Still need instructions written up for the following..
Soups
Soups with Pastas
Casseroles with cheese on top
Casseroles with breading on top
Casseroles with diced & precooked meat
Casseroles with full pieces of meat -- chops/
chicken breasts
This is a page by itself. lots of great info there!!
LIQUIDS or LIQUIDS WITH CREAM SAUCE (not cream of soup sauce)
To freeze: Pour into a plastic container leaving 1/2 inch (one cm) of space at the top to allow for expansion of liquid during freezing. Cover, seal, label and freeze.
To serve: Allow to thaw a little to make
it easier to remove from the container.
Put into the top of a double boiler and heat gently, stirring constantly.
Or you may transfer to a microwave safe bowl and microwave on 50%
power, stirring to mix up frozen chunks every
30 seconds, until heated through.
DELICATE (PASTA) WITH CREAM SAUCE (not cream of soup sauce)
To freeze: Place in an airtight container. Seal, label and freeze.
To serve: Thaw overnight in the refrigerator or for six hours at room temperature. Place in a saucepan, stirring gently, and heat through. Or you may transfer to a microwave safe bowl and microwave on 50% power, stirring to mix up frozen chunks every 30 seconds, until heated through.
HOMEMADE BROTH BASED SOUPS, including soups with noodles
To freeze: Skim any fat from the top of the soup. Put into a plastic container and allow 1 inch of head space at the top to allow for expansion of the liquid during the freezing process. Seal, label and freeze.
To serve: Nuke long enough to be able to loosen soup from container. Put the frozen soup in a saucepan and thaw over a very low heat. Or you may transfer to a microwave safe bowl and microwave on 50% power until heated through.
There are 2 ways to do this. One is to freeze the egg part of the quiche, including the broccoli, ham or whatever if you wish, in a ziploc bag or clean milk carton (that's what they do at the store) or other container you could pour from. Thaw in the refrigerator and pour into your crust.
The other is to bake it and freeze it complete. Thaw and serve warmed in the microwave or chilled (for summer dining usually).
You might want to consider using a brown rice crust instead of a pie crust because of the fat. To do this, Pam your pie plates and pat the rice in pie plates,, really compress it. It needs salt, BTW. It won't get soggy, even if you pour liquid into it.
POTATOES
Potatoes freeze in some ways
and not in others. To give you a better idea please look at my potato
page.
Mashed potatoes freeze well.
Raw Potatoes turn nasty and black. Smaller Pieces and those cooked
in sauces seem to have less texture changes. Some people believe
that different varieties freeze with different results.
BURRITOS
To freeze: wrap in either wax paper sheets or a paper towel and bag together in a ziploc bag
To serve: heat in microwave 1 1/2 -
2 minutes on high
Using your basic recipe and make it into
the shape you want for roll's or loaf's, put it on a sprayed cookie sheet
and flash freeze it. Then bag it. Thaw on sheet and let rise, bake
as usual.
FREEZING FROZEN YEAST DOUGH
I have tried freezing yeast dough a few times
and had not-so-great luck. It took FOREVER for the dough to rise
after it was out of the freezer (and
thawed). I suspect it was the yeast (regular instead
of my beloved INSTANT), since I had trouble on occasion getting the
dough to rise in general. I have read
that when freezing yeast dough, you should
increase the amount of yeast in the recipe a bit (add an additional
1/4 tsp. yeast). Freezing yeast weakens
it a little. Frozen dough should be
used within one month. It is just as quick for me to whip up
some dough in my abm than to thaw the
dough from the freezer, so I don't freeze dough.
FREEZING POCKETS MADE WITH
BREAD DOUGH
I make pizza
pockets, tuna/cheese pockets, chicken/salsa/cheese/onion pockets, and
ham and cheese pockets. I bake completely
and cool. Wrap well with plastic wrap,
then toss all pockets in a freezer bag. To heat, loosen plastic wrap
and micro on medium for a minute, then micro
on high until heated through.
If you are planning to heat them up in the
oven, you should bake them until they
are SLIGHTLY browned, so you don't burn them when you bake them again.
You should thaw them first before baking in
oven, either at room temp. or in micro.
Another option is to heat them in your toaster oven.
For loads of recipes see the calzone
collection.
FREEZING PIZZAS:
To freeze pizzas, bake your crust (alone)
for 8 minutes at 400* or just until it isn't "doughy" anymore. Brush
some olive oil on the crust. Sprinkle
with half of your cheese, then spread pizza sauce over
that, then sprinkle rest of cheese on.
Add your toppings and seasonings. If
you are using fresh veggies, be sure you get all the water out of them
as possible by blotting them well with
a towel or paper towels. I like to use dried
mushrooms (spray them a bit with cold water until soft, then blot).
Freeze pizzas on pieces of cardboard and
wrap well with plastic wrap. I use cardboard pieces that I cover
with saran wrap and use them several times. If you don't have cardboard,
flash freeze on cookie sheets until frozen, then wrap well with plastic
wrap. Label.
HOMEMADE CINNAMON ROLLS
slice and freeze in disposable pans (or
whatever pan I'm willing to tie up in the freezer). Take out and let rise
in a cold oven overnight. In the morning, take out of the oven and
preheat to the correct temp. then bake.
To freeze: Remove the baked good from baking
pan or tin and wrap in aluminum
foil or cling wrap with a single sheet of
paper towel against the baked good.
Then put in Ziploc. Seal, label and
freeze.
To serve: Remove the wrapping and allow to
thaw at room temperature for about
3 hours. The paper towel will absorb excess
"sweating" moisture.
To freeze: I like to flash freeze the dough in balls, then freeze. Then just bake what you need. The big benefit of this is that you don't have a huge batch of cookies that you're trying to eat (can bake what you need). Freezing them baked is fine too, just select a rigid container so they don't get crushed.
To serve: Remove as many balls of dough as
needed and bake as directed in the recipe, simply adding 1-2 minutes to
the recipe.