I just made a double batch of ratatouille that I freeze in zip locs. 2 ladles per person makes a good meal. You can add cooked jasmine rice if you like when you reheat. Grated cheddar cheese on top is yummy. Congratulations on the start of demo'!

The ratatouille recipe is:
1/2 cup olive oil
1 large onion - diced
1 large garlic clove
2 large green peppers - cut in 1 inch chucks
3 medium zucchini - cut in 1 inch slices
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon sugar
4 large tomatoes - wedged

Cook onion & garlic in part of the oil. Add green pepper and cook 5 minutes. Add zucchini, water, salt, oregano, and sugar. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cook 20 minutes. Add tomatoes and rest of olive oil. Cook for 10 minutes

Hi!
If your family likes lasagna I have a great recipe for you. The recipe is from a blog called "The Pioneer Woman Cooks". I have made so many of her recipes w/great success. Her directions are excellent w/great picture tutorials and the ingredients are readily available-nothing too exotic. She just happens to be very funny as well.

Best to you on your remodel!
Nancy

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/the_best_lasagn/

My pot roast freezes well.

Here is the recipe:

chuck roast (they are usually in the 4-7 pound range)

mix in a large bowl: flour, herbs de provence, salt and pepper - coat the chuck roast all over with flour mixture.

Heat olive oil in a large dutch oven or stock pot and sear chuck roast on all sides so that it is nicely browned.

Add liquid to pot: I use a combination of beef broth, port and red wine. Probably about 1/2 bottle of port/wine mix and then several cans of broth .... depends on how big the roast is, you want the roast to be mostly submerged in the liquid.

Add coursely chopped carrots, leeks and onions to the pot.

Simmer for several hours, turning the roast after half of the cooking time so that the top gets cooked as well as the bottom.

While this is going on, chop vegetables to roast in the oven. I use onions, potatoes, parsnips, carrots, and turnips. Coat with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast in a large roasting pan in a 425 oven until nicely browned and starting to caramelize (about an hour or so).

After the roast has been cooking for a few hours, remove it to a plate and strain the cooking liquid of the vegetables (at this point those veggies are mush and have given all of their flavor to the broth so I typically toss them. If you want, you can eat them, but to me they are too mushy).

Put the roast and cooking liquid back in the pot and add the roasted veggies to the pot. Cook a while longer for flavors to meld.

This is my own recipe adapted over the years and it is so so good. Time consuming with all of the cooking time but if you use a chuck roast and cook it long like this it is flaky and tender (and no need for a knife).

good luck!

Anita -

You're lucky that you're starting as we're headed into fall. All kinds of homemade soups are great for freezing. They're also easy to make during the reno assuming you kept your crockpot in the temp kitchen. Check allrecipes.com for ideas.

That pot roast sounds yummy. Makes me want my oven back ASAP!

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone! I just checked allrecipes and they have a great bunch of make-aheads. Plus I forgot about my crockpot which will be fantastic for this stretch. And soups, yes! Soups in the crockpot are perfect for a fall kitchen remodel :)

mamadadapaige, that pot roast sounds amazing. It is 9 in the morning and I'm craving it now. I assume I need to start with a defrosted roast, though? If I can use frozen I'm making this today!!!

Anita

Nancy and Beth, thanks for the ratatouille recipe and the link to thepioneerwoman.com. I don't know how I missed them the first time except that maybe I was woozy thinking about pot roast.

THANK YOU for the link to thepioneerwoman! You are so right, she is hilarious, and I also have an event coming up for which I need to take 2 appetizers. I'm not one of those people who has great staples; every time I have to cook for someone I cast about for a decent recipe and hope I don't screw it up. Hers look delicious and easy, and I already have about 5 I want to take! I will read her website just for fun.

Anita

I am so glad you liked the pioneerwoman. She just cracks me up and her recipes really are soooo good!

Keep us posted!
Nancy

Anita,
I decided I would make it today too! Haven't had it since last winter. It is a staple in the winter... I tend to make it when we are heading north for a ski weekend since it is easily transportable and feeds a lot.

For quicker defrosting, put it in a bowl of luke warm water. I submitted this recipe to trailrunner's cookbook and am taking pictures as I go to submit along with the recipe.

also, thanks for the link to pioneerwoman ... looking forward to delving into that.
k

I second the thankyou for the pioneer woman site.. what fun to read.

Do a search in the Cooking forum and you'll probably pull up some good threads.

Chicken Tortilla Soup -- Crockpot

15 minutes preparation, 8 hours cooking

2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
2 (15oz.) cans black beans
2 (15 oz.) cans Rotel tomatoes with chilies .
1 (14.5 oz.) can tomato sauce
1 (4 oz.) can chopped green chilies .
1 cup salsa, your preference as to strength (I use medium)
1 can Niblets corn
Rinse chicken and set aside. Without draining, place beans, tomatoes, tomato sauce, chilies and salsa in crockpot and stir until mixed. Submerge chicken in the mixture. Cook on low for 8 hours. Remove chicken from crockpot and shred with two forks. Return chicken to pot and stir in corn. Heat 10 -15 minutes, or just long enough to get corn and chicken hot. Serve topped with crushed tortilla chips, shredded cheese, and a dollop of sour cream.

Using the Rotel tomatoes with chilies will produce a slightly spicy soup  for a less spicy soup, use regular diced tomatoes and mild salsa. This recipe freezes well  itÂs like money in the bank! Enjoy! :o).

one thing I forgot to mention. when our kitchen was under renovations and I was without a kitchen, I missed eggs for breakfast so much. I found a place that made mini breakfast quiches and bought those on occassion but my fridge space was small and limited. Another idea for you would be to freeze some mini breakfast quiches. you know what they say about breakfast being the most important meal!!

good luck!

We are entering week 4 without our kitchen. I have found myself using our electric frying pan quite a bit. Like mamadadapaige I can't be without my eggs for breakfast and an electric frying pan does the trick. One thing I wish I had done a bit more of was precooked noodles, just noodles, I have 3 kids that love spaghetti and macaroni and that I haven't quite figured out how to cook sans real burners.
Good luck!

Oh, I'm so sorry I didn't check back in earlier! I always have a freezer full of cooked ahead meals. With our crazy schedules, it makes life so much easier. Here are a few of the things I make that freeze particularly well:

chili
gumbo
jambalaya
spaghetti sauce
chicken and yellow rice
just about any kind of soup

I cook these things and store them in 1- or 2-serving containers to heat in the microwave later. We did quite a bit of this in preparation for our remodel, and it saved us.

emilysmarathonmom,

i have two noodle loving children and figured a way during our renovation. albeit with the help of my neighbor.

I went to her house once or twice a week, cooked a whole box of pasta and took it home in a tupperware container. at meal time, I would take a portion for each kid, put it into a collander and put the collander under really hot tap water from the kitchen sink. This would heat it up to the proper temperature.

hope this helps.

Emilysmarathonmom,

another thought would be to get a little one or two burner electric cooktop. A friend loaned me one like so:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5871070&sourceid=1500000000000003260370&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=5871070

You can't do much on it, but you can boil water for tea or mac & cheese!

Anita

Reach back to your college days when maybe you lived on Ramen noodles like my kids did. I think you can make those from boiling water in a "hot pot".

Thanks for the helpful ideas. I am going to a neighbors tomorrow to precook a box of macaroni. I am also going to look for a hot pot. I haven't thought about those in years, actually brought back some good dorm room memories!

we did a lot of large scale baking-dish type things, cooked them, broke them into portions and froze; baked mostacioli with meat sauce, mac and cheese, eggplant parmesan, etc...

i also made a bunch of quiches and froze them and some soups. good luck!

I recently made a large batch of Italian beef that froze surprisingly well. It's a super easy crock pot recipe and very forgiving.

4 or 5 lb rump roast or other inexpensive beef roast.
1 package of Good Seasons Italian dressing mix
1 cup water
1 jar of pepperoncini's with juice (from the pickle aisle)

Throw everything in the crock pot and cook until the beef shreds with a fork. Depending on how fatty your beef is, you might want to skim off some of the fat. Serve it on toasted deli rolls with provolone cheese. You can add the peppers to the sandwich too. Put your cooled leftovers in a freezer bag.

Some recipes call for 1 cup of beef broth instead of water but I don't use it because I think the pepperoncinis and the salad dressing have plenty of salt.