The last meal in this series of 5 in 5 is a delicious Sun-dried Tomato Sauce that I put on chicken, but it would be just as good on pasta. There is a wonderful little Italian restaurant in Ottawa called Zola's that inspired me to go hunting for a sun-dried tomato cream sauce recipe. After having their Sun-dried Tomato Mushroom Linguini for dinner one night, I wanted to re-create it at home. One of my favorite recipe sites, Epicurious had a promising recipe for what I was looking for. After a few tweaks, it was similar enough to what I had at Zola's.

I'm making 5 meals in 5 hours to avoid the "What's for dinner" question. I'll post one meal each day, in the order I made them. Here's the plan:

1. Savory Pot Roast
2. Shrimp Curry (or you could substitute chicken)
3. Chicken Stir-Fry (or you could substitute tofu)
4. Lavender and Rosemary Pork Tenderloin
5. Sun-dried Tomato Cream Sauce on Chicken or Pasta

While the Lavender and Rosemary Pork Tenderloin is roasting, you can make the Sun-dried Tomato Cream Sauce for chicken or pasta.

Recipe: Sun-dried Tomato Cream Sauce on Chicken or Pasta

adapted from Epicurious

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

Up next is another roast, but this time it's lavender and rosemary-laden pork tenderloin. This recipe comes from a famous Ottawa foodie, Chris Knight, President of Knight Enterprises, and the brainchild behind some hit food television shows, including my all-time favorite: Cook Like a Chef. He's also produced The Great Canadian Food Show, Licensed to Grill, and Junk Brothers.

I asked my Whisk Wednesdays group if they get Cook Like a Chef in the US on the Food Network, and they don't. The Food Network is missing out on the best cooking show ever, hands down. It's a half-hour show featuring one of six Canadian chefs and three to four recipes or techniques per episode. And the set is unique too, showing every move the chef makes with close-ups from the cameras that are in plain view and giving a 360˚ view of what's happening.

You can order the first season of Cook Like a Chef on DVD (available in April 2009) here: Cook Like a Chef: Season 1. (Mine is on order.) You can also buy the cookbook, Cook Like a Chef: Techniques, Tips and Secrets from the Professional Kitchen to Yours, which I own. (I also have the music CD from the show. What can I say? I'm a fan!}

I'm making 5 meals in 5 hours to avoid the "What's for dinner" question. I'll post one meal each day, in the order I made them. Here's the plan:

1. Savory Pot Roast
2. Shrimp Curry (or you could substitute chicken)
3. Chicken Stir-Fry (or you could substitute tofu)
4. Lavender and Rosemary Pork Tenderloin
5. Sun-dried Tomato Cream Sauce on Chicken or Pasta

After making the Chicken Stir-Fry, you can start chopping the ingredients for the Lavender and Rosemary Pork Tenderloin.

Recipe: Lavender and Rosemary Pork Tenderloin

from Cook Like a Chef: Techniques, Tips and Secrets from the Professional Kitchen to Yours (affiliate link)

Serves: 8-10 (based on 1 pound of pork serving 4)

To Prepare and Eat Now:

Chicken stir-fry is comfort food for me. I remember eating a lot of stir-fries when I was growing up and watching Wok with Yan on TV (not to be confused with Martin Yan's Yan Can Cook). Stephen Yan's Chinese cooking show was produced in Vancouver, Canada by the CBC from 1980 to 1982. I clearly remember his amazing knife skills and his apron, which always had a pun with the word "wok". Here's a segment of Stephen Yan with David Letterman:


This stir-fry recipe is from one of my favorite restaurants in Ottawa, The Green Door, a vegetarian buffet place where they weigh your plate to determine the price. I always filled up on their tofu stir-fry and was happy when they published it in their cookbook, although I've crossed the vegetarian line and replaced the tofu with chicken.

I'm making 5 meals in 5 hours to avoid the "What's for dinner" question. I'll post one meal each day, in the order I made them. Here's the plan:

1. Savory Pot Roast
2. Shrimp Curry (or you could substitute chicken)
3. Chicken Stir-fry (or you could substitute tofu)
4. Lavender and Rosemary Pork Tenderloin
5. Sun-dried Tomato Cream Sauce on Chicken or Pasta

After making the Shrimp Curry, you can start chopping the ingredients for the Chicken Stir-Fry.

Recipe: Chicken Stir-Fry

adapted from the Green Door restaurant, Ottawa

Serves: 8-10

Ingredients:

To Prepare and Eat Now:
Mix all sauce ingredients in a jar or bowl and set aside. Dissolve glaze ingredients and set aside.

Heat a wok over medium-high heat and then add the oil. When the oil is hot, sauté chicken until browned and cooked through, about 10-15 minutes. Add carrots and cook, about 3-5 minutes. Add broccoli and cook, about 3-5 minutes.

Pour in the sauce ingredients and cook until broccoli is bright green but still firm. Add remaining vegetables and cook, about 3-5 minutes. Stir the glaze ingredients and pour it in. Stir until thick.

To Freeze:
Undercook the vegetables so that when you re-heat them, they aren't overcooked. Recommended freezing time: 4-6 months.

To Prepare After Freezing:
Thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Heat and serve.

Tips:
To save time, use bottled minced garlic and ginger. To save money, mince your own garlic and ginger. To save time, buy a bag of ready-chopped vegetables for a stir-fry.

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Cost: $26.64 ($3.33 per serving)

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Other Stir-Fry Recipes
• Ashley from Delish: Spicy Chicken Stir-fry
• Karina from Karina's Kitchen: Chicken Stir-Fry in Peanut Sauce
• Lori from Recipe Girl: Garlic Chicken Stir-Fry

I've made this curry recipe several times, but usually with chicken. It was just as delicious with shrimp and a nice change. I first found this recipe in the local newspaper and cut it out, and it's been my favorite curry recipe since then.

Although there are a lot of ingredients in this recipe, there isn't a lot of chopping (just the onion and tomatoes, if you're using fresh tomatoes) and there's only one pan. Just make a trip to your local spice shop beforehand, and you're all set.

I'm making 5 meals in 5 hours to avoid the "What's for dinner" question. I'll post one meal each day, in the order I made them. Here's the plan:

1. Savory Pot Roast
2. Shrimp Curry (or you could substitute chicken)
3. Chicken Stir-Fry (or you could substitute tofu)
4. Lavender and Rosemary Pork Tenderloin
5. Sun-dried Tomato Cream Sauce on Chicken or Pasta

So while the pot roast is cooking, start chopping up the vegetables for the curry.

Recipe: Shrimp Curry

adapted from Ishina Distinguished Indian Cuisine

Serves: 6

To Prepare and Eat Now:
Clean shrimp.

Heat oil in a heavy saucepan. Add cinnamon, cloves and cardamom. Stir-fry for 30 seconds, and then add onion and sauté until golden brown about 10-15 minutes. Reduce heat and add ginger and garlic. Continue cooking 2 or 3 minutes, stirring constantly.

Add turmeric, paprika, cumin powder, and red chili powder. Mix well. Add puréed tomatoes and stir. Cook until oil separates from the spice mix, about 5-10 minutes. Add 2 cups of water and scrape up any bits that have stuck to the pan. Bring to a boil. (If you prefer, you could purée the sauce, but leave some chunks for texture.) Add shrimp and cook until the shrimp is done, about 10 minutes.

Remove cinnamon stick, whole cloves and cardamom before serving.

Sprinkle with garam masala and garnish with chopped cilantro. Serve hot with rice or naan.

To Freeze:
Make the sauce but omit the shrimp. Recommended freezing time: 4-6 months.

To Prepare After Freezing:
Thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Heat and serve with cooked shrimp.

Tips:
To save time, use bottled minced garlic and ginger. To save money, mince your own garlic and ginger.

Tasting Notes
There's a complexity to this dish from all the spices. It gives the sauce a distinctive taste that is delicious with shrimp, chicken, or probably tofu.

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Cost: $18.60 ($3.10 per serving)

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Other Curry Recipes
• Rasa Malaysia: Chicken Curry
• Heidi from 101 Cookbooks: Cashew Curry Recipe
• Meeta from What's For Lunch, Honey: Chicken Curry

A while ago, I tried making five meals in five hours in an attempt to avoid the daily "What's for Dinner" question. I scoured my favorite recipes and found five meals that I could make in an afternoon. Some I could freeze for later, as well.

In Ottawa, there is a business called Dinner Essentials where you can go and make several meals at once. They do the shopping, prepping and clean-up. You do the assembly at their store and the cooking at home. Although I haven't tried this, it sounds appealing. The goal is the same: to have some prepared meals ready to go after a busy day.

I'll post one meal each day, in the order I made them. Here's the plan:

1. Savory Pot Roast
2. Shrimp Curry (or you could substitute chicken)
3. Chicken Stir-Fry (or you could substitute tofu)
4. Lavender and Rosemary Pork Tenderloin
5. Sun-dried Tomato Cream Sauce on Chicken or Pasta

First up is a Savory Pot Roast from Light Cooking for Two. This is my favorite pot roast recipe that my parents hooked me up with after I gave them this cookbook.

A pot roast is a brown braise, where meat is browned first (seared) and then dark ingredients, such as red wine or tomato sauce, are added. The goal is to take a tough piece of meat and tenderize it by roasting it slowly in some flavorful liquid. The heat melts the connective tissue in the meat slowly, making the meat fork-tender. While this is roasting, you can prepare the next meal (coming up tomorrow).

Recipe: Savory Pot Roast

adapted from Light Cooking for Two (affiliate link)

Serves: 10

Ingredients:

To Prepare and Eat Now:
In a roasting pan, heat the butter and oil on medium-high heat. Sear roast on each side. Add beef broth, garlic, lemon juice, pepper, tomato sauce and bay leaves. Ensure the liquid covers 1/3 of the meat (adding water if necessary). Cover and simmer for 1 hour 45 minutes.

Add carrots, celery and onion and cook for 45 minutes, or until meat is tender and cooked to the desired temperature. Remove and discard bay leaves. Discard vegetables.

To Freeze:
Roast to a temperature just a bit less than done so that when you reheat it, the meat will be perfect. Slice the beef and wrap between layers of wax paper. Recommended freezing time: 6-12 months.

To Prepare After Freezing:
Thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Heat the slices and sauce in the microwave.

Tips:
To save time, use bottled minced garlic and bottled lemon juice. To save money, mince your own garlic and squeeze your own lemon.

Although I used homemade beef stock in my version, I will use store-bought next time. The extra salt was missing in my au naturel version.

Tasting Notes
This is a favorite meal at our house. And the smell while it's roasting is pure comfort.

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Cost: $11.29 ($1.13 per serving)

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Other Pot Roast Recipes
• Elise from Simply Recipes: Pot Roast
• Alton Brown on Food Network: Pot Roast
• "A chuck for a chuck" video by Alton Brown