What an awesome set of ideas! Thanks for sharing. D C
On 7/17/2015 9:28 AM, Linda Yacks via Cookinginthedark wrote:
Hi there, I like to cook ahead! A long time ago, there was a book called "once a month cooking." I can't remember much of the stuff in there, but it did get me thinking about how much time I could save by planning and cooking ahead. When I find high-quality ground beef on sale, I buy up several pounds. One place I used to get good ground beef at a lower cost that the regular store was Sam's or Costco. Anyway, I take 5-6 pounds of the meat and make meatloaf mixture. Then I separate that into as many meatloaves in the size I need for my family. I cook one for dinner and freeze the rest. That way, I only have to thaw it out and put it in the oven. I also cook up the ground beef in a skillet with some onion, garlic, salt and pepper. Drain well, then separate into about 2 cup packages and freeze. With this meat cooked, I can put many meals on the table within 15 minutes. Quinoa will freeze. One of my favorite dishes to make more of and freeze is Hawaiian chicken with quinoa. You can facilitate the cooking of this dish and many others by cutting up the chicken or meat prior to freezing. So, I take out my frozen chopped chicken and put it in the fridge the night before. You can place the remaining ingredients of the recipe in a covered dish and refrigerate. In the morning, simply place chicken and fixings in your crockpot and turn on low. The quinoa can be cooked in the microwave in about 10 minutes. I make another batch of quinoa to use with the leftover chicken. Simply stir in the quinoa, place in a freezer bag, and freeze. I make up spaghetti sauce and freeze. The only thing I have to do is cook the spaghetti when I get home. About freezing rice or pasta, don't overcook it. If it is a little under done, it will freeze much better. Remember, commercial frozen dinner entrees frequently have rice or pasta. Linda's meatloaf Ingredients: 5-6 pounds good quality ground beef or turkey 4 eggs 1 can diced tomatoes 1/3 cup hines steak sauce 1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce 1 package Stove top stuffing mix or dried bread crumbs 3 tbst refrigerated diced garlic or as many garlic cloves as you like 4 onions diced 2-3 diced bell peppers Salt (I don't use it) Pepper Ketchup for top of meatloaf Combine the wet ingredients in a very, very large bowl. I have a that's-a-bowl from Tupperware. Add the stuffing mix and the rest of the ingredients except for the meat. Thoroughly mix. Then slowly mix in the meat. You will have to get in there with your hands, so just wash them and have a great time. Hawaiian Chicken I got this recipe from my friend Vicki, and it wouldn't surprise me if it came from this list. Ingredients: 5-6 good size chicken breast cut in bite size pieces 1 cup pineapple juice 1/3 cup soy sauce 1/2 cup packed brown sugar Pineapple chunks 1-2 tbsp cornstarch (optional) Drain can of pineapple chunks into a measuring cup. If you have more juice than you need, either drink it or save in a separate cup for later. You want to drain as much juice off the pineapple as possible. Mix all ingredients except cornstarch in a crockpot. Cook on high for around 6 hours or until chicken is done. Using a turkey baster, remove some of the liquid to a large measuring cup. Blend in the cornstarch. Return the mixture to the crockpot and cook on high for about 1/2 hour. The sauce will thicken a bit. I like to do this because it sticks to the quinoa better. You can also use rice or brown rice Cook 1 cup quinoa (2 cups for the entire batch of chicken). 1 cup quinoa 2 cups liquid Place quinoa and liquid in a microwave safe dish with a tight cover. Cook on high for 5 minutes. Open dish and fluff. Return to microwave for 1 minute. Leave in microwave for at least 10 minutes. When I cooked a larger batch, I had to keep adding a little time until it was done. Broth makes a really good liquid for quinoa I use a broth paste that I get at Costco. Happy cooking! -----Original Message----- From: Teresa Mullen via Cookinginthedark [mailto:cookinginthedark@acbradio.org] Sent: Friday, July 17, 2015 8:10 AM To: [cookinginthedark@acbradio.org] Subject: [CnD] Meals Hello everyone I hope all is well in the cooking world. I have a question for all of you do any of you cook several meals in the weekend, and also when you do can you freeze things like rice pasta stuff like that and or potatoes? And also does anyone have a simple lasagna recipe that you don't really have to do all day with sweat and stuff! LOL thanks Teresa P. S. I meant blood and sweat! LOL Teresa MullenSent from my iPhone _______________________________________________ Cookinginthedark mailing list Cookinginthedark@acbradio.org http://acbradio.org/mailman/listinfo/cookinginthedark _______________________________________________ Cookinginthedark mailing list Cookinginthedark@acbradio.org http://acbradio.org/mailman/listinfo/cookinginthedark
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