Cooking Resolution #4: Readiness

In 2009, I would like to be prepared.

Photo via NoelZiaLee on Flickr

I have so far resisted the urge to buy Carolyn and Will's extra deep freezer, but I nevertheless want to keep my regular freezer well-stocked over the next year.

Over the holidays, I had two sets of houseguests, and reaped the rewards of some pre-planning I’d done. I had taken advantage of being housebound with the freak Seattle snowstorm to do some make-ahead cooking.

When my guests were here, I did, of course, still wind up in the kitchen longer than I should have, but significantly less than I could have, had I attempted to come up with the same volume of output without that pre-work. 

And in addition to being prepared for out-of-town visitors or planned dinner parties/book clubs/etc., I still entertain some fantasy that I will once again have a people-dropping-in kind of life. I had that back in Phoenix, but not here. I’m newer to Seattle, super-busy with multiple jobs and projects, and have friends who are super-busy themselves with jobs, partners and new babies. But I miss what it was like in Phoenix with friends nearby who would swing by for a glass of wine, and aim to get back to it at some point. If might sound silly, but for me, having breadstick dough in the freezer feels like I’m making some tiny step back towards reclaiming a lifestyle that makes me feel happy.

I don’t only want to stock my freezer for entertaining purposes, though. I want to have quick and tasty meals for myself, too. I work from home, and it seems like I should be able to stop and take the time to make myself a lunch from scratch every day if I wanted.

The truth is, though, that some days I don’t change out of my pajamas out of busy-ness, not just sheer laziness. On those days, I don’t have any more time for cooking than I would if I were in an office. I’d rather not resort to processed or packaged food, or worse, eating sweets mindlessly because they’re faster to get at than a salad. So a full freezer will help me stick to a healthier routine between houseguests, too.

Here are the items I want to make sure I always have one variety of available at all times:

Savory Little Breads - I made the Rosemary-Thyme Breadsticks, Parmesan Black Pepper Biscotti and Buttermilk Biscuit with Green Onions again, and they all worked well.  The breadsticks and biscuits can be frozen in dough form and baked, and the biscotti I froze already made and let thaw, with a quick warm-up in the oven.

Sweet Little Breads - I made this Lemon-Lavender Tea Bread from Epicurious and it was delicious! I baked it in a six-mini-loaf pan, froze it, took one mini-loaf out the night before I planned to have it with breakfast, and added a quick lemon juice/powdered sugar/crushed lavender glaze right before serving. It was tasty alone or with some Pear Butter I’d also made.

Soup - I’ve noted before that my family is not a big food family, but we do have a few food traditions, and one is my mom makes a really nice vegetable soup in giant batches, which she freezes. I now do the same with my favorite soups, which came in handy with this set of visitors.

My two successes this go-round: the spicy Red Lentil Soup and a Mushroom-Potato Soup, which I will post a recipe for soon. I made the mushroom soup before the first guest arrived, froze half, and served the second when the second set arrived. The Red Lentil Soup came in handy on a night we needed to eat something a bit less sinful than all the eating out we’d been doing. My guests actually requested it another night, so it’s not just me that likes this soup. I was able to just hack another block of it out of the freezer and was able to – gasp – actually make dinner on the fly for once.

Spiced Nuts – A jar of Chipotle Spiced Nuts came in handy for a quick snack my guests could help themselves to.

They were also a good quick last minute take-along thing for holiday parties or little gifts.

In addition, they can bring a little interest to a salad, and lord knows I need all the help I can get encouraging me to eat more salads. I exist in the tension between my natural ambivalence about eating salad and my grandma-like insistence that eating adequate roughage is like a folk remedy for nearly all disease.

Salad Dressing – Obviously this is a fridge, not freezer item. I also have a grandma-like insistence about the healing properties of my SuperPower Salad Dressing (recipe forthcoming). But it’s sort of annoying to make, so I need to make sure I’m making it at my leisure, instead of at the last minute before a meal when I’m already suffering from low blood sugar and on the verge of losing patience with the whole cooking process.

Food Celebrity Beans or Lentils – This is more for me than for entertaining. Having some tasty cooked Black Beans a la Russ Parsons or Tom Douglas Green Lentils in the freezer at all times means I am halfway to a good salad or beans and rice without too much effort during the week.

Rice – I’m pretty good at keeping frozen rice on hand already for quick stir-fries or topping with lentil dals and such, but I’m putting it here so as to ensure I remain vigilant with the rice level in my freezer.

Cookie Dough – Easy to freeze! Slice off and bake a few cookies at a time! In a toaster oven, even! Fresh-baked cookies for yer guests! Simple!

Dessert – I don’t want to eat more dessert than absolutely necessary, so it seems dangerous to keep it in the house. BUT...I’d rather eat something I made myself than some junk I buy when I’m jonesing for sugar. So in addition to the cookie dough, I’d like to keep one ice cream or something on hand for myself.

And here are a few things that I don’t need to make, but want to be sure to keep on hand for entertaining purposes:

• Cheese
• Bottle of wine
• Couple bottles of beer
• Bubbly water
• Stuff for one solid cocktail (what cocktail, I’m not sure yet)