Things I've Learned from Rachel Ray, and The Ease of "Pre"pared Meals.

Last night I spent about 3 hours cooking meals to freeze.  Fix, freeze, and forget it, I think is was this process is dubbed.  After the kitchen cleaning process started... it took about 2 hours last night and moved into tonight before dinner (I had to do another round before dinner started tonight)!  I have a hashbrown casserole, 4 broccoli and cheese casseroles, a chicken pot pie, and two servings of spaghetti sauce.  I roasted another chicken... it's like Picadilly's around here!  It's just a small start, but a start none the less!

Things I've learned from Rachel Ray (and things I've added to her cooking methods).

1. Talking while cooking is therapeutic (even if it's to yourself).
2. Cooking can be fun... especially if you use a garbage bowl (or your Crock Pot bowl).
3. Cooking with her pots, pans, and utensils makes it all better (especially the orange ones).
4. 30 minutes is easy (when you have parts of the meal "pre"pared).
5. Prewashing herbs is the way to go (... it's keeping them fresh and bright green without a staff that's a problem).
6. Always have the right spices on hand (... and if you don't, just add rosemary).
7. A little fresh Parmigiano Reggiano makes everything good (but the sprinkle kind from Kraft works, too).
8. When you put a casserole in the oven, it doesn't come out with the bread (especially when you forget to put it in on time).

Now that I've learned the rope of my semi-professional kitchen, "pre"paring food is the name of my game.  I'm excited to see how it all tastes after it's thawed out and cooked.  Tomorrow night's dinner is grilled chicken, broccoli and cheese casserole, green beans and rolls.  Wednesday is still up in the air, but I'll bet it has something to do with roasted chicken and hashbrown casserole.  Maybe spaghetti?!  Who knows... the frozen possibilities are endless!