Cheese Souffle

Cheese souffle is the perfect example of a complicated dish that can be broken down into components that can then be frozen, making the dish easier to make on a weeknight.  I know from long experience that egg whites freeze really well.  They can be thawed and then used as normal without any noticeable change.  One day as I was putting some egg whites in the freezer I thought about cheese souffle.  I love cheese souffle, but it's too much work to make on a regular basis.  However, a souffle is made by folding whipped egg whites and a batter together..  Looking at the egg whites I was about to put in the freezer made me realize I could probably freeze the egg whites and batter separately.  Then to make a souffle all I would have to do was thaw the two components, whip the egg whites, fold everything together and bake. 

It worked!  I took me about an hour to prepare the batter.  This is why we don't eat souffle often, but with the components in the freezer it only took me a few minutes to whip up the souffles.  This means I could make a big batch of souffle and have souffle several times for the same amount of time and work that it would take me to make souffle once.

Final Days and Summary

I've done a full week of cooking before, and I generally start out strong and then lag at the end.  This is definitely the case this time.  On day 8 I made the souffle and SW chicken burgers.  All that was left was the falafel and some vacuum sealing.  The falafels are easy, but I took me almost a week to get around to making them.  I took me a few more days past that to get around to vacuum sealing the last of the food.  Also my notes are getting sparse, and I have fewer pictures.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

As I mentioned the last time I posted, I recently had a baby.  I'm still doing my freezer meals.  After all it's the easiest way to stay on top of feeding my family.  But since I currently have a needy, helpless and unpredictable little person to take care of those freezer meals need to be easy in every sense.  They need to be easy to put together before freezing since I have little time and energy for cooking right now.  They need to be easy to cook or reheat on the night that I'm serving the meal since the baby is most likely to be fussy right when it's time to start making dinner.  They even need to be easy to eat since I will most likely be eating the meal one handed while the other snuggles a tiny baby who doesn't want to be put down.  Oh and they need to be delicious.  Fortunately this casserole meets all of these requirements.

Adapted from: Joy Filled Eats
Difficulty: Easy
Category: Simple Side
Recipe Column: DL

Asparagus in Ambush

Like the Avocado Tacos I posted before, this is not a freezer meal.  However, on occasion I post meals that are simple to make and delicious, which describes asparagus in ambush perfectly.

Adapted from: An American Place

2 lbs asparagus, woody bottom ends cut off and discarded
10 oz thinly sliced ham
14 slices swiss cheese
7 flour tortillas

Makes 7 wraps

1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil over high heat.  Add the asparagus and boil until just tender.  Drain well.
2. Place three slices of ham on a tortilla.  Put two slices of cheese on top of the ham and place a handful of  asparagus in the center on top of the cheese.  Roll the tortilla up around the ham, cheese and asparagus.  Place the wrap in a baking dish.  Repeat with the other tortillas.
3. Bake the wraps at 350 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes or until the ham is hot and the cheese is melted.

Pupusas

I uploaded an updated spreadsheet.  Go here to download it.

I enjoyed eating pupusas regularly when I lived in New York.  Unfortunately, I've had trouble find good ones anywhere else, and I have missed them.  Finally I have learned how to make them.   It took some experimenting because none of the recipes I found online tasted like the ones I had in New York.  All of those recipes called for the dough to be made with only instant masa and water.  This resulted in a dry, tough exterior not the soft exterior of the pupusas I remember.

Some internet research led me to believe that the difference is made by using instant masa instead of fresh masa.  I don't know of a place to purchase fresh masa and I don't have the equipment or inclination to make it myself.  After some experiments in adding butter and baking power to the dough with the instant masa I got very close to the soft pupusas I enjoyed so much in New York.  I realize this may not be an authentic way to make them, but they taste pretty authentic and delicious!