Filed under: bulk cooking, chicken, cooking, cooking ahead, freezer, freezer cooking, frozen assets, frugal living, oamc, once a month cooking, recipes, simple living
I like to keep pre-cooked chicken breasts in the freezer to use for heating up for easy, no-fuss meals. I also cut up pre-cooked and frozen chicken meat for using in salads and soups.
Another easy summertime cooking idea is to marinate chicken pieces by putting the chicken with the marinade directly into a freezer bag and then freezing them together. The chicken marinates while it’s freezing and thawing, so after it’s thawed, I can just throw the already marinated chicken onto the grill or under the broiler for an easy, delicious meal. This method also works well with chunks of chicken breast marinated and then baked/barbequed on skewers.
I also like to make up a bunch of pre-shaped hamburger patties, frozen separately between sheets of waxed paper for easy cooking. Just put the frozen patties — unthawed — into a frying pan or under the broiler and cook ’til done.
~Debi
Filed under: bulk cooking, cooking, cooking ahead, freezer, freezer cooking, frozen assets, oamc, once a month cooking, recipes
Just for fun, here’s one of my family’s favorite freezer-friendly recipes, Spaghetti Pie (reprinted from my book, Frozen Assets: How to cook for a day and eat for a month, Champion Press). This recipe can easily be double or tripled.
My original Spaghetti Pie recipe called for a full pound of ground beef, but now I only use half a pound per pie. I find half a pound to be more than enough. This recipe could also be made with ground turkey, Italian bulk sausage, TVP (texturized vegetable protein), or no meat (or meat substitutes) at all.
SPAGHETTI PIE (from: Frozen Assets)
(6 servings)
-
6 oz. dry spaghetti noodles
-
2 tbsp butter or margarine
-
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
-
2 well-beaten eggs
-
1/2 lb ground beef
-
1/2 cup chopped onion
-
1 (8-oz.) can Italian-style stewed tomatoes (don’t drain)
-
1 (6-oz.) can tomato paste
-
1 tsp sugar
-
1 tsp dried oregano, crushed
-
1/2 clove garlic, minced
-
1 cup cottage cheese
-
1/2 cup cheese (your choice: mozzarella, cheddar, American, or Moneterey Jack), shredded
Cook spaghetti noodles. Drain. Stir margarine into hot noodles until melted. Stir in Parmesan cheese and eggs. Form pasta mixture into a crust shape in a buttered 9-inch pie plate. In skillet, cook ground beef and onions until meat is browned. Drain. Stir into ground beef, tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar , oregano and garlic. Heat through. Spread cottage cheese over bottom of spaghetti crust. Top with tomato/meat mixture. Sprinkle grated cheese over all. Cover pie pan with foil; label and freeze.
To Serve: Thaw. Bake, covered, for 25 minutes at 350 F. Remove foil and bake for 5 minutes more until cheese is lightly browned.
Enjoy!
~Debi
Filed under: bulk buying, chicken, cooking, cooking ahead, freezer, freezer cooking, frozen assets, once a month cooking, recipes
Here’s one of my family’s all-time favorite chicken recipes. The 
instructions include directions for preparing ahead of time for the freezer. So if you find chicken on sale at a good stock-up price, you can take advantage of the sale prices and have this delicious meal waiting in the freezer for a busy evening later in the month. If you want to bake without freezing first, be sure to allow at least an hour or two to marinade in the refrigerator.
MARINATED LIME CHICKEN (from Frozen Assets Lite & Easy)
6 servings
-
6 chicken breast portions (about 8 ounces each)
-
1/2 teaspoon salt
-
1/4 teaspoon pepper
-
4 limes (or 4 tablespoons bottled lime juice)
-
4 teaspoons white wine vinegar
-
9 tablespoons olive oil
-
2 teaspoons basil
Preparation: Squeeze limes into a medium sized bowl. Stir in vinegar, olive oil, basil, salt and pepper. Place chicken breast portions into labeled freezer bags. Pour lime sauce over top; seal and freeze.
To Serve: Thaw completely. Pour marinade into small saucepan. Heat to boiling. Place chicken pieces into shallow oven-proof dish. Pour boiled marinade over chicken. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 35 – 40 minutes or until chicken is tender and cooked through. Serve hot, sprinkled with fresh basil sprigs if available.
I hope your family likes this recipe as much as my family does!
~Debi
Filed under: cooking, cooking ahead, freezer, freezer cooking, frozen assets, oamc, once a month cooking, recipes
Cooking up a large batch of meatballs in advance to store in the freezer goes a long way toward establishing a supply of quick and easy meals. And if you take advantage of sales on ground beef and stock up, this can be a tremendous boon to your family budget too!
In addition to stirring meatballs into spaghetti sauce, you can also use them in soups, serve them on skewers (kids love this!), or heat in brown gravy – or with a warmed can of cream of mushroom soup poured over the top — and served with rice or mashed potatoes.
The following recipes prepare a large batch of freezer meatballs and also include examples of ways to use frozen meatballs. The sauces require some preparation, but the meals go together quickly with your stockpile of precooked meatballs in the freezer. (more…)
