Freezer Friendly Meals

I had a few requests for some ideas on meals to make ahead and freeze.  I often try to to include recipes that are freezer friendly on my weekly recipe lists and so it occurred to me that I should pull a list together and put it on the blog.  And as I come across others that I like, I'll just add them to this list.  If you are someone who is preparing for a new baby, a busy month or you just prefer to cook just a couple times in a month you could bookmark this page and come back to it when you are looking for inspiration.  I find that even though I love to make a scratch meal and serve it up fresh each night, the reality of my family's schedule is that I can't do that and remain sane.  Maybe 2 or 3 nights in a week there is time, but if I were to take the time to cook each night, I would be taking away time from something else that needs attention.  Like a baby.  Or children who need help with homework.  Or showering.  :-)

So here's my list that I will consider a work in progress.  Leave me comments if you have any recipes you would love to recommend.  And here is a handy template for labels for your meals.  You can print them on plain paper and just cut and tape them to containers or print on Avery labels 5164.  FREEZER LABELS

Freezer Friendly Meals

Light Turkey Meatballs- You can either cook these and then freeze these on a sheet pan, then transfer to a freezer bag or container.  Or leave them uncooked and freeze them so you can cook them when you want.  If you freeze them unbaked, my suggestion is to cook them by simmering in marinara sauce, it’s really flavorful that way. 

Freezer Friendly Chicken Enchiladas- Easy enchiladas that doesn’t use a canned sauce, it’s fairly easy to make the sauce from scratch.  Includes instructions for freezing unbaked and then how to bake them after freezing.  

Baked Polenta Pie- Assemble this in advance in a disposable foil pan, put in the freezer and save it for a busy night, just bake and eat.  Feel free to change up the sausages/meats to use whatever you prefer.

Beef, Cheese and Noodle Bake- Substitute with ground turkey and use whole grain elbow macaroni to lower the fat and increase the healthy carbs.  I suggest that you not let the sauce cook down as the recipe instructs, but keep it saucy since the noodles will absorb moisture.  You could freeze unbaked or completely baked.

Cilantro Lime Chicken Tacos- A bunch of cilantro is so inexpensive and this dish is easy.  She also provides instructions for making it as a freezer meal.

Classic Baked Ziti- Simple and easy.  This recipe includes making the tomato sauce portion, which if you like to use a jarred marinara sauce and want to skip that part of the cooking, feel free to do that.  Just assemble this as listed in the recipe, then freeze with a note on the baking instructions.  You could also bake it ahead of time and freeze after it cools so that all you have to do is thaw and re-heat servings.

Turkey Meatball and Tortellini Soup- With big meatballs and tortellini, this soup can be a meal.  I consider it a pantry/freezer meal, the ingredients are always available in my house and if something isn’t, I just improvise.  Great meal to make ahead or makes a lot for multiple meals.

Easy Ranch Chicken- This one is suggested to prep ahead and freeze uncooked. 

Taco Pasta- Cook as directed, once it’s cool, portion into freezer bags or containers and then freeze.  Re-heat in microwave or on stove top.  

 

Chicken Parmesan Meatloaf- Sort of the flavors of chicken parmesan but a meatloaf instead.  Includes directions and options for freezing.  

Chili Taco Casserole- Prepare this and then transfer to either a foil or freezer/oven safe pan with a note on the baking directions.  Then defrost and bake as directed.  Alternatively you could follow all the directions and after cooled, freeze and then defrost and re-heat as needed.

Sloppy Joes- This is a good recipe that doesn't use a seasoning packet, but the meat and veggies are cooked down with barbecue sauce and other spices.   Make a big batch and portion it out to freeze.

Crock Pot Carolina Pulled Pork- This is a Carolina style (meaning vinegar based) barbecue pulled pork you make in the crock pot.  You can make this and freeze it for later, or make a really big roast and freeze leftovers.

White Chicken Enchiladas- Really easy to make, doesn’t use a canned cream of chicken soup and you can freeze either baked to reheat or put in the freezer unbaked and then defrost and bake when you want to eat it. One change I made when I make this- I use 1/2 can green enchilada sauce instead of diced green chilies.  Then I freeze the rest of the sauce to save for the next time I make it.

Chicken Parmesan with Easy Marinara Sauce- This is my own recipe for Chicken Parmesan and a very quick homemade marinara sauce.  It's far from totally authentic, the origin of making it this way was to have a low carb version, so it's not breaded, it's just coated  in seasonings and grated Parmesan cheese.  For a freezer meal, I fully cook it, then when it's cooled it can be transferred to a freezer container for storage.  Then you just defrost and re-heat in the microwave.  You could also cook the chicken completely without sauce, freeze and then when you want to have it, cover the chicken with sauce and cheese and then bake.

Spaghetti Squash Lasagna- You can use my marinara sauce recipe above as it will make extra sauce to use in this recipe.  This is a great, healthy recipe you can portion into serving sizes or make one big one.

Making Time

Don't you wish the phrase "making time" was more literal? Like you could create extra hours in the day. Instead of how it actually means you are setting aside time, or taking time. I have really been trying to follow my mega schedule and I actually should be working on laundry right now, but I'm going over my allotted computer time to post to my blog. I have determined that if I could not wash dishes, wash/fold laundry or do any other housework, I could have my business up and running within 2 weeks. But alas, I have to juggle and make time to do each of these things. And even my computer time is not just business stuff. It's volunteer work for my daughter's softball and soccer teams and e-mail and paying bills and of course Facebook and Twitter.

My company logo is done! Very exciting. I'm looking to get it added to the website soon even though the rest of my content and marketing stuff isn't done yet. My website is just one page of information right now with the basic template of the site. I am probably going to keep the navigation layout but I have the ability to re-do the color layout, how the navigation is titled and of course beef it up with more pages and such.

I grilled pizza on Tuesday. It was a group effort. My youngest (who is 3.5) has her own set of kitchen tools and so she kept busy with her own ball of dough while my oldest (who is 10) rolled out dough while I got the grill oiled and hot, then we both worked at getting the dough on the grill, then added toppings. My first piece of advice is have everything ready, all the toppings set out. If mise en place was ever important in the kitchen (and it is!) it really helps when making pizza. Second, be in sync with your grill and how hot it gets. Mine always seems to have more heat on the right toward the center than the left. (It is a 2-burner gas grill btw) I knew this yet unfortunately left one too long on the hot spot and the crust was charred. However the toppings were still tasty!
Next time we make this I will make a change to the process to see if it makes a difference. I had decided to put the dough on and let them sit for a few minutes and then put the toppings on. My reason was that I felt the crust would probably need more cooking time than the toppings. I also don't have a pizza peel, so it is actually easier to place the dough on the grill and then put the toppings on instead of trying to transfer a full pizza onto the grill. But then there were a couple that I cooked longer to be sure the toppings were cooked enough. I have a cookie sheet that was a decent substitute for a peel and so next time I will assemble and then transfer to the grill. I should mention that I used dough I purchased at my local Winco, which has a Costco-eque pizza counter and they also sell their dough and sauce. I bought 2 balls of dough ($1.48 each) and made my own sauce. We cut each ball into thirds and those each rolled out to be larger than your usual personal size pizza. But then it makes for small slices of a variety of combos and we like that. I had cheese, fresh basil, sun dried tomatoes, olives, mushrooms, pineapple and ham and my daughter and I just created combinations using those toppings.
Some photos during the process.





Friday I think I will skip the gym to make more time for housework. I am tempted to take a photo of the enormous pile of laundry that must be done. I am so anxious to work on the business and writing the website content but I don't think I can really focus unless I get everything else in order. I really wish I could make time. Literally.