Southwestern Chicken and Rice Casserole

This is a recipe I came up with several years ago and have been tweaking it ever since. I think it's just about how I like it. This is actually not a dish I regularly freeze because it is so easy to put together, but you could definitely freeze it.

1 pkg Knorr Mexican Rice Mix (quick cooking)
1 cup water
1 can diced tomatoes with liquid
1 can Mexi-corn (drained)
1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 can chopped olives
1 1/2 lbs chicken breasts (chopped into 1 inch pieces)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1-2 tsp taco seasoning
1 tsp dried cilantro
1 cup Mexi-blend cheese

Sprinkle rice packet into a 9x13 pan. Stir in water and tomatoes. Pour corn, beans and olives over rice. Evenly distribute chicken pieces over mixture. To make sauce combine soup and spices. Stir well. Spread over chicken. Sprinkle cheese over top. Freeze.

Thaw in fridge. Bake at 350 for approximately 45 minutes until chicken is cooked through and casserole is bubbly.

Frozen Pineapple Treat

I bought four pineapples today to cut up and freeze for smoothies. As I was cutting I remember a treat we haven't had in a long time. This is the perfect way to use up overripe pineapple sitting in your fridge. Just throw it in a Ziploc and save for this enjoyable treat.

• Cut your fresh pineapple into 1-2 inch chunks.
• Freeze in a Ziploc.
• Pull pineapple out of the freezer about 30 minutes prior to making. Thaw slightly on the counter.
• Place pineapple in the food processor. (You really need a food processor for this. A blender won't work) Puree until very smooth. It will be the consistency of a very thick smoothie. Add a small amount of orange or pineapple juice to thin if necessary (only a tablespoon or so at a time).
  
• Add a small amount of sugar if needed. Blend again.
  
• Spoon into dishes and eat immediately.
  

This is a wonderful summer treat, but it's really good any time of the year and a great substitute for ice cream.

Spanish Chorizo Chicken Chili

This is one of my very favorite freezer soups. I love it. It has a nice strong flavor and is quite hearty with all the meat. It's a perfect soup for colder months and pairs well with French bread. Rachael Ray really does have some great recipes.

Spanish Chorizo Chicken Chili

I always make a double batch and freeze it in quart bags. I have a couple adjustments:

• I use bite size chicken breast pieces instead of the ground chicken.
• Cook the chorizo in a separate pan rather than with the chicken as the recipe says. Chorizo has a great flavor, but it is seriously greasy. You want to drain the grease. Cook it in a separate frying pan while the chicken cooks, then mix together after draining.
• I leave out the sherry and most of the hot sauce.
• I use a jar of roasted red peppers instead of the piquillos.
• I use plain old cheddar on top instead of the Manchego. I don't use Spanish olives because I don't like the flavor.
• IMPORTANT: You can't substitute regular paprika for the smoked paprika. The smoked paprika makes this soup so enjoyable. I bought a large container at Sam's Club about a year ago and it's almost gone. I'm sad to report they don't carry it anymore. It's a hard spice to find. When you find it buy lots. I use it in tons of stuff--anything with a Mexican/Southwestern/Spanish influence. I love the smokey flavor.

Sloppy Joes

As with about 1/2 of my recipes, this one is from my mom. I made a double batch last week and froze most of it. I love having this one in the freezer because it is so easy to pull out for lunch. I freeze individual servings in a muffin pan (I use a silicon one which makes them super easy to get out once frozen). After they are frozen, I just pop them out and store them in a Ziploc. Doubling the recipe gave us two meals and 24 Sloppy Joe "muffins" (1/2 cup each). I also keep a bag of rolls in the freezer to pull out for sandwiches like this.

SLOPPY JOES
2 pounds hamburger, browned
½ cup chopped onion
¼ cup chopped green pepper
½ teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoon vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon parsley
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire
½ teaspoon paprika
1 can (10 ¾ oz) tomato soup
1/3 cup water

Brown hamburger with onions and peppers. Drain. Add all remaining ingredients. Simmer ½ -1 hr.

Peaches

Good fresh peaches are a wonderful thing. My sister picked up a couple boxes for me this weekend. I did a bunch just sliced and in Ziplocs. I also made a lot of baby food and made a pot of peach topping/pie filling. I think my kitchen is still sticky from the mess though.

I put my peaches in very hot water (almost boiling) for 1-2 minutes. The skins come of perfectly after they have cooled a bit. Here is my bowl of peaches ready to be skinned.
I also have a bowl for the skinned peaches and all the stuff to throw away.
To make baby food I put about 5 peaches in the food processor and run it until the peaches are smooth and soupy. You can add a couple teaspoons of lemon juice to keep it from browning if you are freezing it immediately.

Just like the green beans, I use my ice cube trays to freeze small servings.
I bought these from IKEA the other day. I have honestly wanted them since my first visit to IKEA 2 1/2 years ago.
I know it's not really going to make any difference what shape the peach cubes are in.
But they really turn out cute. I also used a silicon muffin pan to freeze some baby food because I ran out of ice cube trays.
Here is everything I did from the first box of peaches. These fruit boxes are a nice easy way to store and separate things in the freezer.
With the second box of peaches, I did some more sliced and frozen in bags. I made another batch of baby food and I made peach topping. This of course was the yummiest part. I filled a pot with about 15 peaches and 1 cup of water. I brought them to a boil and then lowered heat and simmered for about 20 minutes.
After they cooked for a while, I stirred in 1 cup of sugar and about 1/2 cup corn starch. I let it cook until it was nice and thick. I kept adding sugar until it tasted right. I added about 2 1/2 cups total.
I also added about 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon. This is great on waffles, ice cream, etc. After it cooled I froze it in Ziplocs.

Three-Cheese Manicotti

I have tried several different manicotti recipes over the years and have always had some issue with each one. I made this recipe the other night for dinner and really enjoyed it. It has become my favorite manicotti recipe. The big difference is the sauce. Every other recipe I have tried called for canned spaghetti sauce, but making the sauce yourself makes the difference. Although I didn't freeze this recipe, I'm sure it would freeze fine.

Three-Cheese Manicotti
from The Food Nanny by Lix Edmunds
(By the way I really do love this cookbook. It's not a freezer cooking book, but all her recipes are relative simple and many of them can be frozen.)

Sauce:
1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained
¼ cup chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
2 TB olive oil
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp oregano
¼ tsp dried thyme
1 small bay leaf
¼ tsp salt

12 uncooked manicotti shells

Filling:
2 eggs, beaten
1 ½ cups ricotta cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
¼ tsp salt
Pinch black ground pepper

Cook onion & garlic in oil on medium until onions are tender but not browned. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, sugar, oregano, thyme, bay leaf, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil. Decrease heat and simmer uncovered for 45 minutes, stirring often. Add water if needed. Remove bay leaf.

Cook pasta according to package while sauce is cooking. Rinse in cold water and drain.

Preheat oven to 350.

In medium bowl combine ingredients for filling (reserve 1 cup mozzarella). Spoon filling into a gallon size Ziploc bag, seal and cut off a small corner. Stuff manicotti shells by piping the filling in each end. Do not overstuff.

Pour half of sauce into the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Arrange stuffed pasta shells over sauce and top with remaining sauce. Sprinkle with reserved mozzarella cheese. Cover with foil. Bake for 30 minutes until bubbly.

Baby Food Green Beans

This post won't apply to 92% of you, but I thought I would put it up anyway because this is what I'll be freezing for a while.

It's about that time again around here--baby food time. David and Avery hit 5 months this weekend. I'm not too eager to start baby food, but sometime in the near future. Because baby food is so expensive, and we are doing x2 this time around, I am planning on making most of our baby food again. I made the majority of Claire's food, and it worked out well.

My mom gave us a bunch of green beans from her garden so I decided to start there. It brought back memories of snapping beans every summer while growing up. I also remembered how much I hate snapping beans. Of all the garden help I had to put in as a kid, beans were my least favorite. No wonder I don't have a garden.

So, I started out with my steamer full of green beans. (I didn't snap them. I lined a bunch up on the cutting board and sliced the ends off. I felt like I was doing something wrong).


After they are cooked, pull them out and let them cool. I then throw them in the food processor and chop them until they are nice and creamy. I usually add about 1/4 - 1/2 cup water. Looks yummy doesn't it?

I freeze the green beans in ice cube trays. When they are frozen, just pop them out and put them in a freezer Ziploc bag. I got three ice cube trays with my green beans.

Over the next few weeks, I'll start stocking up. I do sweet potatoes, spinach, peas, chicken and ham. I'm also looking forward to fruit season around here. I'm planning to do lots of applesauce and peaches. When I serve it to the babies, I'll just pull out a few cubes to thaw in the fridge--usually 3 veggie cubes and a chicken cube for a meal then mix it with baby cereal. It's a little more work, but I really feel like it's worth it. Besides have you seen how disgusting baby food chicken from the jar looks and smells? Yuck!

BBQ Chicken

I always try to keep some frozen BBQ chicken on hand. It's so simple to make, but takes a while in the crock pot.

BBQ Chicken

6 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1-2 lg bottles of your favorite BBQ sauce

Place chicken in crock pot. Pour 1/2 bottle over chicken. Cook on low for about 6-8 hours. Remove chicken from sauce. Discard sauce. Shred chicken. Pour new BBQ sauce and mix to taste. Freeze in quart bags.



I have two favorite recipes that call for BBQ chicken. The first is our BBQ Chicken Pizza that I previously shared. The second is BBQ Chicken Grilled Cheese Sandwiches. I made this tonight for dinner. Yummm!

BBQ Chicken Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

1 Sourdough loaf
2 cups BBQ chicken
4 oz cream cheese
Kraft Mexi cheese blend
butter for grilling

Slice your bread fairly thin.Spread a thin layer of cream cheese on each slice.
Sprinkle one side of the bread with Mexi blend cheese.
Top the cheese side with BBQ chicken. Sprinkle more cheese on top of chicken.
Spread a thin layer of butter on the top of each slice and grill very slowly. The trick to this sandwich is patience. Because it's so thick you can't grill it on medium heat for 2 minutes. I grill it on medium low heat and even place it in the pan as the pan is preheating. It takes about 10-15 minutes, but it's so worth it.
A panini press would definitely work for this as well. I wish I had one.
This is one of my favorite sandwiches. I love the combination of flavors. It's not something you would expect to go together, but it's really quite enjoyable. Our dog was very jealous of my dinner tonight.

Beef Stroganoff

Recipe found in Don't Panic, Dinner's in the Freezer, pg 126.
2 lbs sirloin steak
1 lb fresh mushrooms sliced
1 cup onion
1/4 cup butter
2- 10.5 oz cans beef bouillon
1/4 cup ketchup
2 small cloves garlic, crushed
2 tsp salt
1/3 cup flour
2 cups sour cream

Cut meat into bite size pieces. In a skillet, cook and stir mushrooms and onion in butter until onion is tender. Remove mushrooms and onion. In the same skillet, brown meat lightly on both sides. Set aside 3/4 cup bouillon; add remaining bouillon, ketchup, garlic and salt to skillet. Stir to mix. Cover and simmer 15 minutes. Blend reserved bouillon and flour; stir into meat mixture. Add mushrooms and onion. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil one minute. Stir in sour cream and heat, but do not allow to boil. Freeze using the freezer bag method.

Serving day: Thaw completely and warm in sauce pan until heated through. Do not allow stroganoff to boil when heating. Server over rice and noodles. If sauce appears too thin, thicken by mixing flour with some of the sauce and adding to mixture while heating.


I order to cool the stroganoff as quickly as possible, I filled a Ziploc of ice and pushed it down into the center stirring frequently. I normally freeze a large water bottle (not the cheap bottled water bottles) and put it in the sauce, but I forgot this time around. The ice bag was slower but still worked.

My First Cooking Day Since the Twins

Our freezer has hit that depressingly empty point where there is little left to pull out of it for dinner. We have eaten up almost everything I froze in preparation for the twins. I decided it was time to start over and made two recipes this weekend. The kids were all amazingly cooperative, and I was able make both recipes yesterday. They were all super tired or Ryan drugged them because they all slept a big chuck of the day. Claire took a four hour nap. I can't remember when she last did that.

I made four batches of my standard lasagna recipe (although assembled them in one 9x13 and six 8x8's). I also made a triple batch of Beef Stroganoff from Don't Panic, Dinner's in the Freezer. I haven't made this recipe before, but my sister highly recommended it, and I am not sorry I made a large batch. It is really pretty fabulous. Here are a couple pictures from this round. I took several pictures of my lasagna process and posted those under my lasagna recipe I listed a while back.

This is how things look as I'm planning everything out. I pull out any cookbooks I'm using. I also now use my laptop to look up my recipes on this blog. It's turned out to be really helpful to have my favorite recipes posted here. I start making lists as to what I need for each recipe and check my pantry for what I already have.
The clean-up crew. She can have anything that falls on the floor. She really enjoys her job.

My finished lasagna. Yum.

Greek Pasta Bake

I tried a new recipe tonight from the Taste of Home Ultimate Chicken Cookbook. We really liked it, and it's one I will add to my list of potential freezer recipes. Whenever I try a new recipe I only make a single batch to make sure we really like it before filling our freezer with several pans of it. I have made that mistake before, and we had to choke through three batches of seafood lasagna that neither of us really liked.

I made a few adjustments to this recipe and thought the outcome was quite enjoyable. I would have used Greek seasoning, but I ran out and wasn't able to find more after searching two grocery stores. The original recipe calls for 1 tsp of basil and 1 tsp of oregano. I doubled both to give it more flavor. It was also a touch dry. After baking, it ended up being a bit dry. I added about one cup of canned spaghetti sauce which greatly improved it.

Greek Pasta Bake

1 pkg (12 oz) penne pasta
4 cups cubed cooked chicken breast
1 can (29 oz) tomato sauce
1 can (14 1/2 oz) diced tomatoes, drained
1 pkg (10 oz) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
2 cans (2 1/4 oz) sliced ripe olives, drained
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1/2 green pepper, diced
2 tsp basil
2 tsp oregano
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese (divided)

Cook pasta according to package directions; drain. In a large bowl, combine the pasta, chicken, tomato saouce, tomatoes, spinach, olives, onion, green pepper, basil, oregano, and 1/2 cup feta.

Freeze pasta mixture in a Ziploc bag. Place remaining cheeses in a separate quart size Ziploc bag and attach to the pasta bag.

Thaw in the fridge. Transfer to a 9x13 in baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining feta and mozzarella cheese. Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 25-30 minutes until heated through and cheese is melted.

I know it is a success when super picky Claire is willing to eat it.

Café Rio Companion Recipes

The following recipes are not necessarily recipes I would do for freezer cooking, but go perfectly with the Café Rio Chicken recipe I previously posted.

I posted both of these on my family blog, but decided to include them here as well. Freezer cooking doesn't mean every part of the meal has to come from the freezer. In this case you could make these black beans and the salad dressing and have wonderful salads topped with the Café Rio Chicken you pull from the freezer. Sprinkle your salad with a little cheese, pico de gallo, and tortilla strips. It makes a great, easy summer meal.

I found these recipes as Kara's Kitchen Creations.

Crock-pot Black Beans
2 cups dried black beans
About 3 cups of water
2 cloves of garlic
1 Tbsp salt
1 tsp cumin

Wash the dried beans pick out any rocks or beans that look funky. Pour them into a pan and add water till it is at least 2 inches above the beans. Let soak overnight (or for 8 hours.)
Drain off the water and pour beans into a crock pot. Add the 3 cups of water and the remaining ingredients. Cook on LOW for 8 hours. During the last couple hours of cooking, you can add extra water if you want them saucy.
(I added about 1 1/2 cups more water than the recipe called for. I also cooked them on high for about 6 hours and then turned them down to low for another 3-4 hours. I'm not sure that 8 hours on low would be enough. I like them very soft--almost beginning to fall apart. This recipes is also a tad salty. I will probably decrease it just a bit next time. I will also increase the cumin to at least 2 tsp.)

Café Rio Salad Dressing
1 cup mayo
1 packet of Hidden Valley Ranch mix
1 cup buttermilk
1/3 of a bunch of cilantro with stems chopped off
1/2 - 1 small jalapeno (if you don’t like it spicy, remove the seeds)
1 tsp lime juice
1-2 tomatillos (remove outer papery skin and cut up)
1 garlic clove

Blend all ingredients in food processor or blender.
(We loved this stuff!)

Granola

I came across this recipe recently and loved it. The flavors are great. I especially enjoy it with fresh strawberries and milk. Next time I plan to make a triple batch and freeze the extra so it will keep longer.

Granola
3 ¼ cups Oats (Old Fashioned or Quick—any combination)
1 ¼ cup white wheat flour-freshly ground if possible
1 1/3 cup shredded coconut
¼ cup flax seed (optional)
1 cup or more coarsely chopped almonds and/or pecans
1 cup brown sugar
1 stick butter
1/3 cup water
½ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp cardamom

Preheat oven to 300. In a large mixing bowl combine the oats, flour, flax seed, coconut and nuts. Set aside. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine brown sugar, butter, and water and heat until the butter has melted and the mixture is bubbly. Using a wooden spoon, stir the mixture together until smooth, and then stir in the salt, vanilla and spices. (I increased the spices to 1 tsp each and the vanilla to 1 TB.) Pour mixture over the oats mixture and stir will to coat. Let stand for about 10 minutes.

Spread mixture on a large baking sheet, separating it into irregular clumps with your fingers, and allowing space between clumps for the hot air to circulate. Slide it into the middle of the oven and bake until the top is golden brown, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and stir to break up the mixture into medium sized clumps. Return to the oven and bake again for 15 minutes before stirring again. Bake for another 15 minutes or until the granola is uniform golden brown and completely dry—this usually takes me about 45 minutes . Cool completely on a wire rack. Store in an air tight container.

Freezing Techniques

Ziploc Bags:
Ziplocs work well for most foods I freeze. The best part about them is that they freeze flat and stack easily. They store well in your freezer and take up a minimal amount of space. I use Ziplocs for just about everything including soups, marinades, most pastas (except formed pasta like lasagna), etc.

• Only fill about half full.
• Place bag into a glass or larger container and fold top zipper around the edges of the container to make it easier to fill.
• Squeeze out as much air as possible.
• Lay on a shelf to freeze flat and then stack. The bag shouldn't be more than about 1 inch thick when frozen.
• Don't go cheap on plastic bags. Buy the heavy freezer bags. I definitely prefer Ziplocs over the store brand quality.

Muffin Tins:
Muffin tins work perfect for single servings of sandwich fillings such as Sloppy Joes or BBQ pork. Simply fill almost full and put in the freezer to freeze until firm. Once frozen pop the servings out and place in a Ziploc bag. You can easily pull out the number of portions you need and thaw in the microwave. I prefer using the silicon muffin pans for this because it makes it so simple to pop out the portions.

Crock-pot dinners:
This is a new idea I came across a while ago, but haven't tried yet. Freeze all your ingredients for a favorite crock-pot dinner. Thaw in the fridge for about a day and place in your crock-pot to cook. I would first place the meal in a crock-pot liner then into a Ziploc for freezing.

8x8 and 9x13 pans:
Pans present the biggest challenge for freezing because they take so much space and are more likely to allow freezer burn. I freeze my meals in Gladware ovensafe plastic pans. After assembling, I place a layer of foil over the dish then top with the pan lid. Unfortunately, they aren't readily available anymore. I had to really search the internet about six months ago when I wanted to buy more. I haven't seen them in stores in quite a while. The other easy option is purchasing disposable aluminium pans for freezing certain recipes. You can also freeze in a glass or metal pan. A final option is to freeze your dish in the pan and then remove once frozen. Line your pan with foil, assemble as normal and place in the freezer. Once frozen simply lift out and wrap well with foil. When thawing, unwrap while frozen and place back in the pan to thaw and cook. This technique will use the least amount of freezer space and will not require you to purchase multiple extra pans.

Foil:
Foil works well for certain foods such as chimichangas that already have form, and I am bundling together. I use heavy foil and purchased a large box from the restaurant supply section of Sam's Club. I generally wrap most foods in at least two layers of foil.

Labeling:
Don't forget to label and date your food in the freezer. Also make sure you include any specific cooking information if needed. I write this information on the Ziploc bag or with a black marker on the foil covering my meal. Dating is very important. Most things freeze well for about three months. Every cookbook I have read has a different idea on the amount of time a meal can sit in the freezer and retain it's quality, but I try to stick with three months.

Organization:
Develop some type of organization for your freezer that works for you. I previously posted about my spreadsheet to help me remember what is in the freezer. I also reorganize my freezer when I do any major freezer cooking so I can easily find the food I want.

Chimichangas

I got this recipe from the 30 Day Gourmet Freezer Cooking Manual and have made a few adjustments to improve the taste and make it easier to assemble. It calls for ground beef, but I find they are much tastier with Cafe Rio Chicken. The following quantities make 32 chimchangas.

5 cups cooked chicken (use the Cafe Rio Chicken recipe)
32 oz salsa
32 oz refried beans
2 4-oz cans diced green chilies
2 envelopes taco seasoning (I buy my taco seasoning in a large container from Sam's Club and just mix it in to taste)
32 8" flour tortillas
8 cups shredded cheese (we like pepperjack)

In a large bowl combine chicken, salsa, refried beans, and green chilies. Stir in taco seasoning. Assemble by placing about 1/2 cup meat mixture in the center of a tortilla. Sprinkle with cheese. Fold in the sides and then roll up.

Wrap in heavy foil to freeze. Wrap individually for one serving or bundle several together for a family dinner. We bundle 6 chimichangas for our family.

Reheat in the microwave or bake. I generally bake for about 30 minutes at 350. I then pour a can of enchilada sauce over top, sprinkle with more cheese, and bake an additional five minutes. This is one of my husband's favorites.

Tamale Soup

1 TB olive oil
1 lg onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 ½ lb chuck roast, chopped
1 (15 oz) can tomato puree
1 ½ c tomato juice
1 (14 oz) can beef broth
½ c sliced olives
½ c chopped green chilies
1 (11 oz) can Mexicorn
1 (10 oz) pkg frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1 Jalapeno pepper, chopped
1 TB chili powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 lg tomato, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
2 c shredded cheddar cheese
2 c corn chips

Sauté meat with onion, garlic and oil until meat is no longer pink. Place meat mixture and remaining ingredients (except cheese and chips) in slow cooker. Cook on low for 10-12 hours. Cool. Freeze in quart or gallon freezer bags. Remember not to fill too full or the bags will pop open in the freezer before fully frozen.
Thaw. Reheat on stove top or in microwave. Serve topped with cheese and chips.

How to Freezer Cook

There are many different ways to approach freezer cooking. I think I have done them all. I have done it slowly over time making triple batches of our evening dinner and freezing the extras. I have done it based on the meat I am using such as assembling several dishes that call for cooked chicken. I have also done the crazy all day event and stocked my freezer all at once. I wouldn't recommend this one. You are exhausted by the end of the day, and it is so much work to do all the shopping and cooking for that many recipes.

After doing this for years and considering the limited time I have available to devote to a freezer cooking session, I generally choose three or four recipes based on how easy they would be to work on at the same time rather than considering ingredients. For a normal session I might choose tamale soup, chimichangas, and lasagna. I always try to make one crockpot meal because it's so easy. This is what my cooking session would look like:

• Saturday morning I review my recipes, decide on my quantities, and make my shopping list. After doing the shopping, I leave everything for my cooking session on the counter that doesn't need to be refrigerated. There is no reason to put it away, only to pull it out again.
• Saturday afternoon I grate all the cheese I will need in the food processor. I also chop the vegies such as onions for my recipes.
• Sunday morning I put everything in the crockpot for Cafe Rio Chicken. The chicken is done when we get home from church. For lunch we have salads with the shredded chicken on top. I put the rest in the fridge to use Monday when I assemble the chimichangas.
• Monday morning I make sure my dishwasher and garbage are empty and start cooking. I put everything in the crockpot for tamale soup. It cooks all day so I don't need to worry about it for hours.
• I make the sauce for the lasagna. While it simmers I start the chimichangas. After my sauce has simmered for about 30-45 minutes, I take it off the stove to allow it to cool. To do this quickly, take several water bottles and thoroughly clean the outside. Fill 3/4 full and freeze. Place the water bottles in the sauce. They will quickly cool it, just make sure your lids are on tight. Wash your bottles and refreeze for next time. While the sauce is cooling I finish the chimichangas.
• Once the chimichangas are wrapped and in the freezer, I go back to my lasagna. Generally I make mine in 8x8 pans because it takes us forever to eat a 9x13. I just break the noodles to fit my pan when I assemble it. Place your pans in the freezer.
• When my tamale soup is ready, I use the same strategy to cool it as the lasagna sauce. Ladle it into quart or gallon Ziploc bags and freeze flat.

After this particular day of cooking I will have about 100 chimichangas wrapped in bundles of 6 each, 6 8x8 pans of lasagna, and about 8 quart bags of tamale soup. It makes a busy day, but the recipes I chose allow me quite a bit of flexibility as well to take care of kids.

Café Rio Chicken

For those of you who have never tasted Café Rio, you are missing out. I have done many online searches trying to find copycat recipes for Café Rio--especially their special salad dressing. I haven't been successful in duplicating their food, but this one comes pretty close to their chicken. We love this chicken on quesadillas, burritos, and chimichangas (I'll post that recipe later).

Café Rio Chicken
1 small bottle Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing
1 TB chili powder
1 TB cumin
3 cloves garlic--minced
5 lbs chicken breasts

Combine ingredients in crock-pot and cook on low 4-6 hours. Shred meat and cook one additional hour. Freeze in quart bags.

Bran Muffins

A breakfast staple for me is bran muffins. They freeze well and are ready to eat after just a minute in the microwave. I make a double batch, and they last for a couple months. This is the standard 6-week bran muffin recipe, but I have made several adjustments over the years to make them more to my liking. The regular recipe calls for buttermilk, but I started using skim milk or mixed dry milk several years ago. I actually like the taste better and it has fewer calories.

Bran Muffins
5 tsp baking soda
2 cups boiling water
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup applesauce
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 TB salt
1 qt milk (I just use reconstituted dry milk)
5 cups flour
2 cups bran flakes
4 cups all bran cereal
2 TB cinnamon
1/2 TB nutmeg

Dissolve soda in boiling water. Cream shortening, sugar and eggs. Combine salt, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add flour mixture and milk alternately into shortening mixture until well blended. Blend in water and soda mixture. Stir in cereals. Let batter sit in fridge overnight to soften cereals. Bake at 375 for 15-17 minutes. Freeze in gallon ziploc bags. Makes 4-5 dozen muffins.Claire the muffin thief:

Mom's Lasagna

Tonight we're having lasagna for dinner. Pasta dishes such as lasagna freeze great. Assemble the dish as normal, but don't cook the noodles. Drizzle about 1/4 cup water over your assembled lasagna, cover with foil and the baking dish lid. Freeze. Thaw in the fridge and bake as usual. Here is my mom's recipe. It's the one I have always used.

Lasagna
1 lb hamburger
1-2 cloves garlic
1 chopped onion
1 can tomato sauce
½ c water
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp dried basil
½ tsp thyme
1 can tomato soup
2 tsp vinegar
9 lasagna noodles, uncooked
1 pt cottage cheese
1 pt ricotta cheese
½ lb mozzarella
Parmesan

Brown hamburger garlic and onion, drain grease. Add tomato sauce, spices, water, soup, and vinegar. Simmer 30 minutes. Assemble by layering noodles, ricotta cheese, cottage cheese, meat sauce, and mozzarella, repeat three times. Sprinkle top with Parmesan cheese if desired. Cook at 350 for about an hour until bubbly.


The assembly process for a large batch. This is a quadruple batch that I put into one 9x13 and six 8x8 pans.

Tracking System

One of the biggest challenges I have found with freezer cooking is remembering what I have in the freezer. I will often find things more than a year old sitting at the bottom of the freezer. Usually it's best to use things within three months. Here is my newest system. I developed a simple spreadsheet listing the name of the food, the date it was made and several additional columns to list what I have such as a 9x13, quart bag, gallon bag, etc. It has worked great. I taped a pencil next to it on the freezer door. When we take anything out, we just mark it off. Then I can see what needs to be used up and what we have left. You can download my Excel file using the link below.

Freezer Food Excel Doc

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Tonight was pizza night. We have found that pizza freezes great. We cut out several cardboard rounds about the same size as our pizza stone then cover them with heavy aluminum foil. Spread the dough over the foil covered cardboard and make your pizza as usual. Wrap with several layers of plastic wrap and freeze. To thaw, take your pizza out in the morning. While frozen gently pull your pizza away from the foil and place on your pizza stone or pan. Thaw in the fridge. Bake as usual. (Don't try baking your pizza on the cardboard round. My sister did this while staying with Claire when I was in the hospital. It will set off your smoke alarm, so unless you are looking to test that out, I wouldn't suggest it.)


Here is our favorite pizza dough. You just make it in the bread machine, but you could definitely make it by hand as well.

Cheese and Garlic Pizza Dough
1 1/4 cups warm water
3 to 4 TB extra virgin olive oil
3 1/2 cups bread flour
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 to 2 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 tsp salt
2 tsp instant yeast

Place ingredients in your bread machine and set for dough mode.

BBQ Chicken Pizza
2 cups cooked and shredded chicken
1 1/2 cups BBQ sauce, divided (our favorite is Famous Dave's)
3 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion

Mix about 1/2 cup BBQ sauce with shredded chicken. Spread remaining sauce over rolled out dough. Sprinkle with 3 cups mozzarella. Spread chicken and onions over cheese and top with remaining mozzarella. Bake at 400 for about 15-20 minutes.

Bread Mixes

I love good homemade bread. Wonderbread just doesn't cut it. I really enjoy the wheat bread from Great Harvest, but I have a bad tendency to also purchase a loaf of their pumpkin chocolate chip bread when I go there. A few months ago I pulled out my bread machine and started using it faithfully again. Making bread in the bread machine certainly isn't hard, but I was looking for a way to make it even easier after the twins arrived. It can take some time, especially if I need to grind the wheat. In order to streamline this process, I decided to put together my own bread mixes for my machine. It took me about an hour to put together a dozen mixes for our favorite wheat bread. I ground a couple cans of wheat and lined up 12 Ziploc bags, measured the ingredients for each, sealed the bag, and put them in the freezer.

This morning I decided to make bread. All I had to do is pull out my mix and add water and yeast. It took me two minutes compared to the 15 it usually takes to pull everything out and measure it all. Around here 13 minutes is a big deal.

50% Whole Wheat Bread
(from the cookbook for my Panasonic bread machine)

1 1/2 tsp yeast
1 3/4 cups bread flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp wheat gluten (opt)
1 1/2 tsp dough enhancer (opt)
2 TB dry milk
2 tsp salt
2 TB butter
2 TB molasses
1 7/16 cups water

The original recipe doesn't call for the gluten or dough enhancer, but I think they really help.

She really does like the bread. Claire just woke up from a nap and wouldn't smile for me.