whats your favorite shortcut in the kitchen?

I love to use the microven to do my veggiees, i can control the heat more...

Whats your favorite shortcut?

Oh.Also, I like to keep one cup portion of carrots, celery and onions in baggies in the freezer...

I stage ahead of time as much as I can.  If I am baking I measure out everything and put the ingredients in bowls ready to go.  If I am cooking I cut my vegetables, onion, etc., as much ahead of time as I can.  Potatoes and carrots get covered with water until I am ready to use them. 

Janet

I buy ground beef in bulk when it's on sale. I precook it and freeze it in packages of about 1/2 to 3/4 pound. I use these for any recipe that calls for 1 pound of cooked ground beef. This really saves time. 

I also mix up meat loaves with about 2 pounds of ground beef and add ins. I freeze them uncooked. When ready to cook I put the frozen meat loaf in a small (5 quart) Nesco roaster and pour on 1 can or jar of spaghetti sauce. I let it cook all day at 180-200 degrees when I'm at work and it's done when I get home, about 10 hours.

Making four loaves of whole wheat bread at once, and freezing 2 or 3 of them. It's nice having fresh-tasting homemade bread without having to make it every day I want it! I often do the same thing with rolls or quick breads.  I also make several lbs of meatballs at once, and freeze a few bags to just pull out whenever I want spaghetti and meatballs or a meatball hoagie for supper.

Oh, and when I buy ground beef on sale in large quantity, I will flavor a batch of it as breakfast sausage and freeze it in 1 lb packages. 

My sister-in-law told me that any store-brand lasagna noodles can be made into a lasagna, refrigerated, then cooked - without pre-cooking.  No need to buy the pricier No Cook noodles.

 

Then I came across a recipe for tuna casserole where I mix everything up in the morning (including dry elbow macaroni right out of the box), put it in a covered casserole in the refrigerator all day, microwave it for 12-14 minutes and it's fabulous.  Family (both husband and children) rave about that dish! 

Hi Dianefromderby!

 

Would love to have that recipe for the tuna casserole!!  Would you please share it with us??

 

Thanks so much,

 

Janet In MI

Oh the SHORTCUTS will help me alot, I love to buy in bulk too...but Im running out of freezer room...guess I better eat some stuff and then get ready for our winter..lol

Thanks for sharing these....

my favorite shortcut................ call for pizza. (sometimes its just cheaper than getting all the ingredients.)...........I'll think of stomething real.

Reheating food in the microwave.

I make homemade pizza all of the time and it is great - better than what you can buy at the pizza shop.  yeast, flour, olive oil and cheese and/or pepperoni and cheap when bought separately, and the pie is delicious.

Try it you will like it.

Janet

P.S.  My sister bought me a pizza stone one year for Christmas, best present ever.  It really makes a difference in how the pizza turns out.

Janet,

I was thinking about "asking" for a pizza stone for Christmas & you give a great testamonial - is yours a specific brand?  I've noticed many different prices for stones.

We have young children, so my husband & I will make this our "Santa gift"  Kids wonder if you've been bad if you don't get something too :).  We always make our gifts usefull things - cooking items, clothing etc. :)

It's a Taste of Home recipe from a few years ago and it is located here:

 http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Overnight-Tuna-Casserole

 

It is simple and delicious :)

 I am pretty sure the pizza stone was a Pampered Chef.  I am not sure the brand would matter much, but I definitely recommend one.  Once I got the basic recipe for crust down it was fun making my own.

Janetplanet