Whatcha got Cooking?

Nesting is an amazing thing... Somehow you feel like you have to do certain things before this baby comes or else the world is going to fall apart.  In some ways this may be true, my little world as I would like to see it will temporally become distressed with the welcoming of our new baby.  I will have to slow down to recover from the delivery, stop what ever I am doing to occasionally to nurse the baby, learn to do things in sleep deprived mode again and just juggle a few extra diaper changes, lots more snuggle times, a million picture taking sessions and many moments to coo and ahh with new little guy.  It certainly isn't going to be the same as when I only had one baby to do this with... I still have to keep up with other 3, clean the grime from the toilet and provide food for these bottomless eating machines we call children...

Food is what seems to pull at me the hardest right now.  Shopping isn't fun with 3 little monkeys hanging from the cart, cooking dinner at the crazy hour of the day isn't fun & providing healthy choices (that they actually like) isn't easy, especially if you are as stubborn as me when it comes to the choices that they can pick from.  I have a really hard time settling for the easy way out of prepackaged foods and snacks, and with the consumption rate of our family lately, I think we would go broke if we used that option too often.  In my perfect world I would truly enjoy making most things from scratch, but that time and resource is limited when you take care of young kids everyday.  This is my work in progress to be able to do just that for my family.  It is certainly not a new concept and I have not made it as smooth as I can yet, but after 2 months of doing so, I am happy with the end result. 

This is a long posting to serve as a record for myself and also I hope that someone might find some of the info useful in your own home.  You might be a bit confused at this point, so let me explain...

It all started with ground beef and rotisserie chicken.  I have bought those items in bulk for quite some time and cooked the beef up right away and shredded the chicken to put into portion sized bags and then off to the freezer.  This became an easy way to prepare a quick dinner... ground beef for tacos, chili beans, spaghetti sauce, beef and noodles, etc and shredded chicken for enchiladas, soups, burritos, chicken salads, etc.  The meat seemed to be the hardest thing to prepare before a meal (and the messiest) so this cut my cooking time down and having it in the freezer I always knew I could quickly throw something together if needed. 

2 chickens can go a long way around here... I can stretch the chicken breast meat to make about 4-5 meals if they are portioned in bags.

 Just cut and shredded.

 Label, portion, zip and freeze.

The left over chickens are placed in a huge pot of water...

Some fresh veggies are chopped and put in to,

Everything is cooked for an hour or more, strained and after the chickens are cooled the rest of the meat is easily peeled off. Chicken and stock are placed in gallon sized freezer bags and off to the freezer.  With the 2 chickens I made enough stock for 3 large pots of future soup.  Next time I want to make soup I have homemade stock waiting. 

 For the ground beef I cut up 2 onions and use some crushed garlic (these frozen cubes are the best!) to season it, making it ready for anything when I pull it out of the freezer. 

 After browning up about half of a 10lb pack of ground beef, I now have 6 bags of seasoned beef in the freezer calling my name!

With the other half of the bulk size ground beef pack, I did the prep work to mix together 4 meat loaves.  The prep work to making meat loaf can be messy and use several dishes in the process. But doing it in bulk and ahead of time, has made it easy to have homemade meatloaf.  Just pull out of the freezer in the morning and it is ready for the oven by dinner time.  I got this recipe from my friend Carin several years ago- it has been a keeper & it freezes really well! 

Carin's Meat Loaf

1-1.5 lbs ground beef
1 cup Oatmeal
1 Egg
1/2 chopped onion (I sauteed mine with mushrooms & garlic too)
1 cup Ketchup
1/4 mustard
1/4 cup brown sugar
salt & pepper

Mix the ground beef, onion, egg, oatmeal and 1/2 the ketchup and mustard.  Form into a loaf shape.  This is where I stop wrap and freeze.  When I am ready to cook, I take out to thaw bake in oven for 50 minutes at 375.  While it is baking, you mix the other half of the ketchup and mustard with the brown sugar.  Pour on the top of the meatloaf and cook for 15-20 more minutes. 

Next, I browned some stew meet that I got on sale, threw it into the Crock Pot to make a big pot of beef stew... We ate some that night and I froze another meal size portion for later.

Beans are one of the cheapest proteins you can buy and if you buy them dried and on sale, they are really cheap... I think this huge (3 meal size portion) pot of beans cost around $4.00)!  I modified a recipe I got from my dad:

Dad's Full of Beans

4 cups of dried Pinto Beans

2 tbs taco seasoning

1 tsp baking soda (to reduce acidity)

2 cubes of bouillon (I didn't have this, so I used a can of beef broth)

1 chopped onion

24oz. can of diced tomatoes or tomato puree

1 lb cubed  meat (I used left over roast beef)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup raisins (was out of those at the time)

Green chile to taste (I used some salsa)

Liquid Smoke (I didn't have any)

Soak the beans in water overnight, rinse and drain beans.  Then cover with fresh water for cooking.  Add all the ingredients except the liquid smoke.  Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for about 6 hours stirring and adding water as needed to maintain desired consistency.  Add Liquid Smoke just before serving. 

I forgot to take a picture of the pot when it was full...

Next project of the day was an attempt at a new recipe for Baked Ziti...  I assembled the ingredients into some plastic storage containers that I happen to fit inside my square 8X8 sized glass casserole dishes... I lined them with parchment paper for easy removal.  After they froze for several hours, I removed them from the containers and wrapped the frozen squares in plastic wrap and gallon sized zip lock bags.  We have yet to try dish, I hope it turns out good.  Apparently, you just take it out the night before you plan to cook it, thaw it in the refrigerator and then bake it accordingly at dinner time. 

A favorite meal of our whole house is chicken stir fry.  We like it pan seared like Pei Wei, but the process is a bit messy to make when little ones are hoovering at your feet.  It never fails that someone needs me when I have chicken hands or the oil is splattering.  Last month I made a double batch & froze one portion to see how it reheated... It was good and no one thought differently of the meal?! I did notice it wasn't as crispy on the outside, but after a sauce is added you can't really tell.  This is what I did:

I cut some soft frozen chicken into bite sized pieces

Toss a little bit of flour with the chicken to give it a golden crispy outside

Heat some oil (I used canola) until it sizzles with a splash of water

Add the chicken (be careful it will splatter) and let cook on both sides until golden brown

Add some steamed veggies, brown rice, a quick microwaved sauce made from soy sauce, water, honey, splash of OJ, dried ginger, dried garlic & a sprinkle of taco seasoning, and then throw some peanuts on top...  It is our version of Pei Wei's Mandarin Kung Pao.

Cooked all day in another Crock Pot was a large Rump Roast with a little beef broth, onions and garlic.  The beef is shredded, bagged and froze making 2 quick meals of shredded beef and 2 meals of pot roast with gravy.

I also am trying out a new recipe for freeze ahead spinach lasagna, prepared for the freezer the same way as the Baked Ziti.  Here is a picture of the ricotta and spinach filling. I am excited to try this!

Last month I attempted my first big batch of homemade marinara sauce (I didn't stew my own tomatoes, but it still tasted fresher than anything we had in the past).  I used some sauce for the lasagna and baked ziti and froze the rest in meal sized portions.  It will be easy to take out on spaghetti nights & Mike loved the taste!

I used this HUGE can of crushed tomatoes as the base of sauce... It was only $2.74 and made enough for 5 meals!

Our freezer is packed full ready for baby to come!  Hopefully it doesn't break down on us ;).

Here is the break down of what I made extra for the freezer over a 3 day process...

2 Baked Zitis
2 Spinach Lasagnas
6 Ground Beef bags
4 Meat Loaves
3 Shredded Chicken bags
3 Chicken and Stock bags
2 Stir Fry Chicken bags
2 bags of Shredded Beef
1 bag of Roast Beef
1 bag of Beef Stew
4 bags of Beans
5 bags of Marinara Sauce
1 bag of Fish Taco Meat

I am hoping this lasts for 6-8 while mixing in some simple egg meals, salad meals, pasta meals, sandwiches & occasional take out.  I am planning to put together a month long meal plan and will post it when I am done.  I think what I like best about this kind of planning is that the dishes are really easy after a freeze ahead meal and the kitchen stays much cleaner.  I am hoping this can work out regularly.  If you have ideas or insight on freeze ahead meals, please let me know!