Cookies on the fly

I was perusing the dairy case at Stop & Shop the other day, noticing that the ready-to-bake cookies were getting more and even more ready-to-bake. Now you don't even have to scoop out the dough - you can just separate the little squares and bake them.

Many times, when I want a homemade cookie, there's just no time to spend baking a batch. They're not hard to make, I mean c'mon - this is not rocket science here. So my guess is the main reason ready-to-bake cookies are so popular is a time crunch thing.

My solution? My own ready-to-bake cookies right from the freezer. Cookie dough freezes amazingly well!

For example, when I make a batch of tollhouse cookie dough, I always set aside a dozen or so dough balls and flash freeze them - that means place them separately on a waxed paper lined piece of cardboard and place in the freezer. When they freeze - transfer all the little frozen balls into a ziplock bag, label it, and store in the freezer. You can now pop those little frozen dough balls onto a cookie sheet in the future and bake them up - just add an extra minute or two to the normal baking time.

I'm tellin' ya - freezer cooking/baking is the bomb!

Freezer containers

It's no secret I love Gladware, but the Stop & Shop equivalent containers are just as good and slightly less expensive. The entree-sized ones are perfect for packing and freezing hot lunches for Glen. When labeling with a Sharpie - the marker rubs off easily with a dry papertowel for the next time you need to label.

I also have the 1-quart containers for soups/stews and the tiny ones for gravy & sauces that are sometimes best heated separately from the rest of the lunch.

Ground beef ready to go!

Pre-cooked ground beef freezes really well! When purchased in 6-7 lb. packages, I can get 20% lean ground chuck (our favorite) for $1.99 per lb. - give or take .10 per lb. I'll then get it home and "scramble" it up - and you can even season it with onions or whatever. When it's just cooked, drain it on some papertowel to remove the excess fat, let it cool a bit, and then measure it out into portions that usually work in your own recipes, label and freeze. I use my foodsaver, but a quart-sized ziplock bag with the air sucked out works OK for shorter term storage.

FREEZER TIP - freeze the packages with the ground beef flattened out as much as possible. This give you more efficient freezer space (you can stack them on top of one another) and also reduces the amount of thaw time. :)

This is a tremendous time saver for me as well - because at 5:00 pm, I'm not staring down a frozen package of raw ground beef that I paid $3.49 a lb. for!

Last night @ 6:30 I made a baked ziti - and adding the ground beef was an afterthought. It thawed in the microwave and was ready to add to the cassarole in @ 8 minutes.

Applesauce

It's fall in New England, and that means apples galore! There's nothing quite like homemade applesauce, and thanks to the freezer, you can make huge batches of it and freeze it to enjoy the rest of the year! I store it in quart-sized ziplock bags...and by the end of autumn, I have at least twenty-something quarts of homemade applesauce in my freezer.

Unfortunately, I do not have a recipe written down. I chop up apples and fill my crock pot, add a little water, and cook all day. Then I add sugar, cinnamon and ground cloves to taste. That's all folks! Every batch tastes a little different. Sometimes I don't bother peeling and coring the apples - I just run the whole lot through a food mill when it's done.

Homemade applesauce is one of the simplest, most satisfying things you can make this time of year. Make this your year to try it!

Lunch for Delci

We stocked up at Sam's yesterday, and one thing I picked up was a 6-pack of salmon pinwheels - Delci's favorite! The rest of my family thinks they are just "ok" - so I wrapped each one separately in plastic wrap, placed all 6 in a gallon ziplock bag, sucked out most of the air, and froze them. Each one thaws very well in the microwave and bakes up nicely in the oven (according to the package directions)...so she has six very nice lunch entrees whenever she wants them. All for her. :)

Mmmmmeatballs!

Here's how to make the best italian meatballs on the planet (my dad's recipe, slightly modified) and store them pre-cooked in the freezer, ready to drop into simmering sauce, or thaw to slice up on homemade pizza, or reheat in the microwave to make great meatball grinders.

1-1/4 pounds ground chuck
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs (run 2 slices of bread through a food processor)
3/4 cup italian breadcrumbs
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tbsp (scant) dried minced onion
2 whole eggs
1 cup milk

In a large bowl, mix together well the beef with the breadcrumbs. Beat eggs in separate bowl - add onion, salt, pepper and spices. Add milk and whisk together. Add to meat mixture, and mix thoroughly - it'll be really squishy. Form into 1-1/2 to 2" balls, and place on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes, transfer meatballs to a sturdy piece of cardboard lined with waxed paper, and place in freezer. When frozen, transfer meatballs to a gallon ziplock bag and store in freezer until ready to use.

Glen is the envy of the shop

When I prepare dinner, I usually make sure there's enough left to make one or two lunch-sized entrees for Glen. I make them up in the Gladware (or similar) containers, label and date them, and freeze them - and he has his pick of home-cooked hot lunches. This resonates well with him, because he tends to be rather frugal, so to him - I am domestic diva numero uno! When his employees smell his lunch heating in the microwave, they are either staring unhappily at their baloney sandwiches, or bemoaning the fact that they had to spend $7.00 at Subway or the Chinese takeout!

Freezing deli meats

Since I've gotten a FoodSaver, vacuum sealing and freezing cold cuts has meant saving money and better quality! I used to just wrap sandwich portions in plastic wrap & bag them, but they still didn't taste like fresh...with the FoodSaver, they do!

So now I can buy larger quantities of Boar's Head and other nicer deli meats when they go on sale, and I feel good about freezing them, because the quality is like fresh! Plus, I can wash out and reuse the FoodSaver bags, so it is still very cost effective for us.

Chicken Wings

Precook chicken wings however you like them! I separate mine into pieces, saving the tips to make broth later. Spray a cookie sheet with pan coating spray, lay out the wings, and sprinkle with Lawry's Seasoned Salt. Bake at 375 for 45-50 minutes, turning over halfway and sprinkling again with seasoned salt. When they're done, cool them a bit - then place them on a wax-paper-lined piece of heavy cardboard, or cookie sheet and freeze. When frozen, transfer them to a gallon ziplock bag - and voila! Precooked frozen wings ready to pop in the oven - and you can take out as many as you need at any given time. I reheat mine at 400 for 30 minutes or so - longer, depending on how crispy you like them.

This also works really well for stuff like shake-n-bake chicken legs and thighs - precook, flash-freeze separately, and store in a ziplock.

When I'm not home, this is one of the easiest meals for Glen to prepare, and the kids love it. :)

Daily freezer tip

So I was making french toast for the kids this morning, and thought I'd share something that, for me, was a "duh" moment when I learned it. Ready? You can freeze cooked french toast and pop it in the toaster for a hot breakfast later.

Wander down the freezer aisle in your grocery store - if they can freeze it, so can you!

When the french toast cools down, wrap the pieces individually in plastic wrap, and store them all in a gallon ziplock bag. Poof - instant hot breakfast for the kids on another morning!

I've done the same with pancakes - wrapped and frozen the same way. So the next time you make these two items, make extra and freeze the leftovers - it'll be a big timesaver later on.

Back to freezer cooking

Finally! We've determined that Glen's symptoms are lessened by simply cutting out gluten, so now comes the arduous task of deciding which family recipe favorites can stand the overhaul - and which ones will have to die a natural death. One thing I've learned is this: gluten-free bread is wicked expensive - $4.99 for a small loaf. I need to learn to bake the stuff myself, and then make breadcrumbs out of it. A small can of GF breadcrumbs is around $5.00!! The good news is that GF bread freezes amazingly well because it's so dense.

So I'll be experimenting today with something simple like Bob's Red Mill GF Bread Mix. I'll let you know how it turns out...but it's still pretty expensive for the mix, and I have to do all the work myself...but at least I'll get a sense of what baking GF bread is like.