Foodie Files

Dinner time is often rushed and it is great to have some homemade food prepared and waiting in your freezer. Frozen meals purchased at the supermarket are not as healthy. Take a look at the ingredient list on the back of these foods and you will see some you won't recognize as food ingredients!

Lets take a look at some foods that do not freeze well:

    Mayonnaise
    Artificial Vanilla
    Cooked egg whites and anything that contains egg whites
    Gelatin (including Jello brand)
    Cakes and pies that contain a custard filling
    Sauces that contain flour or cornstarch as a thickening agent
    Milk, light and heavy cream or sour cream.
    Raw veggies (unless they have been blanched)
    High water content vegetables: eggplant, radishes, celery, fennel, tomatoes, leafy salad greens, cucumbers, potatoes and zucchini.

Note: You can freeze these high water content veggies if you cook them first. They must also be finely chopped or pureed.

So we need some foods that are simple to freeze. Hearty soups such as vegetable, chicken vegetable or bean are great for this purpose. Cooked noodles and pasta sauce can be frozen. Shepherd's pie is a favourite that freezes very well. Just think casseroles as most are easy foods to freeze.

Boiling a whole chicken is another quick freezer food. Boil it, shred it up, pack it into freezer bags and freeze it. The chicken is now cooked and ready to throw in with some cooked veggies or rice. Great time saver!

You will need to invest in an assortment of freezer containers suitable for large meal sizes or for dividing into smaller portion sizes. Be sure to date all containers because you run the risk of freezer burn if it is left in the freezer for too long. Although most frozen foods can last several months in the freezer, I don't like to leave meals in the freezer for any longer than one to two months. Just pick up a quantity of stickers and a black marker at the local dollar store. Easy!

You will find that most foods are great for freezing. It's a fantastic time saver to be able to take some homemade foods straight out of your freezer and prepare them in half the time. There is an infinite number of recipes for cooking meals for the freezer. Cooking in bulk and loading up your freezer not only saves time during the week, it also saves you money.

However, the vast majority of people eventually come to the realisation that their talents lie elsewhere and that they are more suited to eating than the actual cooking part.

Some of these people however, carry on and end up making some horrendous mistakes; the sort of cooking errors you only usually roll out when you have someone round to dinner that you never want to see again!

Anyway, with no further ado, here are five common mistakes made while cooking:

Neglecting Your Salt Shaker

Salt is vital as it provides flavour and texture to your food. However, a common mistake is to leave out any extra salt because of health worries.

As long as you are satisfied you are not over indulging, feel free to add a pinch of salt to veg or meet while cooking. There are few things worse than foods which should have a salty tang but don't.

Getting too friendly with garlic
Reading from a recipe book? Don't ever confuse a clove of garlic with a head. If you do, we can't be responsible for the ensuing results! You'll stink like you've never stunk before.

In fact, pay close attention whenever working from a book, if in doubt, the world renowned oracle of Google should set you right.

Confusing Your Flour

Admit it, you've done it haven't you? Let's face it, self-rising flour looks exactly the same as plain flour when out of the packet (that excuse has actually been used) and means that the sumptuously gorgeous Victoria sponge you have planned ends up a Victoria, erm, biscuit.

Getting, Um, Creative With Proportions

Recipes are written for a reason, read them!

Not Getting to Know Your Oven

Your oven is like a human being; no two are exactly the same. If you've not familiarised yourself with the eccentricities of your particular oven then you should start now.

Cookery is a long underrated art and something that requires conscientiousness as well as keen creativity. If you can get the balance right you will stand a much better chance of getting to where you would like to be in the chef world.

GO OUTSIDE

Simply by getting outdoors and turning your indoors off, you're already saving mega loads of electricity. Even turn off your air conditioner if you're bold. Find yourself an old school "Smokey Joe" kettle grill and let the magic come to you. No propane or other gases needed- just stamped wood and wood bi-products charcoal briquettes. Get the cheap ones and please don't use the lighter fluid for the start- use a couple sheets of wadded up newspaper and a charcoal chimney if you've got one. See, you're getting greener already.

BUY LOCAL

So the grill is going leaving you just enough time to quaff about 1.5 beers before the cooking begins. Whatever you throw on the grill, make it local. Local chicken is very easy to find, in fact you can even grow them in your backyard if you're so inclined. It's common for municipalities to allow up to a half-dozen birds per property and that's a pretty steady source of eggs when you think about it. Obviously, your local farmers market is your best means of participation and a shining endorsement for the "Locally Grown" movement that is afoot. Beside the fact you're doing your neighbors a good, you're keeping the revenue in the community and not paying someone else the unit cost of the product- plus fuel, shipping, distribution, labor, taxes etc. to get that cold, dry, stamped chicken breast from Chili.

WHAT'S ON THE MENU?

Straight from the farmers market down the street, scratching the back of a local guy I don't know, we've come up with a pretty green, well-rounded, eco-friendly and healthy faire for a cookout. No appetizers required. Beer.

Mixed Greens, Mint and Radish with Cranberry Vinaigrette

Local Asparagus shoots in lemon butter and rosemary

(1) 4x4x4 Slab 'o Cornbread

New baby rounds and golden potatoes with chives and lemon butter

(3) Beer Can Chicken, smoked in a brightly scented Applewood riff raff and soaked (marinated) in Jack

Dessert... Strawberry shortcake with ice cream made by the local dairy that picks up our local farmers milk ( they make a mean batch of curds as well) It's a perfect blend of garbage in garbage out, Local.

SERVE IT UP

This is pretty simple and sometimes I feel silly even mentioning it but have you ever wondered what the backyard barbeque would be like without all the plastic and paper products we've become accustomed to? Try it sometime - Eliminate all the paper plates, plastic forks and cups and all the Tupperware type plastic containers that swell from your cupboards and instead, take a step back and use your regular indoor plates and silver. It works- It's easy. To compliment that idea is something else taking shape slowly but surely... Bamboo dinnerware. This is a great hybrid and compromise between indoor and outdoor 'ware'. The bamboo stuff is nice because it's like washable picnic ware. I like it. Finally, (and this one kills me) throw away all the plastic water bottles and drink responsibly from glass, the end of the hose or from the nice metal bottles that flood the market today. No liners, no BPA. It's all good.

In addition to ensuring that you have the correct decorations for the event, and have scheduled a perfect venue for the rendezvous, you also need to consider what your guests are going to eat once they arrive. The food that you decide to serve for your event can enhance the festivities of your event.

It is important that you exercise a bit of care when choosing a company to do the catering for your event. Make sure that the service that you decide to employ will be able to adhere to your needs. The service should be able to adapt to whatever event situation they are put in, regardless if the event is a simple birthday party or a classic wedding. No matter what your needs may be the right company will help you make your event one to remember.

There are some companies that specialize in specific cuisines, while others are more open towards flexibility when it comes to the foods that they serve. If you know what type of food you would like to have served, it would be better to pick a company that specializes in preparing that particular cuisine. You can always choose to utilize a company that offers niche cuisines to cater your event, but the taste may not be as authentic if you would like it to be. For example, if you want to have Mexican cuisine at your event and you hire a company that specializes in creating those types of dishes, the end result is going to be more satisfying than it would be if you hired a niche business to cook the specialized food that you desire.

Even though hiring a specialized service may cost a little bit more, in the end it will be worth the added expense. Catering services can range in price, from cheap to expensive. It is vital that you set a budget for your needs, and do your best to stick to it. It is easy to fall outside of your budget, especially if you allow the service to add additional items to the menu that you desire.

A great way to keep the costs of hiring a caterer down is to reserve a catering company for your event in advance, at least a month to two weeks before the gathering is scheduled to occur. The more time that you give the company to prepare themselves for your event, the less they will have to overwork themselves to ensure that your needs are met. This will also give the company enough time to prepare any specialized meals that you may desire to have at your event.

If you do not want the food that will be served at your event to be ill tasting, it is important that you are respectful when it comes to booking a reservation with a caterer. Avoid changing any of the catering items at the last minute, and do your best to keep in constant contact with the company until your event is ready to commence. Constant communication is key, when it comes to obtaining the items that you desire.