Sides

Ever thought about how long it takes to make a side dish? Rice takes 30-40 minutes to cook. Pasta takes about the same time - get the water to boil, then cook for 10-15 minutes, rinse and cool.
If you are like me, often you don't have time to make the rice or pasta, but you want it for dinner. How can you over come this challenge?
One choice is to buy the quick cooking rice or pasta products that are available in the grocery store. Sadly these often have a ton of salt/sodium and are very expensive. Sometimes they are convenient and are necessary for life; however, if you are going to take the time to do Once a month cooking, why not precook rice or pasta to have in the freezer?
Here's how to do it first I will describe rice, then I will do pasta. Make rice as you normally would - 2 cups of liquid to 1 cup of rice. Cook until done, but not over done. Cool quickly to stop the cooking process - you can rinse under cool water or place in the freezer to cool. When sufficiently cool, then put the desired amount in each freezer bag; remove the air, zip the bag up and freeze. When you want to eat, take out of the freezer and heat until hot.

Pasta for the freezer is a little different than rice. You will want to cook the pasta in water that has some oil in it, so that the pasta doesn't stick together. You will also want it to be slightly under done when you are planning on freezing it. So when the pasta is al dente (slightly chewy), remove from heat and rinse under cool water, to stop the cooking process. After cooled, place desired amount in freezer bag; remove the air, zip bag and freeze.
Again, when you want to eat, remove from the freezer and heat until hot.
The heating time shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes in the microwave. If you prefer, heat some butter or oil in a pan and add the frozen or defrosted side and any seasonings. Toss the rice or pasta until coated with the butter or oil and seasonings and heat until desired.

Simple things I have learned

There are some really simple things I have learned while doing this type of cooking.
1. Don't over cook your pasta - frozen and defrosted cooked pasta gets mushy. Properly cooked, even a bit undercooked pasta is preferable. Remember - when you defrost something that has pasta, you will be cooking it again, so you don't want a bunch of mush with meat.
2. Sometimes pasta doesn't even need to be cooked to be in the meal - for example lasagna. Just layer dry noodles in your lasagna with your meat, cheese and sauce and it will be perfect. When you defrost, cook for about 20 minutes longer and you will have a perfect lasagna.
3. Always cook onions before freezing. The first time I did this type of cooking, the book I used didn't have you cook the onions before assembling and freezing. When I defrosted my first meal and it was overpowering onion flavor I learned quickly - sautee all onions before adding to any meal, even if it doesn't say to do so.
4. You can always add more seasoning when you defrost and cook, but you sure can't take it away.
5. Along the same lines - salt increases in flavor when you freeze and defrost - err on the side of undersalted when you are freezing, add more when you have finished cooking. Other spices don't increase in flavor, so you don't need to be as cautious with them.
6. If you want something to stay crispy - like crunchy veggies, don't freeze them. They always come out limp.
7. Cream sauces are hit and miss when freezing. Some freeze well, while others curdle. If you are using my cookbook, all the sauces have been tested for freezability. If you are trying your own sauces, go cautiously.
8. No need to precook any meals, except for meat that goes in a casserole. For example, if you are making a pot roast, no need to cook it before freezing. If you are making a casserole that includes cooked, cut up chicken, you will need to cook it and cut it up before freezing - so you can assemble the whole thing.
9. Potatoes do not freeze properly, unless they are cooked beforehand. In fact, raw potatoes that are frozen turn black. If you want to freeze potatoes, make sure they are cooked before freezing.