Mealtime Monday
>> Monday, March 10, 2008
My friend Dianne is my current cooking hero. Last week, she cooked for two days straight and made 30 meals to put in her freezer! No more cooking for her for a month!
Hello? Does that sound lovely to anyone besides me?
Now don't get me wrong. I don't mind cooking. I just hate that late afternoon dilemma of...
"What should I fix for dinner?"
"Do I have all the ingredients I need?"
"Should I really be expected to make a decent meal with two kids hanging from my belt loops whining that they're starving, one kid practicing the piano, and the other wanting help with some sort of 'vital' project?"
But I digress. Um...where was I?
Oh. Yes. Dinner.
Now, there are bunches of "cooking ahead" resources and ideas out there (trust me...after I talked to Dianne last week, I surfed several of them), but the basic idea is the same. Cook in bulk, freeze meals for later, and make your life simple and happy.
There. I have just solved the world's problems. :o)
I'm going to give this a try. I can't imagine that I'd be successful at cooking for two days straight (see above reference to belt loops, piano and projects), but what I am going to do is make doubles of my weekday dinners and freeze one of them. A bit slower process, but with the same result.
And since I like new recipes, I'm making the assumption that you do too, so I'll post some of my recipes here. Feel free to reciprocate in the comment section! I'm always looking for things to spice up our rotation of dinner items.
Today's Special:
Russian Chicken
6-8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 8 0z. bottle Russian dressing
1 envelope onion soup mix
8 oz. apricot jam
1 can pineapple tidbits, drained
Place chicken in a baking dish. Mix dressing, soup mix, jam, and pineapple. Pour over chicken. Turn to coat. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake and additional 15 minutes. Serve over hot, cooked rice.
*Tip...make LOTS of rice...separate it into freezer bags and freeze. To re-heat, open the bag slightly and microwave for a few minutes on high power. Voila! Hot "instant" rice*
**To freeze**
Put chicken breasts in a freezer bag. Mix all ingredients, dump into bag with chicken. Freeze. When cooking from frozen, extend oven cooking time to account for freezing, or cook in the crock pot on low for 6-8 hours. Sauce will be thinner when cooking in the crock pot...but still yummy.
4 remarks:
A very courageous plan, indeed. Sometimes I freeze extras too, and here is one of my faves because it's simple, reheats perfectly, and goes with everything.
Quick Cheese Biscuits (makes 10-16)
2 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar
4 tbsp. butter (well-chilled)
1 1/3 cups milk
1-Preheat to 450. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl. Stir in cheddar.
2-Cut in butter using pastry blender or 2 knives until course crumbs form.
3-Using fork, stir milk into flour mix until soft dough forms. DO NOT overmix, it's better lumpy
4-Drop dough in heaping tbsp., 1 inch apart onto baking sheet (I usually spray it with cooking spray). Bake for 15 minutes.
**You can freeze these after they are cooked. I usually warm them at 350 for just a few minutes, YUM! :)
Thanks for playing!
Those biscuits sound so tasty...can't wait to try them. :o)
HEY wern't (I'm not sure if that is proper english but it sounds good to me.) we in the same swimming class? I remember getting that recipe from Cami while doing leg lifts. lol ....ahhh those were the days. The days when I actually had energy to exercise. To tell you the truth it was the conversation with adults that did it. Anyway it's funny that you posted about that because I was just talking to someone about it and thought it would be lots of fun to get some sisters together for a day and go crazy making meals to freeze. wow this has to be the longest comment I've ever posted....consider yourself loved he he.
Love the new layout...that mountain picture is just gorgeous!
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