Old, forgotten post...

I wrote this back in September. Clearly, the semester got away from me!

As the semester gets under way, I'm finding less time during the week to cook.  But it's so difficult to let the beautiful produce from the farm go to waste.  This past weekend, I planned out several meals, and spent an entire day cooking.  The result is a fridge full of food.  This, however, leads to the potential for spoilage, just at a different pace.  So, I turned to an old habit from when I was a busy graduate student taking classes & studying for my general exams: freezing meals for future use.  Now, I can have the fresh taste of fall even in the middle of winter, when it's too cold to go out or I'm too busy grading exams to cook.

It's important to choose things that will freeze well.  The first thing to go in the freezer is texture, so most soups tend to handle this quite well.  When I was sick recently, I made a giant pot of chicken noodle soup, which holds up for months in the freezer.  The biggest exception is soups with potato, but if you know the potatoes are going to get a little rubbery, it makes the disappointment a little easier to swallow.  Grains and vegetables tend to freeze quite well.  When I misjudged how much wheat berry to cook for a recent meal, I put the extra into some plastic containers and they are waiting for the next time I crave a hearty whole grain.  I've also had success with lasagne, which can easily be stored in individual portions in ziploc bags, and meats that don't dry out too much.  So here are the meals waiting in my freezer for future eating:

Winter Greens Lasagne

This recipe comes from one of my favorite food sites, chow.com.  I didn't have quite enough kale and chard from the share, so I supplemented it with a bag of pre-chopped greens from Trader Joe's.  They sell a great mix of collards, mustard greens, and spinach.  I also added some sliced mushrooms leftover from a weekend frittata.  While there's a TON of (full-fat) dairy in the recipe, the result is amazing.  A good reminder that vegetarian food can be heavy, but all that fat is what makes it delicious.  This will be perfect for a cold January day.

Italian (chicken) sausage, peppers & onions

Over the past few weeks, I've accumulated a lovely collection of Italian frying peppers.  I've put a few into salads, but they don't have the same thick crunch of a bell pepper, and don't make a nice replacement if eaten raw.  However, as the same suggests, they are great for frying, and Italian flavors.  I started with spicy Italian chicken sausage, cut into pieces to ensure even cooking, sauteed onion & garlic with a mound of chopped peppers.  I added some herbs that have been hanging around for a while (oregano, thyme, basil).  To serve with this dish, I boiled a pound of whole wheat pasta (I love the organic one from Trader Joe's, because it still has the same mouth-feel of white pasta, but a slightly earthy, nutty flavor from the whole grain), and tossed it with the basil pesto that has been waiting for a good use.  All that's missing now is a nice glass of wine.

A final note on preserving herbs.  There's a few things you can do to keep herbs for future use.  One good trick is to finely chop them, put a tablespoon or so in the slots of an ice cube tray, and then fill with water.  Once they herb cubes have frozen, they can be transferred to a different container, and then the herbs can be added to soups or other cooked dishes.  This only works if you're going to cook the herbs, so how do you keep fresh herbs fresh?  I got a gift a few years ago that I love and recommend to everyone: the Prepara Herb Savor.  It seals the herbs in the plastic container, which then stands in a sealed pot of water.  This way, the herbs continue to get water, but aren't exposed to too much air.  It's amazing how long fresh herbs will last stored in this thing.  I only wish it held more!