Roasted Potatoes

This recipe is my favorite way to cook and eat potatoes. It’s so simple: just cut the potatoes, mix with some oil, salt and pepper, and pop in the oven. But even better than the simplicity of this dish, is the taste. Unlike with French fries, you can actually taste the potato flavor with roasted potatoes.

3 Russet potatoes
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Thoroughly wash, then dry, the potatoes. Cut into ½ inch cubes. There’s no need to peel the potatoes first – in fact I think the peel is the best part of the potato, and the most nutritious. Place potato cubes on a baking sheet.

Add the oil, salt and pepper to the potato cubes. Mix with your hands till the ingredients are well combined. Roast for 32-38 minutes, until golden brown.

Eating Out -- Making It Spiritual

A few days ago, I wrote about eating out and taking out -- not out of desperation, but in a planned way.

While it is easy to continue your mealtime spiritual practices when you take out, eating out can be a challenge. Our son is 5, and we have been praying together for meals his entire life, so he sees nothing odd about praying out loud when we are at a restaurant. Just yesterday when we were at a fair, he started us in a singing prayer. He didn't mind at all that there were other people around us.

My hunch is that he will mind when he is older. You may feel a little uncomfortable praying out loud in public. So how can you celebrate the spiritual dimension of eating when you're eating out? Here are some ideas:

1. Pray silently -- Have a moment of silence to allow each person around your table to pray silently. You can help your children be ready for silent prayer by talking about it at home before you leave for the restaurant. Tell your children that when you are at the restaurant, they can pray silently however they want. If your family has a favorite prayer at meals, say that your child might want to pray that prayer silently.

2. Give thanks -- Our family recently started a spiritual practice of giving thanks to God before we pray. Invite those around the table to say for what they want to thank God (just be sure you let everyone know they can pass if they choose). You can follow this time of thanksgiving with silent prayer.

What are your ideas?

Eating Out and Taking Out

If you've been following this blog for a while, you might be under the impression that I’m a home-cooking zealot. So what I’m going to suggest next may shock you.

When you plan your menu for the week, you can plan times to eat out or order take out. By even suggesting such a thing, you may be thinking I’ve abandoned the call to make meals that nourish both body and soul. But I’ haven’t. Really.

There is a difference between planning for these non-home-cooked meals and turning to the take out menus in desperation. When you plan to go to a favorite restaurant, or pick up dinner from your favorite take-out place, or try a new restaurant, or order pizza to be delivered, these become special events. When you know you’re going to have a stressful day, having someone else do the cooking may be the perfect stress release.

Sharing a meal at a restaurant with your friends, diving into Kung Pao chicken or pizza around your family’s dinner table can all be celebrations.

Stay tuned for some suggestions about how eating out and taking out can nourish both body and soul.

Chicken with Summer Vegetable Salsa

This dish was born at this year's summer feast hosted by "our farm," Homestead Farm, a community supported agriculture (CSA) farm near Millington, Maryland. Forty of us, including the people who actually own and work the farm, Luke and Allison Howard, gathered for a feast -- that we had to prepare. Most of the ingredients were grown right there on the farm. We were divided into teams, and each team worked on one -- or in some cases (like Kathleen and me) two -- dishes.

The first dish we worked on -- a salsa for one of the appetizers -- didn't have a recipe. We just chopped and added ingredients into the bowl and came up with -- something delicious! Really, truly delicious. Kathleen and I loved it so much, we made sure to write down the ingredients before we forgot.

This salsa is too good to be relegated to a dip accompanied by chips. Then it hit me: use it as an accompaniment to chicken. What an inspiration! The combination of flavors and textures (the lightly crispy chicken and the perfectly ripe vegetables) makes this a summer-time hit.

Chicken with Summer Vegetable Salsa is a fleeting pleasure, to be enjoyed when vine-ripened tomatoes are plentiful. Don't even think of trying this with canned tomatoes or even hot-house tomatoes.

Serves 4

2 ears of corn
2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil -- divided
4 tomatoes (vine-ripened), seeds removed and chopped -- about 3 cups (These can be red tomatoes, yellow tomatoes, or a mix)
1 cucumber, peeled, seeds removed, and chopped the same size as the tomatoes -- about 1 1/2 cups
1/2 cup of finely chopped red onion
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
salt
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tablespoons butter

Shuck the corn, then rub with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Grill the corn on all sides until there are slight brownish black grill marks (about 6-10 minutes total). Remove corn from grill and set aside to cool.

Combine chopped tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, garlic and half of the cilantro into a bowl. When the corn is cool enough to touch, remove the kernels from the cobs with a sharp knife. Add the corn to the bowl with the other vegetables. Add salt to taste. (Yes, that means be sure to taste it. You may need to add more cilantro and salt, which is why you should hold back from adding all the cilantro at the beginning).

Set the salsa aside while you prepare the chicken.

Put the flour on a plate. Dredge the chicken in the flour, being sure to coat the entire surface of each breast. Shake off the excess flour. Heat the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil and the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When the butter melts, add the chicken. Cook on the first side for 4-5 minutes till golden brown. Flip using tongs. Cook the second side for another 4-5 minutes. (Be sure to check that the chicken is completely cooked through by slightly cutting open the thickest part of the largest breast. Eating raw chicken is neither appetizing nor healthy.)

Plate the chicken. Spoon the salsa over each portion. And avoid the temptation to be greedy -- divide the salsa evenly!

Peter's Favorite -- Spaghetti and Meatballs

My absolute favorite meal as a child was my mother’s spaghetti and meatballs. I don’t know where she learned to make this Italian-American favorite – there is no Italian heritage in her family, and she grew up in a town in the mountains of central Pennsylvania not known for having a substantial Italian-American population. Yet this recipe is reminiscent of some of the best spaghetti and meatball meals I have had at restaurants in the Little Italy section of my hometown, Wilmington, Delaware. The tomato paste gives the sauce both sweetness and depth of flavor, so there is no need to add sugar. The long simmering time creates a hearty sauce.

While I have been making my mother’s recipe for spaghetti sauce since I was in high school, her recipe for meatballs was only okay. Whenever I made them, pan fried on the stovetop, the meatballs came out looking more like cubes or pyramids than balls. And while the taste was acceptable, it wasn’t exceptional.

Then it hit me: convert my wife Kathleen’s recipe for the best-ever hamburgers to make meatballs. And instead of pan frying them, bake them in the oven. This version of meatballs is not only easier to make than my mother’s recipe – they taste much better. (Sorry Mom!)

There are other recipes for delicious tomato sauce that use fresh tomatoes and herbs. But this is still my favorite. This is also my son’s favorite, and he requests Daddy’s spaghetti and meatballs on his birthday and at least once a week.

Serves 4

Sauce
28 oz. can tomato sauce
12 oz. can tomato paste
2 small cloves (or 1 large clove) of garlic, minced
Water (enough to fill the can of tomato paste that has been emptied of its original contents)
1 ½ teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano

Combine the tomato sauce, tomato paste, water, garlic and dried herbs in a large pot (a Dutch oven works well). Heat over medium-high heat till the sauce starts to simmer, then turn to low and simmer for one hour, being sure to stir every few minutes.

As sauce is simmering, preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Meatballs
1 egg
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 pound ground beef
¼ cup Italian-style bread crumbs
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese (not the kind from the green canister; buy a block of good quality Parmesan and grate the amount you need. Trust me, it makes a difference.)

Combine the egg and Worcestershire sauce in a large bowl till the eggs are slightly scrambled. Add the ground beef, bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. Mix lightly, but combine the ingredients thoroughly. Form the meat mixture into balls the size of a walnut. Place the meatballs on a baking sheet (preferably lined with parchment paper). Bake the meatballs in a 425 degree oven for 10-12 minutes.

While meatballs are baking, cook the spaghetti according to package directions. (Note: if you love spaghetti, invest in an inexpensive kitchen gadget that easily measures the correct serving size. Mine is a plastic disc with holes for 1, 2, 3 and 4 servings.)

Drain spaghetti, and toss with approximately ½ cup of sauce. Serve the meatballs and the remainder of the sauce in a separate bowl.

(Note: The leftover sauce freezes well. In fact, you may want to double the sauce recipe and freeze the leftover sauce in 1 ½ - 2 cup containers. The frozen sauce can be quickly defrosted, re-heated and used as the topping for a quick meal of pasta. This sauce is much better – and more economical – than anything you can buy in a jar.)

Making Meals Social Idea -- Weekly Potluck

We human beings are social. We benefit from sharing meals with other people. Yet when you live alone, having social meals can be a challenge.

After I graduated from college, I moved across the country for a new job. I did not know even one person within hundreds of miles of my new home. My co-workers were friendly, and I often ate lunch with people from the office. But most meals I ate alone.

I found a church home, and in a few weeks, some people from church invited me to a Bible study and potluck dinner. Once a week, several of us got together to eat, to study scripture, and to get to know each other. The group was diverse: while I was the youngest at 21, the oldest was more than 50 years my senior. In a sense, it was a singles potluck. Several of us had never been married. Some were divorced, separated or widowed. And some were married, but their spouses were not at all interested in any church activities, so they came alone.

These dinners became a highlight of my week. I enjoyed the opportunity to dig into scripture, the variety of food (most of it delicious), the challenge of figuring out what I could bring to share, and the connection with other people. We never assigned who would bring what dish, yet we always enjoyed a feast. The weekly potluck was a true celebration.

If you're looking for ideas to bring to a potluck, check out older posts, and look for future posts. Many of the recipes can easily be doubled and be perfect to share with others.

Pork Milanese

Using a classic cooking method in a new way can lead to the creation of a scrumptious new dish. Take the classic recipe – Veal Milanese – and swap out veal for boneless pork chops, and the result is one of my favorite ways to eat pork.

This dish looks and tastes elegant, yet is surprisingly quick and easy to prepare. In just minutes, you can wow your family and your friends.

This recipe can be easily doubled. To double the recipe, either use two skillets, or cook in two shifts, warming the first batch of pork in a 200 degree oven.

Serves 4

4 boneless pork chops
¼ cup flour
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
¼ cup Italian-style bread crumbs
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter

Trim fat from the pork chops. Put a 1 ½ foot-long piece of plastic wrap on the counter and place one chop on the plastic wrap, four to five inches from the edge. Fold the remaining plastic wrap over the chop. Using a kitchen mallet or rolling pin, pound out the chop till it is about ¼ inch thick. Repeat with the remaining chops.

Put the flour on a plate. Combine the egg and water in a pie plate. And put the bread crumbs on another plate. Take one of the flattened pork chops and thoroughly coat with flour, being sure to shake off the excess. Dip the floured chop in the egg mixture. Then put the chop in the bread crumbs and coat all sides. Repeat with the remaining chops.

Heat the olive oil and butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When the butter is melted, add the chops. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes, turning once, till the chops are slightly brown on both sides. Serve while hot.

Baked Chicken with Summer Vegetable Sauce

Some recipes just happen. I decided to experiment with an old standby chicken recipe to make it even better. For a side dish, I made another old standby: zucchini and tomatoes. As we were eating dinner, Kathleen decided to combine the two and – voila! – a delicious new main course.

I made this with garden fresh tomatoes, zucchini and basil, yet you can also make this in the dead of winter with canned tomatoes, store-bought zucchini and dried basil. It won’t be as exquisite as with the fresh zucchini and tomato sauce, but it will still be tasty.

Serves 4

¼ cup buttermilk (I use reduced fat buttermilk)
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon honey
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
6 tablespoons breadcrumbs, Italian-style
2 medium zucchini
1 – 2 tablespoons olive oil
2 vine-ripened tomatoes
4-6 fresh basil leaves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place the buttermilk, Dijon mustard and honey in a pie plate; mix to combine. Place the breadcrumbs in a second pie plate. One at a time, coat the chicken breasts in the buttermilk mixture and then the bread crumbs; shake off the excess bread crumbs. Place the chicken on a rack set on a baking sheet (this will ensure that the chicken is as crispy on the bottom as on the top). Bake for 30-35 minutes.

While the chicken is baking, cut the zucchini into ¼ inch wide slices. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the zucchini to the skillet. Cook 8-10 minutes, flipping once, till slightly browned. Meanwhile, dice the tomatoes (I prefer to peel the tomatoes first using a serrated peeler, but you can skip this step if you wish). Add the tomatoes to the zucchini and mix to combine; cook for 4-5 more minutes. Roll up the washed basil leaves, and julienne (slice thinly). Add the basil to the zucchini-tomato sauce. Remove from heat.

Serve with the chicken on a platter with the zucchini-tomato sauce in a separate bowl.

Making Meals Social

One of the principles of Celebrate Every Day is that meals can be social. But making meals social is a challenge if you live alone or if the nest is empty. Sometimes even preparing meals beyond heating up a frozen dinner or ordering take out can be a struggle.

Everyone, including those who live alone and families with children, can make meals more social from time to time. By extending the table to include those beyond the home, we not only increase the number of people celebrating, we increase the celebration itself.

Here's one idea.

Sub Night

We have several close friends we used to see at least once a week, until we moved an hour away. A few years later, another couple moved an hour away in the opposite direction. In order to keep the bonds of friendship strong, we decided to get together approximately once a month. And to make our gatherings easy on the host, we have Sub Night.

The point of Sub Night is not to have a gourmet meal, but to celebrate together. Sub Night is a social meal made easy. The host is responsible for beverages, appetizers, and dessert. Each person is to bring his or her own main course, usually subs.

We skip some months. Other months the host decides to cook for the entire crowd. But whatever form it takes, Sub Night has helped our group of friends stay close for more than a decade. While devouring hundreds of subs, we have celebrated with each other the addition of a new baby and consoled each other through divorce. We are at different stages of life; our ages span from early 40s to early 80s, and one couple’s grandchildren are older than our son. But because we take the time to have social meals together, our bonds of friendship have remained strong.

More ideas for making meals social will come in the near future.

The Taste of Summer

Tonight, summer arrived for me. Yes, we've already had some hot days. And it's true, I actually don't like hot weather, so I wasn't complaining that June was colder and wetter than usual around here. But there was one problem with our cold and wet June: no tomatoes.

But tonight, we finally enjoyed what to me is the taste of summer -- tomatoes. And not just tomatoes any old way, but tomatoes in Caprese Salad.

Of course, I haven't been to the Isle of Capri off the coast of southern Italy. The closest Kathleen and I got was Naples, which is close, but no cigar. Yet I have fallen in love with this delectable salad inspired by that celebrate island.

Caprese Salad is simple to make, but easy to mess up. To really enjoy this dish, you have to use vine-ripened tomatoes. You cannot make this with hothouse tomatoes or canned tomatoes. And you need to use fresh basil. And fresh mozzarella. And extra virgin olive oil.

4 tomatoes
20-25 fresh basil leaves
1 pound fresh mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Slice tomatoes 1/4 inch thick. Wash basil leaves and dry in a salad spinner or on clean kitchen towel. Slice mozzarella 1/4 inch thick and about the same size as the tomato slices.

Arrange the tomato, basil and mozzarella on a platter in a circle (first a tomato slice, then a basil leaf, followed by a slice of mozzarella, and repeat). Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Tip: Refrigerating tomatoes will destroy their texture. Leave them on the kitchen counter instead, and eat them within a few days. If you have more than you can eat, you can:

1. Make tomato sauce and freeze the sauce
2. Make salsa
3. Give tomatoes to your friends, neighbors and family members who don't have gardens. They'll thank you!

Last Night's Experiment -- Verdict: Delicious

Chicken Strudel

You may remember that last night I tried another culinary experiment. It was delicious! It turned out great. Not only was it easy to make, much easier than I feared, it tasted great. So great that there were no leftovers.

Serves 4

2 ½ cups cooked chicken, shredded
1 scallion, chopped (both the green and the white parts)
¼ cup raisins
½ cup cashews, chopped
¼ cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons mango chutney
1 tablespoon apple juice
2 teaspoons curry powder
8 tablespoons butter, melted
10 sheets of phyllo dough, thawed out in the refrigerator overnight
2 tablespoons plain breadcrumbs

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Place the shredded chicken, the chopped scallion, the raisins and the cashews in a bowl.

Add the mayonnaise, chutney, apple juice and curry powder to the bowl of a food processor. Whir to form a sauce, which will probably be more sauce then you will need for the dish.

Stir together the chicken mixture with just enough sauce to moisten. Set aside.

Unfold 1 sheet of phyllo dough, with the long side in front of you. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with some of the bread crumbs. Add a second sheet on top of the first, brush with butter and sprinkle the bread crumbs. Repeat till you have five layers. Spoon half of the chicken mixture in an even line, about 1 inch in from the long side. Roll it up, brush with melted butter and set aside. Repeat the entire process using the remaining phyllo dough, melted butter, bread crumbs and chicken mixture.

Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper or Silpat. Score the strudel diagonally at approximately 1 ½ inch intervals. Bake for 12 minutes, until lightly brown on top. Slice through the score marks, and serve.

Tonight's Culinary Experiment

Tonight, we try something new -- Chicken Curry Strudel. I'm taking a favorite -- a chicken salad recipe with curry powder, chutney, etc. -- modifying it, and putting it inside phyllo dough. Of course I have never used phyllo dough, so that in and of itself should be challenging.

To me, this has potential. It sounds delicious.

Will it work? Or will we order take out? I'll let you know tomorrow.

Singing the Mealtime Prayer

One of our family’s current favorite ways to pray before meals is to sing our prayer. Usually we sing a slightly modified version of a traditional prayer, “God Is Great and God Is Good,” to the tune Hendon, the music for the hymn “Ask Ye What Great Thing I Know.”

God is great and God is good,
Let us thank him for our food.
By his hand we all are fed,
Thank you, Lord, for daily bread.
Thank you, Lord, for daily bread. Amen.

You can also sing this gender-inclusive version, which makes it clear that God is neither male nor female:

God is great and God is good,
Let us thank God for our food.
By God’s hand we all are fed,
Thank you, Lord, for daily bread.
Thank you, Lord, for daily bread. Amen.

Another good sung mealtime prayer is often called “The Wesley Grace,” although the words are attributed to John Cennick.

Be present at our table, Lord;
Be here and everywhere adored;
Thy creatures bless, and grant that we
May feast in paradise with thee. Amen.

This prayer, which reminds us of Jesus’ promise that we are invited to a great heavenly banquet with God, is usually sung to the tune Old 100th, a tune that has been used for the doxology sung in many Protestant worship traditions.

Singing the mealtime prayer is not just reserved for families with children; it is also appropriate for adults of all ages. Dean McIntyre, who works for the United Methodist Board of Discipleship, joyfully reminds gatherings of worship leaders that singing our grace reminds us not only of the spiritual dimension of food, but also the joy of sharing a meal with others.

Planning Tips to Make Meals Simple

Money-saving Tip: As you plan your weekly menu, consult the supermarket circulars to see what food items are on sale. Who knows, this might be the week you can splurge on filet mignon because of a special at your local store!

Family-friendly Tip: Include the whole family in your menu planning. It can be as easy as asking, “What would you like to have for dinner this week?” Not only will asking the question help you come up with ideas, it will also help dinner be more of a true family meal. And if you have fussy eaters, they may be more willing to eat dinner when they help plan it.

Time-saving and Money-saving Tip: As you plan your dinner menu, prepare a shopping list. List all the ingredients you will need to buy for each dinner planned. Your list ensures that you will have everything you need when you need it. The list will save you time – you won’t have to go back to the store again and again to get a needed item you forgot. And the list will save you money – with a list, you are less likely to buy on items on impulse that you do not need. Plus when you go to the store less frequently, you are less tempted to overspend. The Marketing Science Institute reports that shoppers on a “quick trip” to the store usually spent 54 percent more than planned. ("Save Money on Food," February 26, 2008, Kiplinger.com) The fewer quick trips you make to the store, the more money you will save.

Another Time-saving Tip: If you are a regular customer of a supermarket, you can save time by organizing your list according to where the items are in the store. At the store I frequent, the produce department is at the door, so fruits and vegetables are first on my list. I know that canned tomato products are in the same aisle as dried pasta, so I list them together on my list. Dairy products and eggs are at the far-end of the store from the entrance, so those items are at the bottom of my list. Instead of zig-zagging around the store, back-tracking to get what I need, and forgetting something I need, I save time by organizing my list as the store is organized.

Yet Another Time-Saving Tip: When you plan your menu for the week, you can also plan for leftovers. I will be honest with you: I hate leftovers. Let me clarify that: I hate eating leftovers that have simply been heated up. But when you plan for leftovers, you can creatively make them into a totally different meal. If you have chicken salad on Sunday, you can roast extra chicken and have risotto with chicken and asparagus or chicken enchiladas later in the week. If you have tomato sauce in the freezer from when you made a big batch two weeks ago, you can have spaghetti and meatballs with your own homemade sauce in half an hour.

Pipe Dream?

You may think that the idea of everyday celebrations is a pipe dream. Who can pull off a sit-down dinner every day? It seems unworkable, both for two-parent families where both husband and wife work outside the home, and for those who are single. Shopping, cooking, cleaning up are just the tip of the iceberg. Even coming up with what to have for dinner can be challenging. And then to celebrate the spiritual dimensions of meals on top of it all?

“The meal is not something that Americans see as primary in their lives,” according to Darra Goldstein, editor in chief of Gastronomica, a food and culture journal. “Eating is something they do while they’re doing something else.” (“Takeout Transition: Restaurant used to be where folks would eat in,” The News Journal, June 19, 2007)

Phyllis Tickle writes that the changed dynamics of family life over the last three or four decades “translates to the complete reorientation of the evening hours in the family’s life. The solidifying bond of a shared meal is often sacrificed.” Tickle asserts that the change in family life also leads to the sacrifice of “the traditional time of family-based religious instruction and formation.” (Phyllis Tickle, The Great Emergence, p. 115)

We cannot turn the calendar back to the 1950s, even if we wanted to. Instead, we can re-configure mealtime. This blog is filled with suggestions for how to realistically get meals ready, tips for how meals can be more social (even for those who live alone), ideas to enhance the spiritual nature of eating, and of course recipes for succulent dishes.

Everyday celebrations are not only possible, but life-giving.

Meals that Are Simple

I remember a television commercial that used to drive me crazy. It begins just after a family has finished eating dinner. Dad and the children are in the family room, having fun. But Mom is stuck in the kitchen, cleaning up. Poor Mom is washing the dishes, while everyone else is playing. The solution? According to this commercial: buy paper plates! At the end of the commercial, after the family has eaten on paper plates, Mom is in the family room, joining the fun with everyone else.

That commercial taps in to a real frustration: having dinner at home can be a lot of work. Watching that paper plate commercial, the viewer gets the distinct sense that most likely Mom did all the work preparing for dinner, too: planning, shopping, cooking, and setting the table. Disposable plates might seem like part of the solution to the daily frustration.

Of course, there is another way, a way to make food simple.

Sitting down to an everyday celebration can seem a monumental task when you ask yourself, “Okay, what am I going to make for dinner?” on your way home from work. The drive-through window, the frozen entrée aisle at the supermarket, and the stack of take out menus at home are all appealing at 5:30.

There is nothing wrong with asking the question, “What am I going to make for dinner?” In fact, it is a great question, when you ask it early enough.

How early? I recommend asking that question for the entire week as you plan meals in advance. You may be thinking, “I thought this is supposed to make food simple? Planning in advance doesn’t sound simple.” While advance planning may not sound simple at first, trust me, it is. Not only does planning simplify your meal preparation, it will also save you money and save you time.

Start planning by deciding your dinner menu for the week. You can come up with ideas by scanning cookbooks, watching television cooking shows, or thumbing through the recipes in this book. Have a hectic Wednesday coming up? That may be the perfect time to have a dinner you can prepare in a flash. Have a late day on Friday? Then Friday may be the day to break out the slow cooker and plan a little preparation time in the morning so dinner will be ready when you get home.