Taste Of Home - Taste of Home Make Ahead Comfort Foods : Savor 100s of hearty comfort food dishes

Taste of Home Make Ahead Comfort Foods

252 Prep-Now Eat-Later Recipes

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ISBN: 978-1-62145-887-6

ISBN: 978-1-62145-888-3 (eBook)

Chief Content Officer, Home & Garden: Jeanne Sidner

Content Director: Mark Hagen

Associate Creative Director: Raeann Thompson

Senior Editor: Christine Rukavena

Editor: Hazel Wheaton

Senior Art Director: Courtney Lovetere

Senior Designer: Jazmin Delgado

Deputy Editor, Copy Desk: Dulcie Shoener

Copy Editor: Sara Strauss

COVER

Photographer: Dan Roberts

Food Stylist: Josh Rink

Set Stylist: Stacey Genaw

Pictured on front cover:

Comfort food means sumptuous and satisfying dishes. Rich flavors that come from hours of cooking. Decadent desserts and hearty favorites. With todays hectic lifestyles, who has time for all that? You do!

With Make-Ahead Comfort Foods, the best way to beat the clock is by cooking smarter, not racing to the finish line. A bit of advance planning lets you create the meals your family loves on your own schedule.

Inside youll find:

• 252 fabulous recipeseach one offering scheduling flexibility so you can plan ahead.
• A special section sharing the secrets of make-ahead successstocking your freezer, making the most of your slow cooker, basic meal prep and more.
• Full nutritional information with every recipe.

Also, throughout the book three at-a-glance icons immediately identify recipes that will fit your particular timeline:

Freezer Friendly

Refrigerate Overnight

Slow Cooker

Every recipe in this volume can be adapted to your schedule so you can enjoy time with your family at the table instead of spending it in the kitchen.

Casseroles and soups to fill your freezer, savory stews that taste even better the next day, desserts and sweet treats that chill in the fridge until youre ready to serve themyoull find all these and much more in the new Make-Ahead Comfort Foods from Taste of Home!

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A casserole is every home cooks best friend, whether you refrigerate it to bake the next day or freeze it to bake the next month. You can easily stash the leftovers for later, too, especially when you know these simple tips for how to freeze casseroles.

Line the baking dish with parchment

To avoid tying up your baking dishes in the freezer, line your dish with parchment before filling it. Place it in the freezer until the casserole is solid, then pop out the parchment and load it in a separate container for long-term freezing. When its time to bake, transfer the frozen casserole back to the original dish. You could also use foil baking pans, especially if your recipe yields two casseroles (see our ).

Freeze crunchy toppings separately

Toppings add texture but will get soggy in the freezer. Freeze them separately in an airtight container. Sprinkle them on after defrosting your main dish.

Separate into portions

If there are only one or two people in the house, or you want to save the leftovers for work/school lunches, cut a casserole into smaller portions instead of freezing it whole.

Thaw before baking

Before you pop your casserole into the oven, dont forget to thaw it. The safest way is to let it thaw overnight in the fridge, so make sure to plan ahead.

Avoid freezing dairy-heavy casseroles

Cottage cheese, sour cream or creme fraiche wont hold up in the freezer, so if your recipe contains a significant amount of these ingredients, avoid freezing. You can usually still assemble it a day or so ahead of time and keep the casserole in the refrigerator until ready to bake; store leftovers in the refrigerator in an airtight container for two to three days.

RICE: THE MAKE-AHEAD MVP

Rice is a perfect base for many different meals, so having cooked rice in the fridge is a huge timesaver. Rice does dry out when cold, but its easy to restore to soft, fluffy goodness. One noterice can contain a particular type of bacteria that isnt always killed during cooking. So, cool down cooked rice as quickly as possible, and store it in the refrigerator for four days at most. To freeze, let it cool completely in the fridge first and then freeze it in an airtight container (we like scooping single servings into individual containers). To use, try one of the reheating methods below. Be sure to reheat it to at least 165F.