The Ten Commandments of Quick Meals

After the massive amounts of cooking and baking I did last week it's time for a change of pace in my cooking style.

10. Organize your kitchen. If you have to guess where to find something it takes 250% more time to get it. Refrigerators, freezers, cupboards, pantries--know what you've got on hand and keep it visible as much as possible. Keep inventories of what you have on the inside of the cupboard doors if necessary to make shopping for replacements easier.

9. Keep staples on hand. Rachel Ray's book has good ideas for what to stock up on. Spices, oils, vinegars, pestos, prepared sauces, baking ingredients, bouillon, rices, pastas, grains and other longer shelf-life items should be plentiful. Then all you need to do is make a quick trip for the perishables.

8. Know your recipes. Know where they are, read them through beforehand and be familiar with the steps involved so you aren't caught by a "marinate overnight" or "chill three hours" surprise. Knowing the recipe also saves time spent correcting dumb errors or going back and forth between the recipe and the pan, losing your place each time.

7. Buy cookbooks with pictures. You'll be more inclined to cook and it will be easier if you know what the finished product is supposed to look like.

6. Buy a food processor. Yes I know the chefs chop every vegetable into perfect uniform cubes but when you can instead dice your onions, carrots and celery in 30 seconds the trade-off is big.

5. Buy a bread machine and a crock pot. Even if you've never made bread a bread machine makes it as easy as making a bowl of cereal--well almost. You can bake a loaf and time it to be done when you get up in the morning or get home from work. Or you can set it to the "Dough" cycle and make cinnamon rolls, pizza dough or donuts. Same thing with a crock pot. I don't know how civilization made it for all those years without one of these babies, you can throw everything in it and let it do it's magic.

4. Once a week make up a menu. This will save time at the store and in the kitchen if you can plan and shop for the entire week. I keep my menu on a dry eraser board on the refrigerator for all to see because I hate answering the question "What's for dinner?" fifteen times while I'm busy.

3. Eat more soups, salads and sandwiches. These are usually the fastest meals around, no marinating or roasting time involved and you don't need to prepare a side-dish. They can also be lighter and healthier (though it's possible to pack calories into anything if you know what you're doing).

2. Prepare things beforehand. Defrost meats overnight, peel and chop vegetables, grate cheese, freeze sauces, make dressings, whatever you can do earlier do it and pull it out when needed.

1. Modify. This may be the most obvious but also the best tip. There are a million recipe steps that can be substituted with something prepared by hand--who cares if Martha makes her own stock, aoli and pesto? Rhodes rolls, canned broths, buillon granules, cilantro paste in a tube, bottled marinara, bottled minced garlic, pre-grated cheeses, fresh pastas and bottled pesto are all great products that there is no shame in using.

Check in with Rocks in My Dryer every Wednesday for other good tips.



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