Spring Break has sprung and it is now back to the daily grind and the downhill slope toward the end of the school year. We had a great break, played, worked, and relaxed. The weather was perfect (except for the unseasonal cold/snow yesterday) and I can't say I'd have it any other way.
Looking ahead at our calendars, I was realizing how busy the next few months are going to be. And that always seems to make dinner time a rush or an extra expense to eat out (yet again)!
I've been loving the e-mealz.com website where I receive a low-fat meal plan for the week with shopping guide and recipes. But, I'm also considering the time crunch on some of our weekends and that seems to be when I do the weekly grocery shopping. And I just won't have all the time to prepare the meals from start to finish after getting home from work. So, I dusted off my Super Suppers Cookbook and found some recipes that I know we like since we've tried them before and did a little shopping yesterday. My plan was to shop on Saturday and cook on Sunday then store all the meals in the freezer to have ready any day.
I organized my recipes, shopping lists and coupons. I went to Kroger's (alone!) and purchased about $150 worth of groceries. Everything I bought was either on sale, had a coupon or the store brand OR I already had the recipe item at home. I'm also using Cellfire.com - which you can load coupons directly to your Kroger card (or Tom Thumb Card) and then it will automatically deduct the savings when your card is scanned at the register. Double points - you can also use a manufacturer coupon as well for that item and save even more! Triple-points - if you own an iPhone, get the free app CardStar. You can set up all your store cards on there and it creates a bar code - so all you have to do is show your phone to the checkout and they scan that instead of having to carry around a wallet or keychain full of store cards - Nice!
Anywhooo....I started cooking around 9:30/10:00am , took an hour break for lunch than finished up by 2:00. Not bad for finishing off 11 meals!!! I made Lasagna, Tex Mex Beef Fiesta, Chicken Enchiladas, Chicken Dijon, Maple Mustard Chicken and Thai Chicken Wings. All the recipes came from my Super Suppers Cookbook but I'll copy them here if you wanna try them. The only one we had not previously tried was the Thai Chicken Wings - but they sounded yummy.
It's best to start with the kitchen neat and clean and your recipes and ingredients all laid out in front of you. I changed some of the recipes by using the low fat or fat free version of ingredients and using smaller pans to portion each meal up.
First - I started with the chicken recipes: I poached a couple chicken breasts (4) to use for the diced chicken in the enchiladas and everything else you didn't have to cook ahead. I also made sure to have plastic wrap, foil, square foil pans, sharpie marker and ziplocs.
As the chicken was cooking - I put together the Thai Chicken Wings, and Maple Mustard Chicken. I then moved on to the Chicken Dijon while I let the cooked chicken cool. By then, it was cooled off and ready to assemble the Chicken Enchiladas. I got 3 serving pans out of this 1 recipe!
After lunch I cooked 2 1/2 lbs of ground beef in 1 skillet with the ingredients for the Tex Mex Beef and cooked the other 1 lb in another skillet with the ingredients for the lasagna. I was able to multitask and work on both of these recipes at the same time.
I love that the freezer is full of yummy things to eat and not just frozen pizza and chicken nuggets! Hopefully this will get us through some busy evenings and supplement the standard meals we seem to make. I also stocked the freezer with frozen vegetables and the pantry has rice and canned veggies.
I hope you find some of this helpful and try some of the recipes listed below: My changes are in red.
Thai Chicken Wings
Ingredients:
24 chicken wings, tips removed, cut into wings and drumettes
8 cloves garlic , coarsely chopped 6 cloves
1 T ginger 1 teaspoon ginger powder
4 t soy sauce
4 t honey
2 t coriander
2 t fish sauce
One - Place chicken wings in a large resealable plastic bag; add remaining ingredients. Seal bag; turn to coat chicken wings. Refrigerate for 2 - 24 hours.
Two - Preheat oven to 350
Three - Place wings on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake, uncovered, 15 minutes. Turn and bake 5 minutes more or until chicken is no longer pink (Or broil 10 minutes. Turn and broil about 5 minutes more or until chicken is no longer pink).
Freeze Ahead: Prepare through Step One and freeze up to 2 months. Defrost completely in refrigerator. Continue on to Step Two.
Maple Mustard Chicken
Ingredients
2 T Dijon Mustard
2 T maple syrup
2 T honey
2 t lemon juice
1 3-31/2 lb chicken, cut into 8 pieces 3 chicken breasts and a few tenderloins
2 T vegetable oil
One: In a large bowl, stir together 1st 4 ingredients. Add chicken pieces, turning to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 1 - 6 hours
Two: Drain chicken, reserving mustard mixture. Preheat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Brown chicken pieces on both sides. Turn heat to low. Pour mustard mixture over chicken. Cover and simmer gently for 30-40 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink.
Three: To serve, place chicken on a large serving platter. Pour pan juices over chicken.
Freeze Ahead: Place chicken pieces and mustard mixture in a freezer bag and freeze up to 2 months. Defrost completely in refrigerator. Continue according to Step Two.
Would be so easy to double or triple and make several bags of chicken ready to cook up in the freezer.
Chicken Dijon
1/2 cup bottled ranch salad dressing
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
1 cup Italian-seasoned bread crumbs
6 medium boneless, skinless chicken breast halves package of chicken tenderloins
One: Preheat oven to 350. Coat a 13x9x2 inch baking dish with cooking spray.
Two: Stir together salad dressing and mustard. Put bread crumbs in a shallow dish. Use a pastry brush to coat both sides of each chicken breast half with the salad dressing mixture. Coat chicken with the bread crumbs. Arrange chicken in the prepared baking dish. I put ranch/mustard in one pie pan and bread crumbs in the other. Dunked the chicken in wet mixture than bread crumbs and put them on a cookie sheet.
Three: Bake, uncovered, about 20 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink.
Freeze ahead: Prepare through Step Two. Cover with plastic wrap and foil. Freeze up to 1 month. Defrost , and continue on to Step Three. I flash froze the chicken on the cookie sheet than placed them in a ziploc...than I can take out however many I want to cook up at a time.
Chicken and Green Chile Enchiladas
1 3-lb chicken, stewed and meat removed, or 3 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, poached and chopped (3 cups). I used 4 smallish chicken breasts I had in the freezer.
4 cups shredded cheddar cheese
10 green onions, thinly sliced - 1 bunch - so maybe 5 green onions
2 t chili powder
2 cans condensed cream of chicken soup fat free
2 cups sour cream light sour cream
1 7 oz can diced green chile peppers, undrained 2 4.5 oz cans
12 6 inch corn tortillas
One: Preheat oven to 350. Coat a 13x9x2 inch baking dish with cooking spray
Two: In a large bowl stir together chopped chicken, 2 cups of the cheese, green onion, and chili powder. In another bowl combine soup, sour cream, and undrained chile peppers. Stir 1 cup of the soup mixture into the chicken mixture. Spread 1/2cup of the soup mixture in the bottom of the prepared baking dish.
Three: Place 1/2 cup of the chicken mixture on 1 tortilla. Roll up tortilla; place in baking dish. Repeat with the remaining mixture and tortillas. Place any remaining mixture on top of rolled tortillas. Pour remaining soup mixture over tortillas; sprinkle with the remaining 2 cups of cheese.
Four: Bake, uncovered, for 35-45 minutes or until hot and bubbly.
Freeze ahead: Prepare through Step Three. Cover with plastic wrap and foil. Freeze up to 2 months. Defrost completely, preheat over and continue to Step Four.
I got 3 square foil pans out of this recipe...but I don't particularly like to have leftovers and I know our family will only eat a smaller portion. Clearly this would be easy to double and do several batches. It is really good, too!
Tex-Mex Beef Fiesta
1 1/2 pounds of ground beef
1 cup chopped onion - 1/2 cup
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1 t minced fresh garlic
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
1/2 cup sliced pitted black olives - you could leave out if you like
1 T chili powder
1 t salt
1/2 t ground cumin
One: In a large skillet cook ground beef, onion, mushrooms, and garlic over medium-high heat until meat is brown. Drain off fat.
Two: Stir in undrained tomatoes, olives, chili powder, salt and cumin. Bring to boiling. Turn heat to medium-low. Cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring often.
Freeze ahead: Place cooked meat mixture in a freezer bag and freeze up to 2 months. Defrost completely in refrigerator. Reheat over medium-low heat.
I doubled this recipe and put 2 1/2 cups in 3 freezer bags. This is really good served in tortillas, taco shells, over corn chips or on top of bagged salad mix. A little cheese on top would be good too.
Easy Family Lasagna
1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 t dried Italian mixed herbs
2 26-oz jars pasta sauce
1/2 cup water
6 dried lasagna noodles
1 16 oz container cottage cheese low fat
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese reduced fat
1 t minced fresh garlic
1 t dried parsley
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
One: Preheat oven to 350. Coat a 13x9x2 inch baking dish with cooking spray.
Two: In a large skillet cook ground beef, onion, and Italian herbs until meat is brown. Drain off fat. Stir in pasta sauce and water. Spread 1 cup of the meat mixture in the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Top with 3 uncooked noodles. Pour 2 cups of the meat mixture over the noodles.
Three: Stir together cottage cheese, Parmesan cheese, garlic and parsley. Dollop cheese mixture on top of meat mixture and spread carefully. Top with 3 more uncooked noodles and remaining meat mixture.
Four: Bake, uncovered, about 1 hour or until hot and bubbly. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Bake 10 minutes more.
I went ahead and made 2 square foil pans of this. I divided the mozzarella cheese up into little sandwich bags and froze it between a layer of plastic wrap and foil with each pan.
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