Prepping Ingredients, ahead of time….Step 4
I find that if I have some of the ingredients prepped I am more likely to cook at home. If you have read any of my articles you already know that I really like my chop box. I have bought several and have decided this is the only one that works for me.
I like the version that has two different size blades inserts. I use the smaller one most of the time but if I am making soups or stews I use the inserts that chops a larger piece, for example carrots, potatoes and celery.
I chop onions. I peel the onions and then cut them into a size that is easy to go through the chop box. In this case I cut them into sixth. BTW when I see sliced onions in a recipe I change it to dice because it is so much easier to dice than a slice. I keep onions in a mason jar in the fridge. You will have to change the lid periodically because of the onion odor with permeate it and eventually that order transfers to everything in your fridge.
I also chop red peppers. They are easy to clean and cut into a size that goes through the chop box.
Jalapeno peppers take a little longer, but I buy 2 pounds at a time and when chopped will last a month or two in the freezer. The heat comes from the seeds and the white veins in the pepper. If you get the juice on your hands you can neutralize it with milk.
Mushrooms are one of our favorite ingredients. Unfortunately they don’t seem to last long in the fridge. They are best when used fresh. However as they get closer to being unusable I freeze them.
First take them out of the plastic container and put them in lunch bags to store in the fridge. For keeping them for use as an ingredient I dice or slice and freeze them. Not all mushrooms can be kept frozen, I googled the two types I use and both could be frozen.
Potatoes were interesting. I had some that were going to go bad if I didn’t do something with, so I used the bigger dicing insert, put them in water to remove the starch and then baked them. I use them most days in my breakfast vegetable omelet. I also use them as a side dish. I find that 5 pounds at a time work for me.
Everything is better with bacon on it. So of course I do bacon in two pound batches and keep it in the freezer as well.
I use two cookie sheets covered in aluminum foil and a high temp rack to cook the bacon. It takes about 25 minutes and I flip it once.
Freeze them flat and separated, unless you want a bacon ball.
© 2016 T.K.Frawley.