Freezer Cooking

April 28, 2012 By 4 Comments

Salmon and tilapia fillets-five different seasonings

Some of you might remember a few weeks ago my deep freeze defrosted twice in the same week.  The first time, everything was A-OK.  The second time, not so much.  I had to toss out 12 of the most beautiful, huge pre-cooked chicken breasts you have ever seen.  And, I had to cook alot of the items that defrosted then refreeze them.  All in all it took me about 3 hours to do this  freezer cooking session.

Meatball Soup

I had two quart bags of meatballs to thaw so I decided to make meatball soup with those instead of some type of pasta.  It seems we have had some sort of pasta pretty regular lately and we just weren’t in the mood.  It turned out really delicious!  I used tomatoes, onions, three colors of peppers, Italian seasonings, and chicken broth.  That’s it really, pretty simple.

Finish with a sprinkle of mozzarella

And roasted chicken and vegetables are staples in our house.  We usually eat some version of them twice a week, sometimes more depending on what’s going on.  Vegetables I regularly roast are carrots, onions, cauliflower, and broccoli.  If you have never tried roasted cauliflower and broccoli, let me encourage you to do so!  it is absolutely delicious.  The 15 year old pulls a quart bag out of the freezer to thaw.  The next day whenever he gets munchy, he warms up a  mound of roasted vegetables on a plate and that’s his snack, true story!

I toss the broccoli and cauliflower in a little olive oil then dust with McCormick’s Perfect Pinch Vegetable Flavored seasoning and that’s it, no salt or anything else.  Roast until caramelized.

12 Chicken Breasts, 4 Qts Broccoli, and 4 Qts Cauliflower

I found some more chicken breasts on sale and decided to replace the ones I had to throw out.  Our standard seasonings are an Italian Grinder I get at Aldi and Weber’s New Orleans Cajun.  Those two flavors can be used to serve the chicken in almost any application.  Once the chicken is roasted, I let the breasts cool.  Then I cut the breasts off the bone and cut them in half.  I am making one breast into two servings.  The bones I save for stock, of course!

After this batch of breasts I used all the bones and the meat that was left on them to make two quarts of chicken tortilla soup base.  The cajun seasoning helped give the stock some spice so all I have to do is add some cumin and chili powder plus the vegetables and soup’s on-FAST!

 What are your favorite freezer cooking recipe staples?


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Freezer Cooking

March 12, 2012 By 5 Comments

This past week I have done some batch freezer cooking every time I’ve been in the kitchen.  Recipes I’ve put away are 6 breakfast burritos, 18 beef and bean burritos, and 6 chicken verde taquitos.  Plus, I pre-chopped 5 pounds of onions, 6 bell peppers, and 3 zucchini for the freezer.  Here are the recipes if you are interested.

Breakfast burritos:  7 whole wheat flour 6″ tortillas, 14 eggs-scrambled, 14 turkey sausage links-chopped, 1 box of frozen spinach-sqeezed completely dry, and 1 cup of any kind of cheese you like.

I did not season the scrambled eggs.  I try to use very little sodium.  Plus, I used pepper jack cheese which is full of flavor.  I mixed all the ingredients together then scooped approximately 1/2 cup onto each tortilla shell and rolled up.

Tip:  These are decent sized breakfast burritos, not huge, but decent.  You can cut these in half with a serrated bread knife before you microwave it and just eat half with a piece of fruit yogurt and coffee and have a very filling, nutritious breakfast and make the burritos last longer.

Beaf and Bean Burritos:  8 inch flour tortillas, 1 lb of fajita seasoned ground beef with onions and peppers, 1 cup chopped zucchini, 1 bag of birdseye southwestern seasoned rice-or 2 cups of any rice your have that is precooked, 1 bag of black beans-2 cups-cooked from scratch, 1 cup of cheese, and 1 can of diced tomatoes.

I always cook my beans from scratch to control the sodium and seasonings.  To reduce gas and stomach upset, I recommend the quick soak method on the back of most dry bean bags.  It has worked every time I make a pot of beans.  For these black beans I added light salt, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder and chili powder, not much because the meat has fajita seasoning.  When the beans are finished I completely drain them.  I just browned the ground beef and drained it.  Then in the same pan I sauteed the onions, peppers and zucchini.  I saute separately so the grease from the beef doesn’t absorb into the vegetables.  Mix together all ingredients in a large bowl.  Lay out each tortilla shell and scoop approximately 3/4 cup of the mixture onto the shell.  Fold over one side of the shell to cover the bean mixture, then fold in the ends, then roll the shell on over and close it up.  This makes a sort of pocket burrito with a square shape.

Tip:  I plan on serving these with a guaca salad and fruit for a nutritious, quick lunch.

Chicken Verde Taquitos:  6 whole wheat tortilla shells, 2 cans chicken breast meat-drained, 1 box frozen spinach-completely squeezed dry, 1 package cream cheese, and 1 can of diced green chiles.

Mix together all ingredients.  Scoop approximately 1/2 cup of mixture onto tortilla and form into a thin, long strip.  Tightly roll up tortilla and place in freezer bag.

Tip:  I plan on baking these on my pizza stone and spraying with smart balance cooking spray.  This will save calories by not frying them in grease as is the traditional preparation but  not sacrifice any of the brown crispy goodness.  I will also be serving these with guaca salad.

What are recipes you use for freezer/batch cooking?


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Food Prep Day

January 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I know you are thinking, “What in the world is all that mess?!?”  Sometimes I do, too.  This is a little mini kitchen prep session I did last weekend.  Tasks included:

  • peel and cut in half ten pounds of browned bananas
  • break up and freeze several cheese packages
  • veggie compost bowl and bones to make stock with
  • chicken stock and chicken to make into soup
  • a ham bone to make split pea soup
  • pork chops to cook and freeze
  • bbq sauce to reduce and freeze

All of this was accomplished in about two hours while I was getting ready to hang out with a friend, shower and at the end, my friend helped finish the bananas.  All in all a productive day.  I just wanted to show you some typical cooking “to do’s” in my fridge as it relates to my compost cooking and other frugal foodie tasks.  It really doesn’t take much planning or creativity to get to this point.  Just be willing to try and think about what you have and how to get the most from it.

What do you do to save time and money in the kitchen?

Shared on Heath and Soul Blog Hop.

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Freezer Cooking: The Meat Version

November 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Some of you know the number of people in my house grew by four recently. I have had to adjust shopping and cooking accordingly.  I have put away four quarts of homemade barbeque, four quarts of shredded chicken meat, four servings of barbequed ribs, and two quarts of chicken stock.

I used five small pork butt roasts to make the barbeque.  I cooked them all night in the crock pot on low, drained them-reserved the stock for later, shredded the meat, then made my homemade bbq sauce.  I used a half a quart bag full of shredded pork and 1 1/2 cups of bbq sauce for each bag.  I squished and squeezed on the bag until all the meat was covered in sauce then ‘burped’ the bag.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The chicken was easier than that.  I used a bag of 11 leg quarters with half in my crock pot and the other half in a stock pot, both covered with water.  I brought them to a boil and let them cook for about one hour until the meat and bones were falling apart.  I drained all the bones and meat from the stock and reserved the stock.  When the chicken cooled I separated all the meat from the bones and cartilage.  I put equal amounts of the meat in freezer bags and burped the bags.

 

 

 

 

Homemade BBQ Sauce:

Disclaimer-I never measure any of these ingredients when making barbeque sauce.  Nor do I use all of the same ingredients each time. :)

Ketchup, mustard, brown sugar, butter, jelly, root beer or other soda on hand, different kinds of hot sauce including red and green tobasco and Allegra Brand spicy marinade, crushed red pepper, garlic, pureed onions, chicken stock and tomato sauce.

The key to good barbeque sauce is the balance of sweet and heat and to be able to give depth of flavor while the sauce cooks down.  In the picture is a batch that totaled four cups.

I baked the leg quarters with barbeque sauce on them after they took the crockpot sauna.  I also threw in a rack of ribs.  I figured while the oven was on, the best use my electricity dollars was to fill the oven up!

 

 

 

 

 

This batch of stock, two onions and a celery heart I chopped today are in the freezer waiting on the week of Thanksgiving to pre-make my dressing and refrigerate.

Next week I will be pre-making the majority of our Thanksgiving dinner so I can rest Thanksgiving Day and be thankful for thinking ahead :)

Have you tried freezer cooking?

What are some successful recipes or tips you have for a newbie?

 




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