Food Prep Timesavers

Chop Ahead
To speed up food prep, chop, shred or grate similar ingredients for recipes
at the same time.  Wrap with foil and refrigerate. Foil keeps food odors from
transferring to other foods.  If you want to keep them longer, put the chopped,
shreded or grated ingredients in freezer zip-lock bags.  I keep diced onions
and bell pepppers in the freezer for quick and easy omelets.
Vegies with high water content, like lettuce, celery, tomatoes, etc. will
not thaw well.  The water crystalizes and destroys the texture.
To make fresh vegies ready for the freezer, they have to be "blanched",
first.  Put a large saucepan of fresh water on to boil.  Cut the vegies and
put them in the boiling water for 30 seconds.  Take them off the heat
and dump them into a colander and rinse them with cold water to stop
them cooking.  If you freeze them after they are cooked,
they will be limp when thawed.

Organize Your Kitchen
When your cooking utensils are mixed in with your eating utensils, you
have to rummage around looking for the right size wooden spoon to
stir a sauce or measuring cups or who knows what else.  If you have
a drawer below where you keep the eating utensils, make that your
cooking utensil drawer.  Relocate the "junk drawer" to somewhere else.
Keep your measuring cups and spoons together, if possible.  Of course
you will want to keep the glass measuring cups (for liquids) on a shelf,
the plastic measuring cups (for dry ingredients) can be kept in a drawer
with the plastic measuring spoons, wooden spoons, ladles, et al.
Once you see how easy it is to work in an organized kitchen, you'll find
ways to organize other things in the kitchen and elsewhere.

Countertop Protector
When preparing chicken, fish or meat, remove raw food from store package.
Rinse food and place on a double thickness of wax paper to protect your kitchen
counter and shorten clean-up time.  Whenever you cut raw meat, you should always
throughly wash the cutting board with soap and hot water to prevent bacteria growth.

Cover For Marinating
Marinate chicken for a flavor boost before grilling. Cover with plastic wrap
to prevent messy spills in the refrigerator while marinating and keep the flavor in.
The easiest marinade is simply orange juice!  To make the chicken extra tender,
add a little lemon-lime soda (like 7-Up or Sprite) to the O.J.  Marinade in the
refrigerator to prevent bacteria growth, especially in the summer.

Easy Meatballs
Line baking pan with foil.  Bake meatballs in oven.  No frying or spatters
and no messy cleanup.  The end result is slightly different, as they won't
have that nice fried crust, the it's easy.  Same with baking chicken.
If you are going to use a grill in the oven, put a sheet of aluminum foil
over the grill, then with a dull knife, cut the foil between the metal stays
of the grill and fold them down.  Place the grill on a foil-lined baking
sheet and you won't have the messy cleanup.  Just  wad up the foil
and throw it away!
 

Foil Makes A Tight Lid For Any Dish
Many casseroles need to be covered while cooking to keep them moist and
to prevent drying out.  If your favorite baking dish does not have a lid, cover the
casserole with aluminum foil.  Foil can be molded around any
shape dish to provide a tight lid for cooking.  When you take it off the dish
after cooking, don't throw it away!  Put it aside, you are sure to find a use
for it later like wrapping leftovers!

French Bread Wrapper
Wrap French or Italian bread loaves in foil; heat in oven on low (about 225F).
Foil keeps garlic butter from dripping in the oven.

Heat Rolls, Muffins, Coffee Cake And Other Breads
Wrap in aluminum foil and reheat in a medium hot oven and they will be
as fresh and light as when first baked.  For the microwave, put them
in a plastic bag, but do NOT seal the bag.  For stale bread, spritz the
bread with a little fresh water before putting it in the microwave.  It will
come out soft and delicious.  You can only do this once, the second
time it will come out tough!

Heating Tortillas
Wrap tortillas in aluminum foil to heat in the oven or on the grill.

Keep Foods Warm
Cover foods hot from the grill or microwave oven with foil to keep them
warm until serving time.

No Mixing Bowls Required
Mix all ingredients in the oven bag.  Blend any liquids in the recipe with the
flour by squeezing the bag.  This will make the sauce smoother, and prevent
the flour from clumping at the bottom of the bag.  Your meal can be prepped
and ready for the oven in as little as 10 minutes.

Oven Bags Cook Faster
Cooking times for turkeys and large roasts in oven bags are much faster than
open roasting for two reasons.  First, oven bags keep moist heat close
to the turkey which speeds the cooking time.  Second, the moist heat protects the
turkey and roasts from drying out so a higher (350°F) oven temperature can be used.

Oven Roasted Chicken
Season whole chicken with favorite herbs. Place chicken on top of onion slices
in roasting pan lined with heavy duty aluminum foil.  To make a foil tent, crease
a heavy duty foil sheet through the center.  Place tent over chicken, leaving
1-inch of space between top of chicken and tent. Hold tent in place by crimping
foil onto two opposite sides of pan.  Bake at 350°F for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. To brown
chicken, remove foil after 30 minutes of roasting time.  Heavy duty foil
keeps chicken moist and juicy while roasting.

Oven Wrappers
Wrap whole potatoes, sweet potatoes, apples or squash in foil.
Bake in oven.  Foil holds in heat, flavor and moisture.

Quick And Moist Roasted Garlic
For easy-to-make roasted garlic, just slice the pointed end from an unpeeled
bulb of garlic, drizzle with oil and wrap in aluminum foil.  Bake at 400°F for
20 to 25 minutes.  Squeeze the pulp from the garlic and use it as a spread
on bread, toss with pasta or stir into mashed potatoes.

Tenderize Meats
Lean cuts of meat become tender and juicy when cooked with
oven bags.  The oven bag holds in moisture to cook the meat
quickly and keep natural juices in the meat.