Plum tomatoes

Over a year ago I froze a couple of quarts of fresh plum tomatoes from the garden.  Nothing fancy, I just blanched them quickly to remove the skin, then I chopped them up.  I figured I'd turn them into sauce at some point, but I had completely forgotten about them until last night!  Thank goodness I used my food saver, because after thawing, pureeing and seasoning, this was some of the best tasting sauce, ever!

Next year I think we'll plant lots and lots of tomatoes and then freeze them this way.  Words cannot describe how well they froze, seriously!

I've been commissioned to make cheesecake and cranberry relish

Thanksgiving is at my sister's this year, and I'm happily making my mom's cranberry relish recipe, much to the delight of my niece, Emily.  My nephew Josh will most likely want an entire cheesecake for himself, so I'd better make extra. :)

I love Thanksgiving!

When I don't feel like cooking

Today was one of those days.  It's getting colder, I'm tired, we got to the end of the day and my son asked "What's for dinner?"

Went downstairs to the freezer - and I had choices galore!  Meatloaf, sloppy joes, pulled pork, crispy chicken, chicken wings, chicken tenders.  We decided on sloppy joes.  Thaw, reheat, thank-you-very-much.

I remain indebted to Jill Bond who wrote the book (literally) on dinner from the freezer.

Mega cooking session for the next couple of days

Out of this Sam's Club shopping trip I'll get 3 meatloaves, 2-3 meals of chicken wings, 2-3 meals of baked chicken thighs, 5 meals made out of boneless skinless chicken breasts, 3 meals of pulled pork, 2 large mac & cheese casseroles, and 8 two-cup portions of shredded cheddar cheese to use later in recipes.

Plus I promised my youngest son I'd hard boil a couple of dozen eggs for him to have as snacks.

And by "meals" - I mean for my family of five.

I'd better start cooking...

Vacation!

So we're going to be taking a week's vacation at our family house, and there's a full kitchen!  Hooray!!!  I can cook!!

Wait a minute...hooray?  Cooking?  It's vacation - why on EARTH would I want to cook?

But, if you know what I know, that's not really a bad thing - and we can save a lot of money by eating in most nights.  But do I really want to cook?  Yes - and no.  Cooking, I don't mind, because when you know how to freezer cook, then it's just a matter of planning and organizing our meals ahead of time, freezing them before we leave, and then transporting them pre-frozen via the cooler.

Who wants to cook when all you have to do is reheat?  NOW we're talking!  Of course, we'll be picking up fresh fish, steaks, corn on the cob, and other foods while we're there to prepare - but with me I'll be bringing @ 5-6 meals of "basics" - baked chicken, chicken wings, grilled chicken, brown rice, spaghetti sauce, meatballs, chicken tenders, pork tenderloin, pulled pork, sloppy joes, meatloaf, casserole bases, soup, even stuff like cookie dough that I can pop out of the freezer and onto a cookie sheet when we feel like having cookies midweek.

I'd much rather stay an extra hour at the beach than have to get home to cook dinner.  Wouldn't you?

Quick dinner

It's summer, and I really don't like cooking in the summer...meaning, the grill rules!  We spent the day at the Hartford County 4-H Fair, so by the time I got home, I realized I hadn't pulled anything out of the freezer for dinner.

Glen stopped on the way home and grabbed some ears of corn at a roadside stand.  I pulled a few boneless skinless chicken breasts out of the freezer and thawed them gently in the microwave.  All I have to do is season them (which tonight will be Sweet Baby Ray's Honey BBQ Sauce) and grill them over indirect heat for @ 15 minutes.  Then I'll make a salad.  Got any better summer meals on the run?

How to make yummy roast chicken & potatoes in the same pan

This is what we're having for dinner tonight!  Let me know if you try it and how it comes out!

1 whole chicken (4 pounds)
2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
5 medium potatoes, washed and diced, peel if desired

extra virgin olive oil
garlic powder
black pepper
salt

Preheat oven to 450.  Place chicken in a 9x13 glass baking dish. Brush chicken with olive oil on both sides. Mix the salt, pepper, oregano, basil, paprika and cayenne together and rub all over chicken.  Roast the chicken for 15 minutes.  Reduce oven temp to 400, continue roasting for another 20 minutes.  Remove chicken from oven, place diced potatoes around chicken, drizzle them with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic powder, salt and pepper.  Continue to cook another 40 minutes until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 180. Let sit for 15 minutes before carving.

Cream of Everything Soup

Dinner was so great last night - steak, baked potatoes, grilled zucchini, corn on the cob.  As is frequently the case in my house, there were a few miscellaneous leftovers.  1 cooked ear of corn, 1/2 piece of grilled zucchini and 2 baked potatoes.  My first thought - chowder!

First I slowly sautéed 1/4 cup of finely diced onion in 2 tbsp. of butter so it wouldn't brown.  Then I added 1/4 cup of flour, cooked that for @ 30 seconds, and then added 1-1/2 cups of chicken broth, 2 cups of milk, and salt, pepper, celery seed and paprika to taste.  I heated this until it became bubbly and thicker, then I added @ a cup of diced American Cheese (including a slice of white cheddar I had leftover), the kernels from the ear of corn, the zucchini I chopped, and the 2 baked potatoes I peeled and diced.  I let it sit on low heat for @ 10 minutes so it got heated through.

The result?  Delish!!!!  Granted, it could have used more corn, and next time I may throw in some bacon, and even more cheddar for a sharper cheese flavor - but it was really, really good!  What a great way to use leftover veggies!

Seriously, if you make the base of the soup with the cheese, you could add almost any vegetable.  Adjust the quantities to your own family's taste.  I'm going to try freezing some tonight and see how it comes out.

Happy cooking!!

Chopped salads - the way to go for a quick, healthy & cool summertime dinner!

Yes, Jamie Oliver is on to something with regards to healthy, nutritious and downright delicious food.  Chopped salad is the way I got my family to eat salad.  There's something about everything being all mixed up together that just, I don't know, makes it!  Here's a list of stuff I've chopped up and thrown into a big bowl:

Organic romaine hearts
Organic packaged spring mix/other assorted lettuce blends
Organic baby spinach
Iceberg lettuce
Tomatoes
Classic coleslaw (shredded cabbage & carrots)
Shredded carrots
Zucchini
Summer squash
Fresh peas
Cucumbers
Bell peppers
Canned beets
Canned garbanzo beans
Raw cashews
Fresh mozzarella
Raisins
Dried cranberries
Walnuts
Mandarin oranges
Chopped apples
Strawberries
Chilled grilled chicken

My goodness, the list could go on.  Can you see the possibilities here?  My 11-year-old son requests this for dinner on a regular basis.

How much healthier would your family be if you started serving fresh ingredients like this?

Recent mega-freezing session

The other day I stopped at Sam's Club and picked up the following:

• 6.5 lbs. of ground chuck
• 9 lbs. of sirloin steaks
• 2 lbs. of cheddar cheese
• 12 lbs. of boneless/skinless chicken breasts
• 3.5 lbs. of Kayem Natural casing franks
• 3.5 lbs. of Ballpark Beef franks
• 2 lbs. of sweet italian sausage

Here's what I put in my freezer

• 2 family meals of marinated sirloin steaks, with enough for planned leftovers, ready to thaw and grill
• 1 family meal of chicken pizzaiola
• 1 family meal of marinated chicken
• 8 pounds of pre-trimmed and individually wrapped boneless/skinless chicken breast halves
• 2 one-pound packages of pre-browned sausage
• 16 large pre-cooked flash-frozen meatballs
• 1 one pound package of pre-browned ground beef with onions
• 2 family meals of pre-cooked sloppy joes
• all those hot dogs pre-wrapped in twos and frozen
• four 8-oz bags of shredded cheddar

Hey - it's a start!

Flash Frozen Pepper Strips

This is what flash frozen pepper strips look like in my house.  I lined the cookie sheet with waxed paper and then  spread out the pepper strips.  I froze them until solid, then transferred them into a gallon Ziploc bag to store in the freezer to add to recipes later.  The quantity you see here is one large bell pepper.

Meat in marinade

Raw meat in marinade almost always freezes better than just plain raw meat.  For one, the meat soaks in the sauce for weeks to months, making it even more delicious when you finally get around to cooking it.  Secondly, the marinade juices protect the meat from freezer burn and freezer "taste" - you know what I'm talking about.

I thought of this today as I pulled out a few pounds of short ribs I had frozen last year.  I used a food saver, so there was no air, hence no freezer burn, but I can tell they're going to most likely taste like they were frozen.  They're in the crock pot right now with a great sauce that had I been thinking would have made a wonderful marinade in which to freeze them.  Then all I would have had to do was thaw the whole lot, dump it all in a crock pot, hit GO and voila, dinner.  This will be the plan next time short ribs go on sale.

Any saucy suggestions?  Leave me a comment!

What I froze this morning

I made a batch of pancakes for the kids' breakfast, let the extras cool, then wrapped them individually in plastic wrap (so they don't dry out) and put them in the freezer.  After they're frozen, I'll transfer them all into a gallon Ziploc bag and store them for another morning when the kids want pancakes for breakfast.  They just pull them out and pop them frozen into the toaster to heat up.  They do get a little crunchy around the edges, but the kids like them.  This method also works exceptionally well with french toast!

Here's my pancake recipe, these stand up well in the freezer:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg
1 cup milk
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl, beat the egg, then mix in milk, oil.  Add to dry ingredients and blend.  Stir in vanilla.  Be careful not to over mix this, the batter will be thin, and there should be a few lumps remaining.

Hint - make the pancakes small enough to actually fit in your toaster. :)

BBQ pulled pork is unbelievably easy to freeze

I made a killer bourbon-mango pulled pork for our super bowl party a few weeks ago.  I cannot stress how good this stuff was.  But here's the best part!  I was able to freeze all the leftovers (and there were tons) in meal sized portions, and my husband thawed some out and reheated it for dinner last night for him and the kids.  It was so good even from the freezer that he can't wait to have it again tonight, maybe on rolls, maybe on a baked potato, maybe over rice....lots of possibilities here.

So go buy that 10 pound pork shoulder!  Cooking it in the crock pot makes it even easier.  Whatever your favorite recipe is, pork shoulder can be fully cooked, pulled, sauced and frozen for another time.  In fact, the flavors even seem to improve with time.  Put some in the freezer, you'll be so glad you did!

You mean you can freeze that?

The freezer is a great place to keep leftovers, at least for me.  I'm just not organized, nor am I motivated enough to do elaborate meal plans that incorporate leftovers during the week.  Glen is great at cooking with leftovers, and he's happy eating them.  Me?  Not a fan.  That doesn't mean, however, that I want to be throwing out perfectly good food left and right.

Pretty much everything freezes well once it's cooked.  Just take a stroll down the freezer aisle in your local grocery store.  If they can freeze it, so can you!

So here's an example.  Gravy and mashed potatoes.  We had roast chicken the other night, and I had at least a cup of gravy leftover and a couple of servings of mashed potatoes.  Everything else went into making two hot lunches for Glen to take to work or it went into the pot to make chicken broth.  Many families I know would have simply made something like shepherd's pie later in the week, but my family doesn't like shepherd's pie.  So I froze these items in Ziploc bags, and they'll be good for about a month in the freezer.  Why freeze them this way?

There have been times when I've wanted to make mashed potatoes and I have maybe 2 potatoes sitting in my pantry.  Potatoes are expensive when you buy organic.  Having leftovers in the freezer means I can thaw, heat and add them to fresh mashed potatoes very easily.  There have also been meals that I've prepared only leftover mashed potatoes as a side dish.  Hint - they get a little watery after they're frozen, so keep that in mind when incorporating them.

Having bags of gravy in the freezer means I can serve gravy anytime I want, with whatever I want, whether I have pan drippings or not.  Just thaw and reheat.  Why spend the money on the jarred or packaged nonsense?  Hint - label your gravy bags with any dominant characteristics, such as chicken or beef and any strong flavors they may have, it might affect your choice with which gravy bag you grab to serve on a given night.  The one above was heavily laden with Smithwick's and labeled as such - which is what I happened to baste the chicken in that night. :)

A lesson on flash freezing

These chicken wings were sprinkled with a little Lawry's seasoned salt and baked, then when they cooled were placed on this waxed paper lined piece of cardboard and frozen.  The process is known as "flash freezing" because the wing pieces stay separated during the freezing process.

When frozen, the wings are transferred into a gallon ziplock bag and stored in the freezer.  Because they've been flash frozen, it's easy to just pull out however many wings you want to reheat, toss them frozen onto a cookie sheet, and bake at 350 deg. for @ 30 minutes.

They can also be thawed and warmed up on the grill with your favorite bbq sauce.  Great to have on hand in the summer for a quick appetizer - because they're already cooked!

Hint - prepare chicken legs and thighs exactly the same way.  I call this my flash-frozen convenience chicken.

Back to basics - freezing meatloaf

Meatloaf is probably the first thing that comes to people's minds when they think of freezer cooking.  That and spaghetti sauce.  If you've spent time on this blog, you know that meatloaf is really only the beginning, and considering how easy and versatile it is to freeze, it's a good place to start!

Some people like to assemble, bake, cool, wrap and freeze their meatloaves - then they just thaw and reheat later.  Some like to assemble the raw meatloaves and freeze them in the pans, and then pop them out and wrap them after their frozen - thawing and baking the meatloaf at a later time for a fresher taste.  This is the method I prefer - however, doing this means I need multiple loaf pans, or I need to freeze one meatloaf at a time.  Way too time consuming for me.

My method is pictured above.  I premix everything, and then put the mixture in gallon ziplock bags, it's relatively easy to squish it around and get most of the air out, meaning you don't need anything fancy like a food saver.  The bags can then be frozen flat, and stacked to take up a minimum amount of freezer space.  The increased surface area and thinness of the bags also means that defrosting time is drastically reduced.

Hint - freeze the bags on a glass freezer shelf, or on a piece of cardboard.  If you lay them flat on a wire shelf, you'll have a frustrating time trying to pry the frozen bag out of the wires.  Ask me how I know...

Chicken broth from a few scraps

This small pot holds 24 raw chicken wing tips, 4-1/2 cups of water, 2 ribs of celery, a good sized hunk of raw onion, one raw carrot, a little salt and a few whole peppercorns.  Use whole peppercorns, they strain out at the end instead of mucking up your finished broth.

The wing tips were left over from preparing chicken wings.  This many are just the right amount for making a quart of homemade chicken broth.  Pieces of chicken I normally would have thrown out I can now turn into 1 quart of broth to be frozen - that I can pull out of the freezer at any point in the future and use in soups, stews and other recipes.  A quart of good, low sodium organic chicken broth at the grocery store fetches somewhere in the neighborhood of $3.00.  You do the math!

Simmer gently for a couple of house, strain the broth, pour into a quart sized ziplock bag and lay flat to freeze.

Bonus - candles shmandles...cook this stuff up, your kitchen will smell amazing for several hours.

Lunch at the office?

Sandwiches get old and eating out is expensive, so here's an alternative to lunch in the workplace.

You've seen the TV commercials for heat and eat entrees - Eddie from accounting touting freeze-dried noodle enlightenment, Healthy Choice Fresh Mixers, I'm sure there are more out there.  But why pump your body full of sodium and chemicals, or pay the outrageous prices for these convenience foods?

When I prepare dinner for my family, I always try to prepare a bit extra so Glen can assemble a lunch to keep in the freezer, and then take to the shop and heat up in the microwave when he feels like eating that particular meal.  The meatloaf, baked potato and green beans lunch is just an example to show you, because it's what I happened to prepare last night.  The containers are simple and inexpensive Gladware that go from freezer to microwave easily.  The cost?  Pennies, people - pennies, compared to what you'll pay for shelf-stable and other frozen meals.  Most importantly, you control the portion sizes and the ingredients.

Because everything is fully cooked, he takes it out of the freezer in the morning and can leave it on the counter thawing until it's ready to reheat.

In today's economy, it's more important than ever not to be wasteful.  Plus, home cooked food just plain tastes better!

You're an idiot, so you need to buy this cookbook

Two types of websites/blogs irritate me to no end.  The first is the blog author who tries to be witty and clever, and ends up being nothing but obnoxious.  The second is a cooking website where the author assumes I'm an idiot and they are some sort of guru.  Please.  OK - got that off my chest, now I can get on with today.

There really is nothing to cooking, folks, just a bit of time, patience, a desire to learn, and a will to be flexible and make mistakes.  It took me YEARS to get out of the "I must buy that cookbook!" and "I must follow the recipe exactly or it won't be as good!" mentality.  With the internet and all the resources I have at a mouse click, I've managed to purge most of the cookbooks from my house - I've kept only the ones of extreme usefulness or sentimental value.  What cookbooks will I never, ever part with?  Here they are:

The New Basics Cookbook by Julee Rosso & Sheila Lukins - my parents gave me this book before I was married, and I've referred to it many, many times over the years.  I don't think I've actually made many of the recipes, rather I've learned many cooking how-to's.  I still refer to it often.

The Fannie Farmer Baking Book by Marion Cunningham - I learned how to be brave about baking by reading this book.  I've made many of the recipes, but mostly I've learned baking techniques that boosted my courage.  Want to learn to bake like grandma used to?  This book is the next best thing to being right by her side in the kitchen.

Mega Cooking by Jill Bond - this is my freezer cooking bible.  Rather than recipes for me to copy and pre-done shopping lists of other people's favorite foods, this book teaches me the art of preparing meals for the freezer so that I can turn my own family's favorite dishes into something freezer friendly.  This means we'll still enjoy our favorite meals when little league season strikes, rather than having to order pizza or spend money eating out.  This book saved my culinary life, and is the inspiration for this blog.

Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites - I've always been drawn to vegetarian cuisine, and this book has healthy, yet indulgent recipes that won't disappoint.  I turn to this book when I go on a health kick.  Besides, my sister gave it to me, and when I open it I think of her and all the delicious things she prepared for me from its pages.

The Secrets of Jesuit Breadmaking by Brother Rick Curry - my mom let me "borrow" this book, and since she's never asked for it back, it's become part of my collection.  I love the spiritual significance that the author brings to breadmaking.  Plus, the man only has one arm, so I figure if he can make bread from scratch, so can I.

The Great Curries of India by Camellia Panjabi - another gift from my sister, this book is loaded with everything curry, from the basic to the exotic.  You just can't get this sort of depth on the internet.

A Feast of Soups by Jacqueline Heriteau - I love soup, I love making soup, I love how my kitchen smells when it's simmering, and I love serving it with salad and/or homemade bread.  This book has over 500 recipes plus a complete soup-making education.

What cookbooks do you have that you'd never part with?

Meal ministry for one

Gladware and other inexpensive plastic containers make bringing food to others that much easier.  It's not just the convenience, it's that they can go from freezer to microwave with ease.

When I plan meals, I always plan enough for leftovers.  I then assemble one or two meals for the freezer so my husband can take them into work and reheat them in the microwave for lunch.  This saves an unbelievable amount of money because he doesn't have to buy lunch out, and ya gotta admit, would you rather have a cold sandwich or a roast beef, mashed potato, gravy and vegetable lunch?  Yea, I thought so.

Because I always have these frozen entrees in my freezer, it was so easy to respond to the meal ministry call for a woman who's husband was in the hospital.  It's not easy to cook for one, but it's easy to cook extra and freeze.  Plus, the variety can be so much better than just casseroles or soups.

Today I brought a generous portion of cheesy chicken & rice casserole with a nice chopped salad on the side.  What can you think of to set aside the next time you make dinner for your family?

Quick Freezer Lunch

Having the right ingredients on hand is always a plus on busy days, especially when the husband gets off the phone and says "So-and-so will be stopping by in a little bit, hope that's OK!" and it happens to be around lunch time!

Now, I don't care who comes over or how long they want to stay, I will always make every effort to feed whoever is in my house when it's mealtime.  However, my fridge was nearly empty.  No cold cuts for sandwiches, not even a can of tuna in the pantry.  I did have plenty of salad greens, however, including a few tomatoes, cukes and peppers.  Oh look - a small  bit of cheddar cheese!  Then I went to the freezer, and wouldn't you know it, the sandwich/salad portions of sliced grilled chicken were all piled up in there, smiling at me, just waiting to be thawed!  So we had marvelous salads with cheddar cheese and grilled chicken - and I didn't even have to grill any chicken!

Fill that freezer, folks, with whatever you can to make your life easier!