Monday, May 6, 2013

Cook less, play more, eat better! Part 2

As I go through the hoard of food in my freezer, I'd love to share what we love and works and also what doesn't.

There are two methods I use to grow my stash of freezer meals. Sometimes when I cook a dinner, I'll double or triple the recipe so we'll eat one that night and have 2 other dinners made to go in the freezer without adding much extra work. Or the other way of spending 5ish hours on a Saturday cooking a bunch of dinners Here are several of our favorite recipes:

Calzones (or what we call Calzones. you may call Stromboli?)
Bread machine dough:
1 cup water + 2 T water
2 T olive oil
2 T sugar
1 t salt
3 C Bread flour
2 t dried granulated yeast
Add to bread machine and use dough setting. Once cycle is done, place a few drops of olive oil in large bowl and roll dough around so it is oiled. Cover and place in a warm spot to rise 30-40 minutes. Knead a couple times, roll out in two rectangles and cover the center with sauce, cheese and toppings of choice. Bake 20 minutes at 400, or until golden brown.
To freeze: let cool and wrap in foil and place in Ziploc freezer bags. Label and date and add cooking instructions.
To cook from frozen: Keep in foil and bake in preheated oven 375 for 25 minutes or til heated through.

Chicken Pot Pie (this recipe from my sweet friend Sarah)
Two 9 in pie crusts (I use store bought because I've never successfully made a decent crust from scratch. And really don't care if I ever do. Ha! Don't judge me. ;-)
Filling:
3 C cooked chicken or turkey
1 pkg frozen veggies (peas, carrots, green beans and corn is our favorite blend for this...your kids will eat veggies with this meal)
1/3 C butter
1/3 C flour
1/3 C chopped onion
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 3/4 chicken broth
2/3 C milk

Rinse and drain veggies. Heat butter over medium heat, saute onion til transparent, stir in flour and salt and pepper. Cook, stirring constantly about 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in broth and milk, heat to boling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute. Stir in meat and veggies. Pour into pie crust and cover with 2nd crust, pierce top crust with fork. Cook in a 425 degree oven for 35 minutes or until crust is golden brown.
You can freeze this before or after baking. And you can bake it straight from the freezer (I usually pull it out and let it thaw a few hours on the counter, but some people might be concerned about food safety) just be sure you give yourself plenty of time. I can't remember exactly the time it takes but let it bake about an hour. 



Baked Ziti
1 lb Ground beef
1 lb Italian Sausage
1/4 Chopped onion
2 cloves garlic
16 ozs Penne pasta, par cooked and drained
6 cups Spaghetti sauce
2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
Optional: sauteed mushrooms and zucchini (I usually add these to most pasta sauces, then my kids/husband get extra veggies and have no idea!)
1. Prepare: Brown ground beef, sausage, garlic and onions together. Add spaghetti sauce and any additional veggies. Combine sauce and cooked
pasta; mix well.
2. Freeze: Spread pasta in 9x13 pan and put a good layer of cheese on top. Cover with plastic wrap and aluminum foil, label and date.
3. Serve: Thaw casserole and  remove plastic wrap. Recover with foil and bake at 350° for 30 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly. Remove the
foil and bake for 5 more minutes. Serves 4.



Sirloin Beef Tips with Mushroom Gravy

Yield: 12 servings
2 (8 oz) packages fresh mushrooms, sliced

4 tablespoons butter

3-pound sirloin tip roast, trimmed of fat and sliced into ½-inch cubes

1 packet onion soup mix

1 can (10 ounces) cream of mushroom soup

1 can (15 ounces) low-sodium beef broth (or 1½ cups water with 2 beef bouillon cubes)

Sauté 8 oz of fresh mushrooms at a time in a skillet with 2 tablespoons of hot butter (do not stir; just let mushrooms sit for about 10 minutes, then flip and brown the other side).
Cube your roast, and trim off the fat, place the meat in a slow cooker (use slow-cooker liner for easy cleanup). Stir in remaining ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours. Serve over cooked rice, pasta, or mashed potatoes.
Cool remaining beef tips and gravy and freeze in zip-top bags. Label “Beef Tips and Gravy.”

To serve: Defrost beef tips and gravy in a microwave-safe bowl on high until warm. Serve over mashed potatoes, noodles or rice.




Baked penne with chicken and sun dried tomatoes
6 tablespoons butter, plus more for baking dishes
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 pound penne rigate
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (8 ounces each), halved horizontally
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
4 garlic cloves, minced
6 cups whole milk
10 ounces white mushrooms, trimmed and thinly sliced
1/2 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups shredded provolone or mozzarella (6 ounces)
1 cup finely grated Parmesan (4 ounces)
Directions

Preheat oven to 400. Butter two shallow 2-quart baking dishes. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta 3 minutes short of al dente; drain pasta, and return to pot.
In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high. Season chicken with salt and pepper; cook until opaque throughout, 3 to 5 minutes per side. Halve each piece lengthwise, then thinly slice crosswise.
In a 5-quart Dutch oven or heavy pot, melt butter over medium. Add flour and garlic; cook, whisking, 1 minute. While whisking, gradually add milk; bring to a simmer, whisking frequently. Add mushrooms and tomatoes; cook 1 minute. Off heat, gradually stir in provolone and 1/2 cup Parmesan.
Add chicken and pasta to pot; season with salt and pepper. Divide pasta mixture between baking dishes; sprinkle each with cup Parmesan.
Bake, uncovered, until top is golden and bubbling, about 25 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Or freeze before baking and bake straight from freezer.
I can't remember where I got the last two recipes, if I do I'll be sure to post it!

 

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Cook less, play more, eat better! Part 1


A couple months ago I was asked how I do it all. The short answer: I don't! But seriously, as a mom of 3 little kids 3 and under, I'm not supposed to do it all. Wouldn't there would be something wrong if I did? Having said that, I do want to share something that makes it possible for me to do a lot (but not all) and that is freezer meals. What's the average amount of time it takes to make dinner nightly? One hour maybe? How many nights do you cook dinner? or should you ;) Five hours a week, give or take, spent cooking dinner. What if you took that 5 hours of cooking and did it all in one day and only did it once a month or so? I've found that cooking this way saves me money (less trips to the store and less eating out because there is almost always something in the freezer now), saves me time and we eat healthier at the same time (less fast food or processed foods).

I don't cook dinner every night, in fact, I might cook just once a week. It's been about a year now since I began cooking freezer meals and it has seriously changed my life. I don't think I could ever go back to cooking nightly. Here is a quick run down of what works for me:

First, I compile a bunch of recipes that we all (all is relative with preschoolers) enjoy and that work well in the freezer. I try to keep them somewhat similar to each other because that makes the shopping and prep easier and faster. For example, lots of chicken dishes or Italian so I just buy a lot of a few ingredients. Make your shopping list from the recipes (double or triple the recipe so you make 2-3 of the same dishes to keep it quick and easy).

Second, I do my shopping! I buy most of my meat and produce at Sam's Club (cheapest meat around and great quality). This past trip, I bought 6lbs of chicken breast and about 6 lbs of pork loin. I was able to hit up Sam's club and Kroger in one trip with the kiddos so that I could come home and prep it that evening. That's not always possible, in that case I'll unload groceries into the fridge and prep the next day. Just try to do your shopping and schedule enough hours to do the prep/cooking within about 3 days of each other so you'll have the freshest ingredients.

Third, I do the prep and "dump" meals. I am not a huge recipe follower. So I usually estimate how many veggies need to be chopped and do that first. Dump meals are meals you can pretty much dump in ziploc freezer bags and stick in the freezer with little to no prep. All of mine will be thawed and put in the crock pot. During the last cook day I did, my dump meals included coconut curry chicken, chicken fajitas, cilantro lime chicken, pork chops in raspberry chipotle marinade, cranberry pork roast, and barbeque pork loin for pulled pork sandwiches. I did all my prep and dump meals the night after shopping and had 8 meals in the freezer in about 1 1/2 hours (and isn't that about how long it takes to cook one dinner? at least with small children at your feet!). Bonus: your husband (or you) only has to really clean up the kitchen 1 or 2 times rather than every night (besides the serving dishes and etc).

And fourth, I do the real work. I make all the meals that need to be assembled or precooked before being frozen. This usually happens the day after I do my grocery shopping.  Because I put a bunch of chicken breast straight in the crock pot after I got it home I already had chicken prepped. So I prep any other meat I need (mine was ground turkey). I've found that most recipes can be adapted to be a freezer meal. Our most popular dinners are calzones, chicken pot pie, lasagna, enchiladas, chili, baked ziti, soups and stews. I don't like casseroles or cream of stuff so I don't do much of that. But if that's the way you roll, then by all means, have at it! With the meat prepped, I made 2 chicken pot pies, 2 dishes of chicken enchiladas, some chicken noodle soup and shredded any leftover chicken breast to have on hand in the freezer. With the ground turkey (if you like beef, use it!) I made lasagna, baked ziti, and chili. That's 11 more meals to add to the freezer!


In another post, I will share some of my favorite recipes for the freezer as well as some great tips I've learned (and wish I knew when I started!)