The Beginner's Guide to Preserving Food at Home - Janet Chadwick [68]
To serve cold, chill for several hours.
tips As with most soups, these are better if made ahead so that flavors can blend. All the soups can be garnished with chopped chives, parsley, croutons, bacon bits, yogurt, sour cream, or grated Parmesan cheese.
Simple Recipes for 15 Creamed Vegetable Soups
Eight More Harvest-Time Meal-Planning Tips
Layered salad. Layer up a make-ahead salad in a large bowl. Layer shredded lettuce, peas, green onions, cooked macaroni, chopped tomatoes, sliced cucumbers, chopped walnuts, and diced chicken. Make a creamy dressing of 1½ cups mayonnaise, ¼ cup light cream, and 2 table spoons chopped chives. Pour the dressing over the salad but do not toss. Cover with foil or plastic wrap and chill for several hours or overnight.
Slow cookers. Slow-cooked meals are time- and energy-savers. To adapt your own favorite stew recipe to the slow cooker, triple the recommended cooking time for the low setting or double it for the high setting. When cooking vegetables in the slow cooker, parboil them 6 to 10 minutes before adding to the pot. Always place vegetables in the bottom of the slow cooker with the meat on the top. Reduce the amount of liquid in your stew or casserole by about one-third and reduce the seasoning by at least that much.
Quick fillers. Precook several servings of potatoes, rice, pasta, and hard-boiled eggs when you have an extra hour or so one day a week. They can be used for quick dishes during the week, such as potato salad, hash-browned potatoes, corned beef hash, creamed potatoes, soups, stir-fried rice, spaghetti, and egg salad.
Pasta and rice. Undercook pasta and rice by 4 to 5 minutes for baked dishes and 2 to 3 minutes for meals not requiring additional baking time. To reheat pasta for use with a quick sauce, bring lightly salted water to a boil, add pasta and return to a boil, drain, and add sauce. To reheat rice, place in a fine mesh sieve over boiling water and keep water simmering until rice is heated through, fluffing with a fork once or twice while heating; this just takes a few minutes.
Quick main meals. Cook a large roast, meat loaf, turkey, pan of lasagna, or stew on the Friday evening of a harvest weekend. It will serve as a quick main meal with the addition of a fresh salad, bread, and beverage — even if company drops in. Leftover meats and meatloaf can be used for sandwiches.
Ready-cut vegetables. Dice onions, celery, green peppers, and carrots. Place in plastic bags and refrigerate. This step saves time when preparing soups, salads, and casseroles. If all the vegetables are not used up in 4 to 5 days, freeze the remainder. These will not be good for fresh salads after they are frozen, but can be used in all other ways, including in stir-fried dishes and fried rice.
Salad makings. Tear salad greens (cut greens will turn brown around the edges when stored), wash, and spin dry; place them in plastic bags. They will retain their crispness up to a week. To keep tomatoes firm when sliced ahead, slice them vertically and store in a separate bag.
Frozen casseroles. Line casserole dishes with foil when making casseroles to be frozen. After the casseroles are frozen, they can be removed from the baking dish, freeing it for another use.
Eight Freeze-Ahead Ideas
Cheese. Grate cheese for casseroles, pizza, and toppings, and store in your freezer.
Toppings. Prepare bread and cracker crumbs for toppings and coatings, and store in your freezer.
Turkey. Cook a large turkey with dressing. Slice the meat and cover with dressing and gravy. Freeze in meal-size portions.
Individual servings. Fix favorite foods or leftovers in individual foil or boilable-bag servings. Always chill any precooked foods before packaging. Refrigerate for use within a day or so, or freeze for longer storage. Hurry-up meals can be prepared by just popping foil packages in the oven or boilable bags in a pan of hot water. Little or no cleanup is