I always think charoset tastes better for having some time for the flavor to blend. I usually make it a day or two in advance to allow for that. Hard boiled eggs and the roasted egg for the seder plate can be made ahead. I haven't made charloette or carrot souffle before so I can't speak to those. The chicken in a sauce should reheat fine. Soup and matazh balls can be made ahead but depending on quantity may strain fridge room - at least they would for me at the beginning of Pesach. I haven't made matzah balls from a mix, but the recipe I use has the matzah ball mixture being refrigerated for 30 minutes before forming the balls and dropping them in the soup - I think the mixture could be made up to that point and held a couple of days in the fridge. Matzah crunch and meringues can be made in advance but make sure to pack them away in something air tight especially if you are somewhere that may have humid weather. Brownies can be made ahead but I think they will taste best made that day.

Sooz, sounds like you have a new career. Your food looks delicious. I'm with you on not cooking the chicken a day in advance. But I would definitely, bread the chicken a day in advance. I would rub each chicken breast with a little fresh garlic paste (Microplane the garlic).( I like fresh garlic better than garlic powder) Use your processor to make fresh bread crumbs and season the crumbs with fresh grated parmesan cheese. Dip the chicken in flour seasoned with salt and pepper and egg mixed with just a little water and then into the bread crumbs. Chicken can be breaded the day in advance and then quickly fried the next day. I'd pour a little of the sauce in the bottom of the pan, and lay the breaded chicken cutlets over the sauce. Now they are ready to be reheated in the oven. Leaving them in the sauce for an hour or two isn't going to hurt them. Add a little more sauce on top and the cheese just before they go in the oven. Oh and if you have extra chicken, you can breaded it as above and freeze it on cookie sheets and then store in zip lock bags. Don't defrost before frying. Ann

Okay, now you put in "a lot" more water. Rice doesn't stop absorbing water, hence the gluey. You can try steaming it off, or you could try mashing some and frying it, frijoles style. So here's how you get it to all come out. Practice. That's really all there is to it. First find a good recipe for what you want to make. You may have used the exact technique, but not the exact ingredients and proportions. If the recipe just says "rice", skip it. Start with a recipe that says "medium grain brown basmati" or "regular Uncle Ben's" or "short grain arborio" or whatever kind it wants. That's also probably an indication that the directions are thorough--but read it through to make sure before you start cooking. Get a new bag of rice if yours has been hanging out in your pantry a long time (use that for making plain rice). Same with the rest of the ingredients--make sure they're all fresh, not merely okay, for the best chance of success. Then follow the recipe exactly. No substitutions or shortcuts. Exactly. See how it comes out. If it doesn't come out just right, try it again. If it comes out same as the first time, try another recipe. Once you like the recipe and have made it a few times, you can start messing with it, and you'll probably have better success because you'll know what has worked in the past. You'll also be able to grab a technique from the recipe and adapt it to your improvising. Risotto is dead easy. It just takes time. You might want to spend a week practicing small batches until it comes out right. It helps if your liquid (stock or water) is warm. Don't take shortcuts. Just resign yourself to standing there (or sitting close) for the whole time, and stirring stirring stirring, ladle stir stir stir ladle. When they do it on TV shows, the rice starts out par-boiled, so it's cooked through but hasn't shed its starch. That's the hard way to do it unless you're doing restaurant service and want to finish it a la minute, or you're on TV and can't spend an hour stirring. Once you have a handle on it, you'll be able to time chopping something or measuring something, or ducking out to the bathroom, without any harm. But you have to go right back to it. Paella is about building layers (figuratively--of additions, not strata). There's no one way to make it, but the way I learned the tomatoes go in almost at the end. First you toast the rice in your pan to give it browning and dry it more so it can soak up more yummy juice, then you add liquid, seasoning and herbs. You don't start putting the meat and hard vegetables in until the rice is halfway cooked or more. Then the softer vegetables, and the tomatoes and olives near the end. If you're using fast cooking seafood/fish, it goes in once the hard vegetables have softened and more or less with the soft vegetables, depending on how long each needs to cook.

Suzy, from what I found, use a 1 : 1.5 ratio for large quantities of rice. For example, cook 8 cups Jasmine rice with 12 cups water, covered with tinfoil at 350 F for 45 - 60 minutes (check at 45 minutes to see if rice is done, if not, leave it in for another 15 minutes. Also, oil and butter are not necessary for excellent flavor (at least for Jasmine rice). Mind you that this recipe will vary based on the type of rice you will cook. This is why I broke down and bought a huge rice cooker years ago...when you need it, you need it! LOL!