The first meal I chose to make was Chicken Pot Pie.
Of course I didn't think to take any pictures until it was all in the freezer. The recipe was fairly easy. However I learned two things:
1.) Read carefully
2.) Sometimes mistakes are good.
The recipe states that you should put the ingredients in 9" deep dish pie plate, well I did not absorb the deep dish part, and I purchased a 3 pack of 8" pie plates that I could throw away when I was done. Once I got further into the recipe I realized that 2 of the pie plates would not work. The blessing is that 3 did, and I was even able to squeeze the majority of a third pie crust out of 2!
I was thinking while I was in the kitchen that the more time I spend in the kitchen the more natural it becomes. Today while I was making dinner (frozen lasagna) I remember that I had a bag of mini carrots in the fridge that would work well as a simple side. When I opened the fridge I saw ground beef in the bottom drawer for my next freezer meal that I planned to make tomorrow. I then checked the expiration date to find:
Now, I am not one to be a stickler for expiration dates for most things, but I try to stick pretty close when it comes to meat. So, I decided that I would go ahead and cook the meat.
One thing I have done for a long time is I keep at least one, usually two empty aluminum cans in the freezer.
Then when I am making something greasy I always have an empty can available.
When I am done cooking I put the grease back in the freezer, and when I have a full can it makes it extraordinarily easy to throw the grease away.
What do you do in the kitchen to make your life easier?
