Good Burger

This is a mixture to mix in your ground beef for really good hamburgers and I mean REALLY good.

1 lb. ground beef
1/2 sm yellow onion
6 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. Cajun seasoning
1 tsp. garlic powder
2 Tbsp. A1 or BBQ sauce or Worcestershire
1/4 cup Italian bread crumbs

Mix all together, mold into patties and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw ahead of time and have a quick BBQ on a summer night. We like to BBQ them with some BBQ sauce and cheddar to finish the top. Throw out baked beans or corn on the cob, a simple salad or baked french fries and you're good to go. Yum.

Chicken Enchiladas

Filling:
1 1/2 pound chicken, cooked
1 med. onion
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cup cheddar cheese shredded
1 tsp. salt
pepper to taste

Sauce:
15 oz. tomato sauce
2/3 cup water
1/3 cup green pepper, chopped
1 Tbsp Chili Powder
1/4 Tbsp ground cumin
Garlic Salt to taste
1 sm. can green chilies

Mix all sauce ingredients together and simmer for 5 min. or so.

8-10 Tortillas

*pour some of your sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 pan.
*dip tortillas in sauce
*fill with the chicken mixture
*roll up and place in the bottom of the pan
*pour the remainder of your sauce on top of enchiladas after placing them all in your pan.
*put extra cheese on top if you desire.

Freeze at this point for up to 3 months.

Bake frozen enchiladas at 350 for about 1 1/2 hours.
HINT: Do not thaw frozen enchiladas and then bake. They will be really soggy and gross. :)

Yummy Beef Stew

No particular measurements are needed, you just judge according to the size of your crock pot. You make as much or little as you want. OF course the less you make the less time you need to cook it.

1 layer of chopped carrots

1 layer of potatoes

1 layer of cut green beans (frozen or fresh)

1 layer of beef stew cubes (about 1 lb. should do)

1 can cream of mushroom soup (do not add water)

1 can tomato soup (do not add water)

1 clove crushed garlic

1/2 soup can of water

DO NOT STIR. Just layer all the ingredients in the order listed and pour the water over the top. Cook on low all day (8ish hours). We like to dip fresh buttered bread in the gravy of this stew. It's really thick. Sounds weird, but my kids LOVE it.

Forgotten Minestrone Soup

1 lb. stew meat
6 cups water
28 oz. can of tomatoes
1 beef bullion cube
1 med. onion (optional..could use a few sprinkles of dried)
2 tbsp. minced dried parsley
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 med. zucchini
2 cups cabbage (optional..I leave it out)
1 16 oz. can garbanzo beans (I leave these out too)
1 cup elbow macaroni (or other pasta)
1/4 cup grated parmesan

Combine all ingredients down to pepper and cook in crock pot on low 7-9 hrs. Stir in the rest of ingredients and cook on high 30- 45 more min. (if you are in a hurry, boil the rest of the stuff in a pot on the stove until pasta is tender then drain and add to soup..this will only take about 15 min). I garnish the bowls with a generous amount of fresh grated parmesan..that I buy shredded in the bag. It sounds like a gross recipe, but my kids love it. It's got a good blend of spices and tastes very Italian.
HINTS: Stew meat does not have to be thawed, fresh tomatoes out of your garden will work in the summer.

Chicken Soft Tacos

:

1 can Safeway Select Peach Pineapple Salsa
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast (right out of the freezer..do not thaw)
1/2 to 3/4 cup water

In your crock pot, put the chicken on the bottom and dump 1/2 the jar of salsa over the top. Add the water making sure there's about 1/2 inch water in the bottom to prevent the chicken from burning during the long cooking process. Cook chicken on low...NOT HIGH..it will burn on holy cow it stinks! Cook for 6-8 hours. Then drain off any excess liquid, shred w/ 2 forks. Throw out some tortillas, sour cream, shredded cheese, and any other toppings you like. Serve w/ green salad and maybe some refried beans and you're in business. One of the easiest, yummiest meals I know. My kids dance when we get to have this. Guests have all loved it too. HINTS: Must use the Safeway Peach Pineapple salsa, if you need to use thawed chicken, only cook on low 4 hrs. and then check every 1/2 hour or so to make sure you aren't burning.
Enjoy!

Freezer Meals and Crock Pot Ideas...

A friend recently posted on her FB that she needed some ideas for crock pot meals and/or freezer meals so she could have quick, easy meals. I promised I would post any ideas that I had. So, the following posts are some of the recipes we like at our house. My 4 criteria for a recipe to be a family fave are: Cheap, Easy, Healthy, GOOD. These are not all a 10 out of 10 in every category, but they are pretty good and we like them well enough and eat them often. Ok! We'll see how far I get today and I'll continue in the next few days until I'm done...

Great Article about Freezer Meals...

This appeared in my inbox today from Jenny Ahlstrom Stanger the author of Fabulous Freezer Meals and the creator of the www.FreezerDinner.com website. She has some great ideas and I think there's a lot of usable, practical information here. Enjoy! (Recipes and more ideas can be found at her website mentioned above...wonder how much longer this information will be free?)

WHAT'S IN YOUR FREEZER?

A few questions I hear quite often are: How do I get started with freezer meals and what are your family favorites that cook up in 15 minutes or less?Diana sent me this email a few weeks ago and she was willing to let me post it.

Question:

Hello, I purchased your book about a week ago (a birthday gift for myself) and I am anxious to start some of the freezer meals. I have a few questions about how you personally make it work for you. Before I bought your book, I spent some time researching OAMC online and freezing meals. Some of those sites talk about how they make 15 dinner meals, 10 lunch meals and 10 breakfasts. How do you organize how many meals to make? Right now, our family is my husband, our 1 year old, and myself. We are very health conscious and after hitting the year mark from my son’s birth, I am down to losing my last 10 lbs. So, I want this to be healthy for us and make my life in the kitchen easier. Since you are a mother, and have older children who eat real food (my son is barely into the eat what we eat stage), I would appreciate any further tips regarding health or feeding your kids.

Thanks so much!
—Diana

Answer:

Thank you for emailing Diana and thank you for purchasing a copy of my book! Happy birthday. I hope you had a good one.

Your question is a great question, one that I think a lot of people have.

I first tried the OAMC (once a month cooking) method to stock my freezer and it was very difficult for me. In fact, I vowed I would never do it again. I’m sure it gets easier the more you do it, but I chopped vegetables and cooked meat for a week before meal assembly. The next week I spent assembling and I only had one set of pots and pans so I had to wash them and re-wash them 4 or 5 times a day during that week. With 2 small children needing my attention during it all, it was exhausting.

My method is to take it slow. Don’t try to do it all at once just one or two recipes a week. It is also smart to double any recipe you make. Serve one meal and freeze the other. If you do this, a variety of meals will start to stock quickly in your freezer. Start with the basics in the bulk recipe section of my cookbook “Fabulous Freezer meals”. Stock up on things such as cooked rice, browned ground beef, sweet shredded pork, re-fried beans, salsa etc… Then make the pot sticker recipe, wheat bread and cook a spiral ham and bag up all the leftover meat.

Some great quick 15 minute meals are: the BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, Orange Chicken, Freezer Pizza, Chicken Cordon Bleu, Chicken Alfredo, Stromboli, etc… Make the fajita mix or pork roast and shred it for quick nachos, Chim-Changas or taco salads. Also, I would make a cookie dough recipe. It is always convenient to have cookie dough in your freezer.

After you stock your freezer with the basics, I would recommend making these recipes once a month: Chicken Pot Pies, Chicken Manicotti, Lasagna, Cheesy Ham Bake, Turkey Bake, etc..

For my family size (2 adults 4 small children), I have one of these: and one of these in the garage. and it is enough freezer space for us. It may be a mis-conception I have, but I feel like you just fill up a deep freezer and only use the top 2 inches of food while the bottom frozen food gets old. Please leave a comment if you think I missing out by not owning a deep freezer.

What’s in my freezer right now?

Pot Stickers
Frozen Burritos
Cookie Dough
Cooked ham (use in eggs for breakfast, sandwiches, soups)
Marinated Chicken
Frozen berries, peaches, and pineapple
Frozen broccoli, carrots, & peas
Shredded cheese
Freezer Jam
Wheat bread
Cooked rice
Bananas and shredded Zucchini to make breads with
Tortillas (flour and corn)
Large tubs of whipped cream (we make a lot of french toast and top it with whipped cream and fruit)
Chicken Pot Pie
Frozen Pizza (homemade…not the cardboard, store-bought kind)
Tator Tots (once in a while we use these but fry them in olive oil)
Walnuts, pine nuts and cashews
Yeast
Muffin batter in muffin cups
Hawaiian Teriyaki Chicken and Rice
Beef Sirloin Tips in Mushroom Gravy
Butter and Margarine

There is not a day that goes by that I don’t use something from the freezer for each meal. Most often I take something out that is frozen and add it to fresh ingredients.

I attended a Cinco De Mayo party Saturday night at my neighbors house and I was in charge of bringing a dessert. Because I was at a book signing all day I had no time to make something from scratch. I pulled out some frozen cookie dough when I got home (I had 1 hour before the party started). In 20 minutes the cookies were done. I had time to get ready and do all my kids hair before the party started and then I topped the cookies with whipped cream and strawberries and off we went to the party, on time.

Anyway, it’s getting late. I’m starting to not make sense anymore. I better get to bed. Let me know what questions you have about getting started. I would like to answer this question for everyone out there that wants to start, but is not sure where to.

Thanks again for the great question.

WWW.FREEZERDINNER.COM

This girl has it together! She can also be found on blogspot as Fabulous Freezer Meals, but she has recently moved all her information and recipes to the new website listed above. She's GREAT! I find myself agreeing with her philosophy on eating, dieting and exercising. She's also a Christian. Definately check it out! I'm always looking for a good recipe to have in the freezer for a night when I don't want to cook or I have a friend in need :)