Getting Steamy

Classes are one day away. One day before I enter school mode.

Eat. Learn. Eat. Work. Study. Eat. Study. Work. Sleep. Repeat.

I don't often have time to do serious cooking until the weekend, so I'm stocking my freezer with ready-to-bake meals for week night suppers and easy lunches. Yesterday's endeavor was foil steam pouches.

I laid out pieces of foil approximately 16 inches long. Then I folded them in half the short way, unfolded them, and turned up the edges on one half to make a bowl shape.
In each bowl I added chopped sweet potato, onion, carrots, celery, and green beans.

Then I put cooked lentils leftover from a meal the other night on top. I sprinkled herbs de Provence over the ensemble.

For the moisture I added 1/4 cup of frozen vegetable broth. It will melt around the vegetables and steam them in the oven. In my ice cube trays, 1/4 cup equals 3 cubes.

On a side note, freezing broth in ice cube trays is a fantastic way to preserve a whole carton of broth if you are like me and only cook with a little at a time. I just thaw as much as I need without wasting half a container.

Next fold over the other foil half and crimp the edges. I was careful to roll the edges several times to prevent leaks.

After that they are ready for the freezer! When I'm ready to eat one I heat the oven to 400 degrees and bake for 30 minutes.

A word of caution: Be careful opening the cooked foil packets as steam will release and can easily burn you. I may be speaking from experience.

I couldn't wait until next week to have a packet, so I baked one for last night's dinner. It could have used more herbs and I think the next batch I will add a little garlic or curry for more flavor. The veggies were perfectly cooked though! One less thing I will have to worry about this week as yet another exciting semester kicks off.