Holidays without the hassle

"We love the holidays for all the wonderful food, but they do provide some stress," says Teresa Hunsaker, a home economist at the Weber County Utah State University Extension.

"I think sometimes we have a tendency to think we can be all things to all people all the time, and be cheery, merry and bright all season long. And that's probably not realistic."

There's also a tendency to get overly ambitious, try out lots of exotic recipes and be "Becky Home-Ecky in the kitchen," as Hunsaker called it in her recent class, "Do-Ahead Holiday Meals."

Somewhere in the midst of making the big Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, gourmet dishes for the office potluck or the church Christmas party, the plates of homemade fudge for neighbor gifts and refreshments for your kids' recitals, you also have day-to-day meals to make for your family.

"You still have to eat every day," said Hunsaker. "And while I would love to sit and cook all day in the kitchen, I'm not sure I'm going to be the best mom."

So around this time of year she sits down and calendars every day from now until her kids go back to school in January. She plans out what she'll serve — not only for those big meals when company comes — but family meals as well.

"These might be as simple as bake a potato, open a can of chili, pour that over the potato and top with cheese," she said.

But the important thing is to get it written on the menu plan, so you don't have the last-minute panic of trying to decide what you'll fix when dinnertime rolls around and you're in the middle of cookie baking.

Hunsaker makes and freezes some of her everyday meals, as well as components of holiday dishes. By working ahead, she eliminates the daily "what's for dinner?" panic and avoids resorting to unhealthy fast food or expensive take-out meals. Also, she can share the workload with other family members.

For instance, she said, they can be part of an assembly line to make foil dinners (frozen precooked meatballs, frozen veggies and hash brown potatoes with a dollop of cream of mushroom soup, folded in individual packets and frozen. On a busy evening, the dinner packets can go from the freezer right into the oven.

Hunsaker offered recipes that can be made and frozen ahead of time, then thawed and cooked when needed. Her Lime Chicken Tacos work equally well for a family dinner or on a party buffet. Baked French Toast could be served as a brunch dish or for Christmas breakfast.