Victoria Shearer - Make Ahead Meals

The in-laws announced they are arriving on Thursday for the weekend. You just finished a round of golf and your husband invited the rest of your foursome over for a quick bite. Youre invited to a potluck supper Friday night and you have to work until 6 p.m. Its your turn to bring the treats for your preschoolers snack-time and you forgot. If any of these frightful scenarios are even slightly reminiscent of your life, you may need a culinary intervention.

Back in the 1970s, televisions Brady Bunch had Alice in the kitchen, serving up home-cooked goodness at a moments notice. Claire Huxtable, the lawyer mom from the hit 1980s sitcom, The Cosby Show, never seemed to be stressed or unprepared at mealtimes, even though she worked all day. Food played a role in the 1990s series Seinfeld too, but those folks were single and spent an awful lot of time eating in a diner.

So is it any wonder that the fast-paced environment in which you find yourself in the twenty-first century often makes you feel more like one of the Desperate Housewives than the Iron Chef? You might think: I want to serve great meals to my family and friends, but there is no time. I try not to buy expensive takeout food, but I often have to work late. I really do like to cook, but weekends are my only free time.

Dont worry. You dont need an intervention. You need a little inspiration and a guidebook for paying it forward. Make Ahead Meals shows you how, with some advance preparation during your free minutes, to create gustatory magic more than 100 tasty dishes that you can cook and serve at a moments notice, with a minimum of effort.

Some recipes you can assemble early in the day or the night before and refrigerate until cooking. Other dishes, once prepared, will keep in the refrigerator for days, allowing you the flexibility of choosing when and where to serve them. You can prepare many of the Make Ahead Meals a month or more in advance and store them in the freezer until that unexpected company rings the doorbell.

Look for the following icons to determine how far in advance you can prepare a recipe:

make in the morning make up to 1 week ahead

make and freeze

indicates that youll find a handy tip or explanation that relates to that recipe.

From soups, snacks, and drinks, to main courses, tasty sides, decadent desserts, and special sauces, Make Ahead Meals invites you to make the most of your precious time: Cook now, enjoy later! And to aid your preparation, youll find a complete inventory of the ingredients, equipment, and supplies used in the recipes in this book as well as a pocketful of helpful culinary tips and some very useful food facts.

So the next time your role in life requires a culinary sleight of hand, turn to Make Ahead Meals for a star turn in the kitchen.

Summertime Lemonade

Nothing says summer like a tall glass of fresh-squeezed lemonade. Or try an Arnold Palmer half lemonade, half Iced Lemon Sweet Tea (see ).

1 cups sugar

cup water

1 tablespoon grated lemon peel

1 cups fresh squeezed lemon juice

5 cups water

Mint sprigs

Up to 1 week ahead: Place sugar and water in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until sugar has completely dissolved, about 2 minutes. Transfer this sugar syrup to a large pitcher.

Add lemon peel, lemon juice, and water. Stir to combine. Refrigerate until cold. Serve over ice in tall glasses garnished with a mint sprig.

My supermarket sells overripe lemons repackaged for quick sale at a mere fraction of the original cost. Because they are so ripe, these lemons are very juicy. When you find a good deal on lemons, juice them and freeze them in 1-cup measures. Then you can enjoy fresh lemonade any time of the year.

Makes: 8 cups

Watermelonade

Your kids will love this nutritious fruit drink, which is even more refreshing than lemonade and made with much less sugar. Adults like it too! Try adding a splash of rum or peach schnapps to your cooler.

8 cups cubed, seeded watermelon, rind removed, divided

cup sugar, divided

1 cup water, divided

cup fresh lemon juice

1 slice lemon