Meal 1 (this is one of my favorite meals, so easy, so yummy):
-flavored chicken sausages (kept frozen then thrown on the grill)
-grilled sweet potatoes
-green salad with bottle dressing

Meal 2:
-Taco salad: ground beef/turkey broken into small pieces and frozen; chopped onions & bell peppers frozen; spice mix prepared... to cook just brown meat and add veggies and spice mix, stir in a can of drained beans, then serve over broken chips & lettuce and top with pre-shredded cheese, store-bought guacamole, and salsa

Meal 3:
-chicken & veggie stir fry: ck cut up and frozen; veggies cut up and frozen; spice mix prepared in adavance
-steamed rice
-homemade dumpling: prepared in advance & frozen

Meal 4:
-grilled chicken breasts: trim and freeze with marinade; defrost in fridge to let marinade take effect; then grill (make extra and save for meal 5)
-sliced cantaloupe
-grilled corn-on-the-cob

Meal 5:
-grilled chicken sandwiches with store-bought guacamole: use ck from meal 4
-baked potatoes

Meal 6:
-burgers: patties prepared & frozen then grilled
-oven baked french fries: potatoes peeled, cut and frozen in advance

Meal 7:
-enchiladas: prepared, cooked, and frozen in advance
-frijoles charros: same as enchiladas

quote:

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Originally posted by BionicGirl:
Ooo, I was just making a list of easy-prep meals that I could prepare in advance, freeze, and then let A cook after the baby comes.
....I wish I had room for a chest freezer!

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We just got a little 5 cu ft chest. I actually put it in the place where we had a table thingy for the cat food to sit on, and it's smaller really, so it was a space replacement. I covered the whole thing in clear contact paper to help keep it cleanable and nice from the cats. Mander calls this power nesting, hahaha. Of course the REAL reason for buying the freezer is to give my mother something to do while she's here. Wanna help mom? there's an empty freezer... go for it.

So far I have 2 quart bags of chili, 3 bags of fried eggplant (I fried for HOURS last night), a quart of prepared sloppy joe stuff and some chicken breasts... wish I'd thought of the marinade, but there will be more no doubt.

I have a huge pot of veggie soup on the stove now. Should I freeze with the alphabet pasta in it or freeze the pasta seperate, or just let pasta get made when the time comes?

I'm also making sausage stuffed portobella mushrooms tonight and will have enough to pack some away.

quote:

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Originally posted by crowjoy:
I have a huge pot of veggie soup on the stove now. Should I freeze with the alphabet pasta in it or freeze the pasta seperate, or just let pasta get made when the time comes?

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quote:

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Originally posted by kena:
I'm famous for my curried carrot potage.

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Recipe please? Mmmm.

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Originally posted by crowjoy:
Recipe please? Mmmm.

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Here it is. My instructions are a little bit "rough" because I never measure anything but you can't really mess up with this recipe.
- Chop an onion and a few cloves of garlic.
-Dice potatoes and carrots in about equal amounts (maybe a little bit more carrots than potatoes...). I like to leave the skins of the potatoes on if they're nice. I usually make a huge soup, so I'll have about six-seven carrots and four potatoes.
-Sauté everything a little bit of olive oil (that's the secret!) for at least five to ten minutes. Stir well because the potatoes tend to stick.
-Add pepper and basic dried herbs(thyme,parsley... the usual italian stuff). Sometimes, I'll also add a little bit of fresh ginger.
-Cover with chicken stock and simmer until vegetables are soft. Sometimes I use homemade stock, sometimes I use low-fat organic stock (which is pretty good), and sometimes I use *gasp* stock concentrate.
-Purée very well. It should be thicker than normal cream of carrot because we haven't added the milk yet.
-Add curry and salt/pepper to taste. You can freeze it at that point.
-Just before serving, add some milk until you reach the desired texture. If you froze the base, you might have to readjust the spices a little bit.

That's it!

Oh, I forgot! It's fabulous with croutons on top of it!

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Originally posted by crowjoy:
My bestest buddy is coming from Seattle next week too and is bringing her favorite vegetarian recipes, so I'll share BG in case you want to incorporate any into your plan.

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Yes, please do.

/continuing hijack

I'm actually really excited about having a second fridge though! There are so many occasions in the past where I could have used the extra space. Plus, I'm planning to use it to keep the milk that the other 2 moms bring for the babies I'll be watching next Fall.

quote:

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Originally posted by crowjoy:
Yay! We just bought a chest freezer!

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I was distracted by the cold of Chicago when I read this and thought "My chest can't get any colder! "

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Originally posted by giamaria:
"My chest can't get any colder! "

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*edited to say...Can you freeze pasta? like a spaghetti with tomato & veggie based sauce?*

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Originally posted by Epicurus:
Here, let me warm that up for you...

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Originally posted by fluffygurl:
My mam makes the filling for meat pies and freezes it then when the time comes round she gets the pastry in a box and uses that with the frozen mixture and lets it all cook up in the oven mmmmm

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Can you be more specific about the innards of a meat pie? I think that sounds like something we'd like but after my last shepard's pie fiasco I don't trust myself to make it up on the fly.

quote:

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Originally posted by kena:
Here it is. My instructions are a little bit "rough" because I never measure anything but you can't really mess up with this recipe.
- Chop an onion and a few cloves of garlic.
-Dice potatoes and carrots in about equal amounts (maybe a little bit more carrots than potatoes...). I like to leave the skins of the potatoes on if they're nice. I usually make a huge soup, so I'll have about six-seven carrots and four potatoes.
-Saut?verything a little bit of olive oil (that's the secret!) for at least five to ten minutes. Stir well because the potatoes tend to stick.
-Add pepper and basic dried herbs(thyme,parsley... the usual italian stuff). Sometimes, I'll also add a little bit of fresh ginger.
-Cover with chicken stock and simmer until vegetables are soft. Sometimes I use homemade stock, sometimes I use low-fat organic stock (which is pretty good), and sometimes I use *gasp* stock concentrate.
-Pur?very well. It should be thicker than normal cream of carrot because we haven't added the milk yet.
-Add curry and salt/pepper to taste. You can freeze it at that point.
-Just before serving, add some milk until you reach the desired texture. If you froze the base, you might have to readjust the spices a little bit.

That's it!

Oh, I forgot! It's fabulous with croutons on top of it!

[This message has been edited by kena (edited 01-23-2003).]

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quote:

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Originally posted by crowjoy:
Can you be more specific about the innards of a meat pie? I think that sounds like something we'd like but after my last shepard's pie fiasco I don't trust myself to make it up on the fly.

I got some good deals on beef today and figured I'd make a meatloaf to freeze. Trying to decide now if I should cook it first or freeze it raw. Is the meat pie filling cooked first

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Originally posted by greengoddess:
anyone have any good vegetarian ideas?

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1 pack each Pork country ribs in bbq sauce, in chili lime marinade, in tomato sauce, in baked beans and in sesame ginger marinade.

Meatballs (2 packs) in tomato sauce, 2 meatloafs, and 2 packs of meat sauce.

1 pack each Chicken thighs in tomato sauce, in chicken gravy and in chicken broth (this might decide to be soup before I'm done, though I'm sorta winding down.)

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Originally posted by crowjoy:
I really want to make the Kena's carrot soup but I'm too nervous to guess at the curry without some guidance. If someone else makes it, let me know what you do!

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I'll try to measure next time I make it. But even then, it all depends on how strong your curry is and how spicy you like your food...

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Originally posted by kena:
I'll try to measure next time I make it. But even then, it all depends on how strong your curry is and how spicy you like your food...

In general, I start with about one or two teaspoons, taste, then add some more until I like the flavor.

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Thanks!! I am making this tonight!

Edited to say MMMMMMM!!!!! Oh MY GAH! Is that some good soup! You are now internationally famous for it Kena! We had some tonight and I had enough to make 2 freezer bags. I am a curry convert. My only snafu was I remembered way after I started that I'd broken the blender at Christmas, but the mixer worked just as well.

Thanky thanky

Ma's stew/meat pie

1 large red onion
1 medium sized carrot(you can substitue or add any root veggie)
1 cup frozen peas
Half stalk celery(use a potato peeler to get nasty stringy bits off)
As much garlic as u like
Half can of baked beans(if you are freezing this mixture leave em out until you go to make the pie)
3-4 small cups of stock(try get the best quality as this really makes the sauce yum)
1/2 bottle red wine(optional)
2-4lbs stewing beef(we are meat loving freaks in my family)
thyme
bay leaves
parsley
(or just do what we do and use those teabags of herbs bouqet garni I think pull it out when your ready to serve)
As much potatoes as you like(we irish go overboard with the potatoes but I would say 4 large russet gold I think theyre called fit the bill)
Salt and pepper

Some people say sear the beef to keep the taste and juices in. We dont we're too lazy.
The most important thing is have all the meat and veg roughly the same size so they all cook evenly.

We have a big ol casserole pot thats been around since time begun.
Dump everything into your pot bar the peas + beans. Only pour in a small cup of red wine with the stock. The rest will be used later.

Seaon quite heavily with the pepper less so with the salt. Put into pre warmed oven at about 150C(not sure about gas) It takes about 31/2 4 hours cooking check the grub every so often to make theres enough juice if not top up with water or stock. About 20 mins before the end dump in the peas and beans and give it stir to make sure of even distribution.

Tada its cooked now take it out and drain about half the gravy into a saucpan (or get as much of as you can if your making meatpie)
Heat the pan with the stock and add in the rest of wine. reduce it til it gets a consistency that you like if it gets too dry add a bit of water if its not thickening add a pinch of corn flour and blend well.

Add the sauce back and enjoy as casserole or let both mixtures cool then bag em seperatly and freeze them.

When you want pie take em out let them defrost. My ma heats the mixture before she puts it into the pie. For the pastry just get the normal rolling stuff and fit it to your pie plate grease the pastry slightly and add the mixture add as much sauce as u like. Then cook until the pastrys golden brown et voila!

Sorry some bits arent more specific its just to do with peoples tastes hope this is of some help to ya!

Edited to add the left over sauce makes great bases for soups or you can just keep it for gravy for your roast dinner. You can also make the casserole with chicken Id just go for parts like the thighs instead of breasts as they are more suited to stewing

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Originally posted by bali:
I make butternut squash ravioli and wontons to freeze.

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Well, I guess I shoulda known that when two old friends get together for a measly 4 days after not seeing each other for almost 2 years not including the wedding which wasn't really a visit that no real cooking would get done. We did make Kena's soup which was SO good and we made some quiches to freeze but never did get to her other recipes (they involved shopping ya know.) She is going to forward some to me though and I'll share.

To cook, bring a big pot of water to boil. Add one or two at a time until they float, like a minute. Than drain and drizzle with oil, sauted garlic and sage.

It's called parsley butter (maybe also cafe de paris butter?) and you make it like so:
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
- 60 grams butter, softened
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- squeeze lemon juice
- cracked black pepper
- pinch of salt

(these are Australian quantities - do you call parsley parsley in the US? Let me know if not)

You mix it together and then wrap it up in aluminium foil to freeze. I didn't believe it would work at first because I thought you couldn't freeze dairy products. But it's been fine - parsley stays green, garlic flavour remains. I've been using it to put on mashed potato/pumpkin, as a base for sauteeing chicken/steak etc. I am also planning to use it with chicken and linguine for a really light sauce (not light as in low-fat, just light as in thin).