Meet The Freezer Friendz!

Looking for a way to simplify dinnertime in your home?
You've come to the right place!
Our freezer cooking recipes are sure to take the headache out of evening meal prep.
We invite you to leave comments after you try a recipe, as well.
We'd love to know what you think!

Monday, March 30, 2009

Mexican Lasagne by Tish

I got this recipe off of 30 Day gourmet.com. They have lots of good freezer meal recipe ideas!
Serves :6-8

Ingredients:
1 - 10 count package of flour tortillas (regular size, not the little taco size)
1 lb. ground beef (I use fairly lean ground beef)
1 cup of salsa (you choose your spice level - we like spicy at our house)
1 (15oz) can of tomato sauce
1 pkg of taco seasoning (regular or spicy, your choice)
1 (160z.) container of cottage cheese (I use 1% milk fat, large curd variety, but any will do)
2 eggs
1 tsp. oregano
1 1/2 cup of shredded cheese (I like Monterrey jack, but you can use whatever you like)
*** I also add a little black pepper (about 1/2 tsp.), dried basil (1 tsp.) and minced garlic (1-2 cloves, or to your taste) to the cottage cheese mixture for extra flavor***

Assembly:
Brown meat, drain and discard fat. Stir in the salsa, tomato sauce, and taco seasoning. Simmer 5 minutes, stirring frequently. In a separate bowl, mix cottage cheese, eggs, oregano, black pepper, dried basil, and minced garlic. Line the bottom of a lightly greased 9x13 or (2) 8x8 pans with HALF of the tortillas, overlapping the edges. Top with HALF of the meat mixture. Spoon ALL of the cottage cheese mixture over the beef. Arrange rest of tortillas over top of the cheese mixture. Top with the remaining meat sauce and distribute the shredded cheese over all.

Freezing Directions:
Cover pan tightly with heavy duty freezer wrap, foil and/or a 2 gallon freezer bag, label and freeze.

Serving Day:
Thaw and bake at 375 degrees for 35-45 minutes or till thoroughly heated through.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Mexican Manicotti by Susan

Ingredients:
1 pound lean ground beef
1 can (16 oz) refried beans
2 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
1 1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
1 package manicotti shells 8 oz
2 1/2 cups water
1 jar (16 oz) picante sauce
2 cups (16 oz) sour cream
1 cup (4 oz) shredded Monterrey Jack or Mexican style cheese

Assembly:
In a bowl combine the UNCOOKED beef, beans, chili powder, & oregano. Spoon into UNCOOKED manicotti shells, arrange in a greased 13"X9"X2" baking dish. Combine water & picante sauce, pour over shells.
If freezing: Cover & freeze.
If making this meal to eat without freezing: Assemble, cover and refrigerate overnight. Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before baking.

Serving Day:
Thaw completely in refrigerator before baking. Cover & bake @ 350 degrees for 1 hour. Uncover, spoon sour cream over the top and sprinkle with cheese. Bake 5-10 minutes longer or until cheese is melted

from: http://www.cdkitchen.com/

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Chicken Noodle Casserole by Katie

Ingredients:
Chicken Breast-baked and cubed
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup milk
16 oz. bag of egg noodles-cooked

Assembly:
Mix all ingredients. Place in Freezer bag. Freeze.

Serving Day:
Thaw. Place into baking dish. Stir to mix ingredients up. Crumble potato chips and put on top of mixture. Put shredded cheddar cheese on top of potato chip layer.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Enjoy!

Greek Lemon Chicken Soup by Wendy

Ingredients:
2 cups chopped cooked chicken
2 medium carrots, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup lemon juice (1-2 lemons)
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 garlic clove, pressed
1 can (10 3/4 oz) cream of chicken soup
3 cans (14 1/2 oz each) chicken broth
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2/3 cup uncooked long-grain white rice

Assembly:
Chop chicken, carrots and onion using food chopper. Put carrots and onions in pan on stove or in microwave, adding enough water to just covered. Cook until softened (about 7 minutes in microwave).
Pour carrots and onions into mixing bowl. Add garlic, chicken, lemon juice, soup, chicken broth, black pepper and parsley to bowl. Pour into gallon size Ziploc bag. In a sandwich size Ziploc bag, pour in rice. You may put both bags into another gallon size Ziploc to keep together.

Serving Day: Thaw completely. Bring mix to a boil. Stir in rice; reduce heat. Cover; simmer over low heat 15-20 minutes or until rice is tender.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Chicken Crescents by Mel

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup
3/4 soup can of milk
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 can 8 piece crescent rolls
pepper

Assembly:
Stew chicken, pull apart (or chop) and divide into 8 sections. Lay out each crescent, fill with chicken, sprinkle with cheese and seasonings (I used pepper), and roll up. Place in 9x13 pan. Mix soup and milk and pour over crescents. Sprinkle liberally with cheese. Can be baked immediately or frozen for a later date.

Serving Day:
Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 20 minutes. I poke the crescent to be sure it is cooked.

Comment from Mel:
This is the original recipe, but for you ladies I added 2 extra crescents to be sure you each got enough. You can judge for your own family if 8 crescents would have been enough if you want to make this in the future. If you make it with 10 crescents, just increase the chicken. The other ingredients can all remain the same.

Beef & Parmesan Pasta by Mags

Beef & Parmesan Pasta Recipe from AllRecipes.com


Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
1 (14 ounce) can beef broth
1 (14.5 ounce) can Italian-style diced tomatoes
2 cups uncooked farfalle (bow tie) pasta
2 cups sliced zucchini, (1/4 inch thick)
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese


Same-Day Cooking and Eating Directions:
  1. In a large skillet over medium/high heat, brown the ground beef until no longer pink, breaking up into 3/4 inch pieces. Remove beef with a slotted spoon to a bowl. Pour off the drippings.
  2. Return the skillet to the heat and add the beef broth, tomatoes, and pasta. Stir to coat all of the pasta. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium.
  3. Cook, uncovered, for 15 minutes stirring frequently. Add zucchini and continue cooking for an additional 5 minutes or until pasta is tender.
  4. Return beef to the skillet and stir in 1/2 cup of the cheese; heat through. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over each serving.

Preparation & Freezing to Eat at a Later Date:

  1. In a large skillet over medium/high heat, brown the ground beef until no longer pink, breaking up into 3/4 inch pieces. Remove beef with a slotted spoon to a bowl. Pour off the drippings.
  2. In a gallon-sized freezer bag, pour in can of broth, can of diced tomatoes, cooked ground beef and UNcooked pasta. Press out air and seal bag.
  3. In a separate baggie, place your sliced zucchini.
  4. In another baggie, place your 3/4 c. shredded Parmesan cheese.
  5. Freeze baggies.
  6. On cooking day, thaw out all pieces. Pour contents of large baggie into your skillet. Add 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Add in zucchini and simmer for 5 more minutes. Sprinkle cheese and serve.

Enjoy!

:) Mags

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Kansas City Steak Soup - by Tish

Ingredients:
1 lb. lean ground beef (browned and drained of excess fat)
1.5 cups of chopped onion
4.5 cups of frozen mixed vegetables
3 - 3 1/2 cups of water
1.5 or 2 cans of stewed tomatoes, UNdrained (I also cut mine into bite size pieces)
1.5 cups of thinly sliced celery
2 beef bouillon cubes
1.5 tsp. black pepper
salt to taste (if desired)
I also used Tastefully Simple "Garlic Garlic" to add a little more flavor
1.5 cans of beef broth
3/4 cup all-purpose flour

Assembly:
Brown beef and onion in the bottom of your stock pot, and drain of any excess fat. Add veggies, water, tomatoes WITH liquid, celery, bouillon cubes, salt, pepper and garlic powder,if desired.
Bring to a boil. Whisk together flour and beef broth in a separate bowl till smooth. Add to beef mixture, stirring constantly. Return to a boil, then drop heat to low and simmer 15-45minutes, stirring frequently. Let cool completely and ladle into Freezer bags and freeze.

Serving Day:
Thaw and then re-heat in large saucepan, or you could take the frozen soup out of the freezer bag and put it into a slow cooker on low and let it thaw and re-heat that way.
**If the soup seems too thin after it is defrosted, just whisk some more flour into some warm water and stir it into the hot soup till it reaches the consistency you like.**

Yields : 6 servings

Chee-z Ham and Potato Bake by Missy

Ingredients:
2 cups cubed cooked ham
1 2lb. bag hash brown potatoes
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cups sour cream
1 stick of butter
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4tsp onion powder
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese
3/4 sleeve Ritz crackers and 2 tbs melted butter
for a crunchy topping

Assembly:
In a large bowl, combine soup, sour cream, melted butter, cheese, pepper, and onion powder. Stir in cubed ham and hash brown potatoes. Pour into Ziploc freezer bag or aluminum pan, cover with plastic wrap and aluminum foil. I did not freeze the crackers. =)

Serving Day:
Thaw completely. If in a Ziploc bag, pour into 9"x13" pan. Bake @ 350 degrees for 35 min. Crumble Ritz crackers and melt butter...mix together and sprinkle over top casserole and bake for another 10-15 min (until bubbly and golden). Your total baking time will be 45-55 min depending on how thawed it was going in and how quickly it bubbles and heats throughout...I am finding some of the meals take a little longer to bake than the directions say (including my own frozen and thawed meals)...this may be one of those?!?!?!

!!!ENJOY!!!