Freezer Cooking sites

So I should provide a link to some of the sites I've been using to get freezable recipes!

Once A Month Mom: I love this site! Each month, the woman who writes is publishes her list of freezer recipes for the month. She also provides the instructions for the big day of cooking, if you want her take on what to do when, and other resources are available as well. I've used this one a lot lately!

Mom's Budget: This is another good site with a lot of recipes. Not as many extras, like the cooking day instructions here, but still many recipes to try out.

So far, my freezer cooking has worked out well! The stuff I make will usually last us the next week and maybe even longer, depending on how much we eat at one time. The other thing I like about freezer cooking is that this doesn't result in us having a LOT of things leftover in the fridge that will go bad before we can eat them up. I'd love to be able to do my cooking more like once per month, but I haven't gotten that far yet!

Hello?

Wow, we're almost to the one year mark of posting anything on this blog! Again, Erin and I have both been pretty lax, but maybe we'll be back posting again with more regularity someday. I have been doing some freezer cooking lately, which I'm loving! It's fun to spend a few hours cooking stuff so that you have things ready to go for the week.

As I'm writing this, I'm totally remembering that I forgot to get anything out of the freezer today for tonight's dinner! The husband is at home but is so crashed out from working overtime today that (a) I don't want to call him and wake him up, and (b) even if I did call him, I question whether or not he'd actually stay awake long enough to get something out of the freezer for me! My solution? We have some leftovers from last night (and some other stuff that can be microwaved out of the freezer for Nick) that we'll have tonight. Problem solved!

Cream Cheese Chicken

This one was fantastic! The last one, published way back in August...not that outstanding.

Crock pot needed!

Some chicken (frozen or not) - I used 2 large boneless, skinless breasts
1 can of cream of chicken or mushroom soup (I used chicken)
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 cup Chicken broth
1 packet of zesty italian seasoning
1 package of cream cheese

Place all ingredients but cream cheese into a crock pot on low for 6 hours (and that will depend on the size of your crockpot because apparently the power went out on mine and it doesn't automatically come back on, but things were still pretty cooked...so I have no idea how long it actually took).
After initial cook time expires, remove chicken and shred (I really don't enjoy shredding chicken, so I just cut mine up into smaller pieces).
Return chicken to crock pot and add cream cheese...stir around a bit and cook on high for 30 minutes (I did an hour to ensure cooked chicken based on power outtage and it was fine).

While chicken is cooking for that last 30 minutes, cook some pasta - I used whole wheat penne - and serve chicken over pasta.

So good! So flavorful! So easy!

erin

Herbed Whole Wheat Pasta with Lemon Butter

Took this from Pioneer Woman...planning on trying out this week:

Ingredients:
-Coarse Salt
-Pepper
-1/2 lb. whole wheat pasta
-1 Tbsp. butter
-1 tsp. lemon zest (so you'll need a lemon)
-1 Tbsp. lemon juice (again with needing the lemon)
-1/4 c. chopped herbs (of your choosing I guess : suggested: parsley, chives, basil)
-crumbled feta cheese

Directions:
-Cook pasta to al dente and drain, reserve 1/2 c. pasta water for potential thinning later
-Stir in butter, lemon zest, lemon juice, herbs, salt and pepper (to taste)
-At this point, you can add pasta water to thin your creation if necessary
-Top with the cheese. I might use something other than feta, but maybe not.

Sounds good, no?

Fried Rice

This is how I do it...however, there are many variations, I'm sure.


You will need:
Rice (I switch between brown and Jasmine)
Eggs
Soy Sauce
Vegetable Oil
Garlic Powder
Pepper
Leftover chicken, pork (if you have any)

My parents would also always add a frozen peas/carrots mixture, but I...not so much.

Okay, so first you prepare rice according to the package. I usually just do 1 cup unless I want to eat this stuff for 4 days, then I'll double the recipe of the rice.

So, once the rice is done, heat some veggie oil in a deepish skillet and after it's warm, dump in the cooked rice...allow to brown a bit (5 minutes) and stir around.

Throw in some garlic powder, soy sauce, pepper (you don't need salt because soy sauce is really salty), I also added a touch of dill to my batch last night, and it was tasty! Basically, throw in some flavor of your liking.

Toss around rice in oil somemore.

Make a well in your rice, a place in which you can crack your eggs. I like to use 3 eggs because I like my rice very eggy. If you prefer less, use 2. If you double the rice, use 4. Crack the eggs into the well and scramble them up. Try not to get rice into eggs at this point.

After the eggs set up a bit, mix them into the rice making sure they are evenly distributed.

At this point, you can be done, or you can toss in any leftover meat you have from a previous meal. Chicken and pork work best...think fried rice people...see much beef fried rice?...but whatever, if you think you'll like, toss it in!

That's it! I eat this all alone, but you could pair it up with bread and a salad for a very nice meal. Leftovers are fantastic!

erin

Ode to the Deep Fried Oreo

Okay, okay...

I was in a wedding this weekend and had the opportunity to eat a deep fried oreo cookie at the rehearsal dinner.

I took this opportunity like it was my job! And it was ABSOLUTELY WORTH IT! If you don't know the goodness that is an oreo cookie, coated in batter and deep fried to perfection (sorry, Mom, just hold on and go to your happy place) then you don't know sheer delight.

To compensate for this manna from heaven, I didn't eat wedding cake. And it was red velvet. So there.

Other than that, our Xbox broke so I haven't been able to see my zumba dvd...I try to do my own stuff to compensate and I'm sure it's not quite at effective, but it's movement. I am still doing pretty darn well on my portion/food choices but I do need to make a grocery run to restock on the good stuff! We're out of food at our house again!

So if anyone cares, I'll try to keep updating, but I had to take a blog out and relive my deep fried fantasy...good times!

A Week 1 wrap up --Erin

Okay, so at the end of week 1 of operation, "What the heck happened?" I really feel like I've made the mental commitment to change my ways.  Seriously.  Usually, I pretend the make the commitment or unwillingly try to make the commitment and in the end, fail.  This time, though, something clicked in my head and I totally get it and want to do it and really, it's not that hard.  You still get to eat all kinds of lovely food, just you know, don't eat so much.  Don't eat 3 cookies when 1 will do...and don't eat cookies everyday.  Remember when we were kids...there were not cookies everyday at all!  And we were fine and we were kids.  We didn't think about the reasoning behind not having that everyday treat and now as adults, we can understand that an everyday treat will end up equaling an everyday fat ass.

Anyway, I have lost 3 pounds this week.  I am happy with that outcome.  3 pounds a week is a good 12 pounds a month, which means I will be back in my comfort zone in a mere 3 months.  Now I'm not saying in 3 months I'm going to stop or be done, I can always be less than my comfort zone...I'm just looking for that body type I had right when Danny and I started dating (yes, that means I did gain 30 pounds in 3 years...yuck!).  I felt great, I looked great, I was no size 6, but I was perfectly happy with my pants.  These past few months and years, I've been unhappy with my pants and all I want is to again, be happy in the morning before work and not disappointed and disgusted.  

So I'm on my way with these first 3 pounds!

erin

The rest of the week -- Emily

Okay, I kind of fell off the blogging wagon when I was off work Wednesday and Thursday! Sorry about that! Here's my wrap up of this week:

Breakfasts:

• I stuck to mostly the WW Stuffed Breakfast Sandwiches. Those are good and since they have the turkey bacon and egg in them, they keep me pretty satisfied throughout the morning.

Lunches:

• While at home, I had a sandwich. On Thursday, my friends and I went to the Olive Garden, where I enjoyed a lovely whole wheat linguine with shrimp, mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil. It was pretty good, but not my absolute favorite. On Friday, I finished up the Salsa Salad that I started on Tuesday.
  

Dinners:

• I made Enchilada Casserole but still have yet to eat any! Instead, I've been eating the mini quiches that I made earlier in the week. Friday night, Nick and I had hamburgers and veggies.
  

Snacks:

• At work, I always made sure that I had the yogurt-cinnamon-Grape Nuts combo once a day. That was like a dessert to me! I also had some raw almonds to tide me over.
  

Activity:

• I taught Zumba class on Thursday night, in addition to the Monday night class. Unfortunately, I did not get to do any other exercise this week, other than wrestling and playing with Austin and walking all over the mall! I was SO wiped out the other days, but my goal is to get more activity in on my non-Zumba days.

Next week, I'm going to try the Flat Belly Diet's 4-day Anti Bloat program. I'll report in then. I might start it on Tuesday because I'm doing it with a coworker and we're off on Monday.

January 16--Erin

Is this getting boring even to us? Oh well, here's Friday!

6:30- 20 minutes of zumba

Breakfast-
yogurt/blueberries/wheat germ

coffee with hazelnut creamer!

Lunch-
We had a staff meeting and prepared lunch for that...I did a FANTASTIC job at not eating any chips/cookies while prepping the food! Here is what I did eat:
1 small bowl of chili - like probably 1 cup, and this chili was full of beans, celery, rice, and tomatoes (with a tiny blob of sour cream and some oyster crackers)
1 small turkey sandwich (with lettuce, swiss cheese, and mustard...didn't finish this)
I'd estimate 10-15 sunchips
carrot sticks and broccolli with a tiny amount of dip
1 (I'll reiterate 1) choc. chip cookie

I am so full this afternoon!

Husband is making dinner tonight, I left it up to him what to fix, but I don't even know if I'll be hungry for much of anything.

So far, that makes 6 days of consecutive exercise (which is big for lazy-ass me) and 6 days of conscious eating. I need to re-stock on snacks and salads!

erin

January 14th/15th -- Erin

Zumba at 6:15am (Harrison decided we should get started a little earlier today)

Breakfast-
Today I enjoyed some Smart Start Antioxident cereal with blueberries on top.

No morning snacks...though I will add that I do allow myself one cup of coffee with flavored creamer in the morning. I only use about 1 Tbsp of creamer and no sugar.

Lunch-
I had a lunch meeting today, so I took the rest of my salad from the day before and a small bag of almonds and craisins...it's the snack of champions, really. There were chocolate reese's candy hearts strewn all down the table at my meeting so I told myself I could eat one at the end of the meeting. I knew if I started them at the beginning, I would get that taste in my mouth and need many more. I did indeed have 1 at the end and I made it last 3 bites. I watched one lady with a horrible back pain keep reaching to get more and more candy, each time, wincing and sometimes even gasping in pain. I thought, is the candy really worth all that?

After I got back to work I was really needing some kind of caloric stimulation, my body felt so hungry...so I had a square of cornbread.

Dinner-
Nothing was really made, I had a bit of leftover fried brown rice left, so I ate that. Knowning that wouldn't do, I also hastily ate 2 slices of Danny lunchtime frozen pizza.

I had one more small bowl of Smart Start cereal that evening, before 7pm. I don't think I ate enough food at dinner...well, I shouldn't have eaten those pizza slices because while they are not like eating a Dairy Queen blizzard, they are pretty much empty calories as you don't stay full unless you eat an entire frozen pizza and that's way too much.

As of today, Jan. 15th, I am out of salad and almond/craisin snack packs...so I'll have to get creative.

I did exercise this morning...I REALLY didn't want to and I was almost convinced that taking a day off was okay, but I'm not sure what kind of exercising I'll get done over the weekend, so I got up and did my 20 minutes.

Breakfast-
I returned to my 1 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt, 1/2 cup blueberries, 1 Tbsp. wheat germ delightfulness.

I had my morning coffee.

Lunch-
I am going to eat my lean cuisine ravioli lunch as I have nothing else ready to go.

Dinner-
I am going to have Danny get our pork loins out of the freezer and I'm going to make those, with a bit of apple butter marinade (so delicious), more rice, and salad.

Not sure what I'll do about snackage...going to try to avoid it entirely today, perhaps with a pretzel fall back if necessary. I only rely on my fall backs if I am experiencing my low blood sugar episodes when I get dizzy and my arms feel really heavy. Then I must spike it with some kind of food.

So there's my long-ass blog!

Wow...

I'm just saying...why are my blog posts the longest in all the land? Sorry for the rambling!

January 13 -- Emily

Okay, yesterday I almost passed out after Zumba! It was freakishly hot in that aerobics room and we had 24 ladies in attendance (26 if you count Cecilia and I)! By halfway through the class, the ENTIRE mirror had fogged completely over and by the last few songs, the condensation on the floor was making everyone's shoes squeak! It was ridiculous! Hopefully, we can get some additional fans in there or something.

Here goes today...

Breakfast

• WW Stuffed Breakfast sandwich. Those things are so good, and they are protein + carbs, which my doctor has told me is the best combination in the mornings.
  

Lunch

• Half a bag of Salsa Salad. See Erin's previous post for a description of the Salsa Salad. Delicious!
• I also had one Betty Crocker Mini Warm Delight. It's a small little helping of chocolate cake mix that you add some water too and then pop in the microwave for 30 seconds. At 150 calories, it's a nice sweet treat that satisfies my cravings without being too much.
  

Dinner

• Okay, I have no idea yet. I still have half a bag of Salsa Salad that I can eat if I'm hungry while at work (I'm at work until 7 tonight). We have nothing made at home, so if I wait until after work, I'm stuck until I can make something. We'll see what happens later.
  

Snacks

• So far today, I have enjoyed some light, fat free vanilla yogurt mixed with Grape Nuts and cinnamon.
• I also had some French Vanilla coffee with a little bit of Caramel Apple creamer in it this morning -- so good!
  

Activity

• No Zumba today, but I am going to TRY (try, people, just try!!) to do something while watching TV tonight. I will attempt some elliptical activity while watching The Biggest Loser, because that show makes me feel like I have to! Sometimes, though, I'm just so tired that nothing happens, but now since I've said this, I feel I at least need to do a small amount!
  

Victories

• I was super stressed out this morning and REALLY wanted to buy some sort of doughnut or croissant or GIANT bagel from Schnucks for breakfast, but I didn't. I recognized my emotional eating trigger and stuck with the WW sandwich instead, which was very tasty!
• Someone brought in a Walmart baggie of candy to work. We're talking some random Christmas-themed Peeps, tons of mini M&Ms, various Tootsie Rolls and Tootsie Pops, and a very large peppermint stick. I ate NONE of it. Actually, I wasn't too tempted because I don't care about non-chocolate candy very much, Tootsie products aren't my fave, and I would rather have M&Ms with something inside them, like a peanut or some such goodness. It wasn't too hard to avoid this candy, but I still count it as a victory!
  

January 13th --Erin

Exercised at 6:20 again this morning, 20 minutes of zumba!

Breakfast: low-fat vanilla yogurt, blueberries, wheat germ, water

no morning snacks

Lunch: Southwest salad - this is your everyday lettuce, with some cheese, taco chip shreds, a bit of sour cream (like 1/2 Tbsp) and some taco-y dressing. I also had my portioned out almonds and craisin goodness!

I plan on no afternoon snacks as I already ate the almond/craisin stuff, but if I begin to experience mind-numbing low blood sugar, I will have to resort to the small bag of pretzels. Currently, I'm drinking some water...I am so bad about getting enough water!

Dinner: Will be leftover fried brown rice from last night...yum!

January 12th--Erin

Okay, so here we go...this is day 3 for me, but here was yesterday:

6:20am - 20 minutes of zumba workout...let's face it, more than 20 minutes, and I'm likely to sleep in instead...this gets me moving, sweating, heart rate up.

Breakfast - low fat vanilla yogurt/blueberries/wheat germ

Lunch - salad. I go for those "salad in a bag" things, you can get good kinds like southwest style or harvest. They have fun little additives like dried fruit/nuts and taco chips/salsa. On the 12th, I enjoyed some Harvest salad and a piece of cornbread (no butter).

Snacks - small bag of pretzels, raw almonds/crasins

Dinner - fried brown rice...I made this myself and to the brown rice I added: 4 eggs (I made a ton), salt/pepper, garlic powder, onion, soy sauce, cut up pieces of chicken I had left over from another dinner. It is delicious!

So there, I did include a recipe of sorts!

Fried Brown Rice:
Prepare rice (it doesn't have to be brown)
Transfer rice (which can be a bit undercooked) to a skillet with hot veggie oil and fry it a bit
Make a space in the middle of the rice to crack in your eggs. I made 2 cups of rice and used 4 eggs because I like to have lots of egg in my rice.
Crack eggs in, scramble a bit, then mix in the rice.
Add in a splash of soy sauce, and sprinkle in some garlic powder, salt/pepper, other spices you enjoy.
Add chicken and mix all together...allow to warm a bit.
Enjoy!

January 12 -- Emily

Breakfast

• Weight Watchers Stuffed Breakfast Sandwich
  

Lunch

• Leftover hamburger patty (made with pureed cauliflower and ground turkey -- from Deceptively Delicious cookbook)
• Leftover whole wheat couscous
• Sugar free Jello
  

Dinner

• Don't know yet -- probably more leftovers
• Will prep food for tomorrow tonight
  

Snacks

• Handful of raw almonds
• Lots of water (I'm almost done with 48 oz. as we speak!)
  

Activity

• Will be teaching Zumba tonight for an hour with Cecilia

Victories

• I said "No thanks!" to delicious looking brownies (that have haunted me ALL DAY LONG in the breakroom).
• Kay had a slice of cake with gooey chocolate on top that she cut up and gave to 3 of us. I RETURNED MY PIECE TO HER, uneaten.
  

Okay, seriously?

What happened to this blog?? It was such a good idea, but I think we've fallen completely off the wagon! Who has the time to do original recipes anymore? Here's what I'm proposing. I suggest that since Erin and I are both trying to eat healthier meals/foods and improve that part of our life, that we use this blog for a check in. Like we'll report on what we're eating that day/week, if we've exercised, etc.

I realize that this may mean that only Erin and I (and, let's be honest, Mom because she'll want to know!) will read this blog but, come on...did anyone else really read it?

So let's see how it goes. Maybe it will be a nice way to track our food/exercise!

Crock Pot Pizza

This was good, but really just more like cheesy spaghetti...I found it online...

2 cups cooked rotini noodles
1 lb browned ground beef
1 15 oz. can pizza sauce
1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
Pepperoni
2 cups mozzarella cheese
Parmesean cheese

Brown the beef and cook the noodles.

Mix all ingredients but cheese in the crock pot.

Sprinkle cheese on top.

Cook on high for 1.5 hours in the crock pot.

Enjoy!

Potato & Pancetta Pizza

Ate this at Destihl in Bloomington, found a generic recipe for it online, modified it a bit and here you go:

1 pre-made pizza crust (the non-cooked kind)
olive oil
Seasonings: whatever you like, I used garlic, pepper, and pizza seasonings
4-5 red potatoes
1 package of Pancetta (I used bacon)
Romano cheese (I used pizza cheese and parmesean)

Boil water and put in your red potatoes. If they are large, slice them up and put them in water to soften.
Unroll the pizza crust and "smoosh" it out until it is the thickness you enjoy.
Brush on some olive oil.
Sprinkle on your spices and some parm cheese.
While you wait for potatoes to soften, cook 10 strips of bacon either in a skillet or microwave. I use the microwave because it is faster, also, they don't have to be completely 100% crispy, they will crisp up in the oven.
Slice softened potatoes and cover pizza crust in an even layer.
Top with bacon and cheese.
Place in a pre-heated, 400 degree oven for about 10-12 minutes.

Enjoy!

Meat and Rice Casserole, Max-style

This one comes courtesy of Dad's "No-Salt, Lowest-Sodium Cookbook". Sounds yummy, doesn't it? Actually, this recipe is really good! I have to admit, though, when I made this casserole, I didn't use half of the ingredients in the published recipe, so I'm calling this "Max-style" because Dad told me the version he uses! Make sense?

• 1 lb. ground beef or turkey
• Dill dip mix (or you could just use a little dill seasoning)
• Onion powder (I used chopped onions)
• 1 c. rice (I used jasmine and it was great!)
• 2 c. chicken broth or bouillon
• Mushrooms (optional)
  

Preheat oven to 375. Brown the ground beef or turkey in a skillet. Drain. Add the onions/onion powder and dill/dip mix to the meat. Add mushrooms, if you like that sort of thing.

In a casserole dish, put the 1 c. rice. Pour the 2 c. broth or bouillon over the rice. Add the ground beef. Cover and bake for 40-45 minutes. Covering is important so the rice will cook! Don't get fancy, just use aluminum foil!

When the casserole is done, you can serve it as is or you can get wild like Max and add some frozen peas STILL FROZEN to the top. Recover and let those puppies cook on their own. No need to keep the stove on!

Serve with some light sour cream or dill dip on the top. Delicious!

Italian Wedding Pasta

I have not made this yet, but plan to and thought it looked good enough to share!
(it's from a "healthy pasta dishes" list from msn.com)

1 lb. ground turkey
1/4 cup plain dried bread crumbs*
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
1 clove garlic, crushed with a press
1 clove garlic, thinly sliced**
1 large egg
1 cup freshly grated Romano Cheese *+
1 package farfalle pasta (or bow-tie)
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 1/2 cup reduced fat milk
1 14 ounce to 14.5 ounce reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 bag baby spinach *++
ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400, line a baking pan or cookie sheet with foil or parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, mix turkey, bread crumbs, parsley, garlic, egg, 1/4 cup Romano cheese with fingertips. Do not over mix. make 36 (!) 1" meatballs and place in lined pan. Bake 20 min.

Meanwhile, cook pasta (al dente), drain, return to pot

Whisk cornstarch into milk. Add that mixture and chicken broth to pasta pot. Heat to boiling over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Allow to boil 1 minute to thicken sauce, then remove from heat.

Stir in spinach, 1/2 cup Romano cheese, 1/4 tsp. pepper. Add meatballs and gently toss to combine.

Transfer to a 3 quart baking dish and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake 20 minutes.

*Would you ever not use "dried" bread crumbs? Is there a use for wet bread crumbs?
**I see no need for 2 different types of garlic in this recipe. I say, chop 2 cloves and be done with it.
*+Freshly grated? Please. I will use the already grated and be fine with it. Otherwise, change step 1 to: freshly grate some Romano cheese.
*++ I will not be using spinach at all. Feel free to do the same, or be a grown up and add it.

Good luck to this recipe!
I'll follow up with feedback!

erin