You may not be accustomed to
menu planning and it may
take awhile to adapt to this
more structured approach,
but it has big payoffs.
You’ll not only eat better,
but you’ll waste less food.
So, plan next week's menus
and see how it goes. Shop
for everything at once and
use the leftovers in future
Whip up a flour blend and
use it to save precious
moments when you decide to
bake. You'll find flour
blends in most every
cookbook, including mine.
Keep your flour blend in a
dark, dry place.
Assemble your own mixes for
often-baked items. For
example, make your own pizza
mix (just assemble the dry
ingredients from the pizza
recipe in all of my books)
and store it on your pantry
shelf. When you want a
pizza, just add the liquid
ingredients. You'll have
pizza in no time at all.
B Bulk cooking is one way of
creating planned-overs,
which are really leftovers
with a planned use for
later. Set aside a block of
time––perhaps a weekend or a
weeknight that’s free––when
you can do some serious
cooking for future meals by
assembling the entrees ahead
of time and freezing them.
S Sauté vegetables to
accompany a roast in the
same pan that you then brown
the roast in, dirtying only
one pan. Oven-proof,
dishwasher-safe skillets and
pans are extremely
versatile. You can sear
meats in them, then put the
skillet in the oven for
pan-roasting. You can serve
the food in that same
skillet. And, that same
skillet goes in the
dishwasher for easy
clean-up. Just be sure to
use hot mitts on the handle
and lid and protect your
table from the hot skillet
with trivets. I use the
narrow hot-mitts designed
for handles to protect
diner’s hands at the dinner
table.
PrPrepare the marinade for a
steak or roast in the bag or
food container itself and
then
add the meat, dirtying only
the bag––which you later
throw away. You can also
place a steak or roast in
the marinade, freeze it, and
then defrost it in the
refrigerator. It will
marinate as it defrosts,
then you cook it as usual.
Sometimes it pays to prepare
larger or entire amounts of
ingredients that you know
you’ll use in the near
future. For example,
when I buy bacon, I fry the
whole package until not
quite done and freeze it in
freezer bags. Layered
between two paper towels, a
slice just takes a few
seconds to become crispy in
the microwave oven when I
need it quickly.
Some recipes just naturally
lend themselves to doubling,
saving precious time later.
For example, chili an be
doubled and the remaining
amount frozen for later use.
Meatloaf can be doubled and
the remaining servings cut
into slices for sandwiches.
Even if you have just a
little bit of food, it might
be resurrected as a single
serving.
Single,
ready-made ingredients can
be used in place of many
ingredients, saving you
precious time. For example,
a gluten-free Mexican salsa
is great with chips. But it
can also flavor guacamole.
And it can be mixed into
black bean soup as the sole
flavoring agent.
Gluten-Free Oats for Breakfast
The temperatures here in Denver have been extremely
cold lately,
but I have the perfect breakfast for this cold weather: a steaming bowl of
cooked whole grain oats (the kernels are called groats). I cook a batch on
low all night in my slow cooker (1 cup oat groats to 4 cups water plus a little
salt) and store the remainder in my refrigerator for breakfast later in the
week. Of course, be sure to check with your physician as to whether oats are
right for you. You can order whole oats at
www.creamhillestates.com. .
Food
for Thought
“Recipes are like poems;
they keep what kept us. And good cooks are like poets;
they know how to count.”---Henri
Coulette
Where
in the World is Carol?
No
travel in January, but I'm reading Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as
Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher
in Tuscany, by Bill Buford. Entertaining and revealing, you won't want
to put it down.
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