Freezer Friendz: March 2016

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Breaded Pork Chops by Beth

Adapted for freezer from http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/flavorful-breaded-pork-chops

Ingredients:
2 T. flour
4 egg whites
1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. balsamic vinegar
1/8 tsp. hot pepper sauce
3/4 c. bread crumbs
3 T. Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp. ground thyme
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. paprika
6 boneless pork loin chops (1/2 in. thick)

Assembly:
Place flour in shallow dish. In another shallow dish, beat egg whites, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, and hot sauce. In a third dish, combine bread crumbs, cheese, and seasonings. Coat pork chops with flour. Dip into egg mixture, then coat with bread crumb mixture. Place on wax paper lined cookie sheet in a single layer. Place in freezer until frozen solid. Once completely frozen, place in gallon size freezer bag and return to freezer.

Serving Day:
Thaw in fridge. Place chops in greased baking dish. Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 25-28 min. or until juices run clear. If you bake these from freezer (which I'm sure you can do), please comment how long they took.

Sunday, March 13, 2016

BBQ Chicken Pizza by Jackie

Ingredients:
1 frozen pizza crust (I buy mine in bulk from Sam's Club at the cafe counter.)
2 c. cooked, shredded chicken
2 c. shredded cheddar and Monterrey jack cheese
14 oz. your favorite barbecue sauce (I use Montgomery Inn.)

Assembly:
Place pizza crust on cardboard pizza round. Cover with plastic wrap. Cover with heavy duty aluminum foil. Label and freeze. Place chicken in quart size Ziploc bag. Place cheese in sandwich size Ziploc bag. Place both bags into gallon size Ziploc freezer bag. Label. Freeze.

Serving Day:
Thaw all ingredients, except crust. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Unwrap crust. Top pizza crust with sauce. Spread evenly over crust. Sprinkle chicken in an even layer over sauce. Sprinkle cheese evenly over pizza. Slide off of cardboard and onto oven rack. Bake 10 minutes or until the underside of the crust is cooked to your liking. Enjoy!

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Italian Chicken Pasta Toss by Wendy

An adaptation from Pampered Chef

Ingredients:
3 cups (9 oz.) Bow Tie Pasta
1 can diced tomatoes
1 small onion, chopped
1 medium zucchini, sliced
1 small bell pepper, cut into thin strips
8 oz. Cooked Chicken, cut into dices
2 tsp. Olive oil
2 garlic cloves
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 tsp. Italian Seasoning
1 tsp. Salt
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese

Assembly:
Bag 1: In a Sandwich bag measure 3 cups Bow Tie Pasta.
Bag 2: In a Gallon Size Ziploc Bag place tomatoes, onion, zucchini, bell pepper, chicken, Oil, garlic, peas, Seasoning and Salt.
Bag 3: In a Snack Size Ziploc Bag measure the Parmesan Cheese
In a Gallon Size Ziploc Bag place all 3 bags and freeze.

Serving Day:
Thaw completely.

Pour Chicken Mixture in a large pan and cook until heated through on Medium Heat, stirring every few minutes.

Cook Pasta until al dente. Drain and Mix with warmed Chicken Mixture in large pan.

Add Parmesan Cheese, stir and serve.

Serves: 6

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

Meet The Freezer Friendz!