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.

What kinds of recipes work for this?

This is a fantastic question that I get a lot.
Most marinades work great for this type of cooking.
Some casseroles do work and others do not. Some casseroles that appear not to work can be altered to work.
For example - for most recipes that require pasta to be cooked before freezing - don't cook the pasta. When I do a freezer lasagna, I put in regular, uncooked lasagna noodles. I don't use the "no-boil" choice - they are too expensive; I use the regular regular lasagna noodles. Yes I will add a tad bit more liquid/tomato sauce, but mainly I will just do a bit more cooking time.
For a recipe with rice that has to be cooked before adding, undercook it slightly - may be 5 minutes. This will make it a bit tough, but after freezing and defrosting then cooking in the oven, it will be perfect. If you have already cooked it the right length of time, based on the bag/box prep information, you may end up with mushy rice after freezing, defrosting and cooking in the oven.

Now for marinades - meat that is tough, like flank steak, work great in this type of cooking. You will end up with the most tender, delicious meat you have ever had and it won't be so over marinated that you can't taste the food. The meat will marinate while you freeze it and while you defrost. In addition, it will sink into the fibers of the meat and really tenderize without you having to use a tenderizer mallet!

Now here's a great, easy marinade for Carne Asada:
3-4 pounds New York or Flank steak
1 cup prepared Italian dressing
1 cup Corona beer
2-3 tsp of crushed red pepper (add more if you like it spicer!)
2-3 cloves, crushed garlic
1/4 cup lime juice
salt and pepper, as desired

1. Place steak in 1 gallon freezer bag
2. Add all remaining ingredients
3. Seal bag, shake to combine and freeze. If you don't want to freeze, allow this to marinate 4 hours or over night.

When ready to prepare- defrost completely and remove steak from marinade; discard marinade. Preheat barbecue and cook until desired doneness is achieved.
Serve with flour tortillas and cheese.