With new life stages, come new inspiration. Rush Hour Meals, a new cookbook by longtime Canadian food media personality Rose Reisman was inspired by her new life stage as a grandmother to twin girls.
In the book’s preface she shares her concerns about families trying to manage in today’s go-go-go world while also making nutritious food a priority. Her cookbook aims to help busy families get nutritious and delicious meals on the table in 30 minutes or less. We hope to do the same thing over here at How to Eat, so we thought we’d give some of her recipes a try and Whitecap sent us a book to do just that!
Chapters include appetizers, soups, salads, vegetables, mains, desserts and all-day breakfasts (which I’m totally in to, but find to be a weird addition at the end of the book). Each recipe includes the basic nutrition breakdown for each serving as well as a ‘nutrition tip’ and ‘for kids’ sidebar. Truthfully, the nutrition tips are a bit humdrum and could’ve been left out, but some of the ‘for kids’ tips are useful tidbits about how to make recipe substitutions that may appeal more to kids.
Some of the recipes that intrigued me, which I plan to make in the future include: Bok Choy and Mandarin Orange Salad with Ginger Dressing, Curried Chicken Soup, Mushroom and Almond Crusted Tilapia, Salmon with Pea Pesto, Greek Phyllo Burger and Flourless Chocolate Pecan Cookies. While some recipes rely on pre-made sauces (hoisin, barbecue, tomato sauce) to move things along more quickly, most time savers include using canned/ frozen vegetables (we love this shortcut). Still, reading through the recipes, there is a lot of prep and several components for some recipes, making me a little sceptical of the prep and cook times which generally fall under 30 minutes.
The recipes I made in time for this post are the Meatball and Rice Noodle Lettuce Wraps and the Black Bean Burgers. I’ll even share the recipe for the lettuce wraps. ‘Cause I love y’all soooo much. That and they were damn tasty.
Both recipes had easy to follow, straight forward instructions and easily accessible ingredients (key when targeting busy families!). The burgers were a mix of black beans and mushrooms and were flavoured with tahini, garlic, hot sauce and garnished with a creamy avocado-lime sauce. They could be served with or without a bun (my preference was without). Overall, a solid veggie burger!
The meatballs were AWESOME (and gorgeous!). They remind me of our Thai Turkey Meatballs. The recipe is in the appetizer chapter, but we ate them as a main. They were a little tricky to eat because boston lettuce is quite soft, so if I was serving them as an app, I would probably max out at 2 meatballs per lettuce cup. Otherwise, you may want some utensils.
As I suspected, both recipes took me way more time than they were supposed to. I consider myself a fairly efficient home cook and each recipes took about an hour to make (about double the time listed in the book). I’m sure I could shave off a few minutes if I were to repeat these recipes, but I think less than 30 minutes would be unrealistic.
I will definitely continue to cook through this book. There are a lot of unique recipes that would be worth trying even knowing they can’t be done in a ‘rush’.
If you want a chance to win your own copy of Rush Hour Meals, leave us a comment and tell us what your favourite kitchen shortcut is!
In the meantime, make these delicious little balls of meat and check out what our fellow food bloggers had to say about the book!
Meatball and Rice Noodle Lettuce Wraps
Serves | 10 individual appetizer servings |
Prep time | 45 minutes |
Cook time | 15 minutes |
Total time | 1 hour |
From book | Rush Hour Meals by Rose Reisman |
Ingredients
Sauce
- ¾ cup light coconut milk
- ⅓ cup reduced sodium beef or chicken stock
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
- 2 teaspoons packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon corn starch
- 1 teaspoon minced peeled fresh ginger
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon Sriracha or your favourite hot sauce
Meatballs
- 1lb extra lean ground beef
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup finely diced green onions
- ¼ cup unseasoned dry breadcrumbs
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1½ teaspoon minced peeled fresh ginger
- 60g dried thin rice noodles
- 10 Boston lettuce leaves
- ¼ cup hoisin sauce
Garnish
- ¼ cup diced red bell pepper
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
Directions
1. | Preheat oven to 425F. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray lightly with vegetable oil. |
2. | Make the sauce: In a bowl, combine coconut milk, stock, lemon juice, hoisin, sugar, cornstarch, ginger, garlic and Sriracha and stir until cornstarch dissolved. |
3. | Make the meatballs: In a bowl, combine the beef, egg, hoisin, onions, breadcrumbs, cilantro, garlic and ginger. Using your hands, form about thirty 1-inch meatballs. Place on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. |
4. | In a small skillet over medium heat, cook the prepared sauce until slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. |
5. | Meanwhile, in a saucepan of boiling water, cook the noodles according to the package directions. Drain well. |
6. | Top each lettuce leaf with an equal amount of the cooked noodles. Top noodles with three meatballs and drizzle with sauce. Garnish with red pepper and sesame seeds. |
Erin
This giveaway is open to all legal residents of Canada who have reached the
age of majority at the time of the contest in the province or territory in
which they reside.
No purchase necessary to enter.
Giveaway will run from Wednesday, June 15, 2016 at 12:01am to end on
Wednesday, June 22, 2016 at 11:59pm. Winner is chosen at random via
Rafflecopter. Winner will be contacted via email and given 48 hours to
respond. If not, a new winner will be chosen. Winner selected MUST
correctly answer a skill-testing mathematical question. Winner’s name will
be displayed on Rafflecopter widget. Email address will never be given out
to any third party or anyone for that matter.
Prize value is approximately $25CDN.
1
Janis Evans says
Sounds like an interesting read with some unique recipes! Would love to add it to my collection!
Caitlin Lacy says
Looks like a cookbook I could use right now. Life is busy!
Kitchen shortcuts, I have many, but the biggest lifesaver right now is spending some time Sunday to meal plan and meal prep for the week. BBQ chicken, make quinoa salad, pre-cut fruits and veggies really helps save time during the week for this busy family of 3 with activities at least 4 nights a week!
Anna (Hidden Ponies) says
These look great, I always forget how delicious lettuce wraps are!
Pam says
Favourite kitchen shortcuts:
-having frozen fruit in the freezer ready to throw into a smoothie
-buying pre-cut/washed veggies from the supermarket
Laura says
Our favourite kitchen shortcuts are throwing frozen veggies in with boiling pasta (less prep work and dishes) and cooking large batches of grains (quinoa or rice usually) in advance to throw into different dishes throughout the week.
Johnie says
Infatti intendevo la composizione del tuo poetico post! perchè, come diceva Bernardo di Chartres, siamo come nani sulle spalle di giganti!Conosco Erri De Luca… lo citai, in tua risposta, qualche or sono. Si parlava di viaggi circolari e viaggi senza ritorno e anche qun27l1l;occasioee tirasti fuori il tuo illustre cugino. A quale poesia ti riferisci? Vi dedicherai un tuo componimento?
Heather says
Great post! Fav kitchen shortcuts at the moment are doing large batches of beans or quinoa in the pressure cooker and freezing leftovers, and also doubling casserole/soup/sauce recipes and freezing extra meals for busy nights.
Carol says
Love your posts! My shortcut is making food ahead of time on the weekend and freezing them. I never have to worry about cooking during the week !
Karen says
Yum! Those meatballs look delish! My favourite kitchen shortcut is doubling a recipe and freezing extras for busy days.
Jen b. says
My shortcut is prepping as much as I can in advance! That’s what weekends are for!
Cassandra says
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