A Chic Paris Holiday Season – Day 26 – More Holiday Investment Cooking

 December 28, 2020

In A Chic & Simple Christmas, author Fiona Ferris describes how she makes sure that there is a stockpile of healthy meals stashed in the freezer for the busy month of December. By doing a bit of “investment” cooking before the rush and bustle of the holiday season begins, she can be sure that there will be a tasty and healthy meal ready to be popped into the microwave even on the busiest day. (No need to do a high-calorie and lower quality “take-out’ or delivery order.)

I followed Fiona’s example and made several delicious soups that freeze and reheat easily.  (I like the idea of “investment” cooking and really liked the idea of having several tasty meals stashed in the freezer for the busy month of December.) I was optimistic that the “quick” meals would be available well into the month of January. 

What I have learned is that I made the basic mistake of predicting the future – I assumed that one change would NOT cause other changes! In fact, the whole family liked the soups (and the ease of heating them up) – especially with a fresh baguette and a good demi-sel (slightly salted) French butter. We ate them faster than anticipated. I can report that having a tasty meal in the freezer (especially for the hallowed “throw-back” Thursday meal) felt luxurious.

In light of my rather slim-looking freezer, (remember that I’ve done two complete clean-outs of the freezer this month), today spontaneously developed into an “investment” cooking day. I made a large quiche Lorraine and a giant pot of parmesan chicken stew (with sauteed onion, cauliflower rice and some sad-looking broccoli (that looked much better once I pulsed it in the food processor.) The base of the parmesan chicken is the thick broth that I made from the leftover bones of our Christmas Day roasted chicken. Then I made a batch of Keto chocolate Creme Brulees for my mid-afternoon tea breaks this up-coming week.

I still have a good amount of home-made chicken broth left. The next soup project on the list is to make a big pot of broccoli-cheddar soup (maybe tomorrow afternoon when it is supposed to rain.)

What is cooking in your kitchen this week?