Tag Archives: Freezer Friday

Food

Freezer Friday: Garlic Herb Butter

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Welcome to Freezer Friday. We are back! The goal here is to make our lives easier. Due to the fact I have 4 little ones and homeschool, I need all the help I can find. Simply post a recipe that can be made, frozen and then later reheated(thawed, etc) and consumed. Make sure that you include freezing and reheating instructions in your post. Then come here and add you post (not your blog) into Mr. Linky.
Now for some disclaimers:
If it isn’t a recipe, I will delete it.
If it can’t be made ahead, I will delete it.
If you don’t have a family friendly site, I will delete it.
Now onto the food fun!


Garlic Herb Butter:

With is being BBQ season it is always great to have garlic herb butter ready to go! I also use this in my Chicken Kiev. This is also a grat alternative to all those pricey spreads for French bread that you can get in the supermarket (and who knows what is in them;). I make it in bunches and then keep it wrapped in either wax paper or parchment and in a plastic bag in the freezer.

These proportions are based on my preferences for strong flavors. If it is to strong just adjust but use the same procedure. I have also used a dried Italian herb mix instead of Parsley before.

Ingredients:
1 stick Unsalted Butter
2 tsp Chopped Garlic (I use a jar)
2 tsp Dried Parsley

Procedure:

Put your butter in the microwave until smushy (yes, that would be a technical term;). Do not liquefy or your seasonings will not be suspended and just sink. Then add your seasonings and mix with a spoon until they are even distributed as it is in the first picture.

Then place a couple of spoonfuls on a sheet of wax paper or parchment. Fold over the paper and use a cutting board to push against the butter to form a log (as in the second picture). Then twist the

ends, put them all in a freezer bag (to prevent funky odor taste) and place in the freezer). Then to use you just take out a roll and cut your desired amount. I find it is easier and cleaner to just cut through the paper and peel it off after. That is how you get that restuarant quality flavored butters on hand! Put them on top of a well cooked steak, a cob of corn or just on a great loaf of French bread!

Technorati Tags: Garlic Butter, Freezer Friday, Make Ahead

Food

Freezer Friday: Baby Squash

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Welcome to Freezer Friday. We are back! The goal here is to make our lives easier. Due to the fact I have 4 little ones and homeschool, I need all the help I can find. Simply post a recipe that can be made, frozen and then later reheated(thawed, etc) and consumed. Make sure that you include freezing and reheating instructions in your post. Then come here and add you post (not your blog) into Mr. Linky.
Now for some disclaimers:
If it isn’t a recipe, I will delete it.
If it can’t be made ahead, I will delete it.
If you don’t have a family friendly site, I will delete it.
Now onto the food fun!


We all know that baby food really starts to add up. But do you realize just how easy it is? The easiest of all baby food might indeed be acorn squash. The first thing you need to do is cook the squash itself.
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees while you prep the squash.
2. Cut the squash in half from top to bottom.
3. Scoop out the seeds and goop.
4. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper, add a little oil (can omit if you choose)
5. Cook for 1 hour or until you can gently insert a knife and it penetrates.
6. Let cool until you can handle it.
7. Peel the squash or scoop out the center meat.
8. Put all the squash in a bowl and mash with a potato masher (leave a little lumpier than you will use if you are going to freeze it.
9. Use a cookie scoop and dish out onto a cookie sheet.
10. Allow to cool completely, cover with plastic wrap and place cookie sheet in the freezer.
11. Once frozen just place in zip top bags.

To use, just take out as many pieces as you need and either microwave or thaw in the frig or on the counter. You can always add a little liquid if you need to then it out.

Food

Matzah Casserole

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Welcome to Freezer Friday. The goal here is to make our lives easier. Due to the fact I have 4 little ones and homeschool, I need all the help I can find. Simply post a recipe that can be made, frozen and then later reheated(thawed, etc) and consumed. Make sure that you include freezing and reheating instructions in your post. Then come here and add you post (not your blog) into Mr. Linky.
Now for some disclaimers:
If it isn’t a recipe, I will delete it.
If it can’t be made ahead, I will delete it.
If you don’t have a family friendly site, I will delete it.
Now onto the food fun!

Matzah Casserole

Just because Passover is over, we can all eat matzo all year. I came up with this recipe quite a few years ago to use up leftovers. I don’t know if I would call it a recipe or more of a method.
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lube up (with fat of your choice) a baking dish (of your choice).
2. Take a couple of eggs and come water and mix it up to make a dredging liquid. I would also add any herbs, spices or seasonings you would like. At this point don’t make the liquid to thin, you want it like a batter(ish).
3. Pick the leftover meat of your choice. By picking (a southern term) I really mean shred. Now, I have done this with cornish game hen and beef roast but I am sure it would work with anything.
4. Put a layer of meat in the bottom.
5. Now dip so matzo (what ever will qualify as 1 layer across) into the egg mixture and place it on top of the meat.
6. Continue until you have used all your meat, ending with a layer of matzos on top.
7. Top with oil and cover with foil.
8. Bake for 30 minutes (for 8 by 8) to an hour (9 by 13) or until matzos are set and everything is warm.

**To make this totally not kosher but extra yummy, you could also add cheese into the layers.

I would put it into the freezer before baking and then take out and thaw. Then cook according to directions.
I am sure that you could also add root veggies but I have always had them on the sides.

Technorati Tags: Leftovers, Freezer Friday, Make Ahead, Kosher

Food

Freezer Friday: Zucchini Carrot Muffins

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Welcome to Freezer Friday. The goal here is to make our lives easier. Due to the fact I have 4 little ones and homeschool, I need all the help I can find. Simply post a recipe that can be made, frozen and then later reheated(thawed, etc) and consumed. Make sure that you include freezing and reheating instructions in your post. Then come here and add you post (not your blog) into Mr. Linky.
Now for some disclaimers:
If it isn’t a recipe, I will delete it.
If it can’t be made ahead, I will delete it.
If you don’t have a family friendly site, I will delete it.
Now onto the food fun!

Zucchini Carrot Muffins

This is a great way to get more vegetable servings into your kids and your own diet. The zucchini is also a great ingredient for moist baked good. This recipe can be double, quadrupled, etc without a change to proportion. The recipe as written makes 1 dozen muffins (And I never make only a dozen). I also highly recommend freshly grated nutmeg over the jarred stuff. I tend to use regular (vs unsweetened) applesauce only because that is what I have on hand. If you don’t have room for oodles and oodles of muffins, just use you frozen shredded zucchini.

Ingredients

2 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar
2 1/1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup plain or vanilla nonfat yogurt
1 egg
1 cup shredded zucchini
1 cup shredded carrot
1 tsp vanilla

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Now the original recipe says to use paper liners but I usually just put my muffins into free standing silicone muffin tins on big cookie sheets (I do 48 at a time). Then mix all dry ingredients (Flour through salt). Then add the remaining ingredients until combined but not smooth. Fill muffin cups 2/3 to 3/4 full and bake for 20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

Then you just allow to cool and then I put all the muffins in the freezer on a cookie sheet. When they are frozen you just put them in zip top bag. Make sure they are labeled. Then to enjoy you can thaw or just pop them in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: Zucchini, Freezer Friday, Make Ahead

Food

Freezer Friday:Broccoli Mac and Cheese

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Welcome to Freezer Friday. The goal here is to make our lives easier. Due to the fact I have 4 little ones and homeschool, I need all the help I can find. Simply post a recipe that can be made, frozen and then later reheated(thawed, etc) and consumed. Make sure that you include freezing and reheating instructions in your post. Then come here and add you post (not your blog) into Mr. Linky.
Now for some disclaimers:
If it isn’t a recipe, I will delete it.
If it can’t be made ahead, I will delete it.
If you don’t have a family friendly site, I will delete it.
Now onto the food fun!

Broccoli Mac and Cheese Gratin

This is an adapted recipe from Cooking Light. I like to double and even triple this recipe. The key is to not to crowd your boiling water.

Ingredients

1 pound of uncooked medium seashell pasta
6 cups broccoli florets (about 1 pound)
1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 3/4 cups 1% low-fat milk or 2% milk, divided
1/3 cup all-purpose flour (about 1 1/2 ounces)
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded fontina cheese
1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated Asiago cheese (Parmesan will do)
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Dash of ground nutmeg
Cooking spray
2 (1-ounce) slices white bread or 1/4 cup preseasoned bread crumbs or panko crumbs

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400°.

Cook pasta in boiling water 8 minutes; add broccoli. Cook 3 minutes or until pasta is done. Drain.

Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add garlic to pan; cook 45 seconds. Transfer garlic mixture to a small bowl; set aside.

Add remaining 1 teaspoon oil to pan; stir in onion. Cook 1 minute, stirring frequently. Remove from heat; stir in 3 cups milk. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine the remaining 3/4 cup milk and flour in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add flour mixture to onion mixture. Return pan to medium-high heat, stirring constantly with a whisk; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute or until thick, stirring constantly with a whisk. Remove from heat; stir in the cheeses, salt, black pepper, red pepper, and nutmeg. Add pasta mixture to milk mixture, tossing gently to coat. Pour mixture into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish (or 2 8×8) coated with cooking spray.

Combine garlic mixture and bread in a food processor; pulse 15 times or until fine crumbs measure 1 cup. Sprinkle breadcrumb mixture over pasta mixture. Bake at 400° for 18 minutes or until the top is brown.

Makes 8 very generous servings

To Freeze: I freeze it before baking in 8×8 baking dishes, covered well in aluminum foil. Then I cook defrosted for 1/2 hour or frozen 1 hour.

Technorati Tags: zucchini, Freezer Friday, Make Ahead

Food

Freezer Friday: Chocolate Chip Zucchini Loaf

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Welcome to Freezer Friday. The goal here is to make our lives easier. Due to the fact I have 4 little ones and homeschool, I need all the help I can find. Simply post a recipe that can be made, frozen and then later reheated(thawed, etc) and consumed. Make sure that you include freezing and reheating instructions in your post. Then come here and add you post (not your blog) into Mr. Linky.
Now for some disclaimers:
If it isn’t a recipe, I will delete it.
If it can’t be made ahead, I will delete it.
If you don’t have a family friendly site, I will delete it.
Now onto the food fun!


Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

Now that spring is on its way so is all the fresh produce. Here is a good way to enjoy it and hold on to it for the future. This recipe is very easy to double, triple or more.

Ingredients:

Dry Ingredients:
1 cup AP Flour
1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 cup Mini Chocolate Chips

Wet Ingredients:
2 Eggs
1/4 cup Oil
1/4 cup Applesauce
1 cup Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 cup Grated Zucchini (unpeeled; if frozen do not drain)

Process:
Mix all dry ingredients together. Then beat eggs until frothy and mix in all remaining wet ingredients. Mix in dry ingredients. Dump batter into greased loaf pan. Bake for 40 minutes in a 350 degree oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry (except chocolate chips). Let stand in loaf pan for 10 minutes and then cool the rest of the way on a rack.

Make ahead directions:
You can just wrap tightly in plastic wrap and aluminum and place in the freezer. Then just sit out to thaw. If your freezer is full you can store the dry ingredients in a freezer bag on the shelf and freeze shredded zucchini.

Technorati Tags: zucchini, Freezer Friday, Make Ahead

Food

Freezer Friday: Make Ahead Chicken

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Welcome to Freezer Friday. The goal here is to make our lives easier. Due to the fact I have 4 little ones and homeschool, I need all the help I can find. Simply post a recipe that can be made, frozen and then later reheated(thawed, etc) and consumed. Make sure that you include freezing and reheating instructions in your post. Then come here and add you post (not your blog) into Mr. Linky.
Now for some disclaimers:
If it isn’t a recipe, I will delete it.
If it can’t be made ahead, I will delete it.
If you don’t have a family friendly site, I will delete it.
Now onto the food fun!

Meat is always the most time consuming part of making a meal. I make my chicken a month at a time. I buy fresh chicken breasts in bulk (which is a relative term). Then I put them in 9 X 13 baking dishes and season them. Then cover the bottome of your dish with water and cover. This prevents the dry, horrible chicken. Then I bake them at 350 degress for 45 minutes to an hour. You allow them to cool and then freeze. You can freeze them whole and reheat that way. But, I dice them up and freeze them in 2 cup incrememnts (the standard for most recipes). Then just pull them out and put into dishes. Since it is diced, the chicken is very to thaw by just putting under running water for a few minutes. I add it to pasta, Hamburger Helper and an easy Chicken and Rice dish.

Technorati Tags: chicken, freezer friday, cooking

Food

Freezer Friday: Make Ahead Hamburger

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Welcome to Freezer Friday. The goal here is to make our lives easier. Due to the fact I have 4 little ones and homeschool, I need all the help I can find. Simply post a recipe that can be made, frozen and then later reheated(thawed, etc) and consumed. Make sure that you include freezing and reheating instructions in your post. Then come here and add you post (not your blog) into Mr. Linky.
Now for some disclaimers:
If it isn’t a recipe, I will delete it.
If it can’t be made ahead, I will delete it.
If you don’t have a family friendly site, I will delete it.
Now onto the food fun!

Make Ahead Hamburger

This is really more of a process than a recipe. The purpose for this is to have packets of hamburger, of about 1 pound weight, waiting for you cooked and ready to go in the freezer. I think take it out and put it into spaghetti, cheeseburger pie, hamburger helper or anything that calls for hamburger. You can even add taco seasonings to it after it is cooked to do tacos or taco baked potatoes.

Basically, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Then put your hamburger into an appropriate sized cooking dish. For example, I did about 8 pounds this week and split it between a 9×13 and an 8 1/2 x11. Then season and stir like you would in a skillet. You will use a lot of seasonings because you are cooking a lot of meat. I personally use garlic, Pappy’s, and chili powder. Place the dishes in the oven and turn on the timer for 15 minutes. The come back and stir the meat, placing back in the oven for another 20 minutes if needed. Continue this process until all the meat is cooked. Then drain off (I tend to spoon it out) most of the grease. Let cool. Then divide it into 1 pound (or what ever size you use) packages. Then freeze nice and flat. To use it you have a couple of choices. You can set it on the counter or in the refrigerator to cool. Another way is to take the nice frozen meat and crumble it into a skillet, add a little water and thaw that way.

So add you recipe and enjoy cooking!

Technorati Tags: Cooking, Freezer Fridays, Make Ahead

Food

Freezer Friday: Chicken Kiev

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Welcome to Freezer Friday. The goal here is to make our lives easier. Due to the fact I have 4 little ones and homeschool, I need all the help I can find. Simply post a recipe that can be made, frozen and then later reheated(thawed, etc) and consumed. Make sure that you include freezing and reheating instructions in your post. Then come here and add you post (not your blog) into Mr. Linky.
Now for some disclaimers:
If it isn’t a recipe, I will delete it.
If it can’t be made ahead, I will delete it.
If you don’t have a family friendly site, I will delete it.
Now onto the food fun!

Chicken Kiev is one of those dishes that always sounds so complicated but in reality is very simple. This is even a dish you can cook in bulk and finish later. This week I made 24 of these. But first, some ingredients.

Software:
Chicken Breasts
Softened Margarine or butter mixed with Garlic or Garlic Powder
Egg
Milk
Bread Crumbs
Oil for browning

Hardware:
Cutting Board
Meat Tenderizer (Mallot)
2 bowls
Skillet
Baking Dish
Toothpicks
Spatula

Procedure:
First pound out some chicken breasts to make them even thickness. Then cut a pocket in the side and place a slice of garlic butter in it. Mix egg and milk together in one bowl. Then place bread crumbs in another bowl. Dredge the chicken breast in the milk/egg mixture and then the breadcrumbs. Transfer to heated skillet and brown on all sides. Then transfer to baking dish and cook in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

To make as a Freezer meal:
After browning allow the chicken breast to cool. Then freeze. I take them out frozen and cook them for 1 hour at 350 degrees or thawed they cook 30-45 minutes.

Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: chicken kiev, freezer friday, cooking