Prep Now, Cook Later

Today's blog post is brought to you by S & E being gone for the weekend, Anna Kendrick Radio on Pandora and some priced to sell chicken breasts at the store.

I think I have said it before, I use my crock pot a lot!  I love walking in the door to a ready made meal.

I have been thinking about "freezer cooking" for a while now and decided to spend part of my relaxing weekend alone prepping a few meals.

The premise of freezer cooking is freezer to crock pot with only a little thawing time in between.

Today I made Cilantro-Lime Chicken, BBQ-Cranberry Chicken, and Maple-Dijon Chicken (like I said, chicken was on sale today!)

I started with the Maple-Dijon.
I combined 1C dijon mustard, 1/2 C maple Syrup, 2T red wine vinegar and a little salt and pepper.

I put about 1 1/2 pounds of chicken in a Zip-Lock bag and added the mixture.

On the bag I wrote: Maple-Dijon Chicken. Thaw for 24 hours and cook on low for 8 hours. I also noted to sprinkle rosemary over the top before serving.
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Next I made the BBQ-Cranberry Chicken
I mixed a few sprinkle of dried onion, a can of whole cranberry sauce and 1C BBQ sauce

I added about 2 pounds of chicken and wrote on the bag: BBQ-Cranberry chicken. Thaw overnight and cook on low 6-7 hours.
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Lastly, I made the Cilantro-Lime Chicken
I mixed lime juice (from 2 limes), a bunch on chopped cilantro, frozen corn, 1/2 an onion, 1 can of black beans, a few shakes of cumin and some salt and pepper.

I added about 1 1/2 pounds of chicken. I wrote on the bag: Thaw for 24 hours, cook on low for 8 hours. I also added to serve on tortillas with sour cream, guacamole, salsa and cheese.

I found it helpful to write on the bags before I added any food. I also used a mixing bowl to hold the bag upright while I filled it

There you go. 3 nights of meals with about an hours work or less!

Obviously we haven't eaten them yet but I'll be sure to let you know when we do!

Meatless Monday

We try to eat "Meatless" at least once a week.

I made these quinoa stuffed peppers last week and they were great!

Here is the recipe. I made a bit less, as this makes 6 and I only made 4.

2c cooked quinoa
1c frozen corn
1 can black beans
1 can diced tomatoes
3T(ish) chopped cilantro
Chopped onion
2 cloves chopped garlic
1t cumin
1t chili powder
Salt and pepper.
Cheese-I made 2 with cheddar and 2 with dairy free cheese.

Mix all together.

Cut the tops off 6 bell peppers and stuff the peppers with the quinoa mix.
Place in a pan (a loaf pan fits 2 perfectly) and bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.
I served them with some sliced avocado

I

Since I have recently found out that I am dairy and egg free, I will probably start writing about how I modify my recipes so that my whole family can eat them!

As always, enjoy!

Guinness Corned Beef and Cabbage

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2 blog posts in 1 day...must mean my family was well fed this weekend! =)

S is a little bit Irish, so that means E is a little bit Irish too.

Since the 17th falls on a Tuesday this year, we decided to celebrate my boys Irish heritage today. We began the morning with green pancakes...E wasn't so sure about them...

I am typically not a corned beef fan, but once a year I make it and I like it!

Here's my recipe

I boiled my beef on the stove instead of the crock pot this year. 

I put the meat in my big stock pot and added the spice packet, I also threw in some bay leaves. Then comes the good stuff...I added a can of Guinness, I could have used 2 but S wanted to drink some. Then I added water to cover the meat.

I got that boiling, then covered and simmered for about 2 hours.

Once I was nearing the 2 hour mark, I got my veggies prepped. 

Cabbage (of course!) onion, carrots and potatoes.  I quartered the potatoes and left the skin on. I thew in all the veggies, except the cabbage, got it up to boiling again then simmered for 10 minutes. Next, I added the cabbage(cut into 8ths) and simmered for about 15 minutes more. 

I piled everything on my biggest platter and still didn't have enough room

 

 Next time, I think I will only use 1/2 a cabbage, we have lots of leftover boiled cabbage. I am going to make a stuffed cabbage casserole in the crock pot later this week, thanks for the idea Mom!

Hope you all have a Happy St. Paddy's Day!

 

Turkey Black Bean Chili

When I think of spring weather, I don't typically think about making chili. I do, however, think about a quick, healthy meal that gets me outside and playing sooner.

Last night, I sent S & E out to play and got this going quickly so I could join them while it simmered.

Here's what I used:

1 pound ground turkey
Onion
Garlic
1 can rinsed and drained black beans
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
Corn
2T flour
salt
Chili Powder
Water.

Here's what I did:
Brown the turkey, onion and garlic, drain (the worst part IMO)
Add the tomatoes, sauce, beans and corn.
Mix the flour, salt, chili powder and water to make a paste, add it to the meat and simmer.

I served mine with a plop of plain Greek yogurt and some shredded cheese.

Coming up soon, Corned Beef and Cabbage...just in time for St. Patty's Day!

Ooey Gooey Melty Melty Cheese

E will eat just about anything if it is covered in "Ooey Gooey Melty Melty Cheese"

Yesterday we decided to have lasagna...practically the definition of ooey gooey melty melty!

Here's what I did.

1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground sausage
Onion, garlic, bell pepper
Salt, Pepper, Italian seasoning
Spaghetti sauce
Basil-fresh
Asiago cheese
1 1/2 c cottage cheese
1 egg
dried parsley
mozzarella cheese
lasagna noodles



I started with the (organic, grass fed) ground beef and ground sausage.
I browned it with onion, garlic and a red pepper. I added salt, pepper and Italian seasoning.

Once that was all browned up, I added the jar of spaghetti sauce, about 1/2 c water and a few leaves of fresh basil chopped up. I let that simmer for a few minutes.

While the meat was simmering, I made the cheese layer. I mixed the cottage cheese with the asiago, egg, parsley and mozzarella. I discovered that my local grocery store makes its own in-house mozzarella and boy is it good! The stuff I bought had just been made, it was a fresh as you can get it!

In a 9x13 pan sprayed with non-stick spray I put about 1 cup of the sauce. Then I layered (un-cooked) lasagna noodles, sauce and cheese 2 times. On the top of the cheese layer, I added a few more leaves of chopped up basil. I ended with piles of the fresh mozzarella cheese

I covered it with foil and baked in a 350 degree oven. After 45 minutes, I pulled the foil off and cooked for 15 minutes more. I let it sit for about 10 minutes before diving into it.

Would you look at that ooey gooey goodness! 

Homemade "Lara Bars"

Lately, I have been trying really hard to feed my family as "cleanly" as possible.  I have been calling clean, 5 ingredients or less unless I made it all myself.

We love to eat Lara Bars because they have only a few ingredients and they are all things I can pronounce. However, they can get costly.

A few weeks ago, S came across a recipe on a website he visits frequently, UltraRunnerPodcast.com. He asked me if I thought I could make it sometime. The recipe was called "Coconut Date Bars"  They contain ingredients that are commonly found in the Lara Bars we love.

I changed it up from being bars, to balls that are easy to grab and pop in your mouth when you need a quick, healthy, sweet snack

2 c pitted dates
3/4 c raw cacao powder
1 c unsweetened shredded coconut
1 T honey
1 t sea salt- I didn't measure, I just did a few grinds of pink Himalayan sea salt.
2 T water.

Process dates, cacao powder, 3/4c coconut, honey, salt and water in a food processor until smooth. Form into bite size balls and roll in remaining 1/4 c coconut. Refrigerate until firm.

Get a load of these bite sized beauties!

I think they are the perfect combination of sweet and salty and even S, who doesn't like coconut thinks these are great!
 

Squash Soup

AKA: Baby Food Soup!

A cold, snowy, wet February Sunday calls for warm, delicious soup.

The basis of this recipe came from one of my favorite people to swap recipes with...my boss!

Start with a big ol' butternut squash. I found this website to make the peeling/seeding/chopping a bit easier.

I cubed up the squash and tossed it with EVOO and some dried herbs (today's choice was herbs de provence but you can use anything you like) and roasted it in a 400 degree oven for 40 minutes, stirring 1/2 way.

If you don't have the time to roast the squash, you can chop it up and cook it in the microwave but we think roasting it 1st gives it a great extra flavor.

Next, you will want to chop up some onion and garlic, toss that in a pot with some EVOO and 1 1/2 teaspoons of curry (I used Penzey's Singapore Seasoning) and sautee for a few minutes.  After you've got that nice and soft, toss in 2 peeled, pitted and chopped pears. (I have subbed out apples in a pinch)

I wish you could smell this right now!

After that cooks for a few minutes, add 1 qt vegetable broth and the squash and let it simmer for a bit. When you are ready to eat, stick your immersion blender in it and get it nice and soupy (or transfer it to a blender and whirl away!)

Voila! Baby Food Soup!
I served mine with an herbed focaccia...sadly, not homemade but still delicious!

Let me know what you think!
Thanks for reading!