Freezer Day Reciepes

Here are a few of  the recipes we put together yesterday for freezer day:

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese:

Cook 1 1/2 cups elbow macaroni in boiling salted water till tender; In saucepan, melt 3 tablespoons butter; blend in 2 tablespoons flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt and dash pepper.  Add 2 cups milk; cook and stir till thick and bubbly.  Add 1/4 cup finely chopped onion (optional) and 8 onces sharp process American cheese, cubed (2 cups); stir till melted.

      Mix cheese sauce with macaroni, Turn into 1 1/2 quart casserole.  Cover and freeze or bake at 350 degree for 35 to 40 minutes or till heated through.  Makes 6 servings.

 

Baked Ziti
1 pound lean ground beef (ground chuck or ground round)

·                     1/2 cup chopped onion

·                     1 green bell pepper, chopped, about 1/2 cup

·                     1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained

·                     1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce

·                     1/2 teaspoon dried leaf basil, crumbled

·                     1/2 teaspoon dried leaf oregano, crumbled

·                     1/2 teaspoon garlic powder or small clove garlic, minced

·                     1 1/2 teaspoons salt

·                     1/4 teaspoon pepper

·                     8 ounces ziti or elbow macaroni, cooked and drained

·                     2 cups (8 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

 Preparation:

Sauté ground beef, onion, and green bell pepper in a large skillet until onion is tender and beef is lightly browned. Drain off excess fat; add tomatoes, tomato sauce, basil, oregano, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Stir well; stir in ziti or elbow macaroni and 1 cup of the cheese; transfer to a 2 1/2-quart casserole. Top with the remaining cup of cheese. Bake at 350° for 25 to 30 minutes, or until hot and bubbly.
This baked ziti recipe serves 6. 

Chicken Roll Ups

crescent dough homemade or store bought
3-4 chicken breasts, cooked and chopped
8 oz. cream cheese
salt and pepper
1/4-1/2 Cup shredded cheese
In a bowl, blend together cooked chicken, cream cheese and cheese. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roll crescent dough out into a circle and cut into triangles or unroll dough if using store bought. Place chicken mixture on the end of each triangle.

Roll fat end of triangle down to pointed end. Place on cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until dough is golden brown. Serve with cream of mushroom soup, cream of chicken soup or without a sauce.

If freezing allow to cool and flash freeze on a cookie sheet. Place in ziploc baggies. Great for taking out individually for lunches. Reheat and add sauce.
 When I am ready to have these for dinner I will make sauce out of cream of chicken soup.

Lemon Teriyaki Chicken
½ Cup lemon juice
½ Cup soy sauce
¼ Cup sugar
3 Tablespoons brown sugar
2 Tablespoons water
2 garlic cloves chopped
½ teaspoon ginger
6 chicken breasts
Add all ingredients together in ziploc bag except chicken. Blend together. Add chicken and freeze. When ready to cook, pour everything into a casserole dish and bake or add to skillet and cook over medium.

Sweet and Sour Chicken
4 chicken breasts, cut in cubes
can pineapple chunks (save juice)
one garlic clove, minced
1/4 Cup soy sauce
l teaspoon ginger
1-2 carrots cut in small pieces
1 green pepper cut in pieces
Add all ingredients together in a ziploc bag. Freeze. When ready to cook. Add to saucepan and allow to simmer 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Cook rice to go with the meal.

Freezer Meal Tips:  Use a sharpie and write the cooking directions on the foil or zip lock bag to make it even easier when you are ready to bake your meal.   

 

The Results

I am absolutely exhusted but I feel like for my first try ever at freezer cooking things went pretty well.  I could have never gotten through as much as I did with out the help of my sweet sister-in-law.  We only had one major catasrophe today and its kind of sad and funny.  Tuesday my girls had a joint birthday party.  While cleaning up my husband came over to me and said "Don't turn on the oven, I put the big dirty plastic serving platers inside."  Well I'm sure you've guessed what happened... I didn't turn the oven on Tuesday but I did today without looking and having totally forgotten about the plastic serving trays.  This is what my tray's look like now.  The funny part is when the oven started smooking my 4 year old started running around yelling a song I teach in preschool, "Emergency, Emergency 911!"

We made it through most of our list with the exception of Red Sauce enchilladas and taco meat (and I still need to put together my chicken and rice casserole but we did get Catrina's together.)  As of right now I have 14 meals and a massive bag of mini banana wheat muffins in my freezer and that's not counting the casserole that I still need to put together or the pan of homemade macaroni we ate for dinner tonight!  Yes I think today was a success. 

Beginning of Freezer Cooking Day

Its the beginning of my first freezer cooking day.  To start off I am going to do my dishes to make sure I have plenty of space for cooking and all the new dirty dishes I am going to create!

Here's what's on the menu for today:

• Homemade Macaroni
• Chicken Roll Ups
• Baked Ziti
• Creamy Chicken Enchiladas
• Red Sauce Enchiladas
• Chicen and Rice Casserole
• Lemon Terriaki Chicken Marinade
• Sweet and Sour Chicken
• Banana Muffins
• Taco Meat

Its a little ambitious for our first day of trying this but hopfully this will give my sister-in-law plenty of meals for her family and visitors that are coming after she has her baby boy.  (He's due any day now! : ) )

I'll come back later and let you know how things are going.  Now off to my dishes!

Freezer Meals

I have heard a lot about freezer meals over the last couple years and its been one of those things for me that when I hear about I think "that sounds awesome, I should really do that!"... and then I never do.  Well since its spring break and for once I feel like I have time my sister-in-law and I are teaming up to do a day of freezer cooking.   I am not an expert on this so if you are new to this you can learn along with me : )

Today I am preping for our cooking day by:
1) Shopping in my pantry, fridge and freezer.  Just like when I cook dinner on a daily basis I cook off what I have on hand and I don't want to spend extra money to make a freezer meal, the whole point is to save money and time.  I'm looking for ingredients that I have a lot of that can freeze well.

2) Making my Menu.  Based off the ingredients I have on hand I looked for reciepes that I had most of the ingredients for or are on sale this week and are simple reciepes.

3) Shopping for missing ingredients needed. 

4) Game Plan for Cooking Day.  This is going to be a line up of what order we are going to cook things to help things go as smoothly as possible.

I'll let you know how this new adventures goes.  Please, if you have any advice or requests on what you want me to report on this adventure leave me a comment.