Here are a few suggestions that will decrease your preparation time when cooking.

Kitchen Tip #1 – Green Pepper. I like to have green peppers on hand at all times. Depending on the recipe I am using, I sometimes use sliced peppers, while at other times I need them chopped. So first, you will need two peppers. Slice each pepper into quarters. Clean out the seeds, making sure you cut away the white part that is inside the pepper because that’s the part that gives the pepper a bitter taste. After you have cleaned both peppers, slice one and chop the other. Put each in their own separate Ziploc bag and store them in the freezer until you need them.

Kitchen Tip #2 – Onions. I use a lot of chopped onions when I cook, so I always have a large bag in the freezer. In the past, when I have purchased vegetables already chopped from the freezer section of the supermarket, the experience has been less than stellar. After a while they get soft and soggy. However, if you chop your vegetables fresh, they will stay crisp. I’ve never had a problem with any of the fresh vegetables that I’ve chopped myself. There is one thing to remember about storing onions in the freezer, though. You must double bag them. Put the chopped onions into a plastic bag and then seal that bag into another plastic bag. This ensures that the onion odor will not seep into the freezer or into the refrigerator. Be assured that in a double bag, the onion odor will stay where it’s supposed to stay and it won’t invade other foods.

Kitchen Tip #3 – Bread. I like nice, crispy hoagie rolls–crisp on the outside, soft and fresh on the inside. That’s the way I like French Bread and Sour French Bread, too. So, if you have a favorite bakery where you buy your bread, but you buy in small quantities because you know it will go stale before you eat all of it, here’s the secret to freezing bread. Buy it fresh, same day fresh if possible, and then take it home and freeze it immediately. If it goes in the freezer fresh, it will come out fresh. My family eats a lot of bread so it seldom is in the freezer longer than a month. The only type of bread I’ve noticed that becomes somewhat moist after a few weeks are hot dog buns and hamburger buns, but marble breads, white breads, bagels, French breads and kaiser rolls come out as fresh as the day you bought them.

Kitchen Tip #4 – Make it a habit to chop and freeze herbs that you use frequently, too. I always have frozen chopped garlic, parsley, chives, mint and dill. Freeze those you use the most. Your meals will taste so much better if you use fresh herbs instead of the dried.

Now here’s the recipe I promised. It uses some of the above ingredients from the freezer.

Moroccan Hamburgers

Ingredients:
2 pounds ground beef
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup fine dry breadcrumbs
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 large egg
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper

Preparation:
Combine all ingredients throughly; shape into 8 (4-inch) patties. Cover and chill at least 2 hours. (For investment cooking, freeze 5 to 6 months. Thaw before grilling.)
Grill, covered with grill lid, over medium-high heat (350º to 400º) 6 to 8 minutes on each side or until beef is no longer pink.

Yield:
8 servings

This scrumptious recipe was posted at: http://airmiles.wordpress.com/2007/10/18/recipe-round-up-freeze-ahead-meals/

Oh, and just for fun, and only if you want to smile, go here:

http://birdloversonly.blogspot.com/2007/09/may-i-have-this-dance.html