped with crumbled bacon and sour cream. Best of it it can be frozen to be eaten on those days when cooking is impossible.

There are also dump dinners (which can be turned into dump lunches too.). Stews are the easiest to make because it's just chopping and tossing. A beef stew is always a good choice. Give it an Italian spin by adding diced tomatoes and a variety of other veggies such as zucchini bell peppers , celery and potatoes. Tomato paste and  red wine vinegar are also added. Make it even more heartier by adding some pasta such as gemelli or rotelli to the mix. The beef and beef broth can be cooked and vegetable broth subbed in to create a hearty vegan soup. Use chickpeas for protein.A sure fire pleaser is turkey breast. It can be flavored with lemon garlic or a  turned into a spicy one with dried mince garlic and paprika. Italian seasoning also spikes it up some. Serve with rice instead of stuffing for a different kind of turkey dinner. Another idea is pulled pork.It's just pork roast, apple cider vinegar and barbecue sauce slow cooked for six to eight hours. Then shred and serve on hamburger buns. You could also do the same with other meats too for variation.

Dump dinners are an easy and tasty meals  It's just dump everything in your crock pot or Instapot and leave. The result is a delicious and flavorful slow cooked dish.

An Easy Summer Sauce

We are in the middle of tomato season. This versatile fruit that masquerades as a veggie can be made into everything from a sandwich to a bowl of salsa. However it is best made into a tasty pasta sauce. The garden taste comes through, tangy and sweet, perfect for any pasta when made this way.

David Tanis believes this and wrote about it in his column  City Kitchen  in today's New York Times Food section.. One of the best aspects of homemade sauce is that you can make it and use it months from now. There will be that ripe taste in the middle of a cold winter. Even if you don't; have them in your backyard you still can get beauties at your local grocery store and get them cheap. According to Mr Tanis, this is another reason to make sauce. He suggests looking for ugly, cracked and large ones that are slightly bruised. These are cheaper due to these imperfections yet still  have a sweet, dense blood red flesh, perfect for sauce. Another suggestion is using plum tomatoes if you like their taste(slightly sweeter than the beefsteaks).The one standard he demands is that they be sun ripened. (remember home growers can also use the less than perfect ones from their gardens too instead of tossing them onto the mulch pile)

Prepping them  for sauce is easy. This is not the kind of recipe where home chefs don't; blanch and peel the tomatoes. What it does require is the surprising hand held grater, a gadget not necessarily associated with sauce making., Cut the tomatoes in halves or quarters and then squeeze out the seeds if you don't like a few in your sauce. Now place the cut side against the grater's large holes and gently rub until there's only tomato skin  left. Now add a pinch of sea salt, two tablespoons of olive oil along with a sprig of basil and a halved garlic clove. You can add tomato paste to thicken it for a more traditional textured sauce. Cook it in a low wide saucepan over a high heat. Once it starts to boil the lower the heat and let it simmer.It can be kept in the fridge for five days afterward or just frozen for later use down the line. . Mr Tanis recommends serving it with farfalle or penne, textured pasta that will hold the sauce but I can also see  it with bucatini,the thick tubular spaghetti.Serve with a sprinkle of pecorino or Romano  for the best summer dish  of the season.

Take advantage of tomato season and make this easy and delicious sauce. It's a great way of enjoying the harvest right now. Freeze some for later to have the taste of sun ripened tomatoes on a cold winter's night.
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Cooking With Herbs

This is the season for herbs. They're everywhere and one of the best things about summer cooking. They amp up the flavor from salads to even desserts. Many home chefs are somewhat afraid of using them . There are some tips to handling herbs and in creating successful dishes.

One of the first steps in cooking herbs is preparing them. Cut what you need to from your garden and wash thoroughly. There may be some dirt or bugs still on them. If you're picking them early in the day, place the newly washed ones on a damp paper towel and store in your fridge until you're ready to cook with them.Herbs can also be frozen for future use too,This required a brief bath in boiling hot water  until the leaves turn a bright green,.Cool by holding them under cold running water and blot dry with paper towels. Freeze either in freezer bags or in empty ice cube trays.

There's a certain order to cooking with herbs as well.Some stronger herbs such as basil and sage should be added in the beginning of the cooking process so that their flavors will mellow with cooking. Milder tasting ones such as dill should be added in the last minutes of cooking because their flavor will fade during the entire heating process. Different herbs will give different spins to dishes. If you want a flavorful tomato sauce for example use rosemary and oregano. If you want it to zing, then think about bay leaves. A light sauce will be delicate with dill and powerful with sage. Experiment , if you're new to the herb scene. Find out what you and your family like.

Cooking with herbs is a great way to amp up any dish. Know what you're cooking with to get great flavor and new tastes. It's easy and fun.