Make-at-Home Food Staples

My intention here is to provide a basic guide to prepping healthy foods, so that you can have a meal ready in 20 minutes or less. My personal tendency is to steer wide and clear of most processed or ready-made foods, with a few exceptions, mostly for items you just can't make at home. And while eating out is great, especially if you can afford it, it's rarely a healthy option. This guide is especially useful if you're at home with two kids and your hands are full keeping them entertained.

I try to keep some basics on hand that I can use as the bases for a number of dishes. The handiest way to do is this is to have an additional small freezer or extra refrigerator. Once a months I go out and buy the following items and prepare them, cool them, and freeze them in quart containers:

• Lentils
• Pinto, Black, or other beans
• Garbanzo Beans (or you can buy canned but it's a lot cheaper to just cook them and they freeze well)
• Tomato Sauce
• Carrot, Split Pea, or other Soup

I use lentils as a basic accompaniment; great to serve with rice and a piece of quickly sauteed fish. You can also puree them and make soup. Add feta cheese, some lemon juice, and freshly chopped parsley, and if you have time, some steamed red potatoes and you have a delicious vegetarian stew. Or just add some rice, and fresh tomatoes in the summer. MMMMM!

Beans I also use as an accompaniment with rice and fish or chicken. They can be pureed and a dash of cream and some stock added to make a soup. I like to have several kinds on hand for variety. For a quick spicy dish add a little chipotle pepper in adobo (you can find them on the shelf in the Latin Section), some queso cotija (Mexican cheese), and serve with rice.

Garbanzo beans-another versatile, healthy item with multiple uses. What first comes to mind for me is Hummus-just puree some garbanzos, add a good amount of Tahini (this is a sesame paste found in Middle Eastern groceries or the ME section of your grocery store), fresh or roasted garlic (see my other entry on Always Have on Hand Items), lemon juice, and serve. Always make sure you don't add too much water at first or it will be too thin-and also make sure it's not too thick or you'll burn up your blender quickly. You can also make this in a food processor-save your blender.

For a real comfort food winter dish, try opening up a can of good italian pomodoro tomatoes (or some of your frozen sauce I'll tell you how to make below), add some water or stock, and a portion of your garbanzos. The rind from a good hunk of parmesan is a real flavor booster here-add it to your soup and let it simmer away. Add some small noodles (broken up angel hair or another fine noodle) near the end, some fresh chopped parsley if desired, and there you have a basic Minestrone soup. Some fresh grated parmesan works well to top it off. I saw Parmesan rinds at my local Whole Foods market the other day, but I prefer to buy the big pieces they sell at Costco and save the rinds (it's a lot cheaper too).

Or try tossing up some room temp Garbanzos with a can of good tuna, preferably in Olive Oil, some salt, pepper and lemon juice, for a healthy simple salad.

A short tangent here-if you buy your Parmesan or other cheese at Costco (or elsewhere, for that matter), to keep it fresh break it or cut it up into several pieces that will last no more than a week. Wrap each one individually in Saran wrap and unwrap as needed. And of course, save the Parmesan rinds for soups and sauces.

Moving on to tomato sauce, I like to buy the big cans of Italian Pomodoro at Costco, or Pomi brand that comes in the cardboard boxes at Whole Foods or other markets if you're lucky enough to be able to find them. (No, this isn't a product placement). I really find the brand of tomato makes a big difference-avoid the American stuff (Del Monte, etc.) if you can. The citric acid comes through way too strong. I dice up three or four large onions and saute these until translucent, add 15-20 cloves of chopped garlic or prepped garlic (again, see my other entry on Always Have on Hand Items), some fresh thyme, some fennel seeds if you like the peppiness they'll give the sauce, and then add two of these large cans of tomatoes. You can add a can or two of tomato paste if you like as well. And if you have the Parmesan rinds, this will add flavor like no other. I like to go light on the herbs here so that I can have a versatile sauce when I actually decide to make something with it, so go with your preferences here. I like to let it simmer one and a half to two hours, then let it cool. This makes about 7.5 to 8 quarts of sauce you can freeze. Half quart containers will serve 2-3, while a quart container is just about right for 4-5 people.

You can use this sauce directly over pasta-just microwave your frozen portion directly and serve over past of your choice. Or saute some Italian sausage, add the sauce and let it simmer a while. Saute some mini portabellos, a little garlic, and add to your sauce. Use red pepper flakes, mashed anchovies, and capers for Pasta a'la'Puttanesca. Use it for the soup as described above. Saute mushrooms, red bell peppers, add some diced celery and some sauteed chicken and make a quick chicken cacciatore (ok, so it's not a twenty minute dish-but you will have saved yourself 1-2 hours by having the sauce prepared ahead of time), oregano, rosemary, or whatever you like! The list goes on.

Finally, soups. Soups freeze beautifully-though I do find they need a second blending once they have been thawed out and reheated to restore the consistency to them. If you like a touch of cream in your soup, which adds an elegant finish, don't add the cream before freezing. Save it for when you the soup is hot and ready to be eaten.

I like to have on hand, especially during the winter months, a bright, belly-warming carrot soup. This is my personal preference and of course you can do your own (suggestions below), but here's the quick recipe. Put 2 portion onions (or leeks, if you want to go more "gourmet" or a mix of both), 2 portion carrots, and 1 portion celery in a large pot. Add 1 potato, some chopped garlic. Add water or stock as you wish. Add a few cloves of garlic, some fresh or dried thyme. Allow to simmer until the carrots and potatoes are very tender.

Blend your soup with an immersion blender or in a regular blender. Careful with hot liquids, blend small amounts at a time. Allow to cool and freeze in quart containers or half quart containers, depending on your needs.

For butternut squash soup, reduce the carrots by half and add butternut squash pieces to replace the reduced amount of carrots, and then some. For asparagus or broccoli soup, prepare as directed above without the carrots (they'll spoil the nice green color). Add the green vegetable during the last 2-4 minutes of cooking and cook until just done. Blend and chill in an ice bath immediately if you want to maintain the nice green color and you're not eating the soup right away. To do the ice bath, you'll need a large bowl of ice water, and a slightly smaller bowl for your soup. Once blended, quickly put the soup in the smaller bowl and submerge in the ice bath. Stir until chilled.

Occasionally you will find that after freezing the soup you lose the original smooth texture it had when it was just prepared. To remedy this, just put it in the blender or use your immersion blender once thawed and ready to heat up.