In an effort to save time and money (and effort) I have tried different menu planning techniques . I have tried the once a month freezer cooking, both alone and with partners. It was helpful but didn’t give us the best solution. I have tried pre-prepared food delivery. Easy but very expensive and we didn’t like the food very much and ended up tossing a lot of it. The pre-prepared foods are also very unhealthy. Making my own meals to freeze is definitely the healthiest most cost effective way to go. So this week I am going to try something new. For every dinner I make this week, I am going to double, triple or quadruple the recipe to split and freeze for future meals. I will also do the same thing for breakfast: pancakes/waffles/muffins /breads ad gravy. That way at the end of the week I should have at least 1 week’s worth of dinners and breakfasts cooked or at least prepared and ready to cook and frozen for later use. My goal is to have yummy, healthy meals that save me from cooking when I don’t feel like it and save us a ton of money without having to spend all day or more in the kitchen.  I am looking forward to the final days of this pregnancy and the postpartum period when I am not feeling like cooking to be able to pull something from the freezer.

Here is what I have in store for this week:

(with links to some recipes at the bottom)

Breakfast:

Sausage Gravy

Bonnie’s Best Biscuits

Cinnamon Rolls

Cinnamon Cream Syrup

Citrus Poppy Seed Rolls

Baked French Toast

Farmers Casserole

Dinner:

Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas

Mexican Rice

Meatloaf

Chicken Soup

Stuffed Peppers

Beef Stroganoff

Green Chili Chicken

Chicken Pot Pie

]]> http://www.suburbangranola.com/2010/03/21/freezer-cooking-march-22-28th-menu/feed/ 0 http://www.suburbangranola.com/2009/10/28/fantastic-mexican-rice/ http://www.suburbangranola.com/2009/10/28/fantastic-mexican-rice/#comments Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:32:33 +0000 admin http://www.suburbangranola.com/?p=516  

This is the best Mexican rice that you will ever put in your mouth. Guaranteed.

All you need is long grain rice, salsa, catsup, water and a little oil.

Start with a heavy bottomed sauce pan that has a tight-fitting lid. Pour a thin coat of oil in the bottom and heat it on a high heat setting.

Once the oil is good and hot add 2 cups of long grain rice. Make sure that the oil lightly coats the rice. Keep stirring the rice constantly so it will not burn. You are going to keep stirring until the grains start to turn light brown and it smells like popcorn.

Then you will add 1 cup of salsa.

Keep stirring until the moisture from the salsa is soaked into the grains. Then quickly add 3 1/2 cups of water. Have it ready and close by to prevent the salsa from starting to burn.

Add 1/2 cup of catsup.

Once it returns to a boil turn the heat down to a slow simmer and cover with the lid. Let it cook for 20 minutes and then remove from the heat. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes before lifting the lid. Fluff with a fork and serve.

Here is how you make it:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Pull all of the chicken from the bone and roughly chop it.

In a bowl mix 1/2 of the container of sour cream, 4 cups of shredded cheese, 1 can of cream of chicken soup and 1 finely diced onion.

To assemble the enchiladas start with a tortilla and spread 2 tbs of refried bean on top.

Next spread 2 tbs of the sour cream mixture on top of the beans.

Last of all place about 3 tbs of chicken on top of the sour cream mixture.

Roll it up and place it in a 9×13 inch baking dish.

Once you have a full dish pour over a can of red enchilada sauce.

Bake for 35 minutes or until hot and bubbly all the way through.

This is great with my Mexican Rice Recipe!

Enjoy!

You will need:

1 whole organic chicken

1 yellow onion

2-3 good sized carrots

3 ribs of celery

1 leek

1/2 head of garlic hunk of fresh ginger about the size of your thumb

fresh basil

1 bay leaf

salt, pepper

frozen mixed vegetables

egg noodles or rice

you may also need a little extra chicken broth from a can

* I prefer to use all organic ingredients.

I use a pressure cooker for the first step, which is making the broth base, but if you do not have one you can use a large stock pot. It just takes a little longer to cook.

Start by washing all of your produce carefully and peeling the carrots and ginger. If you have never used a leek before, there is a little trick to washing them because they tend to have sand trapped between the layers. Cut the leek in half and fan the layers out under cold running water to rinse the sand out completely. The onion only needs the skin removed and to be cut into quarters. The garlic, don’t bother peeling it just crush it with a knife blade turned on its side to release the oils.  Lastly rinse the chicken inside and out with cold water.

You will put the whole chicken into your pressure cooker or stock pot. Then add all the vegetables, the onion, garlic, ginger, the bay leaf, a handful of basil and about a tablespoon of salt and grind some fresh pepper on top. Add enough water to cover everything completely.

* in this picture there is not enough water added. The chicken I had was rather large and more water would have exceeded the recommended capacity of my pressure cooker. This just means that I will need to add some commercial broth later.

If you are using a pressure cooker use the high pressure setting for 25 minutes and let the pressure release on its own. If you are cooking in a stock pot, simmer until the chicken is falling off of the bone. It may take up to a couple hours.

When it is done cooking you will remove the chicken using tongs and let it cool.   While waiting for the chicken to cool remove and discard the vegetables from the stock.  Then you will strain the broth that remains in the pot.

This is what I use to do it.

You will be left with your chicken stock base. I was left with 2 qts. but the amount you end up with depends on the size of your chicken and how much water your pot can hold. Once the stock is strained your chicken should be cooled enough to pull the it from the bone.

Now, I generally put the stock into the fridge and let it sit overnight. I have been in a hurry and skipped this step and the soup turns out fine. I just prefer to skim the fat off the top and refrigerating it first makes that step a cinch. If you do refrigerate the stock keep your chicken in a separate container in the fridge until needed.

You just use a slotted spoon and skim it right off the top. Then the stock is ready to use.

To make the soup you heat the stock to boiling in a large pot.

Then add 1/2- 1 bag of the frozen mixed vegetables. If you have 2 quarts, stick to half. If you ended up with more use the whole bag.

Then add all of the chicken that you pulled from the bone.

Once this all returns to boiling you can add your noodles or rice, whichever you prefer, and cook according to the package directions. If you are going to freeze this for later use do not add the rice or noodles. Your soup with be a gummy gelatinous mess and not too appetizing.  Just add those ingredients as you reheat your soup when you are ready to eat it. I freeze mine in those large zip-lock plastic containers with the screw on lid.

This time I did noodles but my family actually prefers rice. When I make it with rice I just dump the vegetables, chicken and rice all at once in the pressure cooker and cook it on high pressure for 8 minutes and it is ready to eat.

Granola

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees fahrenheit

2 cups rolled oats

3/4 cups raw almonds roughly chopped

1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds

1/4 cup flax and raw sunflower seeds

1 cup sweetened or un-sweetened coconut

1 cup of dehydrated apple chunks (not sure where to get them, I make my own)

1/2 cup raisins

1 cup Erewhon crispy brown rice (think rice crispies)

1/3 cup high quality canola oil

1 cup honey

All you do is mix up the ingredients in the order listed, spread it out in a roasting pan (with high edges because you will have to turn it over mid-cooking and it contains the mess) . Cook it for 30 minutes turning over once or twice starting after about 10 minutes.