“Dump” Chicken and Other Such Things

In my quest to become the “perfect” (ha!) mom, I have stumbled upon a little thing known as “dump” chicken.  But I’m getting ahead of myself.  Let’s back up, shall we?  (Oh…it’s too early for shall we!...Anyone??)

You all know I like to make a healthy, home cooked meal for us for dinner.  We don’t always get a healthy, home cooked meal for lunch, but I can control dinner most of the time so I like it to be as wholesome as possible.  I’ve also dusted off my britches and climbed not so gracefully back on that wagon of healthy eating.  I’ve lost nearly 40 pounds of the weight I gained when I was pregnant, but unfortunately I had gained about 30 pounds between my healthy weight and my second pregnancy, so I have to re-lose that 30 pounds now.  It was a struggle then and I’m sure it will be even  more of a challenge now considering my time is even more cherished than it was before.

The problem?  When you have a 5 month old who goes to bed around 7p every night and a husband who gets hungry for dinner around 6p, your time is limited especially considering I don’t want to spend those precious few hours between day care and bed time cooking.

The answer?  Freezer meals.  It’s not a new notion.  In fact, it is one of the most pinned topics on pinterest!  I’m not sure why it’s taken me so long to get on board, but once I did, I never looked back.  Here are just a few ways my freezer has saved me in the past few weeks:

Dump Chicken:  This website has tons of seemingly great recipes.  In less than 10 minutes, I “made” three different recipes from this site.  The concept is simple…take a gallon freezer bag, add chicken, veggies, and sauce.  Seal and throw in the freezer.  When you’re ready to make it, pull it out the day before and put in the fridge to thaw out a little.  The next day, either put it in the crock pot in the morning or bake in a casserole dish that night.

I tried the Caribbean Dump Chicken and I have mixed reviews.  I’m not sure if it was because I used the crock pot or I just didn’t like the recipe, but something tasted off.  I’m thinking I just don’t care for chicken in the crock pot though, to be honest.  I also have Citrus Ginger Dump Chicken and Chili Maple Glazed Dump Chicken in my freezer, but haven’t cooked them yet.

As a bonus meal, I emptied one bottle of Lawry’s Sesame Ginger marinade over two extra large chicken breasts and froze.  I thawed, then grilled them up last night and they were fabulous!  So moist, tender, and flavorful!  Definitely trying that again!

Chicken Enchiladas:  If you read this post, you know I’ve made enchiladas for the freezer in the past.  The only problem?  When you freeze them with the sauce and then thaw them to cook, they can become soggy.  I’m not sure how I came up with the solution, but I decided to make up the enchiladas and freeze them without the sauce!  Genius!  I bought burrito tortillas, filled them with chicken, refried beans, black beans, and corn, and wrapped them up, tucking the ends in so the filling didn’t fall out.  Then I froze the burritos in a freezer bag.  When I wanted to serve, I pulled out a couple burritos, put them in a small baking dish, covered with sauce and some cheese and baked at 400º until heated through.  I even put them in the oven frozen!  Love this.

Dad’s Spaghetti Sauce:  I love the recipe I affectionately call Dad’s Spaghetti.  I could eat it every week.  The problem?  If you want to do it right, the sauce has to simmer for approximately 3-4 hours.  How did I solve this?  I made a huge batch and let it simmer all day.  I dumped 4 cans of diced tomatoes in a large pot, added some olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and some more spices and brought it to a boil.  I then reduced the heat to simmer and let it sit there for several hours, stirring occasionally.  Once I thought it looked done, I turned off the heat and let it continue to sit on the stove until it was cooled.  Then I split the recipe up into four separate containers and froze them.  Now, when I want a quick dinner, I’ll defrost the sauce, cook up a batch of pasta, and toss to combine.  Add a side salad and maybe some rolls and you’re done!  Easy peasy Japanesey.

Casseroles in general:  We are a huge casserole family in this house.  We love them!  I asked Jeff if he had any requests for my cooking extravaganza and he said Tater Tot Casserole and Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole.  I love both of those too!  My problem is I don’t have enough casserole dishes to prepare them ahead of time.  I have two solutions to this.

The first is lining the casserole dish with aluminum foil, making the casserole, and then wrapping the foil around the dish.  You then freeze the entire thing and pull it out of the dish once frozen.  When you want to serve, you pull the foil wrapped casserole out of the freeze and put it back in the dish you used to freeze it.  Then bake, eat, wash, etc.

The second way I found was to implement those trusty freezer bags again.  Let’s use the chicken cordon bleu as an example.  In this recipe you make a white sauce, then combine it with diced chicken, ham, and swiss cheese.  Then you top it with a mixture of crackers, cheese, and butter.  YUM!  I put the chicken, ham, and cheese in a bag.  I then made the white sauce and let it cool to room temperature.  I put the sauce in the bag with the chicken mixture, sealed it, and rolled it around to cover everything with sauce.  Then I put the crushed crackers and cheese in a separate sandwich bag.  I added the butter, unmelted, to the bag.  The day I wanted to serve, I put the chicken mixture in a dish.  Then, I melted the butter, added it to the sandwich bag, and tossed to coat.  Finally, I put the cracker mixture over the chicken mixture and baked in the oven.

I can’t decide which way would be easier for me.  I like the dump method of using freezer bags, but it may be more economically friendly to use the foil as opposed to the bags.  Either way, I would recommend leaving anything you want crispy or crunchy out of the mix until the day you serve, otherwise it could become soggy.

These are just a few of the ways I have started implementing freezer cooking in my life.  I also made a few meatloaves to store in the freezer.  Jeff loves my meatloaf and has requested to have it once a week.  When I make it, though, he eats it for dinner, then for breakfast the following day, and if there’s enough left he eats it for lunch.  I have to hide some if I want leftovers!

For more tips and tricks, check out the following posts from other bloggers:
Freezer Meals on the Cheap by A Turtle’s Life for Me
Dump Cooking by When the Dinner Bell Rings
101 Spring Freezer Meals to Make Your Life Sane by Once a Month Mom

Also, Natalie at A Turtle’s Life for Me recommends the book Don’t Panic, Dinner’s in the Freezer.  She says it’s where she gets a lot of her recipes.  I just bought the book and will be hopefully putting it to good use in the next few weeks.  I’ll let you know how it goes!

So, I want to know…what is your favorite recipe to make ahead?

Baked Penne with Chicken & Sundried Tomatoes

Say what you want about Martha Stewart, but you gotta give the woman credit.  Girl knows how to cook.  And bake.  And decorate.  A while back I was on her website looking at various one pot and slow cooker meals, when I found this little gem.

(source)

Penne pasta in a cream sauce mixed with chicken, mushrooms, and sundried tomatoes? Oh, and cheese?  Uh, YUM!  I immediately pinned it on one of my Pinterest boards to make later.

Later came and I found myself perusing my boards for cooking ideas.  I saw this picture and decided it was time to test it out!  I made a batch to freeze and a couple small ramekins for Jeff and I to try out. (BTW, these ramekins make a great holiday gift!  I have a set of two and I use them all. the. time.  They work perfectly in a toaster oven to sample dishes as I did here!)

The verdict?  Great same day meal!  Frozen, the noodles can get a bit mushy, so make sure you don’t overcook them as I did this time.  Using the correct noodle cooking time, I’m sure this recipe would freeze beautifully!

I also used a Garden Vegetable penne instead of a regular penne as it was the only thing I had on hand at the time.  I think the regular penne would be much better in this dish.  But you decide!  Get Martha’s recipe here!

 

Brown Sugar Meatloaf 2.0

You may remember my original post for my Brown Sugar Meatloaf.  Well, it’s been upgraded.

The past few times I’ve made this meatloaf, it has been a little…different.  And not good different.  I have tweaked it a lot (omitting the red pepper, grating the onion, increasing the amount of sauce, etc).  I finally think I’ve perfected it!  Here is the new, updated, more tasty version of my meatloaf.  Commence salivation now.

Brown Sugar Meatloaf 2.0

For the loaf:
2 pounds ground sirloin
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs
1.5 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1.5 sleeves Saltines, crushed

For the sauce:
1 cup ketchup
1 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

For the loaf, start by combining the milk, eggs, salt, pepper, onion, ginger, and Saltines in a mixing bowl.  For convenience, I used my stand mixer.  Once everything is well mixed, add your meat and mix slowly until well combined.

In my previous post I demonstrated how not to squeeze the meat as it would compact it, resulting in a much denser, therefore drier meatloaf.  When using the stand mixer, you don’t have to worry about that as much and you keep your hands clean!  Bonus!

For the sauce, combine all the ingredients above and mix well.
Complicated, right?

To assemble your loaves, start by putting a cooling rack over a baking sheet.  Then, to prevent sticking, I cut some foil to the approximate size I wanted our loaves to be.  I then sprayed them with cooking spray.

The reason I used a cooling rack over a baking sheet was to encourage the “drippings” to run away from the meet.  The meatloaf is moist enough without it and sometimes when the drippings are allowed to stay close to the loaves, it actually results in soggier meatloaf.  Not very tasty.

After your rack is prepared, form your loaves.  I got three two person loaves from 2 pounds.  Shape them to approximately the same size as your foil.  Cover each loaf with a generous amount of sauce.  I used a pastry brush to do this, but you could just use a spoon.  It’s up to you.

Bake at 400º for about an hour, or until the middle reaches 165º.  The reason I like to use a baking sheet instead of a loaf pan is because you can put the sauce on the top, which creates sort of a crust that keeps the meat tender and juicy.  Plus it gets slightly caramelized which, let’s face it, is never a bad thing!

I will probably continue to fool around with this recipe because I can never leave well enough alone.  I have thought about adding garlic, red pepper flakes, hot sauce, ground sage, etc to the meatloaf.  Maybe in time there will be a Version 3.0!

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From Russia, With Love

When you see a super thin piece of beef, what is the first meal you think of?  Some people think of steak tacos, some think of beef stir fry.  Me?  I think of one thing:

the Russian originated Beef Stroganoff.

Beef stroganoff is one of my favorite weeknight meals to make because it is simple and easy.  It’s also one of those meals you can prep ahead of time and throw together quickly at the end of a long day.  I tend to make a double batch of sauce so I stretch my buck even further and get two, two, two meals out of one!

Yesterday at the store, I found a super thin piece of beef marked down to $3.82.  It was going to expire on 10/27, so I popped that baby into my cart and earmarked it for tonight’s dinner.  Because I was able to get two meals out of the one piece of beef, I was able to make that $3.82 stretch waaaaaaaay out!  Love it!

Apparently, Beef Stroganoff is one of those meals you can also make in the crock pot.  Well, I must have done something wrong last time I tried this because my husband said the recipe was so bad he couldn’t even choke it down!  Take it from me (and Paula Deen)…this recipe is so quick and easy, it takes no time to throw it together.  Trust me.  Would I lie?

Beef Stroganoff
(adapted from Mrs. Paula Deen herself)

3/4 pound thinly sliced beef, cut into bite sized chunks
Steak Seasoning
Flour
2 tbsp olive oil, divided
2 tbsp butter, divided
1 small onion, finely diced
8 ounces mushrooms, chopped (optional)
1 10 3/4 oz can cream of mushroom soup
1 can-full beef broth (see below)
Salt & pepper to taste
4 oz cream cheese
1 pound egg noodles*

In a large skillet over medium high heat, warm 1 tbsp each of the olive oil and butter.  While the skillet is preheating, cut up your beef.

Season liberally with the steak seasoning (I used my favorite grill seasoning from Dorothy Lane Market.  If you live in the area and haven’t tried it, you are seriously missing out!)

Sprinkle with flour and toss to coat.

Shake off any excess flour and place in the skillet.  Brown on both sides.  Once the meat is browned, remove and drain on a paper towel.

Add the second tbsp of olive oil and butter and then add the onions.  This is also the time you add the mushrooms if you desire.  I desired.  Jeff did not.  Guess who won that debate.  (Let’s be honest…he’s just lucky I didn’t have any mushrooms in the house.)

Once the onions are nice and soft, add a tbsp of flour and mix in.  Add your cream of mushroom soup and then fill up the empty can with beef broth and dump that in.  Mix well and bring to a boil.  Once it is boiling, reduce the heat to low and let simmer, covered, for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook your egg noodles to the package directions. Once cooked, drain and return to the stock pot.  I try to plan my noodles to be done around the same time as the sauce so they don’t sit in the hot pot too long as they can start bonding to the pot itself.

After your sauce has simmered for 30 minutes, add in your cream cheese and stir to combine.  I let my cream cheese sit in the sauce for a few minutes to soften up and then I stir it.  Honestly, the whipped cream cheese would probably work better for this recipe.

Once your sauce is finished, add it to the drained noodles and toss to combine.  Season with salt and pepper, if needed.

I love beef stroganoff.  I honestly think it’s one of our favorite meals!  It’s definitely comfort food at it’s best.  And Peanut liked it too.  That or he just likes kneeing me a lot!  One thing’s for sure…I love my new camera!

*This recipe is a full recipe that would feed 4 people easily.  For the two of us, I save half the sauce and only make 1/2 a pound of egg noodles, saving the rest for when I make the second half of the recipe.

To view this recipe in an easy to follow format, click here!

Freezer Meals: Chicken Enchiladas Two Ways

You may remember when I did my Marathon Cooking session a few weeks ago.  Well, yesterday I was pleasantly surprised to discover I had been scheduled off for today!  Technically, I’m still on vacation.  So what does that mean?  Cooking, cleaning, and staying in my pjs all day of course!

I made several dishes during my Marathon Cooking session and unfortunately some of them did not turn out as delicious as I had hoped.  This taught me a valuable lesson:  only make bulk dishes to freeze out of meals you already know you like!

Learning this, I decided to make three meals in big batches:  “Cheater” Lasagna, Buffalo Chicken casserole, and Chicken Enchiladas.  I’ll post the lasagna and the buffalo chicken recipes at a later date, but today we are going to focus on the Chicken Enchiladas.  I came up with two different ways of making this dish.  The main recipe is the same, but the construction of the dishes are a little different.

Chicken Enchiladas
The Basic Recipe (makes enough for 2-3 people):

1 chicken breast, poached & diced
1 cup brown rice, cooked
1/2 can refried beans
1/3 can enchilada sauce
1/2 cup salsa
1/2 cup cheddar cheese

To start, bring a pot of water to a boil, season with salt and pepper, and poach your chicken in the liquid for 20-30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.  Remove from liquid and let cool.  Once it’s cool enough to handle, dice it into small pieces.

While your chicken is cooking, make your rice.  I used my Cuisinart rice cooker to make this rice.  Typically when you make rice, you use a 1:2 ratio.  I used one cup of rice to two cups of water plus a pinch of salt for flavor.  With my rice cooker, I just add the ingredients and flip the switch to “cook”.  Once it’s done, it switches to “warm” and lets me continue what I’m doing until I need the rice.  Just follow the directions on your bag of rice to ensure it turns out perfectly.

Once the chicken and rice are cooked and ready to go, add them to a big bowl along with your salsa, beans, cheese, and enchilada sauce (just to help the beans incorporate into the dish).

This is where you can get creative!  Add whatever kinds of Mexican-y things you like!  Corn, black beans, cilantro, green chiles, you name it!  Jeff is a simple man and is not a big fan of veggies in his enchiladas so I left them out.  I figure I can make a nice little Mexican side salad the night we eat this so I get all the yummy veggie nutrients.

That’s your basic recipe.  Here are two ways to use this filling to create a couple yummy dishes:

Method One:
Mexican Rollups

1/3 cup enchilada sauce
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
5 burrito sized tortilla shells

Since I am freezing my meals, I opted to use foil 8×8 cake pans.  We are just two people, so typically I only want to make a small portion.  If you have a bigger family, you can double the above recipe and use a 13×9 dish.  It’s totally up to you.  I sprayed my pan to ensure no sticking and then started rolling.

Take a burrito sized tortilla shell, add about a 1/3 cup of filling towards the bottom of the shell, tuck the bottom of the shell over the filling, fold in the sides and roll the remaining of the way up.  (Yes, I realize I should have taken pictures of this, but I didn’t think I would be doing a blog post about these meals.  Hey, when inspiration strikes…)

Line your rolled enchiladas in the pan, top with enchilada sauce and the cheddar cheese.  Cover with foil and freeze.  I decided to turn up the collar of the pan just to provide a little extra holding power for the sauce.

Method Two:
Enchilada Lasagna

With this method, you just want to create layers in the dish.  I put one tortilla in the bottom of the pan, added 1/2 the filling,

topped with a second tortilla, some of the enchilada sauce, the remainder of the filling, a third tortilla, and the remainder of the sauce. Just use your judgement as to how much sauce you want to use.  Obviously you don’t want the sauce to be overflowing, but you want enough for the tortillas to soak up while cooking.  Finally, finish with the cheese.  Cover and freeze.

One thing I decided for my last tortilla layer was to cut the tortillas to fit.  I would have done this for the whole dish, but again I wasn’t thinking ahead.  To do this, just lay your tortillas in the pan and cut the excess off the sides like so:

When you are ready to serve either dish, you can preheat the oven to 400º and bake for about an hour (or until the meal is heated through) or you can thaw it overnight in the fridge and shorten the cooking time to about 30 minutes.  My husband is funny.  When he decides he’s hungry, he’s hungry now.  I think his hunger cues are off because it’s almost like when he realizes he’s hungry, he has to eat then or he’ll faint from starvation!  He also likes to eat around 6p (apparently he’s in his 60s), but I don’t get home until 5:30p at the earliest.  For this reason, I have to try to plan things well in advance.  This is why thawing the dish ahead of time is better for us.

So there you go.  Two freezer meals that are simple, delicious, and crowd pleasers!  Hope you like them!