Written by GAIL McGLOTHIN    |   Photographed by APRIL McGLOTHIN-ELLER

Knowing what BOGO means was a rite of passage for me. I grew up looking at the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted posters on my small town post office wall and learned what AKA meant. Reading detective novels enlightened me on BOLO. And then the acronyms for texting – LOL, BTW, TBH – surfaced, but I still didn’t know what BOGO meant. My grocery list was the hint. After a big BOGO sale, I noticed several items were 50% off. Hence, Buy One Get One.

Many things in our world are suited to two: Peanut butter and jelly. Fall and college football. A manicure is a treat, but a mani-pedi is luxury itself. One child is great, but twins – someone to wash and someone to dry! And of course, the left Twix is just a shadow unless the right Twix is in the package.

Along with BOGO at the grocery store, another treat for busy cooks, gourmet cooks or “don’t like to cook” cooks is to cook once and get two meals out of it. In other words: Cook Once Eat Twice (COET).

I’ve gotten good at cooking just enough food for our family of five. Sometimes leftovers for one or two lunches may be stowed away in the refrigerator. But for a special occasion, a busy week, or the family just wants two entrees: COET.

Time savers are especially helpful when you are in the COET mood. When chopping onions and garlic for your main dish, chop extra for the other meal components. If you’re baking potatoes and plan to have them tonight and later in the week, bake enough for both meals. Extra boiled eggs in the refrigerator is a convenient snack food.

On COET nights, since you’re cooking extra for another meal, write amounts for each ingredient on the recipe(s) for future reference.

40 Cloves of Garlic Chicken

“This recipe started out as 20 cloves of garlic and worked its way up to 40 cloves, so we have enough garlic for an appetizer or sandwich spread. Mashing half of the garlic cloves to stir back into the sauce gives it a creamy texture without the fat and calories of cream.”

4 heads garlic

6-8 chicken thighs

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

4 sprigs fresh thyme

1 bay leaf

1½  cups chicken stock

1 tablespoon cornstarch

Fill saucepan with 2 cups water; bring to a boil. Separate 40 garlic cloves, but do not peel. Add to water and cook 1 minute. Drain, cool and peel.

With paper towels, dry chicken and season with salt and pepper. Heat a large deep pan or skillet over medium high heat. Add butter and oil. Brown chicken, skin side down, and cook 5 minutes; flip and cook 3 minutes on the other side. You will need to cook in batches.

Plate the first batch and repeat with the second batch. Return all thighs to pan. Scatter peeled garlic cloves around. Add thyme, bay leaf and 1 cup chicken stock. Cover and cook over medium low heat for 30 to 35 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Transfer chicken and garlic to a platter and cover to keep warm.

Mash half of cloves to a paste and put back into pot, stirring well. Discard the bay leaf.  Turn heat to high and boil until liquid is reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Whisk cornstarch into the remaining ½ cup chicken stock. Stir into the pan and cook until stock is slightly thickened. Pour sauce over chicken and serve. This works well over rice, pasta or potatoes.

Pasta with Chicken, Spinach and Tomatoes

“This recipe gives a good opportunity to try fun pasta 

shapes and sizes.”   

½ pound pasta

2 tablespoons olive oil

1½ teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1½ teaspoons balsamic vinegar

¼ teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

1 teaspoon fresh rosemary

1 teaspoon chopped garlic

2-3 cups chopped chicken thighs (preferably 

leftovers from 40 Cloves of Garlic Chicken)

3 cups chopped fresh spinach

1 cup chopped tomatoes

½ cup chicken broth

½ cup grated parmesan cheese

Follow directions on pasta container to start cooking pasta. Drain when done. Combine 2 tablespoons oil, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, crushed red pepper, rosemary, and 1 teaspoon garlic in large bowl. Set aside.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large skillet. Sauté garlic for one minute; add chicken and sauté until the chicken is warm. Add spinach and chopped tomatoes. Stir until spinach has wilted. Add pasta, Worcestershire mixture and chicken broth. Cook over medium heat until stock is slightly absorbed. Stir in parmesan cheese and serve. Serves 4 generously.

Refrigerator Rolls

“Summer time is a good time to make yeast raised rolls, savory and sweet. Once the dough is in the refrigerator, the rolls are easy enough to get onto the table for dinner or breakfast.”

1 package yeast

½ cup warm water

¼ cup sugar

1 cup soft butter

2 teaspoons salt

1 cup mashed potatoes (unseasoned and a 

little dry)

1 cup hot potato water

1 large egg, beaten

6 cups all-purpose flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water with 1 teaspoon of the sugar. Let sit until bubbly. Stir together butter, remaining sugar, salt and mashed potatoes; add hot potato water. When cool, stir in yeast and beaten egg. Add enough flour, one cup at a time, to make a stiff dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead well. Put into oiled bowl, cover loosely with plastic wrap then a dish towel, and place in refrigerator for up to a week. Punch the dough down as it rises in refrigerator.

When ready to use, remove half of the dough from refrigerator and bring to room temperature. Shape into rolls as simple or as elegant as you please; place on parchment paper. Cover and let rise until doubled. Bake about 20 minutes at 375 degrees until brown and done. (Use remaining half of dough to make Strawberry Cream Rolls.)

Strawberry Cream Rolls

8   ounces cream cheese, softened

1/3    cup granulated sugar

1   teaspoon vanilla

1/3   cup strawberry jelly or your favorite jelly

  Refrigerator Rolls (½ dough from previous recipe)

1½   cups confectioner’s sugar

2 to 3  tablespoons milk

Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Put jelly in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave 10 to 20 seconds until jelly is thin. Set both aside.

Grease 9x13-inch baking dish with butter or shortening. Punch down dough and turn out onto a floured surface. Because the dough is soft, it is better, but harder, to work with if cold. Roll dough into a rectangle 12 inches wide and 7 to 8 inches long. Spread cream cheese mixture to 1 inch of each side. Dot thinned jelly evenly across the cream cheese mixture. Roll from long edge, ending with seam on the bottom. With a sharp knife, cut into 1-inch slices and place cut edge down in dish.

Cover and let rise until doubled. Bake at 375 degrees until brown and done, about 20 minutes. After removing from oven, mix confectioner’s sugar with milk. Drizzle over rolls.   

Kelly’s Kick-Butt Butt

7-8 pound Boston butt

Garlic powder

Tony Chachere’s Cajun Seasoning

1 bottle A-1 Steak Sauce

At least 3 hours before grilling, rinse the butt and pat dry with paper towel. Lay a double layer of wide and heavy aluminum foil on a counter. Center the butt on the foil. Sprinkle garlic powder on all surfaces of the meat, followed by a generous sprinkling of Tony’s seasoning. Massage into the butt, adding more garlic or Tony’s as needed. Pour a medium bottle of A-1 Steak Sauce over the top. Tightly wrap and seal the meat. Place in refrigerator overnight or at least 3 hours before grilling.

Preheat gas grill to 400 degrees. Place butt in center of grill, turning off the flames below the butt and leaving both sides on. Close the lid to the grill and let it cool down to 350 degrees, keeping the grill at 350. Using a meat thermometer, check the temperature of the butt. Remove from grill when the internal temperature is 145 to 150 degrees. Let rest for at least 15 minutes; slice and serve.  

Cuban Sandwich

“Mashing the sandwich is key to this crunchy lunch. Mashing it down with cast iron and filling the cast iron skillet with heavy cans is the best way to get them flat. Cuban sandwiches are thin and crispy so a panini grill is handy but a griddle, spatula and cast iron pan works just as well.”

For one sandwich:

1 crusty hoagie roll

Yellow mustard

Hamburger dill pickle

Roast pork slices (from Kelly’s Kick-Butt Butt)

Ham slices

Swiss or Provolone cheese slices

Butter

Spread inside of each half of roll with yellow mustard. Lay 3 to 4 hamburger dills on mustard. Layer roast pork, ham and cheese on top of pickles. Cover with top of bun. Heat griddle, panini cooker or sauce pan. Spread bottom and top of sandwich with butter. Grill on medium heat, mashing the sandwich as thin as possible. NCM