Prepping the freezer

[Cindylouwho]

So my kitchen freezer is full of miscellaneous veges and such. ......I have a nice supply of frozen peppers and squash of all sorts. .....when I can't eat all the fruit and veges I freeze them. It gives me the opportunity to put together fruit bowls real quick...or make fruit crisp or other desserts with fruits too. .

You are able to freeze fruits and vegetables and still use them in a fresh bowl? I do this sometimes with peppers for soups/chilis but not so much with other items. I waste too many fruits and vegetables around here. I try to buy frozen for smoothies and such to avoid this. Could you tell us a little bit about how you use these? I need some more ideas on this topic. And I REALLY need to get on the bananas. DS loves banana bread and I rarely make it.

 

[ChristmasPir8]

I
http://blog.kingarthurflour.com/201...tm_campaign=content&utm_content=&sf61747012=1

Some great ideas here! Thanks Lucie.

 

[ChristmasPir8]

My friend came over a few weeks ago and we did the freezer stock thing so I have some goodies in there for meals need to move on to Cookie next.

 

[MinnieCo]

I made up a couple casseroles this week. 2 Shepard's Pies and one Chicken Spaghetti Casserole. Those are full size 8x8 pans and then I made 3 individual servings for my hubby to eat while I'm out of town next month. I just remembered, I also made a batch of homemade refried beans and froze a couple quarts of those as well for use later.

Two of them are pioneer woman recipes...Here are the links. Both are super yummy!!

http://thepioneerwoman.com/food-and-friends/how-to-make-slow-cooker-refried-beans/

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/chicken_spaghet/

 

[AuntJamelle]

I got two appetizers in the freezer last night - feels good!

Made the Herb Cream Cheese Pinwheels and also made Pepperoni Asiago Honey Mustard Pinwheels. That last is a new recipe but I'm 99% sure it's going to be rockin' - but I'll probably bake one up soon just to be sure!

I don't usually care for honey mustard but this recipe has you mix up your own - part coarse grainy mustard, part Dijon and part honey using the raw organic kind I purchased a while back. Boy was it good!!! Yes! I sneaked a taste! I just had to!

I am going to try and do PW Holiday Bacon Appetizers and my tried and true Cream Cheese Bacon Pinwheels soon as well. It's trick to do the PW Bacon Apps because they have to cook for 2 hours AFTER you get done assembling all of them - hard to squeeze that in on a weeknight! And my weekends are looking PACKED between now and the party. Between now and Christmas really!

 

[Cindylouwho]

I love Pioneer Woman -- there is nothing she makes that doesn't look super delicious!

I finally had time to do a 3 hour freezer cooking session last weekend -- it's been months and I'm SO relieved to have the freezer restocked. I HATE cooking on weeknights. Now I'm all into happy cooking mode again! These are big slow cooker meals for 5-6 people and follow a theme of recipes to maximize on bulk produce purchases (like a huge bag of Bell Peppers) :

I made 2 big batches each plus I did 1 extra in a smaller single size for Grandpa -- he has a mini slow cooker and will be very happy when I bring these over. He does't really cook for himself too often.

Beef Stroganoff - 2
Bacon Cheeseburger Soup - 2
Beef & Black Bean Chiil
Chicken Chili - 2
Chicken Cacciatori - 2
Chicken Tikka Masala - 2

Going to do a mini-sessions in the coming days with Pork and maybe some marinades. The do some double meals on regular cooking nights. That ought to get us set through the Holidays. Planning on doing cookie doughs with the kids this weekend if we can pull it off.

(And I threw the ripe bananas in the freezer while I was at it!)

 

[Minta]

I got two appetizers in the freezer last night - feels good!

Made the Herb Cream Cheese Pinwheels and also made Pepperoni Asiago Honey Mustard Pinwheels. That last is a new recipe but I'm 99% sure it's going to be rockin' - but I'll probably bake one up soon just to be sure!

I don't usually care for honey mustard but this recipe has you mix up your own - part coarse grainy mustard, part Dijon and part honey using the raw organic kind I purchased a while back. Boy was it good!!! Yes! I sneaked a taste! I just had to!

I am going to try and do PW Holiday Bacon Appetizers and my tried and true Cream Cheese Bacon Pinwheels soon as well. It's trick to do the PW Bacon Apps because they have to cook for 2 hours AFTER you get done assembling all of them - hard to squeeze that in on a weeknight! And my weekends are looking PACKED between now and the party. Between now and Christmas really!

Can you assemble one evening, refrigerate them and bake them the next evening?

 

[AuntJamelle]

I wasn't sure about doing that - thought the crackers might get soggy? It might work - what I should do is when I make them this year I should test that out with a few and see what happens!!! Thanks for making me thing about that!!!

 

[AuntJamelle]

Way to GO, Cindylouwho! You did awesome!!! It's nice to see the freezer filling up!

 

[sweetpumkinpye]

I need to get into the shed and tidy out our spare freezer again. How does it get so messy??
Will need to get some icecream in there, we finished the last tub last week. It will be hotter here soon and it is a staple here.

 

[luludou]

Froze one recipe of ragoût de boulettes.

 

[AuntJamelle]

Got quite a bit of freezer "feeding" done this weekend!

1 batch of Gobs cookie dough
1 batch of PW Bacon Apppetizers
1 huge batch of Kieflees, baked then frozen
1 batch of twice baked fingerling potatoes
1 batch of PW Creamy Mashed Potatoes - portioned out into 4 small ziplock bags for me to use as needed this holiday season. Figured this would be a good way to get my mashed potato "fix" even though I'll be cooking Keto friendly options for DH!

 

[luludou]

Just ordered 100 bite-sized tourtieres for entrées - they will be frozen. great for lunches if some are leftover too!

 

[AuntJamelle]

Lucie - I had to google what tourtieres are - they sound delish!

 

[luludou]

AJ, they are delicious!
I need to start baking soon.

 

[Ahorsesoul]

I've finally felt like cooking. Might have something to do with the new Instant Pot. Cooked a whiole chicken (40 minutes) for one dinner of just chicken meat with mashed potatoes and veggies. The leftover chicken I made White chicken chili (10minutes). Then I have contains of beef stew that only took 30 minutes to make. Love that pot.

 

[luludou]

Sausages wrapped in bacon for NY's eve are cooked and in the freezer

 

[AuntJamelle]

Mini Bacon Pinwheels are in the freezer! Also made and baked then froze 3 batches of cookies this weekend too.

 

[luludou]

a pack of italian sausages have been cooked and cut in slices for freezing.
Made 24 mini pizza muffins and they have been added to the freezer

 

[Lolwlias]

I love Pioneer Woman -- there is nothing she makes that doesn't look super delicious!

I finally had time to do a 3 hour freezer cooking session last weekend -- it's been months and I'm SO relieved to have the freezer restocked. I HATE cooking on weeknights. Now I'm all into happy cooking mode again! These are big slow cooker meals for 5-6 people and follow a theme of recipes to maximize on bulk produce purchases (like a huge bag of Bell Peppers) :

I made 2 big batches each plus I did 1 extra in a smaller single size for Grandpa -- he has a mini slow cooker and will be very happy when I bring these over. He does't really cook for himself too often.

Beef Stroganoff - 2
Bacon Cheeseburger Soup - 2
Beef & Black Bean Chiil
Chicken Chili - 2
Chicken Cacciatori - 2
Chicken Tikka Masala - 2

Going to do a mini-sessions in the coming days with Pork and maybe some marinades. The do some double meals on regular cooking nights. That ought to get us set through the Holidays. Planning on doing cookie doughs with the kids this weekend if we can pull it off.

(And I threw the ripe bananas in the freezer while I was at it!)

Could I please have the Chicken Tikka Masala recipe? Thank you.