Short cuts in the kitchen

Most of you who know me, know that I love to cook and am always reading recipe books and changing them to make up new recipes. There are times when I am making something that its just easier to grab a bag of frozen chopped onions, peppers, and even prepared and crumbled bacon (Sam's sells a big bag for commercial use for about 10 dollars for a big bag of cooked, crumbled bacon in the refrigerator section).
I buy the bacon and immediately freeze it. It keeps it from going bad if I don't' use it all up within the time period the bag states (like that ever happens lol).
I also do this with mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese. It stays fresh and lasts a long time and you can use it directly out of the freezer, and pop back in the unused portion for later use. I also get precooked sausage links and can easily chop them up to use when I need cooked sausage. Yes, I cook from scratch, but there are days I am rushed and this makes life so much easier and keeps me out of the drive through lane.

When I keep these things on hand, I can easily throw together an egg omelete, or an egg casserole for a crowd, which is just frozen hashbrowns with scrambled eggs with cream or milk poured over them then sprinkled with bacon, and/or sausage, and if you wish, cheddar cheese, I omit the cheese. Salt and pepper and bake at 350 about an hour, give or take 10 min.

I can quickly make homemade pizza and thow these things on as toppings. (my artisan bread dough is always ready in the refrigerator. That is another blog post, check the back posts for more info). I don't have to spend a lot of time chopping things. 

These are some of my favorite kitchen staples and I always have them on hand. I plan to freeze some of my own green peppers this year, because I go through tons of these each month, and it would be nice to use my own, organic green peppers. I don't bother making my own bacon and freezing it, as its just easier to get it ready to use.