This is a review of one of the 4 freezer meals I used from the internet via Pinterest. The original post can be found here. The meal we made a few weeks ago was the Creamy Farmhouse Chicken and Garden Soup. To be honest, I had high hopes for this meal, but it failed on multiple levels. So bad in fact two nights of leftovers in, I just threw out the rest because I just couldn't bring myself to eat anymore and I NEVER do that. So what went wrong?
First, I think the title is misleading. This was not creamy in any way. Maybe I have different standards or my crockpot just keeps things really moist, but it was more watery which was my first issue with it. My second issue was I had completely forgotten that I had to put in 2 bone-in chicken thighs. So there were surprise bones. The time lapse between preparing the freezer meal and actually eating it was maybe 2 months tops, so it wasn't like it was ancient history. So I had to pick through a very messy assortment of vegetables to find all the pieces which basically fall apart when cooked in the crockpot. The third thing was this meal had an odd flavor to me and by odd flavor I mean in terms of spices. This seems weird to me because I like all the ones it calls for, it just didn't hit my taste buds right. The overall presentation of the meal left something to be desired too. There were a lot of floating bits of chicken like when you boil a chicken breast so that was not too appealing. It was more or less a glorified chicken noodle soup. If I am going to put that much effort in, I would rather have something tastier.
So, this concludes my reviews from all the freezer meals from that blog post. I think the ratings are as follows:
Pork and Veggies - Probably would be better with the modifications I made, but probably won't do that one again.
Chicken Tikka Masala - Delicious, just makes a ton. Definitely redo.
Creamy Farmhouse Chicken and Garden Soup - Clearly a no.
Beef Burritos - Came out well, may redo. We don't eat too much beef and have a recipe for chicken taco meat that's a bit easier. (6 boneless skinless chicken breasts, 1 jar of salsa, and a packet of taco seasoning mix, place in crockpot on low for 6-8 hours, shred chicken with fork)
If people wanted meals to try I would definitely suggest the Chicken Tikka Masala and the Beef Burritos (or chicken tacos). I am still waiting to see how my creations came out. One should be in rotation this week, but with me feeling kind of under the weather, our meal plans went out the window last night. Such a fine balance between having leftovers when you need them and time to make a meal when you have to.
Happy cooking!
Showing posts with label Freezer Meals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Freezer Meals. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Monday, February 25, 2013
Parmesan Chicken
So as promised, here's the second meal I choose to freeze using the LDMM. This recipe comes from my sister and I am sure it's going to be excellent. So without further ado, here we go! These are her exact notes:
One of the things that can be dispiriting about skinless, boneless chicken breasts is that they lack the luscious contrast between crisp golden skin and moist, tender meat. Not here. Use English muffin crumbs and Parmesan cheese to make a coating for the chicken. This is classic comfort food without too much fat. The chicken can marinate in the mustard mixture, covered and refrigerated, for up to 2 hours.
3 Tablspoons Dijon mustard (or any favorite mustard)
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar (or we use just white vinegar for some kick)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly, ground black pepper
6 small skinless, boneless chicken breasts, rinsed and patter dry (scant 2 pounds total - To get this, we just took 3 big chicken breasts and cut them in half, and when I say we, I mean my husband did this part while I was pulsing cumbs)
1 1/2 English Muffins
3/4 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (she recommends the fresh stuff, not the can, but I think either would work, just fresh is best))
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 Tablespoon melted butter
1-2 Tablespoons fresh herbs if desired - parsley, rosemary, thyme, sage, etc (I used a bit of fried mixed Italian herbs)
White together the marinade in a large bowl. Add chicken, tossing well to coat. (This is where I put everything into a Gallon size Freezer bag and label it "Chicken Marinade" and set aside).
Pulse English muffins in a food processor until finely ground. Add cheese, butter and black pepper. Pulse until well combined. Transfer to shallow dish or pie plate. (This is where I put the crumb mixture into another Gallon size Freezer bag and label it "Breading" and set aside).
Put both of those Freezer bags into another Gallon size Freezer bag. Also include a packet of potatoes (Betty Crocker) and a frozen vegetable of your choice for 4 servings. On the outside of the bag write the instructions:
Preheat oven to 450*. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Dredge chicken one piece at a time in crumbs, coating completely and pressing gently so crumbs adhere then transfer to baking sheet. Bake until golden brown, and cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes.
Ta da! Another meal ready for the freezer which hopefully will make another easy night of dinners. I would guess the time to make this meal from start to finish would be about 30 minutes (10 minute oven warm up used to prep chicken and then cook time can be used to prep side dishes).
One of the things that can be dispiriting about skinless, boneless chicken breasts is that they lack the luscious contrast between crisp golden skin and moist, tender meat. Not here. Use English muffin crumbs and Parmesan cheese to make a coating for the chicken. This is classic comfort food without too much fat. The chicken can marinate in the mustard mixture, covered and refrigerated, for up to 2 hours.
3 Tablspoons Dijon mustard (or any favorite mustard)
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar (or we use just white vinegar for some kick)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly, ground black pepper
6 small skinless, boneless chicken breasts, rinsed and patter dry (scant 2 pounds total - To get this, we just took 3 big chicken breasts and cut them in half, and when I say we, I mean my husband did this part while I was pulsing cumbs)
1 1/2 English Muffins
3/4 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (she recommends the fresh stuff, not the can, but I think either would work, just fresh is best))
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 Tablespoon melted butter
1-2 Tablespoons fresh herbs if desired - parsley, rosemary, thyme, sage, etc (I used a bit of fried mixed Italian herbs)
White together the marinade in a large bowl. Add chicken, tossing well to coat. (This is where I put everything into a Gallon size Freezer bag and label it "Chicken Marinade" and set aside).
Pulse English muffins in a food processor until finely ground. Add cheese, butter and black pepper. Pulse until well combined. Transfer to shallow dish or pie plate. (This is where I put the crumb mixture into another Gallon size Freezer bag and label it "Breading" and set aside).
Put both of those Freezer bags into another Gallon size Freezer bag. Also include a packet of potatoes (Betty Crocker) and a frozen vegetable of your choice for 4 servings. On the outside of the bag write the instructions:
Preheat oven to 450*. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Dredge chicken one piece at a time in crumbs, coating completely and pressing gently so crumbs adhere then transfer to baking sheet. Bake until golden brown, and cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes.
Ta da! Another meal ready for the freezer which hopefully will make another easy night of dinners. I would guess the time to make this meal from start to finish would be about 30 minutes (10 minute oven warm up used to prep chicken and then cook time can be used to prep side dishes).
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Stocking The Freezer
So in my mission to not have to be in the kitchen as much during the coming months, I took it upon myself (with my husband as my sous chef - he did excellent!) to identify some meals for freezing now to cook later. This time I broke away from the crock pot theme and tried to go for something more like the Let's Dish version of freezing meals. For those who do not know Let's Dish is a place you make your own meals for freezing which you can cook either in the oven, on the stove, or sometimes the crock pot too. They have all the food and recipes ready for you with cooking instructions, so you basically just assemble your meals. I love the concept and I have been twice (thank you Groupon!), but I do find it a bit pricey. It's not completely outrageous, but it does require you dropping about $25 a meal (serves 5-6). You get a lot of food and the convenience factor, but being me, I'll figure out how to recreate it at home.
So, I picked two easier meals which I think will come out just fine with the Let's Dish Meal Method. Maybe I out to abbreviate that, LDMM. Ok, I am going to go with that. The first batter up; Pork Tenderloins with Pan Sauce which I wrote about a while ago on the topic of Pinterest. It was pretty fabulous and some of the recent meals I have used from Let's Dish (I am shortening that too - LD) have been pork in a marinade which you cook in the oven plus some kind of side dish with it. So I figured this would be perfect to try it out. I mean honestly, how often do we think, oh I have time to marinade that? With a baby in the house, I can assure you that train of thought goes right out the window. So here's the recipe from Chef Mommy (My notes are in italics):
Ingredients (for marinade):
1⁄2 cups olive oil
1⁄3 cup soy sauce
1⁄4 cup red wine vinegar
Juice of 1 lemon (this is about 1 tablespoon if you just have juice like myself)
1-2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1-2 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped (I used dried)
2 tsp dry mustard
Freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 1-lb. pork tenderloin (silver skin removed) (In my opinion this is a lot of marinade for 1 tenderloin, I did 2 tenderloins somewhere between 2-3 pounds and it was still plenty)
Directions:
Combine all marinade ingredients and reserve 2-3 Tbsp (I reserved 4-6 Tbsp since I used two pork tenderloins instead of one). Place the pork tenderloin and marinade in a Gallon size Freezer Ziplock bag and let marinate for at least 3-4 hours. (It will marinate while thawing, so have no fear, it'll still be a happy pork tenderloin in the end). I put the pork and marinade in the bag and write "Pork Marinade" on it.
In another Quart size Freezer bag, I put enough frozen peas for 4-5 servings.
In another Quart size Freezer bag, I put the ingredients for the Pan Sauce (and label it as such):
Ingredients for Pan Sauce:
Pan scrapings from pork tenderloin (will come when you actually do the cooking)
1/2 cup (~1 cup, maybe less, I think you don't need as much, maybe go 3/4 - 1 cup) of chicken broth
2-3 tbsp (4-6 Tbsp) of pork marinade (thoroughly mixed)
1-2 tsp (1 Tbsp) butter
I also write the instructions (or an abbreviated version of them) for making the pan sauce on this bag (I realize it says to add chicken broth first to get up brown bits - I rarely have brown bits because I use non-stick pans, but you could freeze the chicken broth separately OR just add it in if you always have it in your pantry. Just use your best judgement. I think it's not going to overly affect the outcome so I just tossed it all together. You may feel differently.):
Meanwhile, place the skillet back on the stove over medium heat. Add the chicken broth and scrape up all the browned pieces from the bottom of the pan. Add the marinade and let it boil down for 2-3 minutes. Add the butter and remove from heat stirring until butter has melted. Pour over the pork tenderloin.
I put all 3 of those bags plus a packet of Better Crocker Potato flakes (with the name and ingredients need listed on that bag in marker) into another Gallon size Freezer bag (yes it will fit :) ). Then I wrote the following instructions on the outside of that bag:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a hot skillet over medium-high heat, sear each side of tenderloin for 2-3 minutes. Place in the oven and cook for 30-40 minutes or until the meat has reached 160 degrees. Let rest for at least 5 minutes before slicing.
***When defrosting, remove peas and keep frozen. Remove the potatoes and set on counter, otherwise the bag will get damp from moisture from the thawing process. I think it would be protected since the bag is kind of foil lined, but if you can remove it first, that would probably be better.
So in the end you will have a bag that looks like this:
It's full, but it's a pre-packaged meal ready for action whenever you need it. If you had thawed this bag out, I think it would probably take an hour start to finish to have your meal ready. And yes, sure, we usually have peas and probably would have the potatoes on hand, but ya know what? They are now sitting happy with this meal and there's no guessing or relying on the old memory bank (which seems to be spotty lately) for making sure you have the other food to go with your main dish. And maybe you aren't like us with random pantry staples and it would be a really good idea to have everything together and ready. Either way, I like this method, it allows you to just grab and go. Maybe you'll like it too. :)
I'll share the next LDMM recipe in my next post.
So, I picked two easier meals which I think will come out just fine with the Let's Dish Meal Method. Maybe I out to abbreviate that, LDMM. Ok, I am going to go with that. The first batter up; Pork Tenderloins with Pan Sauce which I wrote about a while ago on the topic of Pinterest. It was pretty fabulous and some of the recent meals I have used from Let's Dish (I am shortening that too - LD) have been pork in a marinade which you cook in the oven plus some kind of side dish with it. So I figured this would be perfect to try it out. I mean honestly, how often do we think, oh I have time to marinade that? With a baby in the house, I can assure you that train of thought goes right out the window. So here's the recipe from Chef Mommy (My notes are in italics):
Ingredients (for marinade):
1⁄2 cups olive oil
1⁄3 cup soy sauce
1⁄4 cup red wine vinegar
Juice of 1 lemon (this is about 1 tablespoon if you just have juice like myself)
1-2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1-2 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped (I used dried)
2 tsp dry mustard
Freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 1-lb. pork tenderloin (silver skin removed) (In my opinion this is a lot of marinade for 1 tenderloin, I did 2 tenderloins somewhere between 2-3 pounds and it was still plenty)
Directions:
Combine all marinade ingredients and reserve 2-3 Tbsp (I reserved 4-6 Tbsp since I used two pork tenderloins instead of one). Place the pork tenderloin and marinade in a Gallon size Freezer Ziplock bag and let marinate for at least 3-4 hours. (It will marinate while thawing, so have no fear, it'll still be a happy pork tenderloin in the end). I put the pork and marinade in the bag and write "Pork Marinade" on it.
In another Quart size Freezer bag, I put enough frozen peas for 4-5 servings.
In another Quart size Freezer bag, I put the ingredients for the Pan Sauce (and label it as such):
Ingredients for Pan Sauce:
Pan scrapings from pork tenderloin (will come when you actually do the cooking)
1/2 cup (~1 cup, maybe less, I think you don't need as much, maybe go 3/4 - 1 cup) of chicken broth
2-3 tbsp (4-6 Tbsp) of pork marinade (thoroughly mixed)
1-2 tsp (1 Tbsp) butter
I also write the instructions (or an abbreviated version of them) for making the pan sauce on this bag (I realize it says to add chicken broth first to get up brown bits - I rarely have brown bits because I use non-stick pans, but you could freeze the chicken broth separately OR just add it in if you always have it in your pantry. Just use your best judgement. I think it's not going to overly affect the outcome so I just tossed it all together. You may feel differently.):
Meanwhile, place the skillet back on the stove over medium heat. Add the chicken broth and scrape up all the browned pieces from the bottom of the pan. Add the marinade and let it boil down for 2-3 minutes. Add the butter and remove from heat stirring until butter has melted. Pour over the pork tenderloin.
I put all 3 of those bags plus a packet of Better Crocker Potato flakes (with the name and ingredients need listed on that bag in marker) into another Gallon size Freezer bag (yes it will fit :) ). Then I wrote the following instructions on the outside of that bag:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a hot skillet over medium-high heat, sear each side of tenderloin for 2-3 minutes. Place in the oven and cook for 30-40 minutes or until the meat has reached 160 degrees. Let rest for at least 5 minutes before slicing.
***When defrosting, remove peas and keep frozen. Remove the potatoes and set on counter, otherwise the bag will get damp from moisture from the thawing process. I think it would be protected since the bag is kind of foil lined, but if you can remove it first, that would probably be better.
So in the end you will have a bag that looks like this:
I'll share the next LDMM recipe in my next post.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
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:
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
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.
Pork and Veggies
1 lb Pork Roast, cut into 1/2 inch strips1 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 strips1 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.
Saturday, January 12, 2013
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.
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)
The next two are both from this website: http://lovingmynest.com/learning-activities/cooking/freezer-crock-pot-recipes/
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.
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/
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)
- Add all the above ingredients into a freezer bag.
- 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.
- 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.
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 strips1 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 hoursIngredients:
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:
- Place everything up to the bay leaves in a 1-gallon freezer bag. Seal bag and mix well to coat. Label it "marinade"
- In a 1-quart freezer bag mix together heavy cream and corn starch. Label it "cream".
- 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".
- 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."
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