culinary ideas wanted

[cellio]

I'm in a bit of a rut, so I turn to you, oh LiveJournal readers, in hopes that you won't be shy. :-)

My congregation maintains a freezer of ready-to-reheat food to send to homes where people are sick, someone has just died, etc -- families in the congregation that, at the moment, have more important things to worry about, and the least we can do is bring them dinner. Since, at the time of cooking, we don't know where it's going, I try to cook for a family that might or might not have kids, people with food allergies, diabetics, etc. (It should go without saying that everything gets a complete ingredient list.) Naturally, it should be kosher. (Not everyone keeps a kosher kitchen, but I do and label my contributions to so indicate.)

My standard contributions are: roasted chicken; baked chicken with some sauce (usually barbecue); chili (mild); cheesy noodle casserole; quiches. Occasionally I bake. You'll notice that this is pretty light on vegetables; aside from soup, what are good veggie options that freeze well?

What else would you cook if you were doing this?

Comments

[kayre]

I do a casserole of pasta, tomato sauce, and lots of lightly sauteed onions, green pepper and mushrooms, topped with mozzarella-- it freezes nicely.

[hlinspjalda.livejournal.com]

My standard offering for that sort of occasion is dairy kugel. Blintzes are labor-intensive but terrific if individually frozen and then packaged in bulk; that way the recipient(s) can quickly fry up exactly the quantity needed at any given time.

Veggies are harder. Sweet potato preparations freeze okay if they haven't been too heavily processed (not too many eggs, dairy, that kind of stuff). Maybe winter squash is worth looking into, also. My best veggie things that freeze well are soups and kugel-type things.

[ticklethepear.livejournal.com]

Caponata!

Spinach pesto.

(If you're interested let me know and I'll dig up the recipes.)

[miz-hatbox.livejournal.com]

Hey, I currently supervise the stocking of just that sort of freezer, and we're currently giving out food on a fairly regular basis.

I cook-and-freeze a lot of chili, lentil soup, black bean soup, or chicken soup, all of which have lots of veggies thrown in and can be one-pot meals.

The last group cookoff resulted in crazy amounts of chicken soup and vegetarian soup (both intended to go with the frozen matzoh balls though we've been forgetting to include the matzoh balls lately... I need to check with the person whose freezer it is to find out the status of the matzoh balls) and chili (turkey-based and beef-based). Other items included quiches, roast chicken in various sauces, meatloaves, enchiladas (which I thought was a great idea)... what else? Oh yes, Swedish meatballs.

If our dishes are light on veggies, we often send along a bag of salad greens or a frozen bag of mixed veggies.

Does that help?

[magid.livejournal.com]

Lasagna of many types have lots of veggies and freeze well; make smaller ones for families that are smaller (Or stuffed shells. Or almost any pasta + cheese + veg permutation). Meatloaf with lots of roasted veggies and tomato sauce in it (beef or turkey). I'm not sure whether drop biscuits freeze well, but my mom used to make a casserole of a couple of bags of frozen mixed veg mixed with cream of mushroom soup, tuna, and sometimes cheese, with a layer of drop biscuits on top (it was a deep casserole); not very fancy, but I always liked it. Add non-potato veggies to the roasted chicken?

[sue-n-julia.livejournal.com]

Vegetarian lasagna seems like a good idea. I've posted a recipe here:
http://hautecuisinefortheeverydaycook.blogspot.com/search/label/lasagna

S

[eub.livejournal.com]

(I know unbaked biscuits freeze well -- you don't have to thaw before baking, I just lower the temperature a little to allow for thawing through.)

[fauxklore]

In addition to lasagne (which can be made very nicely with spinach) and enchiladas, two veggie dishes that I make in quantity and freeze are eggplant parmesan and spanokopita.

[alice-curiouser.livejournal.com]

I second the chili above; I make HUGE batches of chili with 4 kinds of beans, ground turkey or chicken and tomatoes and chunks of coloured bell pepper, and freeze it in entree-size Gladware bowls. My husband doesn't care for corn in his chili, but many to and that would be an easy way to add another veggie. Chili is awesome because you can throw almost anything in there, and it's easily altered to different dietary needs (soy "meat" instead of real meat for example).

Bean soup (made with turkey "ham") also freezes well.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

Since the whole casserole is really about getting the biscuits to done (the rest is cooked by that time), I wonder if this would work sending it assembled but pre-baked.

[chaiya.livejournal.com]

Don't disparage the soup! Coconut-squash soup, corn chowder, borscht, farmer's stew, that sort of thing. Can be frozen into portion sizes most easily.

Also, you can make eggplant gratin (far better when frozen than noodle lasagna), pumpkin curry, or stuffed mushrooms. :)

[dglenn.livejournal.com]

I was going to suggest vegetarian chili and various soups and stews that I sometimes make and freeze. Most of the stews I make in a slow-cooker wind up freezing well, which is a good thing considering the size of my slow-cooker. I'd suggest a hearty winter stew with root vegetables and lentils as an especially good candidate.

[cellio]

Ooh, sounds good. Thanks.

[cellio]

Thanks for the suggestions. I hadn't experimented with freezing dairy kugel, but now that you mention it I don't see why that would have been a problem.

[cellio]

Caponata: like this? Thanks. This sounds like something my Italian grandmother made with zucchini instead of eggplant, but I never knew a name for it beyond "zucchini in tomato sauce".

[cellio]

Thanks for all the tips! I can definitely do lentil and bean soups. (I usually don't make my own chicken stock.)

I didn't know you could freeze enchiladas. With or without the sauce?

I'm not used to meatloaf having veggies in it. What do you like to use?

You can freeze matzah balls? I haven't tried that. (Granted, they never last that long... :-) )

[cellio]

Thanks! I should have thought of veggie lasagna.

I'm not used to putting veggies in meatloaf. What do you use?

[cellio]

Thanks! That sounds good.

[cellio]

Thanks! I didn't know eggplant parmesan would freeze well.

[cellio]

Thanks! I hadn't thought to use the fake meat in chili, but that should work well. (When I make veggie chili I usually just make it with everything except the meat.)

[cellio]

I didn't mean to disparage the soup, and those all sound good. I'm not in the habit of making soup from scratch, so I don't tend to think of it.

Pumpkin curry? I wouldn't have thought to combine those flavors, but now that you mention it it does sound interesting.

[celebrin.livejournal.com]

shepherd's pie. You have carrots, peas (some people put broccoli) and ground beef under potatoes. Works fine. freezes well.

[ticklethepear.livejournal.com]

Looks very similar. This is what I follow:

Caponata

2 medium eggplants
1/2 cup of olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup of chopped plum tomatoes
1/4 cup of capers
1/4 cup of red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of basil
1/2 teaspoon of salt

Peel eggplant and cut into 1/2 inch cubes. Heat oil in a large skillet. Sauté garlic and eggplant until eggplant is lightly browned. Remove eggplant from skillet. Add celery and onions to skillet, sauté until tender. Add tomatoes and simmer 5 minutes. Drain capers. Add eggplant, capers, vinegar, sugar, basil and salt. Simmer 5 minutes more. Remove from heat. Chill in refrigerator. Serve with Italian bread. 8 servings.

http://basic-recipes.com/r/cap/caponata3.htm

from Carrie in AK

[(Anonymous)]

I'd second the eggplant parmesan--growing up my mom made it all summer with fresh local eggplant and then froze it. She also made a zucchini casserole for which you could probably find a kosher recipe online (hers had cheese and beef in it but I make versions without the beef).

Also, things I've made and frozen:
Tzimmes
Squash kugel
Carrot kugel
Stir-fry
Brocolli-rice casserole

[cellio]

The mashed potatoes survive the freezer? Thanks; I would have expected them to suffer.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Pretty much any roasted veggies I'd put in ratatouille (onion, eggplant, zucchini, pepper); root veggies like potatoes and carrots feel too solid, somehow, though I suspect they'd still work fine (ie, it's just a brain association thing rather than a culinary rule).

Re: from Carrie in AK

[cellio]

Thanks! Good suggestions.

I hadn't previously encountered squash kugel, but based on what Google tells me, I need to fix that.