Freezer Friendz: Missy's Chili

Meet The Freezer Friendz!

Freezer Friendz was started in March 2008 by moms who were looking for a way to simplify dinnertime in their homes. The "Friendz" currently include Amy, Beth, Jackie, Jen, and Wendy. We meet once a month with our co-op to trade prepared freezer dinners with each other. We make the same dinner 5 times, then trade - yielding each of us 5 different dinners for the month, even though we each only cooked one recipe! We rotate our recipes amongst the following categories: beef & pasta, beef no pasta, chicken & pasta, chicken no pasta, soup/stew/chili and "other" (anything that does not fall under the previously listed categories).

Check out the comments with each recipe to see what the Freezer Friendz and others thought about the meals.

Feel free to leave your comments too after you try a recipe. We'd love to know what you think!

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Missy's Chili

Heat these ingredients in soup pan and let simmer:
1 can Kroger Diced Salsa Style Tomatoes Fire Roasted
2 cans chili beans (do not drain)
1 can black beans (drained)
1 quart tomato juice
1 tbsp chili powder

This time (6-1-10) I used 1 1/2lb hamburger and not the 3 kinds listed below.

Combine the following ingredients in your skillet and cook thoroughly:
I used 1/2 lb. of the following meats:
•hamburger
•turkey
•venison
1/2 onion
1 4oz can diced green chilies
1 tbsp chili powder

To freeze: Follow above directions completely and place into a Ziploc bag and freeze.

Serving day: Thaw, warm on the stove, and serve. I have had problems in the past with my bags leaking while thawing so I place the freezer bag in a large dish for this process.

Extra Notes: My family enjoys chili that's spicy. For this recipe I toned down the use of chili powder so your family can enjoy a more mild meal OR you may heat this in your pan and spice-it-up-a-bit to your liking! I have also stretched this meal by adding cooked elbow macaroni/pasta spirals which the kids really like. Enjoy!!

2 comments:

the Chunn'sJuly 7, 2010 at 11:00 AM
We hadn't been doing FF the last time you did chili. This had great flavor and everyone liked it. Thank you.
ReplyDelete
AnonymousDecember 12, 2010 at 4:46 PM
Yummy as always! Thanks for making it!
ReplyDelete

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Freezer Cooking Quick Tips

When wrapping meals for freezer: make sure to double wrap to prevent freezer burn. Using one layer of plastic wrap and a top layer of foil is best.

Freezer Bags: Use GOOD freezer bags! Don't skimp on cheapo freezer bags or your food will taste like plastic!

Meat in Freezer Meals: Thawed meat must be cooked before it can be refrozen. Frozen cooked meat can not be refrozen once thawed.

Freezing Soup: Pour soup into gallon size Ziploc bag. Lay bag of soup flat on a cookie sheet in the freezer until frozen, then remove cookie sheet. Doing this allows soup to freeze flat, so it can stack easily with other meals in your freezer.

Flash Marinade: Put raw chicken or beef in a ziploc baggie, pour in your marinade, then freeze. In the thawing process, your meat will be infused with the marinade and ready to cook!

Cooking Noodles: Cook noodles only 3 minutes, drain and immediately run under cold water to stop the cooking process. Noodles will freeze well and not turn to mush if done this way. Tip from freezerchicks blog site!

Slow-Cooking Chicken for the Freezer: You can fill crock pot with chicken breasts and pour a can of chicken broth over meat. Cook on high for 4 hours. Another method that gives the meat more flavor is to layer 1 sliced onion in the bottom of slow cooker. Top with chicken. Sprinkle with seasoned salt, pepper and garlic powder. Cook on low for 4 hours or until done. With either of these methods, you need to keep an eye on your meat to make sure you do not overcook. Shred or dice and freeze in 2 cup portions for use in casseroles, tacos, etc...

Freezing Cooked Ground Beef: You can boil ground beef, then freeze it - it will be easy to thaw and use for tacos or something similar! To do this, add raw ground beef to large pot. Add onion, salt & pepper. Fill pot with water until water is 1" above the top of the meat. Boil, stirring occasionally to break up chunks. Meat is finished when no longer pink. Drain off the water (which drains off the fat).

1lb. raw ground beef=12 oz. cooked ground beef=2 - 2.5

Freezing Sandwiches: You can make lunchmeat sandwiches ahead of time and freeze them. Just assemble the meat and cheese on bread and place in ziploc sandwich bags. Place all bagged sandwiches into a large ziploc freezer bag. I did this once with cheap sandwich bags and the sandwiches tasted like plastic; however, they taste fine if you use Ziploc bags. **PBJ works too, if bread is a higher quality wheat bread.

Freezer Efficiency: If your freezer isn't full, fill empty milk jugs 3/4 full with water and place in freezer. This helps your freezer not have to work so hard to stay cold, saving you money.

Substitutions: Here is a great source for figuring out substitions for your recipes when you start making something and realize you are missing an ingredient: http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Common-Substitutions/Detail.aspx

Freezer Friendz

Meet The Freezer Friendz!

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Missy's Chili

2 comments:

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