My Fabulous (Underused) Freezer

In case you were thinking to yourself just now, "hmmm, I could really go for some lasagna," I'd like to offer some insights based on an astonishingly successful dinner we had last week. (Astonishing because all FOUR of us in our family ate the exact same thing, and no one at the table used the word "yukky" at any point during the meal.)

* First, unless you are actually from Italy and know the difference, buy the Barilla no-boil noodles, and make your life ten times easier. They taste good, and they cut down the prep time by a GIANT amount of hassle; not only do you not have to dirty an extra pan and wait for the boiling to occur; you also don't have to handle boiling hot noodles while assembling the dish. And anyone building a lasagna with small children underfoot knows that the fewer vats of boiling water involved in a recipe the better.

* Second, unexpected vegetables are in fact edible! I very thinly sliced eggplant, broiled it until nicely browned, and layered it discretely under a sauce layer, and I stirred several kinds of mushrooms chopped small into the bechamel: the kids never noticed when they were not eating meat. Score for veggies!

* Third, make two; they're small. A regular lasagna pan makes way too much for us to eat before being so tired of the sight of this food that we get angry and want to throw things. (Okay, that might be a slight exaggeration. But you get the point.) Last week, I used a 9x9 cake pan and a small covered casserole, and made two lasagnas. After assembling, I froze the 9x9, and baked the other one for dinner. It takes about five minutes more to prep two pans than one, since the only difference in all the steps is the quantity. This basically means that it took me five minutes last week to cook dinner for sometime next week or the week after. Love that.

(Do note: shredded cheese freezes just fine; milk, not so much. If you want to freeze a lasagna and your recipe includes a bechemal sauce, use evaporated milk, which is stabilized and will not separate on freezing.)

My newest resolution is to start cooking double portions and freezing half a few times a week. Then I'll have back-up stocks in the freezer for nights when we're too tired to cook or home too late to start something from scratch. Just a few days ago, for example, I marinated a double batch of teriyake chicken and froze half. Other things that freeze well include meatballs or meatloaf; any soup without cream, milk or noodles (if your recipe calls for them, these can all be added when you reheat); muffins and breads; filled pastries/breads; waffles and pancakes.

If you're in a produce-rich part of the country as summer begins to wind down, don't forget that you can freeze many veggies and fruits too. For best results, wash and dry whole large fruits/veggies; when completely dry, spread on a clean tray in the freezer. Once frozen, package in zip-fastening bags. Do not prewash blueberries or other tiny items, as the washing water will make them freeze together in clumps. But do remember that you didn't wash them before, so that when you thaw them for use, you wash them thoroughly.

For me, fall is the busiest time of year. So I'm particularly looking forward to making the coming months easier by getting a little jump on my family food preparations at summer's end. Finally, I am going to use my freezer for something other than ice cream and unrecognizable leftovers!