Don't You Dare Buy Ready-made Stuffing for Thanksgiving!

Homemade Dressing for the Holidays

If You Can Sing "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme," You Can Make Stuffing (dressing) from Scratch. Stuffing. Ahhhh. Maybe my favorite part of my favorite holiday. Growing up with four siblings, stuffing disappeared the fastest and was the most worth fighting over when it came to leftovers (if there were any). Who doesn't love stuffing? When I lived in Japan, where no one had a big enough oven to roast a turkey, even if they knew what one was or could afford to procure one—what I missed the most about American food was, not surprisingly, turkey with stuffing and cranberry sauce. Simple, yes, if you live in the states. Exotic and impossible if you life overseas. Now that I am back home, I serve my family a turkey-stuffing-cranberry meal about once a month—I cannot get enough of it.

Growing up in a large household, my parents wisely took some shortcuts when it came to cooking. And stuffing was one of them. I never had honest-to-goodness homemade stuffing until I was all grown up and discovered how to make it myself. What a thrill to realize how easy it is. And the rewards are GREAT—when you serve it, be sure to mention you made it from scratch. You will hear oohs and ahhs. No store-bought stuffing mix can compare in any dimension. You too can do this—have confidence. Stuffing is so simple to prepare, you will wonder why you never thought of doing it yourself before now.

One last note: I dined at a friend's house for a holiday party recenlty. He was so excited to have made stuffing from scratch, but it was the most gosh-awful stuff you ever tasted. He had just tossed in the celery and tossed in the other ingredients--with NO sautéeing, no herbs, no butter, and no chicken stock. The stuff he called stuffing was dreadful, pasty bread bits with hard chunks of celery. Don't let this happen to you.

Basically, stuffing is comprised of two steps: “Creating the Croutons” and “Sautéing the Savories.” And you hardly need a recipe. Once you know how to do it, you can whip stuffing up easily with no props. Are you ready? YOU CAN DO THIS!

Creating the Croutons
Take a loaf of bread that you find delicious—ones loaded with nuts and whole grains are wonderful for stuffing. Sourdough works great too. Anything but white bread (too fluffy—needs to be a bit sturdier). I'm a fanatic—I make loaves of "stuffing" bread to use (chock full of fresh herbs). But pick a bread you already like. Day-old bread is fine too. You will need about eight cups worth of croutons. If the loaf of bread is large, you may not need the whole loaf.

Cut sliced bread into strips and then again crosswise into ½ inch (1 cm) cubes. Place the croutons on a baking sheet without overlapping, if possible. Toast lightly in a 350 degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes, or until lightly toasted. Scoop all the croutons into a large bowl.

Sautéing the Savories
Chop up one large onion (sweet ones like Walla-walla or Vidalia are especially yummy for this) and about 6~8 stalks of celery (slice each stalk lengthwise first and then crosswise to make smaller pieces). Sauté the onions and celery in 6~8 tablespoons butter (use butter unabashedly, but start with the lesser amount and see if it needs more later, depending on the quantity of croutons you have), along with the following herbs (fresh if you can get them, and chopped coarsely): Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme. Does that sound familiar? It's part of the refrain from a Simon and Garfunkle song, Scarborough Fair. Yup. It's the herbal code for stuffing (and poultry seasoning). If you have a choice of parsley, use Italian flat leaf instead of the curly kind—but fresh is always preferable to dried. How much of each herb to use? Fresh, maybe 3 tablespoons each. Dried, maybe 1 tablespoon each. It's important to sauté the herbs so that the fragrance and flavor get infused. Add in about 1/2 cup of dried cranberries if you have them (makes it irresistible—sautéing plumps them). Once the onions are slightly translucent and no longer crunchy, remove from the stove.

Stir this sautéed herb mixture into the croutons. Add about 1 cup of chicken broth—slowly—so that you can gauge when to stop adding. (Keep jars of all-natural chicken stock concentrate in the fridge for uses such as these. I recommend “Better Than Bouillon” brand, by Superior Touch. You can get it at Trader Joe’s or other high-end grocers. Cubed bouillon is too salty and has too much artificial stuff, along with MSG. Chicken stock that comes in cans and cartons is good but too pricey.) This is the trickiest part—if you add too much broth, the stuffing becomes mushy. Too little and it's chokingly dry. Just right is slightly moist, with mouth “give.” Just right is not too crumbly and holds up on the plate. Add salt to taste (I especially recommend Vege-sal vegetable salt). And more melted butter, if needed. Toss lightly and serve as is or use about half to stuff bird. Keeps well for several days.

Notes:

— You can add variations for fun: toasted chopped nuts (pine nuts are fabulous, macadamias are decadent, chestnuts if you can get them, almonds if they are slivered thinly), chopped dried fruit such as apricots (go easy on the fruit and cut it small), other herbs such as marjoram or tarragon, etc.

— Some folks love cornbread stuffing. To make it, add chopped pork sausage to the sauté and use crumbled homemade cornbread (not that sweet kind like they serve at Boston Market—eyuck!) instead of wheat bread.

— Be sure not to use Pyrex when toasting your croutons in the oven. Like a doofus, I used a Pyrex pan as an overflow and voila! It exploded. I'm not the first person to have this experience, lest you laugh at me. I did a quick search and found an entire page on ConsumerAffairs.com dedicated to people who've had exploding Pyrex experiences. Just use a standard baking pan and you will be fine.

Easy Gourmet: Homemade Ice Cream—How About "Lavender White Chocolate" Tonight?

Ice cream? You betcha! I love ice cream, just like everybody else. I love homemade, just like everybody else. I love saving money, just like everybody else. Well, I finally decided to put my passions where my mouth is. For Christmas, Santa (aka, me) brought our family an ice cream maker. I've wanted one for a long time. Now, ice cream makers come in three types: the kind where you add ice and salt; the kind where you store the container in the freezer and then plug it in; or the kind where you just plug it in. I found that the ice-and-salt kind makes ice cream that's a bit too soft. The plug-it-in kind works great but costs a fortune. So I chose the container-in-the-freezer option and bought a Cuisinart ice cream maker for about $50 (you can get them for about $35 now).

Ice cream is so ridiculously easy to make yourself; really, the only barrier is you. Plus, when you make it yourself, you don't add icky ingredients like guar bean gum and carrageenan, do you? Artificial flavors and colors? Didn't think so. You get pure-as-grandma's-sheets-hanging-out-to-dry ice cream. And surprisingly, homemade ice cream is a good bit cheaper to boot. So why not make it? Are you scared? Don't be—it's no big deal and the kudos-to-effort factor is huge (you get gigantic rewards in the way of oohs and ahhs with little energy in the making).

And probably the most fun thing I have found about having an ice cream maker is the chance to experiment. No reason to feel stuck to the same ol' vanilla, chocolate, strawberry routine, or the other extreme of rocky-road-über-chunk-cookie-dough-kitchen-sink flavor. You are the master of your flavors and with a few simple rules of thumb, you will be creating your own ice creams with exotic names like "Cherimoya Custard," "Blueberry with Blueberry Maple Syrup," "Lychee Sorbet," "Cranberry Candied Pecan" and collecting all the praise that you so rightly deserve.

So let's get started. The instructions below are for the Cuisinart ice cream maker. If you have a different size, adjust accordingly. The idea is that you are creating from rules of thumb and not cast-in-stone recipes. Dare to show flare! Invite some perpetual kids over and have fun!

Homemade Ice Cream Rules-of-Thumb

• Use a total of about four cups of dairy. The more heavy whipping cream you use, the richer your ice cream. The more whole milk you use, the lighter your ice cream. If you use all whole or skim milk, you do run the risk of having a crystallized effect (crunchy ice cream). Better ice creams are velvety smooth. I recommend using either some proportion of whole milk to heavy whipping cream or all heavy whipping cream. This is ice cream, after all. It's not a diet food—it's a food of love and joy and summertime and smiles. If dieting is a challenge, enjoy a smaller amount and feed the rest to your loved ones (this stuff is rich—you will not want to gorge on it). When you make small batches like this Cuisinart ice cream maker makes, there's not a lot left over anyway. So four cups total: I usually do three cups heavy whipping cream and one cup whole milk. You can also make half a batch, and then, eat only super-fresh ice cream
• Where you can cut back, diet-wise, is on the amount of sugar you use. Most ice cream recipes call for a humongous amount of sugar (1 cup or more for this amount of ice cream!). I recommend half that, or about 1/2 cup sugar for four cups of dairy. You could also substitute maple syrup, honey, stevia extract, and more, but use less if it's more sweet, e.g., honey is extremely sweet so you'd need less than 1/2 cup of honey. (Honey is surprisingly delightful in ice cream.)
• If you are using sugar, I recommend raw or turbinado sugar because it's the most nutritious and because it tastes heavenly! With sugar, though, you cannot simply throw it into the ice cream maker. You will have to "melt" the sugar before adding it (to create simple syrup). That way you do not get crunchy sugar granules to ruin the texture of your confection. To make simple syrup, put the granulated sugar in the microwave with a small amount of liquid (milk or fruit juice) and heat it until the sugar dissolves.
• If you are using chocolate and want the ice cream smooth, then melt it before stirring it in. When you stir the melted chocolate into the other ingredients, do so outside of the ice cream maker. If you take an ice-cold ice cream maker container and pour melted chocolate into it, your chocolate will immediately harden, and you’ll get crunchy ice cream (if that’s what you like, go for it!). But mix the chocolate with the dairy and then pour it into the ice cream maker for smooth, blended ice cream.
• Use about 1 tablespoon of either vanilla extract (which is basically booze and vanilla) or some other kind of liquor. Good ones are Grand Marnier, Limoncello, Rum, banana liquor, Frangelica, etc. Don't use too much liquor or your ice cream will get overwhelmed (unless that's the effect you desire!).
• Other ingredients are optional, such as fruit or fruit mixtures, dark chocolate, white chocolate, nuts, etc. But the important thing to remember is that if you are adding fruit, make sure the fruit is cut into small enough bits that if you bite on a frozen fruit bit you aren't going to lose a tooth. Smaller bits really are better. If you throw big chunks of fruit in, you'll regret it! The ice cream maker will not chop them up for you unless the fruit is very soft (like raspberries). I did this once with big peach slices and found it nearly impossible to eat—big fruit chunks in ice cream are rock-hard!
• If you like a custardy ice cream, then cook your beaten egg yolks along with a small amount of the liquid, stirring over low heat frequently until the egg mixture is smooth. Then add the egg mixture to the rest of the liquid—while still outside of the ice cream maker. Once everything is mixed thoroughly, add it to the ice cream maker. Mark Bittman, of “How to Cook Everything” fame—whom I admire and adore—believes no ice cream is real ice cream unless it has egg in it. He’s a purist. For me, custard ice cream (French style) is one category, and regular ice cream is another. I prefer regular, but, as they say in Japan, “Juu-nin, tou-iro.” Or “Ten people, ten colors.” In other words, to each his own.
• Feel free to dip a spoon in while the ice cream is cranking to taste if you need to adjust the recipe.
• After making your ice cream, freeze it for a while in the freezer before serving. Why? Because homemade is somewhat softer than store-bought ice cream. You may get a good consistency or you may not. But if you run the ice cream in the machine until it is finished—about 20 to 30 minutes, then freeze for an hour or so, you ice cream will be the perfect consistency—scoop-ready!

That's basically it! So here's my freebie to you—my own invention, I am proud to say—and so delicious it could win you admirers or even paramours. Certainly the neighborhood kids will follow you around expectantly after one taste of this! Enjoy.

Lavender White Chocolate Honey Ice Cream
Three cups heavy whipping cream
One cup whole milk
1 tablespoon culinary lavender seeds (you can get this online or at gourmet markets—lavender is great to have around for other savory foods and for lavender martinis—don’t tell the kids I said that)
1/4 cup of honey
1/4 cup of white chocolate (not "white baking chips," but REAL white chocolate, that is, cocoa butter and flavorings)
1 tablespoon of vanilla

1) Make a tea of a couple of tablespoons of hot milk with the lavender seeds. Let the seeds steep for a few minutes and then strain the seeds off (the seeds are too bitter to make a yummy ice cream addition, but the flavor they add is close to ecstasy!) and reserve the “tea” you created.

2) Melt the white chocolate along with about 1/4 cup of the milk and the honey on a burner at low heat, stirring constantly and removing when the chocolate is melted.

3) Add the chocolate mixture to the lavender tea and the rest of the cream, milk, and vanilla. Stir everything together and pour into the pre-frozen ice cream container.

4) Cover the ice cream maker and turn it on, letting it run for 20 to 30 minutes. After the ice cream is made, remove it to a freezable plastic covered container (Tupperware makes a great one—the Rock 'n Serve, medium deep) and freeze for an hour or so before serving.

Happy, Homemade Christmas Gifts

Every year, we mix up a batch of homemade Christmas gifts and put them in some sort of fancy container to give out as gifts to family and friends (for kids and each other, we actually buy presents). Here's what we (OK, what I) made this year, with links to some of the recipes or sites for buying ingredients.

Gingerbread Surfer Babes & Dudes (I use the Mark Bittman Gingerbread Men recipe--it calls for lots of butter and molasses. Too yummy! Then, for icing, I use organic powdered cane sugar and other organic ingredients. Then, top it all off with granulated candy sugar with lots of beautiful artificial colors to make everything festive. One can be too good, you know.)

Belgian Tripel Homebrew (The Home Brewery is a great site. And the folks there are super-nice.)

Chocolate Coconut Truffles (Trader Joe's for the bulk Belgian chocolate [only $4 a pound!] and white chocolate [the real kind, not "white chips."]), made from my own recipe.

Layered Peppermint Bark (Again, Trader Joe's for the chocolates. I doubled the quantity of white chocolate in this recipe to make each white layer thick. Heavenly and to-die-for do not begin to do this justice! Add extra peppermint extract for a taste explosion.)

Rosemary Almonds (Also from my own recipe, only this one is on eHow.com. You could not find an easier, nor more satisfying gift to give and to receive. The nuts will be gone in a flash!)

Pomegranate Fruit Compote (Sure, this project started out as "Pomegranate Jelly" and ended up as "Compote" when it didn't set. Oh, well. It's a nice presentation in a festive jelly jar, and it can be yummy on ice cream instead of on toast. Why not? The compote was easy to make, even though it didn't gel as much as promised.)

Homemade Soaps in Yin-Ylang and Yang-Mint (So easy to make "Melt-and-Pour" soaps. Just melt chunks of the block of solid soap base, add in color, fragrance, and botanical doodads. Voila! Recipients rave and oooh. Don't tell them the real truth. This year, I used spearmint leaves and peppermint oil to make a "yang" soap, and ylang-ylang, sage, and tangerine oils, along with sage flowers to make a "yin" soap. Wrap in plastic wrap first, then in a strip of homemade paper, then a ribbon around the strip. Fab!)

Don't Be Afraid of Goi Cuon: Vietnamese Salad Rolls Demystified

You've probably either had these lovely delicacies or at least seen them—translucent-skinned salad roll-ups with shrimp, sprouts, and who-knows-what-else, served at Vietnamese restaurants. They look too cool for words and have a subtlety that is jazzed up by dipping them into some kind of mystery Vietnamese dipping sauce.

Do not be afraid—you can make these bad boys at home. My four-year-old made one herself (with only a little help from the grown-ups). My suggestion is to array the fillings of choice on a platter, have a big bowl of warm water for dipping the rice-paper wrappers in, and maybe a couple of choices of dipping sauces. So fun for guests to pile their own toppings on the rice paper (look for rice paper wrappers [Bahn Trang] at Asian stores or buy online), roll up, and dip. I'm all about participatory eating: Shabu-shabu, Peking Duck, Fondue, Make-your-own-tacos—you name it. If you help create it, somehow, food tastes even better.

So here's a quick-and-dirty how-to for building a Gui Cuon, Vietnamese Salad Rolls (or Spring Rolls) meal:

Potential Filling Ingredients
Choose the ones you like or have handy, but at least have cucumbers, sprouts, and noodles.

• Fried tofu strips
• Cilantro
• Thai basil
• Mint leaves
• Shiso leaves
• Mung bean sprouts
• Carrots, julienned
• Cucumber, julienned
• Rice noodles or bean thread noodles (I prefer bean thread because you are already eating rice with the rice paper wrappers), soaked in hot water until soft for 10 to 15 minutes and then drained
• Sirloin strips, marinated in lemongrass/garlic/fish sauce/sugar marinade, and grilled
• Shrimp, deveined, butterflied, cooked

Dipping Sauces

• Hoisin with Crushed Peanuts
• Vietnamese Dipping Sauce
• Satay Sauce
• Miso Sauce

How to Woo Your Valentine—with Chocolate Love

Non-traditional Chocolate Love

Diamonds? Nah—too pricey. Hallmark card? Too mainstream. Heart-shaped candy from the local store? Too blah. Flowers? Too obvious. Looking for a new way to woo your Valentine? Just say yes—to chocolate. Glorious, rich, reason-to-live chocolate. Cultivated and developed on this continent (Central America and Mexico—thank you Aztecs and Mayans—you rock!), it's one of the best-loved aphrodisiacs. Unlike, say, Viagra, the ingestion of chocolate is wholly pleasurable as well as its effects. Montezuma was so convinced chocolate was an aphrodisiac, he drank huge quantities before every trip to his harem. Is it the serotonin in chocolate? The rich fatty luxury of it? Who knows for sure, but you can experiment with chocolate—accompanied by the one you wish to woo—and get back to me on how it works.

Meanwhile, here a couple of ways to enjoy chocolate with your love:


Chocolate Mole
Ahhhh, mole. The chocolate curry of Mexico. Savory chocolate—what’s not to love? No better way to celebrate your passion for both chocolate and food by taking your honey out to enjoy some autentico Oaxacan or Pueblano mole. Here are two highly recommended spots in the L.A. area to try (surely you can uncover some near you with some research):

Guelaguetza
3014 W Olympic Blvd (Cross Street: Normandie Avenue)
Los Angeles, CA 90006-2516
(213) 427-0608

Described as, “straightforward, totally authentic, very flavorful, extremely reasonably priced, and super-delicious.”

Frida Mexican Cuisine
236 S. Beverly Drive
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
Tel: 310-278-7666

Described this way, “If you're after more authentic Mexican cuisine in smart surroundings and the chance of a celebrity sighting, then this is a must.”

For a more profound chocolate thrill—for those who dare—make your own mole (I do—it's worth every bit of effort). You will need a spice grinder (a coffee grinder works great), lots of nuts, garlic, dried chilies, and, naturally, a rich, good quality chocolate (preferably Mexican chocolate). Here’s a great site to teach you all you need to know about making mole (the process is not that difficult—it’s more a matter of gathering a lot of ingredients, taking your time, and not succumbing to shortcuts [use turkey or chicken on the bone, for example]):

www.ramekins.com/mole/molenopool.html

Chocolate Truffles
Sure, there are chocolate bon-bons—those chocolate candies with mystery ingredients inside. But hard-core chocolate aficionados prefer truffles. Chocolate inside, chocolate outside—all the more chocolate to enjoy. But don't settle for the standard-issue truffles—go for the gusto at these spectacular chocolatiers—or search for handmade truffletiers near where you live:

L' Artisan du Chocolat

3364 West First Street
Los Angeles, CA 90004
310-880-9396

www.LArtisanduChocolat.com

Boule Gourmet Chocolates

420 N La Cienega Blvd (Cross Street: Rosewood Avenue)
Los Angeles, CA 90048
(310) 289-9977

www.boulela.com

Homemade Truffles

Don't forget that you can make truffles easily as well. Homemade truffles will not look as glamorous as ones you might find at a chocolatier, but they will be made with love—by you—and therefore may be even more potent as an aphrodisiac (see Like Water for Chocolate if you don't believe me).

Here's a quick and simple recipe—the results will astound both you and the object of your affections. Plus, there will be plenty left over to take to work and amaze everyone there. Enjoy! All ingredients can be purchased at your local Trader Joe's. Recipe makes five dozen 1" truffles.

1 Pound Plus bar of bittersweet 72% cacao Belgian chocolate (17.6 oz.)
1/2 pound Ghirardelli white baking chocolate
6 tablespoons unsalted butter (3/4 of a stick)
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons vanilla extract (or substitute liquor, such as Chambord or Grand Marnier)
2 tablespoons water
Shredded coconut or chopped, unsalted nuts (to roll truffles in)

Boil a few cups of water in a pot. Place a bowl (or another pot) over the boiling water (thus creating a double-boiler, if you don't have one). Melt the chocolates in the upper bowl, stirring to mix the dark and light chocolates (taste, if desired). When the chocolates are melted and mixed, add in the butter, water, vanilla (or liquor) and mix thoroughly. Add in a dollop of heavy cream, stirring it in well before adding another dollop. When the cream is well–mixed, remove the chocolate, cover the bowl, and refrigerate it for two hours or until the mixture is firm enough to hold its shape (you may need to refrigerate overnight).

Spread out a sheet of parchment paper on the counter (or plastic wrap). Scoop up about a tablespoon of the chocolate and roll into a 1" ball, rolling between your hands to make a nice rounded shape (just like making meatballs). Roll the truffle in a plate with the coconut or chopped nuts to coat the outside. Place the coated truffle on the parchment paper. Continue in this way until all the chocolate is gone (be sure to sneak a few for taste-testing and quality assurance). You can find lovely food-grade boxes at Cost Plus World Markets to package your creations in. These simple truffles get such rave reviews, I’ve actually been offered money for them. The secret is using the high-cacao content chocolate and then adding in the bit of white chocolate to mellow and sweeten the mixture slightly (but not too much—mildly sweet is most irresistible).

Happy Valentine’s Day to you and yours.

Stout Pizza for the Ultimate Pizza Party Joy

Stout? Say what?!? Yes, stout. The rich, dark, chocolatey beer—the kind I actually make from scratch from time to time. Add stout beer to your homemade pizza dough instead of water, and you—and the lucky loved ones you serve your stout pizza to—will be amazed. Wow, that's delicious crust, they will exclaim. The stout is the secret ingredient no one will be able to place, but it lends a savory yumminess that makes the crust irresistible.

Last night, my four-year-old and I made stout pizza dough and then had a "pizza party" and each composed our own small pizza. Hate to tell you, but it was the best darn pizza I have ever tasted. And believe me, I have made plenty of not-so-great pizza before in my life. In fact all of it—until now. Here's the secret recipe:


Stout Pizza Dough

1 cup stout beer (drink the remaining few ounces from the bottle while you are prepping the dough!)
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons turbinado sugar (or brown sugar, if you don't have it)
1 teaspoon salt (I prefer Vege-sal--it has less sodium and plenty of veggie flavor--it's more like vegetable broth powder)
2 1/2 cups unbleached wheat flour
2 teaspoons yeast

If using a bread machine, toss all the ingredients in and be sure to choose the Dough cycle. After two hours, your dough will be finished.

If making by hand, pull out a couple of tablespoons of the stout beer and warm it up lightly in the microwave (it should be warm to touch and not at all hot). Mix in the yeast until it dissolves. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl, kneading for about 15 minutes or until the flour is well-mixed and the butter is harmoniously spread throughout the dough. Let rise until double in bulk.

Oil your baking pan or pans with olive oil. Sprinkle some flour over the dough before handling. Work the dough lightly between your hands to spread it out into the shape of the pan. Lay the pizza dough onto the pan, and spread it to the edges. Let it rest for 15 minutes, and then drizzle on a bit of olive oil to coat.


Pizza Party

1. Assemble your ingredients in different small bowls
2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit
3. Put a spoon into the marinara sauce
4. Be sure to grate plenty of mozzarella cheese (4 cups or more).
   
5. Let each party participant add sauce, leaving a rim around the pizza for the crust
6. Each persons composes their own toppings
7. Lastly, cover the pizza with cheese
8. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly and slightly brown
   

Suggested Toppings

• Sliced bell peppers
• Pickled jalapeno peppers (raw jalapenos are great, but may be too strong for most folks)
• Mango chunks (you will not believe how FANTASTIC mango is on pizza)
• Pineapple chunks
• Ham strips
• Pepperoni
• Ground beef
• Fried tofu
• Sliced portobello or white mushrooms
• Artichoke chunks
• Ripe olive slices
• Sundried tomatos
• Fresh tomato slices

Cooking In A Crunch: Marinade Shortcut

It happens a lot when you have a busy schedule -- you come home from work, all geared up to fix yourself a decent dinner (for a change), marinate a bit of meat or poultry, and throw it on the grill or under the broiler.

Except the marinade recipe in the cookbook says you should marinate at least four hours -- but preferably overnight -- in the fridge.

Except the bottle of marinade on the pantry shelf says that you should marinate at least 30 minutes.

Either way, your schedule and your growling stomach don't allow for a wait tonight. Maybe you settle for something else for dinner. Maybe you order takeout. Maybe you try to "shortcut" the marinade and let things sit for 10 minutes -- only to taste your final meal and realize that 10 minutes didn't do the job.

Sure, you can get one of the 10-minute marinades (I've grown fond of the ones from Mrs. Dash). But it seems your store only ever carries the same three flavors, and everyone's diet needs more variety than that. The best flavor and the best variety, though, comes from making your own marinades.

So how do you manage? Do what a former co-worker of mine does. When you come back from the grocery store with new trays of beef, pork, chicken, or fish:

1. Separate the contents of the trays into freezer bags (however many pieces you need for a meal for you alone or for your entire family).

2. Make your marinades.

3. Measure the marinades accordingly and pour them into the freezer bags with the meat, poultry, or fish.

4. Label the freezer bag with the date and a description of the contents.

5. Toss everything into the freezer.

Then, whenever you want, pull out a bag to thaw overnight or while you're at work. By the time you pull the bag out of the fridge, the contents will have been marinading for hours. No matter how little time you have, you'll still be able to whip up a tasty entree on the grill or under the broiler!

—Post by Whitney