Freezer Meals - Review #1

A short while ago I did a blog entry on freezer meals and the recipes I chose from the great pool of internet choices.  We decided to thaw and make the one I was least excited about - Pork and Veggies.  I wanted variety and try to expand my food diversity some.  For a review here's the recipe:

Pork and Veggies

1 lb Pork Roast, cut into 1/2 inch strips
1 Onion, chopped
1 Green Bell Pepper, sliced
4 Carrots, sliced
½ pound Fresh Mushrooms, sliced
1 8oz can Tomato Sauce
1.5 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1 tsp Salt
2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

Combine ingredients in a large ziptop bag, freeze. Thaw contents of bag and place in a slow cooker. Cook on low 6-8 hours. Serve over hot rice. Serves approx. 5-6 people.

* Again I put all of these ingredients into a 1-gallon freezer bag, then 1.5 cups of rice into a sandwich bag and both of those into another 1-gallon freezer bag.

Pros
Does indeed make enough for 5-6 people.  My husband had enough for close to 4 full meals out of this.  

The 1.5 cups of dry rice was perfect.

Definitely moist.

Cons
Kind of flavorless.  I am not sure why, but looking at the ingredient list there are no spices (salt doesn't count in my book).  Some sage, thyme, or rosemary might have been a good add.

The mushrooms didn't really look like mushrooms in the end.  I used a food processor to slice them, so maybe they were too thin?  We basically had a LOT of carrots and peppers and the onions and mushrooms were kind of not there.  I would consider adding other vegetables to help balance it more.  Keep the quantities kind of even between them all.

Excessive liquid.  I am not sure why this is.  There's really not much that was added aside from the 8 oz of tomato sauce.  I might consider straining the liquid from all the other ingredients and thickening it up some with corn starch or flour. 

Updated verion

Pork and Veggies

1 lb Pork Roast, cut into 1/2 inch strips
1 Onion, chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1 Green Bell Pepper, sliced
2 Carrots, sliced
2 heads of broccoli, chopped (or 1/2 - 16 ounce bag of frozen florets)
1/2 15 oz can Chicken Broth
1.5 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp rosemary
1/2 tsp thyme or sage
2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

Combine ingredients in a large ziptop bag, freeze. Thaw contents of bag and place in a slow cooker. Cook on low 6-8 hours.

Strain liquid from the crockpot, place in small saucepan.  Add corn starch (1 tsp at a time until the consistency is right) and bring to a boil to thickened.  Pour back over pork and veggies.

Serve over hot rice. Serves approx. 5-6 people.

* Again I put all of these ingredients into a 1-gallon freezer bag, then 1.5 cups of rice into a sandwich bag and both of those into another 1-gallon freezer bag.

I can't say the recipe is "fixed", but that would be my next attempt if there were going to be one.  Not sure I will bother though.  We have another 3 meals to go and I have higher hopes for them.  

And the Nominees Are....

So, my friend Holly has nominated me for a Liebster Award!  I had no idea what it was and truth be told I was skeptical that her account may have been hacked.  How sad is that?  But I did a little research and discovered it to be a for real thing, so Awesome!  For those who are like me and wondering what in the world this is all about here's the skinny:

What is a Liebster Award? A Liebster award is given to blogs with less than 300 followers as a way of making them more well-known. The rules for the acceptance are:
1) Visit and thank the blogger who nominated you
2) Acknowledge that blogger on your blog and link back
3) Answer the 10 questions posed by the blogger who nominated you
4) Select 3 – 5 bloggers for the award
5) Pose 10 new questions to the new nominees
6) Post the award on your blog

So here are my questions from Holly:

1. How long have you been blogging? According to my archives, they tell me about 2007.  I hit my stride in 2008 when I think I had WAAAY too much free time on my hands.  Then I decided to move twice (GA-NY and NY-VA), get married, and have a baby (wow a lot has happened in 4 short years!), so free time is something of an endangered species.  I blog to share cool things I find, annoyances of the world, delicious recipes, nifty crafts, and and also to just have a place to practice writing. 

2. Morning person or night person? Before my son was born, I would say hands down night person.  Anywho who knows me knows I do not operate without a cup of coffee and/or being awake for roughly 3-5 hours before being 'cheerful' enough to talk to.  In fact, at one workplace, I had been known to grunt at people until I had been there 30 minutes or so, made and ate oatmeal and had a chance to process what it would take to be productive for the day.  Since having him, mornings haven't been the dreadful thing they once were.  When there is someone who greets me which such joy, I can't help but be happy and kind of get over my own lack of sleep just to partake in the happiness in front of me.

3. Favorite book?  I do love so many books, but the one I love to read over and over (at least once annually) is Stardust by Neil Gaiman.  It is part of the inspiration for this blog name.  I just love the tale and the world he creates in the land beyond the village of Wall.  I have not and will not ever see the movie.  My imagination has it just right in my head and I don't need Hollywood screwing it up.

4. Summer sun or winter wonderland?  Summer sun.  The days are longer, people are happier, there are more picnics and sunshine.  The Summer also compliments my love of the beach.  It's a lot more fun to be there in the warmer weather than in the cooler weather (I have done both).  There's something about putting your feet in warm sand and feeling a warm breeze on your face that just makes a person happy.  Also in the summer, there is far less hassle with the weather.  It's either sunny, breezy, or rainy so pick the appropriate jacket.  In the winter you have cold, ice, snow, and windy.  All of which need too many layers to enjoy unless you are under the age of 12.

5. What do you do in your free time?  Free time?  Ha.  My free time has been extremely reduced, but I am the queen of multi-tasking.  I also find it impossible to sit still, so I do make the most of what little time I have.  When I am watching TV I tend to use my laptop to surf the web for any number of things.  Facebook and Pinterest are frequent stops as well as any other "research" I am currently interested in.  Right now I have a "Couch to 5K:" and Online Fabric shopping tabs open.  I also enjoy working on my projects (which are piled high and deep right now, let me tell you!).  I sew a lot, mainly quilts right now. I take a lot of pictures, mostly of my son, but the cats get in on the action too, which means I also spend a lot of time uploading and purchasing photo stuff (books, cards, etc).  I love to work on the house (which has gotten surprisingly more difficult with a baby) and my next two projects are repainting hideous brass lamps and reupholstering two obnoxious pink wing back chairs, FINALLY.  I also try to read a little each day and because of my health plan at work, I am trying to get at least 7,000 steps a day on my pedometer.  Sometimes this means walking around the house in circles after Colin has gone to bed.  Thankfully I recently acquired a Kindle so I can watch older TV shows while moving around the house.  It has worked out well. 

6. Do you make New Year’s resolutions?  Yes.  I think they are a great way to think about doing something new and different.  They don't always have to be tied to a "don't" which I think is where people get stuck sometimes.  Make them small and manageable and write them down and put there where you see them everyday.  I try to use my resolution as a way to be a better person.  This year mine could have been trying not to swear like a sailor while driving in DC, but I opted for something that would help others.  I am buying and donating food monthly to a local food shelter in our area.  Before the holidays had come, I heard a news story on the radio about how much the need for food has gone up and it made me sad.  People only ever think to donate to the food pantry around Thanksgiving and Christmas.  And that's not to say it's not a good thing, but those people don't miraculously get food the other 10 months out of the year.  So I have decided to make a donation drop off once a month.  My preferred way of giving is 100% anonymous so it works out well.  I don't need a thank you, just appreciate what was given to you and that's enough for me.
 
7. Family’s favorite meal? (Share the recipe)  We have many, but here's one of our go-to favorites.

Angel Hair Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Goat Cheese
(makes 4-6 servings)
1, 10 oz. jar sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, chopped (oil reserved)
1 small onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 cup dry white wine
1 lb. angel hair pasta
3 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley (flat leaf italian parsley)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper (freshly ground)
3-4 oz. soft fresh goat cheese, coarsely crumbled

Heat 3 tbsp. of reserved oil from sun-dried tomatoes in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and saute until tender, about 3 minutes. Stir in garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute.  Add tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.  Add wine and chopped sun-dried tomatoes and simmer until liquid reduces by half, about 2 minutes.

Cook pasta according to package directions, but when you drain it, reserve 1 cup of the cooking liquid.  Add cooked pasta and parsley to the tomato mixture and toss to coat, adding some reserved pasta water to moisten.  Season pasta with salt and pepper. Place into a serving bowl and mix with crumbled goat cheese.

8. Preferred way to communicate? Email/text/call/facebook/etc It depends.  If you are a close relative, I prefer a phone call or email.  If you are a close friend, phone call, text, or email.  If we are just friends, email or Facebook.  Right now I will lean towards more written forms of communication because it allows me to write them whenever I can (in the likely event I am interrupted) and give some thought to what I am telling you.  With a baby, sometimes that routine phone call just doesn't fit in.  And besides, if I write an email, I can send pictures too. :)  Facebook is fantastic for staying in touch with people in general though.  I have a manageable number of friends, and I am interested in what they are up to.  Some share more than others, but I enjoy catching up with everyone's lives when I can sit and process through my stream. 

9. How many people/animals live in your house?  We have three people (me, my husband, and our son) and two fat cats.  In my opinion, it's a good human/animal ratio. 

10. Favorite snack food?  I am a sucker for chocolate covered pretzels.  I will eat an entire bag if I am not careful.  That whole salty/sweet combo is to die for. 

So my nominees are....
1. LaTisha over at Blushing Black keeping it real for all things fashion and beauty.  She's got an eye for style; sophisticated and fun.  We used to work together and then she got smart and is doing something way more fun, but we still keep in touch thanks to the internets. :)
2. Ryan and his crazy adventures in fatherhood, cooking, and funny stuff at Grillside Stories.  He is a  co-worker and truly has a knack for seeing the bright side of life.
3. My third would have been Holly, but as she's nominated me it'd be a never ending loop.  She is so much better at keeping her blog updated and it's always interesting bits of her and her family's life that make me smile. 

So here are my questions for you:
1. Why do you blog?
2. If you could get on a plane and go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
3. What is your favorite holiday?
4. What is your favorite vacation spot or what was your favorite vacation?
5. What do you do in your free time?
6. If you could have a super power, what would it be and why?
7. What is your favorite game (board, video, card, school yard)?
8. Cat or Dog Person?
9. What is your idea of a perfect weekend?
10. What is your all-time favorite blog entry you have written?

Many thanks again to Holly for nominating me and giving me a reason to answer fun questions and pass it onward to others.  As a result of this exercise, I realized I need to update my links of people I follow on my side bar.  I think many people have dropped the blogging routine, which is to be expected, but I just need keep it updated. :) 

Molten Chocolate Cakes

My mother-in-law visited for her birthday so she could spend the weekend with her favorite little person, her grandson.  To celebrate her birthday I told her I would make her any kind of dessert she wanted, so long as I didn't have to set it on fire.  She replied, "something chocolate".  So I thought for a short while and said "OH I KNOW!"

So I made her this:

Molten Chocolate Cakes!

They are the most decadent dessert I know how to make.  And lucky for you, you'll know know how to make them too!  The only "special" equipment you'll need are ramekins and a double boiler (which you can improvise if need be - I do).  If you don't have ramekins, the best deal I have found on them is at Pier 1 Imports of all places.  For a double boiler, you can use a regular pot filled with a couple of inches of water and setting a glass or metal (my preference) bowl on top of the water.  It'll do the same thing without add another pot to you cabinets.

Active Time: 15 minutes Total: 30-35 minutes
6 servings

2 sticks unsalted butter plus more for ramekins
1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cake flour, plus more for dusting (I have used regular flour, so don't sweat buying special flour for such a small amount)
1/2 bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used Ghirardelli - 70% Cocoa, usually found in the baking aisle)
1/2 cup sugar
4 large whole eggs
4 large egg yolks
Unsweetened cocoa and confectioners sugar, for dusting (to make it "pretty")
*Not listed as an ingredient, but you should definitely get vanilla ice cream to have with it

1. Preheat oven to 350*.  Butter six 4-ounce ramekin dishes and dust with flour.  This step is ubber important, make sure they are well buttered, it's how they pop out smoothly.
2. In the top on the double boiler, melt the butter and chocolate together.  Remove from heat and whisk in the sugar, whole eggs, and egg yolks.  Whisk in the flour.
3. Scrape the batter into the 6 ramekins, and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the sides of the cake are set, but the center is still slightly loose.  Let the cakes cool for 1-2 minutes and then run and spatula around the top part of them to loosen if necessary from the ramekin.  Then invert them onto plates.  Dust with cocoa powder and confectioners sugar and serve.

You can make these earlier in the day and park them in the fridge until you are ready to make them.  Just take them out for about 20-30 minutes before hand to get them to room temp.  If you want to put them in straight from the fridge, you'll need to extend the baking time accordingly.

Enjoy!

Freezer Meals

Now that we have all survived the holidays and all the chaos that comes with them, I have been buckling down on those things I have put on the back burner for the past 3 months.  One of these projects is working out how to make some freezer meals.

For those of you who aren't up on this latest fad in food prep, basically, in theory you are spending a lot of time up front for prepping these meals which you freeze and then pull them out and cook later.  Specifically I have been looking for recipes to work with crock pots.  I mean if you are really looking for a hands off cook after all that prep, there's no better way than the crock pot.  Since I upgraded the crock pot I am excited to use it all the time.

I have been using pinterest for some inspiration in picking some of recipes to use.  So I decided to start small and go with 4 options from a couple of websites.  Three were designed to be freezer meals and I kind of sort of turned a regular crock pot meal into a freezer meal.  We will see how that works out. 

It took about 3 hours from start to finish (meaning from gathering ingredients to clean up) to do all of these.  I also using a food processor for the chopping which I think saved a load of time.  I wasn't in a race and was just enjoying my afternoon to myself so I am sure there's room for improvement.  I think if I did this more and became familiar with all the recipes and prep and it would get faster.  As it is, I still think it wasn't all that bad given how many meals and how many leftovers it will make for us.

In the short term, your kitchen does get quite messy, just keep yourself organized as best you can.

So here's what I chose to make (originally sources linked if you are interested in more recipes)

Beef Burritos - http://www.savingyoudinero.com/2012/06/12/1-hour-1-mess-5-crock-pot-meals/
(6+ servings)

• 1 London Broil or top round roast (about 2 lbs)
• 1 diced onion
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tablespoons whole peppercorns
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 (8 oz) cans tomato sauce
• 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce – Use just 1 pepper!! (It’s in a can.)* You can freeze the rest of these to save and use in the future.  Great in chili, process in a food processor and add to mayo for chipotle mayo, or use in other recipes which call for them.
• 1 ½ teaspoon chili powder (you can adjust this according to your taste)

1. Add all the above ingredients into a freezer bag.
2. When you are ready to cook the meal, dump the contents of the bag into the crock pot and cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 6-7 hours Cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 6-7 hours.
3. When the meat is cooked, you will need to strain the juices and add the juice back to the slow cooker. (You want to remove the peppercorns and onions.) Shred the meat and add back to the juice in the slow cooker for about 30 minutes. This is one of our favorite recipes. My kids eat it as long as we have leftovers.

* Tip from what I did in addition to the above.  I put the above marinade into a 1-gal freezer bad and then also purchased Burrito Wraps, put 1 cup of Mexican cheese in 1-quart freezer bag, and 1 cup of rice in a regular sandwich bag.  Then I put all of this (well tried, the wraps wouldn't fit), into another 1-gal freezer bag to hold it all together.  It helps have everything together do you don't get to the meal and say, "aww crap, I am out of X."

The next two are both from this website: http://lovingmynest.com/learning-activities/cooking/freezer-crock-pot-recipes/

Pork and Veggies

1 lb Pork Roast, cut into 1/2 inch strips
1 Onion, chopped
1 Green Bell Pepper, sliced
4 Carrots, sliced
½ pound Fresh Mushrooms, sliced
1 8oz can Tomato Sauce
1.5 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1 tsp Salt
2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

Combine ingredients in a large ziptop bag, freeze. Thaw contents of bag and place in a slow cooker. Cook on low 6-8 hours. Serve over hot rice. Serves approx. 5-6 people.

* Again I put all of these ingredients into a 1-gallon freezer bag, then 1 cup of rice into a sandwich bag and both of those into another 1-gallon freezer bag.

Creamy Farmhouse Chicken and Garden Soup

1/2 package (16 ounces) frozen pepper stir-fry vegetable mix * I just used a stir fry mix I liked, I think it was an Asian mix. 
1 cup frozen corn
1 medium zucchini, sliced
2 bone-in chicken thighs, skinned
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 cup half-and-half (or non-dairy milk for dairy allergies)
1/2 cup frozen green peas, thawed *not sure why you could thaw them just to re-freeze them.  I politely ignored this step.
2 tablespoons chopped parsley *I used dried, conversion is on the bottle for fresh to dried ratio
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1 can (14 ounces) fat-free chicken broth

Put all ingredients in a Ziploc bag except chicken broth. Freeze. Thaw and put in slow cooker and add chicken broth. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Stir in 3 cups prepared noodles. Serves 7-8 people.

The final one I made into a freezer meal from this site: http://www.tablefortwoblog.com/2012/10/19/chicken-tikka-masala-crockpot/

Chicken Tikka Masala {Crockpot}

Yield: 6-8 servings | Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 8 hours

Ingredients:

8 boneless, skinless chicken tenderloins, or about 5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 3 lbs.)

1 large onion, diced

4 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tbsp. fresh ginger, minced

1 (29 oz.) can of tomato puree

1 1/2 cups plain yogurt

2 tbsp. olive oil

2 tbsp. Garam masala

1 tbsp. cumin

1/2 tbsp. paprika

2 tsp. salt, or to taste

3/4 tsp. cinnamon

3/4 tsp. fresh ground black pepper

1-3 tsp. cayenne pepper (depending on your heat preference)

2 bay leaves

1 cup heavy cream

3 tbsp. cornstarch

Chopped parsley or cilantro, for topping

Instructions Adapted for my Invented Freezer Meal Version:

1. Place everything up to the bay leaves in a 1-gallon freezer bag.  Seal bag and mix well to coat. Label it "marinade"
2. In a 1-quart freezer bag mix together heavy cream and corn starch.  Label it "cream".
3. In a sandwich bag (no need to waste a freezer bag on rice), put 1.5 cups of rice in the bag. Label it "1.5 cups of rice - add 3 cups water".
4. Place all 3 bags into 1 1-gallon freezer bag.  Write the cook instructions on the outside: "ADD TWO BAY LEAVES.  Cook for 8 hours on low (or 4 hours on high).  When done, add "cream" bag mixture into the crockpot and gently stir. Let cook an additional 20 minutes to thicken up. At the time you put the cream in, cook the rice."