Holiday Cooking

Those holiday dinners take a lot of energy to prepare - the cook's energy as well as the energy to fuel the stove. So use both wisely. When you have several dishes to go into the oven, try to schedule your cooking so that you can cook more than one dish at a time. Often, a simple temperature change of a few degrees will allow you to put two casseroles in at once, using the oven's heat efficiently and resulting in the same great meal!

Also, try not to open and close the oven door all the time. Every time the door is opened the oven loses heat and has to work harder to get back to the correct temperature. Use the oven window (make sure it's clean before you start cooking!) and the interior light to check on the meal as it cooks.

Source: Various