There are lots of ways to save time in the kitchen. I know some people who get together with friends and make a bunch of meals to freeze – kind of like the homesteading days when neighbors helped each other out. I know others cook only on Sundays, getting most of their meals ready for the week. My style is more double duty. I’ve never quite scaled back on the volume of meat I cook, even though we’re empty nesters now. That’s turned out to be a great strategy, as I almost always get two meals (or more) from the same cut of meat. Here are some great examples with recipes for you to try.The other night I made Perfectly Pan Seared Pork Chops (btw, that’s the number one most visited blog post I’ve ever done by a long shot, and I also continue to get thank you notes after people try my technique) along with some simple cooked barley. The next day I cubed the pork and used it along with most of the leftover barley to make a soup – I simply threw in some kale, tomatoes, stock, and a Parmesan rind to round it out. Kind of like this recipe. I even had enough soup/stew to freeze two containers for another lunch.A Roast Chicken or pan seared chicken breasts becomes a great Chicken Chili with White BeansLeftovers from your Roast Beef with Gravy from your Sunday Supper is perfect for making Beef Enchiladas with Poblanos.And finally, turn any leftover Flank Steak into Beef Stroganoff by simply using diced flank steak instead of ground beef in the recipe. You get the idea – it’s easy really.

Do you have some great double duty recipes of your own? Leave a comment with your idea below and I’ll pick a winner to receive a signed copy of the cookbook I put together for my CSA farm – Farm Fresh, Recipes from the Monroe Organic Farm CSA. It has a wide variety of recipes to use all of the vegetables our farm produces. I look forward to hearing your comments – post them no later than 5pm on March 19th to be entered!