Spaghetti for a LARGE crowd!

A group of us ladies from my church minister to a small community here in Tennessee through our Baptist Association. We take lunch and have a Bible Study and fellowship time every second Wednesday of each month, and usually have 20 to 25 community ladies along with the dozen or so of us. So, we make lunch for around 35 ladies each month. 

This time I was in charge of the spaghetti...We could have taken the dry pasta and cooked it there but we don't have a lot of time for that, so I cooked it up ahead of time and took it in giant sized freezer bags. Then, all we had to do was get a big pot of water boiling, drop the refrigerated spaghetti into the boiling water for a couple minutes, dump it in the colander, and serve...easy peasy :-)

Boil as much as you need. In this case I used two family sized boxes, about 4 pounds of spaghetti. Cook it al dente (maybe even slightly under done) and rinse it with cold water in your colander. Put it into large heavy duty freezer bags and refrigerate (for this much I used extra large 2.5 gallon bags so I'd have room to close the bag). I have done this for our family night dinners up to 3-4 days before the event. You can even freeze cooked spaghetti, but that will be for another post.

Then when you are ready to serve it, just boil up a BIG pot of water, gently pour your spaghetti in and just warm it to serving temp without cooking. Pour it in a colander, rinse with hot water if desired, and serve as usual. It tastes great!

My Tramontina Pot is 16 Quarts...I LOVE it!

   

Tidbits of Tips

OK, so today I am making broth, cooking a big pot of beans and making some freezer French Toast for my Mom (it's Saturday morning and Lanny is spending the day with his brother...).

I apologize right up front if this is a no-brainer for you, but I was talking to a friend recently and mentioned "dipping the scum" off my beans and she was like "huh?".... She also doesn't overnight soak her beans which is another subject entirely, but I highly recommend both!

      

Soaking your beans overnight has LOTS of health benefits, but that's another topic. Skimming the scum off has taste benefits. As your beans begin to boil just use a ladle and gently scoop the bubbly scum off the top and discard. After a few minutes it should stop "scumming" and you can cover and boil until the beans are done. The scum is just a bit bitter and you will find your beans taste better when it isn't part of the mix.

You will also have scum when you are making chicken bone broth, so just scoop the scum, whatever it collects on :-)

Now, for the freezer meals. I am really getting into the "Dinner's in the Freezer" craze. I have always put leftovers in the freezer to use for soups, but lately I am experimenting with the entire meal in a container for a quick and easy meal. There are lots of good books about the practice that I will list later on. I also like to have meals ready to prepare for my parents...they are not "old" by any stretch of the imagination, but they are in their late 80's and just need a break now and then :-)

They love easy breakfast meals, and Mom told me they ate their last Freezer French Toast Casserole for dinner...so I make them French Toast casseroles in small, 5x7 aluminum freezer tins I get at the dollar store. I also make them pancakes and waffles and freeze in packs of 4 in freezer bags. Super easy to take out and put in the toaster oven...but that will be another post....

I use my left over homemade bread, but you can use French bread or even regular store bought white bread for this recipe. For today we will use two tins because that's how much bread I have...arrange sliced (or torn) bread in a couple layers, dot with cream cheese if you desire...I leave it out because I seldom have it. Mix up 6 to 8 eggs, 3/4 cup sugar. 6-8 tablespoons melted butter, 2 1/2 cups milk and 1/4-1/3 cup Maple Syrup. Pour the mixture evenly over the bread in the two tins. Use a fork to smoosh the bread until it's all covered. I then sprinkle the tops, liberally, with cinnamon/sugar. I always keep a shaker full of cinnamon/sugar for just such an occasion, but if you don't have the mix you can just sprinkle cinnamon and sugar as desired :-) Cover with foil, label French Toast - thaw - bake 350 for 30 minutes - uncover and bake until bubbly and golden. You can also put it in the oven right out of the freezer and bake a bit longer. It's great either way. Mom knows the drill so I just label "350 for 45 minutes"...she checks often and uncovers when it's warmed and cooked thru.

As I said, this was just a couple of tidbits that were on my mind. 

If you need more information PLEASE just send me a message with any questions and I will be happy to help. You can find info about bone broth, chicken broth, "Everything-But-The-Kitchen-Sink" soup, etc., in other posts in this blog. Just use the search. And really, PLEASE do send me an email. I'd love to chat!!