Outside the Casserole Box
October 28, 2017 6:14 AM Subscribe
One of my coworkers is in the middle of treatment for lymphoma, and we are collaborating in the office to consistently bring her food she and her children can eat for dinner. People are generally making the standard things like lasagna, enchiladas, various gratins, etc.
Do you have any favorite recipes or ideas for things I could bring that would only require cooking through in the oven or heating up? She’s a competent and adventurous cook under normal circumstances and I’m sure she’s tired of casseroles. There are no dietary restrictions. Thank you!
Do you have any favorite recipes or ideas for things I could bring that would only require cooking through in the oven or heating up? She’s a competent and adventurous cook under normal circumstances and I’m sure she’s tired of casseroles. There are no dietary restrictions. Thank you!
Could you do something like a sheet pan dinner? Like, get all the veggies, potatoes, whatever all chopped up and marinate some chicken breasts or something and put it all in a ziplock bag - all she has to do is dump out on a foil or parchment lined sheet pan and roast. Or make foil packets of things like salmon with dill and lemon, and veggie ones with asparagus or green beans to accompany it.
I bet ready-to-eat salads would be nice, too. Packed in a mason jar or similar container properly (dressing and wetter/heavier ingredients on the bottom, greens on top) they are literally just dump on a plate and eat, but also keep for a few days like that in the fridge. I can imagine getting tired of heavier things that casseroles tend to be, and appreciating something more veggie-forward and fresh.
posted by misskaz at 6:24 AM on October 28, 2017 [4 favorites]
I bet ready-to-eat salads would be nice, too. Packed in a mason jar or similar container properly (dressing and wetter/heavier ingredients on the bottom, greens on top) they are literally just dump on a plate and eat, but also keep for a few days like that in the fridge. I can imagine getting tired of heavier things that casseroles tend to be, and appreciating something more veggie-forward and fresh.
posted by misskaz at 6:24 AM on October 28, 2017 [4 favorites]
This butter chicken is a bit of work on the front-end but it makes a LOT and freezes beautifully. You could fill half a big casserole pan with it and fill the other half with maybe some saag aloo. Maybe include some frozen rice or frozen naan? It's not a strictly-one-dish situation with the rice, but it's delicious and it's different.
Dahls and lentil/potato dishes also typically freeze well. So does this chili.
This is a slightly fancier take on a cottage pie and it's different enough to be fun. The mashed apple/potato makes it a little sweet, and kids often like it, but it's sophisticated enough for grownups too.
posted by halation at 6:35 AM on October 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
Dahls and lentil/potato dishes also typically freeze well. So does this chili.
This is a slightly fancier take on a cottage pie and it's different enough to be fun. The mashed apple/potato makes it a little sweet, and kids often like it, but it's sophisticated enough for grownups too.
posted by halation at 6:35 AM on October 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
I recently recommended stuffed pumpkin for a "fancy fall dinner", but it is also good comfort food that can be prepared well in advance and then thrown in the oven (either for full baking or warming). As a bonus, a lot of people don't seem to know that pumpkins are food, so (when available) they are fairly inexpensive.
I stuffed my recent one with sauteed sausage, onion, bread crumbs, brown rice, savory herbs and asiago cheese. But as the article says, you can stuff it with just about anything, especially all the veggie remnants collecting in your fridge.
posted by SaltySalticid at 6:35 AM on October 28, 2017
I stuffed my recent one with sauteed sausage, onion, bread crumbs, brown rice, savory herbs and asiago cheese. But as the article says, you can stuff it with just about anything, especially all the veggie remnants collecting in your fridge.
posted by SaltySalticid at 6:35 AM on October 28, 2017
Take a look at Don't Panic - Dinner's in the Freezer. Most of the recipes are made in large batches (they include instructions on how to scale up the recipes even larger if you want), and they can just go into the freezer until needed. Most are pretty good, just finished eating some of the marinated pork loin last night.
posted by lharmon at 6:35 AM on October 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by lharmon at 6:35 AM on October 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
One more: I wouldn't freeze it, but you can easily make it ahead and drop it off for dinner that night. Delicious one-dish penne!
posted by halation at 6:42 AM on October 28, 2017
posted by halation at 6:42 AM on October 28, 2017
Spanish tortilla! It has nothing to do with Mexican tortillas, it's a potato and egg dish that's rich and unctuous, often served as tapas. It's mostly potato and egg so it could easily be a meal with a side salad or veggies, or served as a side dish itself.
It's easy to make, with the potato requiring a little prep work for slicing. Alternately, you can cut the potatoes into small cubes. Because it's rich a pan goes a long way, and the best part is, it's served at room temperature.
posted by Room 641-A at 6:59 AM on October 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
It's easy to make, with the potato requiring a little prep work for slicing. Alternately, you can cut the potatoes into small cubes. Because it's rich a pan goes a long way, and the best part is, it's served at room temperature.
posted by Room 641-A at 6:59 AM on October 28, 2017 [3 favorites]
Almost every kind of Indian food is delicious reheated.
posted by metasarah at 7:04 AM on October 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by metasarah at 7:04 AM on October 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
Good bread and a homemade soup might be a nice change?
posted by 92_elements at 7:08 AM on October 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by 92_elements at 7:08 AM on October 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
If that Spanish tortilla recipe is behind a paywall, try this link.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:14 AM on October 28, 2017
posted by Room 641-A at 7:14 AM on October 28, 2017
Most of all, ask. Co-worker, is there anything you and/or the kids would especially enjoy? People's versions of comfort food vary a lot. And I'd be sure to include salads and vegetables because stress makes people ill and nutrition helps. Meals that require only warming up are good because being overwhelmed is a thing.
Mac & cheese and a green salad
Tacos - shells, meat, chopped lettuce, shredded cheese, sour cream, salsa
Chili, salad
Grill some marinated sirloin tips, baked or roasted potatoes, green beans
Risotto with squash and parmesan, oven-fried chicken, or chicken nuggets
Spaghetti and tomato/meat sauce, salad
Korean beef tacos, 'asian' slaw
Some healthy desserts. I just made apple crisp from Betty Crocker for a group, it's full of fruit but sweet enough to be dessert.
Wouldn't hurt to make some healthy muffins for grab-n-go breakfast or snacks. Some cleaned, cut fruits - pineapple, melon, strawberries - are super nice to have in the fridge. Also, a grocery store run for toilet paper, paper towels, trash bags, is a way for non-cooks in the office to help, and that stuff is always helpful.
posted by theora55 at 7:15 AM on October 28, 2017 [4 favorites]
Mac & cheese and a green salad
Tacos - shells, meat, chopped lettuce, shredded cheese, sour cream, salsa
Chili, salad
Grill some marinated sirloin tips, baked or roasted potatoes, green beans
Risotto with squash and parmesan, oven-fried chicken, or chicken nuggets
Spaghetti and tomato/meat sauce, salad
Korean beef tacos, 'asian' slaw
Some healthy desserts. I just made apple crisp from Betty Crocker for a group, it's full of fruit but sweet enough to be dessert.
Wouldn't hurt to make some healthy muffins for grab-n-go breakfast or snacks. Some cleaned, cut fruits - pineapple, melon, strawberries - are super nice to have in the fridge. Also, a grocery store run for toilet paper, paper towels, trash bags, is a way for non-cooks in the office to help, and that stuff is always helpful.
posted by theora55 at 7:15 AM on October 28, 2017 [4 favorites]
Pupusas are easy to make stuffed cornmeal patties. Making the masa is easy (you might be able to buy it premade) and you can stuff it with meat, veggies, and/or cheese. If you wanted, you could buy all the stuffing ingredients pres-cut or shredded, including the slaw for the curtido, the traditional accompaniment. You can find many variations of this dish online. They're great reheated. I bet they freeze well, but I'd parcook them in that case.
Also for non-cooks or anyone else, a trip to your local deli (market, Jewish, Middle Eastern, Italian, etc.) can be a fun way to make a little smorgasbord for people with varied dishes, with a good loaf of bread. And if I was recuperating and someone brought me some Chinese food I'd love them for life.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:39 AM on October 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
Also for non-cooks or anyone else, a trip to your local deli (market, Jewish, Middle Eastern, Italian, etc.) can be a fun way to make a little smorgasbord for people with varied dishes, with a good loaf of bread. And if I was recuperating and someone brought me some Chinese food I'd love them for life.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:39 AM on October 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
Quiches freeze well, and you can invent endless combos of flavors. They work for any meal. You could leave them whole, half, or quarter for freezing.
Not sure if your location, but it’s fall roasting veg season here. Roast whatever you have locally. They can be eaten as a side or main dish, or puréed into soup. That puréed soup freezes well in small or large portions.
All kinds of homemade soups hold well and can be reheated in small or large portions. Find out what flavors the family favors.
I like to bake bread, and I would send a loaf or two as well. Homemade bread is always devoured immediately.
posted by littlewater at 7:50 AM on October 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
Not sure if your location, but it’s fall roasting veg season here. Roast whatever you have locally. They can be eaten as a side or main dish, or puréed into soup. That puréed soup freezes well in small or large portions.
All kinds of homemade soups hold well and can be reheated in small or large portions. Find out what flavors the family favors.
I like to bake bread, and I would send a loaf or two as well. Homemade bread is always devoured immediately.
posted by littlewater at 7:50 AM on October 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
Japanese curry just needs to be reheated and served with rice once assembled, and it keeps/freezes well. It can also be loaded with just about any vegetable you desire, and is relatively simple to make if you can get your hands on a readymade roux block, which is much easier to find than you might think. There’s more variety at a specialty market, but I have found Golden Curry boxes at my normal supermarket in the “Asian” aisle.
And honestly, box curry is about as homey and authentic as Japanese cooking gets, but also pretty easy on Western palates, since it tends to be very mild and sweetish.
posted by Diagonalize at 8:32 AM on October 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
And honestly, box curry is about as homey and authentic as Japanese cooking gets, but also pretty easy on Western palates, since it tends to be very mild and sweetish.
posted by Diagonalize at 8:32 AM on October 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
Chicken divan is easy and freezes well.
When my family was in a similar situation, someone brought us a layered salad and it was a welcome treat. Lettuce, peas, sour cream, shredded carrots, etc, in layers. It was pretty and fun. And delicious.
posted by SLC Mom at 9:01 AM on October 28, 2017
When my family was in a similar situation, someone brought us a layered salad and it was a welcome treat. Lettuce, peas, sour cream, shredded carrots, etc, in layers. It was pretty and fun. And delicious.
posted by SLC Mom at 9:01 AM on October 28, 2017
Yes, quiches! I've made and like this Sundried tomato and feta quiche.
And also, savoury pies are super freezable and have a very different vibe to casserole. Here are a few recipes (I haven't made these, they just look good!):
Beef pie with cheddar crust
French Canadian Tourtiere (this recipe looks OK--traditionally it's a combo of ground pork and beef)
Chicken pot pie
Veggie pot pie
posted by snorkmaiden at 9:29 AM on October 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
And also, savoury pies are super freezable and have a very different vibe to casserole. Here are a few recipes (I haven't made these, they just look good!):
Beef pie with cheddar crust
French Canadian Tourtiere (this recipe looks OK--traditionally it's a combo of ground pork and beef)
Chicken pot pie
Veggie pot pie
posted by snorkmaiden at 9:29 AM on October 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
I just posted this in another question, but it applies here too: roasted cauliflower salad with lemon tahini dressing
posted by O9scar at 10:01 AM on October 28, 2017
posted by O9scar at 10:01 AM on October 28, 2017
What a lovely gesture. How about breakfast items? Yogurts, fresh fruit all cut up, bananas, grapes, granola, muffins, frozen waffles and syrup?
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 10:04 AM on October 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 10:04 AM on October 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
I'm not sure about the age of the children but maybe co-ordinating doing their school lunches would also be appreciated? If you can take the kids out grocery shopping for what they want (to appease picky eaters and give her a break), then assemble a week's worth of lunches that can just be grabbed and each day I am sure that would be be helpful.
posted by saucysault at 10:23 AM on October 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by saucysault at 10:23 AM on October 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
We're big batch-cook, eat-from-freezer sorts here and two things I can never keep for long no matter how much I bust out are pizzas, paninis, and a sort of champ/colcannon bastard.
For the pizza, I -- not a dough/baking person -- get huge sacks of Costco naan, grabbing a bunch of big hunks of cheeses to fire through the food processor while there. The sauce is just minced onion sautéed in olive oil, with a lot of canned tomatoes, some balsamic and red wine vinegars, sugar, herbs, etc, simmered down. The dining room table gets cleaned off and (someone has been tasked with slicing toppings) and the assembly line commences. The most tedious part is wrapping them all up, but with a few people helping it's tolerable. These freeze perfectly and cook up perfectly in about 15min. I would make some cheese-only because they're good and because kids can be picky about toppings, and then some more "adult" ones.
Paninis: assemble lots of cheeses, marinated veg (arugula/rocket and thin slices of plum tomato hold up!), sauerkraut, whatever you think will go over well (never eaten meat so can't weigh in on what will and will not freeze well there). These are best cooked in a press after being thawed, but can be gently defrosted in a microwave and shoved in an oven in their foil wrappings. I would never have thought these would make for great freezer fare until I once went overboard buying fillings for a grilled cheese party and had to do something with them ASAP. They were freaking delicious and you couldn't tell the difference between frozen and non-frozen.
Champ-colcannon: take a huge amount of heavy cream and green onions. Slice all the onions and keep them at a very very slow simmer in the cream. Boil potatoes. Boil kale. Squeeze all the liquid out of the kale, chop fine. Roughly mash the potatoes, skins and all, adding butter, salt, pepper. This is nice. Now add all your onion-infused cream. This is delectable. Also high-calorie, good for most sick people. I freeze it in silicone muffin trays and pop the frozen pucks out into freezer bags.
(Oh, wait! One more. Google "golden carrot soup" and look for the recipe from the Canadian milk marketing board. Delicious. You do not need to be too careful about quantities of ingredients. I often freeze it before adding the dairy, but have done so with the dairy and had no problems, though sometimes it ideally then wants another quick swizz with the immersion blender. It freezes perfectly in zip-lock bags laid flat.)
Definitely +1 on Indian food -- Ethiopian is also very freezer-friendly.
Once I dropped off some days' worth of salads for a family with a kid in the hospital; I didn't know them and had to guess at what they might like, but brought salads because in those situations you get loads of freezer fare, not so much fresh. Months later when the kid was, thankfully, out of the woods and back home, they tracked me down and e-mailed to ask what the wonderful cheese in the salads was, which I kinda took as an overall thanks for the salads. (Tiny balls of fresh mozzarella.)
posted by kmennie at 10:28 AM on October 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
For the pizza, I -- not a dough/baking person -- get huge sacks of Costco naan, grabbing a bunch of big hunks of cheeses to fire through the food processor while there. The sauce is just minced onion sautéed in olive oil, with a lot of canned tomatoes, some balsamic and red wine vinegars, sugar, herbs, etc, simmered down. The dining room table gets cleaned off and (someone has been tasked with slicing toppings) and the assembly line commences. The most tedious part is wrapping them all up, but with a few people helping it's tolerable. These freeze perfectly and cook up perfectly in about 15min. I would make some cheese-only because they're good and because kids can be picky about toppings, and then some more "adult" ones.
Paninis: assemble lots of cheeses, marinated veg (arugula/rocket and thin slices of plum tomato hold up!), sauerkraut, whatever you think will go over well (never eaten meat so can't weigh in on what will and will not freeze well there). These are best cooked in a press after being thawed, but can be gently defrosted in a microwave and shoved in an oven in their foil wrappings. I would never have thought these would make for great freezer fare until I once went overboard buying fillings for a grilled cheese party and had to do something with them ASAP. They were freaking delicious and you couldn't tell the difference between frozen and non-frozen.
Champ-colcannon: take a huge amount of heavy cream and green onions. Slice all the onions and keep them at a very very slow simmer in the cream. Boil potatoes. Boil kale. Squeeze all the liquid out of the kale, chop fine. Roughly mash the potatoes, skins and all, adding butter, salt, pepper. This is nice. Now add all your onion-infused cream. This is delectable. Also high-calorie, good for most sick people. I freeze it in silicone muffin trays and pop the frozen pucks out into freezer bags.
(Oh, wait! One more. Google "golden carrot soup" and look for the recipe from the Canadian milk marketing board. Delicious. You do not need to be too careful about quantities of ingredients. I often freeze it before adding the dairy, but have done so with the dairy and had no problems, though sometimes it ideally then wants another quick swizz with the immersion blender. It freezes perfectly in zip-lock bags laid flat.)
Definitely +1 on Indian food -- Ethiopian is also very freezer-friendly.
Once I dropped off some days' worth of salads for a family with a kid in the hospital; I didn't know them and had to guess at what they might like, but brought salads because in those situations you get loads of freezer fare, not so much fresh. Months later when the kid was, thankfully, out of the woods and back home, they tracked me down and e-mailed to ask what the wonderful cheese in the salads was, which I kinda took as an overall thanks for the salads. (Tiny balls of fresh mozzarella.)
posted by kmennie at 10:28 AM on October 28, 2017 [2 favorites]
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posted by EndsOfInvention at 6:18 AM on October 28, 2017 [1 favorite]