Making the Holidays a little easier

One thing that you may not know about me is that I love to write lists. The list that I worked on last had the title " Pre-made foods for Christmas ". Now, let me just say that I am the kind of person that will make anything from scratch on the spot, but Christmas is an entirely different ball game. My husbands family will be coming to visit and I want to WOW them with my food that tastes like I spent hours cooking it when in fact, some the food will be pre-made or pre-seasoned. I find that if you add the right amount of flavor in your food and know what you can and can't freeze, you could save yourself alot of time and money. The best part is that the food doesn't lose any flavor and that there's always something to eat or snack on.
Here's a quick peek at my list and the recipes will follow shortly. Make room in your freezer!

Pre-Made Foods for Christmas

Pasteles (banana and root vegetable tamale with pork filling)
Alcappurias (yuca fritter with beef filling)
Empanadas (baked beef patties)
Habichuelas (beans)
Pernil (pre-seasoned pork shoulder)
Sofrito (onion and pepper based seasoning)
Pie dough
Pot Roast
Mango Cranberry Sauce

I've already cleaned my banana leaves and put them in the freezer for the Pasteles. I use the Ziploc freezer bags to season and store the Pernil and Pot Roast. If you want to go a step further, you can season and store the meats in Reynolds Oven Bags then thaw and pop into the oven on Christmas day.