I'll be honest, the minute I finished my first time freezer cooking night I thought, "I'm never doing that again." My back and legs ached from standing so long, and since I wanted to cook without my little buddy, I started post-bedtime, and thus didn't get to sleep until 1.
BUT Three days later I was completely convinced that I would do freezer cooking for the rest of my life. I haven't had to worry about dinner once in two weeks. It's like being on vacation. And I still have 3/4 of my freezer stash left. Having dinner taken care of, means I have time to slice up fresh fruit or make a salad to go with dinner. Heck, I even had time to clear off the whole dinner table and not just the half we use.
And since I could get a better deal on a month's worth of meat and huge cans of tomato paste, it really loosened up my weekly grocery budget for berries, melons, and other tasty, healthy things that are usually beyond me. The entire shopping list for the 13+ meals only cost me $96.60 before tax. That's less than $8 per meal-- meals that includes sausage and beef. Crazy business.
Looking around for Freezer cooking recipes, I found a lot of things loaded down with cream cheese, and other questionably-healthy things that lacked vegetables. So there's no sour cream, egg-y casseroles (you're welcome Amanda) or cream of anything in this post. Every meal contains at least a full-serving of veggies, and most have much more than that. And they all cleared the taste tests with my panel of judges: Picky Toddler and Dubious Dad.
And because casseroles get old and aren't always convenient, I mixed in dishes that can be heated up in individual portions. So I've got homemade meals for even those mad dashes between school and meetings.
So what are we eating?
And because casseroles get old and aren't always convenient, I mixed in dishes that can be heated up in individual portions. So I've got homemade meals for even those mad dashes between school and meetings.
So what are we eating?
Jamie Oliver-inspired Ragout, Lasagna Napoletano, Italian Bean and Sausage Soup, Corn-Salsa Pasta Shell Tacos, Awesome Bean Burritos, and Shepherd's Pie
Click here to print the shopping list and instructions.
Remember Sharing is caring!
(I can't photograph food, so I used the picture of Fat and Happy's beautiful campanelle pasta in my collage)
MASTER SHOPPING LIST2 carrots
2 sticks of celery
4 fresh chilies
1 large jalapenos
5 onions
2 red bell peppers
8-10 potatoes (russet or Yukon gold)
18-19 (or 4ish lbs.) large Italian sausages
3lbs. ground beef
2 boxes jumbo shells
2 boxes penne or similar pasta (I prefer to use campanelle, a ruffle-y pasta, just for looks)
2 28oz. cans crushed tomatoes
4 cans fire-roasted tomatoes (or regular diced tomatoes)
1 box lasagna noodles
2 12oz. cans of tomato paste
1 29oz cans of tomato sauce
2 cans black beans
2 cans chickpeas
1 can pinto beans
6 cans Cannellini/ White Northern beans
1 jar artichoke hearts (...try not to sing a Christina Perri song in public ;)
1 jar minced garlic
12 cups Chicken Broth
2 cans condensed tomato soup
1 jar corn salsa
1 packet Taco Seasoning Mix
1 can enchilada sauce (optional)
18 Flour Tortillas
2 eggs
32 oz. of full-fat small curd cottage cheese or Ricotta
1.5 c. plain yogurt
1.5 lbs Mozzarella
3 cups parmesan
1 bag shredded cheese (colby, cheddar, something yellow)
1 package frozen spinach
1 package frozen frenched green beans
I’m Assuming You Already Have
oregano
sage
red pepper flakes
ground mustard
Fennel Seeds (worth buying if you don’t have it, just trust me)
a tablespoon brown sugar/molasses
a cup of milk and a dab of butter
4 9x13 pans or you’ll need to buy some of the disposable dishes
4 mixing bowls (beg or borrow)
A food processor (beg or borrow---it’s just for one night after all, and this will be pure misery without one)
some tuna cans or canned cat food, or alphabet blocks or some other uniformly short objects to use as spacers to stack and freeze cookie sheets
Okay...Ready?
Pour yourself a glass of water, lace up your cushiest tennis shoes, and put on an Audiobook. Let’s do this!
1.In a large mixing bowl dump in pasta shells, sprinkle generously with salt, and cover with water. Leave on counter.
2. Brown ground beef in 1 lb batches. Put each of first two batches into it’s own 9x13 pan. Place last batch of ground beef in a large mixing bowl.
3. In the largest pot you own, combine tomato sauce, paste, and crushed tomatoes, 1 TB Brown sugar or molasses, 1 cup water, and 1 tsp each sage, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Cover and put over medium-low heat. (We’ll reference this mixture is as Tomato Sauce from now on)
4. Peel and hack onions into chunks. Pulse in food processor in batches until its all been diced---set aside.
5. Hack carrots, celery, and chiles roughly then whizz in food processor with 2 tsp oregano and 1-2 TB fennel seed, and 2 large spoonfuls of the minced garlic. You’ll probably need to work in batches. Mix together in a large bowl
6.Remove the casings from all the sausage. Drop ¼ of sausage in Carrot mixture and combine (squishing between fingers is easily the fastest way to do this). Divide sausage/carrot mixture between 2 freezer bags, and put in freezer. Yeehaw, give yourself a fist pump. 1 down. 5 to go.
7. Brown the rest of the sausage in three batches in skillet.
8. Add first batch of browned sausage along with a package of frozen spinach into tomato sauce pot. Reduce heat to low (because you are going to forget to stir it and we don’t want a burnt on mess at the bottom of the pot).
9. Set the next two batches of browned sausage aside to cool.
10. Fill a 9x13 with a couple inches of water, sprinkle with salt, and lay in lasagna noodles. Set aside.
11. To bowl of browned beef, add taco seasoning, ½ jar of corn salsa, drained can of pinto beans and 1.5 cups of yogurt. Stir to combine.
12. Grease two cookie sheets. Check on your shells. They should be just a barely on the crunchy side of al dente.
13. Spoon taco mixture into individual shells and place on cookie sheet. They’re going to touch, there’s not avoiding it--but try to keep clusters to only 2-3 shells with spaces in between. Place tuna cans in corners of one cookie sheet so you can stack the second on top.
14. Place cookie sheets in freezer. Another fist pump! (You’re not quite finished with that, but you need a victory at this point). 2 Down, 4 Left.
15. To your pans of browned beef add a ½ tsp ground mustard, frozen green beans, a can of tomato soup (do NOT add water), a spoonful of minced garlic and a cup of diced onions each. Mix. Adding a liberal dose of Worchestershire sauce would be a really good idea, if you like that sort of thing.
16. In new bowl combine cottage cheese/Ricotta with 2 eggs
17. Fish out your lasagna noodles (it’s okay if they’re still a bit firm) and dump out the water from pan. Ladle a scoop of Tomato Sauce into the bottom of each of two 9x13’s.
18. Lay noodles across the bottom of each pan. Cover each pan with ¼ of the ricotta mixture in each pan. Top with a ¼ of the Tomato Sauce, and a ¼ of the Mozzerella shreds. Repeat this step again.
19. Apply a layer of Parmesan and Cover with Foil.
20. PLACE YOUR LASAGNA IN THE FREEZER, You Domestic Rockstar!
21. If your shells are frozen hard, take out cookie sheets and bag your shells in freezer bags and put back in freezer. 3 Down!!! It’s all downhill from here, I promise
22. Peel and hack potatoes, and put in the now empty sauce pot-- don’t bother cleaning the pot past a little rinse--it’s just bonus flavor for the potatoes. Cover with water and place over medium-high heat. Add some salt.
23. In batches, send 4 drained cans of Cannellini beans through the food processor until a paste. Put 1 can in each of two freezer bags, and add the other 2 cans to the jalepeno/artichoke bowl.
24. Okay, now process drained chickpeas and black beans in batches and add to artichoke bowl. Keep it chunky. The first time I made a big batch of this I got a little too puree-happy and then had to strain the resulting soupy mess through a cheesecloth. ¡No bueno!
25. Add 1 cup diced onion to the bean party and mix thoroughly.
26. Lay out tortillas on your cookie sheets. Ladle out bean mixture into middle of each tortilla (less is more!) And roll those burritos. Squeeze burritos onto one cookie sheet and put in freeze. Whew, you’re almost done. Hold in there!
27. Split cooled sausage among the 2 Cannelini bags.
28. Add a spoonful of garlic to sausage bags along with another can of drained, unprocessed Cannellini beans, and a can of diced tomatoes each, then split remaining diced onions between two bags
29. Deposit in your own personal food bank--Just 1 Left!
30. Drain potatoes and mash with some milk (and butter if you’d like) keep the potatoes on the thick side, thank you.
31. Top each ground beef 9x13 with mashed potatoes, and cover with foil. Stash in the freezer, because you are a freaking rock star.
32. When burritos are frozen hard remove from cookie sheet and transfer to freezer bags and place back in Freezer--may need up to an hour- but go ahead and leave them overnight because....
YOU DID IT!!!!!!
To eat your goodies:
Lasagna Napoletano--No need to thaw. Cook covered at 375 degrees for 1 hour 15 minutes. Remove cover and bake 20 more minutes or until cheese is bubbly and starting to brown (Adapted from John Chandler)
Corn-Salsa Pasta Shell Tacos-- For a snack or single serving--Place a few frozen shells on a plate and microwave for 4 minutes . OR cover bottom of 9x13 with a ¼ inch of salsa and drop in enough tacos to fill pan. Bake, covered, for 45 minutes at 350, cover with shredded cheese bake 15 more minutes and serve. (can't find the original, but altered from on one of the million identical pasta-shell tacos on Pinterest)
Italian Bean and Sausage Soup-- Drop frozen bean/sausage mix into large pot, cover with 6 cups chicken stock and bring to a boil, simmer for 4 minutes. Remove from heat and drop in a bag of fresh spinach or baby kale. Serve. (adapted from a recipe card from HEB)
Lots of Love,
Jamie Oliver-Inspired Ragout-- Defrost carrot/sausage mixture in fridge overnight. Cook penne pasta according to package, don’t rinse or drain too well, you want the pasta to be wet. In skillet brown sausage, then add 1 can fire-roasted tomatoes cooking until tomatoes are hot. Combine with pasta, and Serve. Top with sliced green onions if you remember. (Adapted from Jamie Oliver)
Awesome Burritos/Enchiladas--- For single serving-- heat in microwave for 4 minutes. For Dinner-- Spread a little canned enchilada sauce on bottom of 9x13, lay out frozen burritos in a row, top with more enchilada sauce--Cover with foil and cook in a 350 degree oven for 50 minutes (25 minutes if already thawed), Uncover, sprinkle cheese and cook until cheese is melted -- about 10 minutes. (Altered beyond recognition but loosely based on a recipe by Guy Fieri)
Shepherd’s Pie-- No need to thaw. Cook covered at 350 degrees for 1 hour 15 minutes. Remove cover and sprinkle with shredded cheese of your choice and bake for 15 more minutes (Family Recipe)
Stephanie
No comments:
Post a Comment