Freezer Friendly Foods

As you know, both my sister and I are pregnant. I'm a little over 37 weeks along and she's about 38 weeks along. We are now both a couple of ticking time bombs. The babies could come at any time now!

After my first baby was born, I did NOT have the energy to cook for a number of weeks. After that experience, I've done my best to prepare for the second time around. One of the things I have done is to make double recipes of freezer friendly foods. We've enjoyed the first batches for dinner and frozen the second batches to thaw and reheat during the first six weeks after my baby is born.

I know that my sister has been doing the same thing. Hopefully she will add some of her freezer friendly food discoveries to this post as well.

I've also labeled some of our recipes as being freezer friendly on this blog. Here's a list of some other freezer friendly foods (with hyper links so that you can access them easily) that we've already posted:

Mexican Pork
Assorted Slow Cooker Sandwiches (shredded meat freezes well)
Grecian Meatballs
Chicken Chalupas
Penne with Sausage and Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
Pulled Chicken Sandwiches and Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches
Baked Ravioli and Tomato-Sausage Lasagna
Slow Cooker Southern Pulled Pork
One-Pot Pasta
Meaty Calzones and Shepherd's Pie
Chicken Tamale Casserole
Slow Cooker Smoky Chipotle Soft Tacos and Buffalo Chicken and Potatoes
Easy Chicken Pot Pie

Main dishes such as baked pastas and casseroles (Mexican and Italian, especially) are particularly freezer friendly. Shredded meat and pasta are also freezable. However, with shredded meat and pasta (not of the baked pasta variety), you will need to thaw it completely in the refrigerator and just microwave it to reheat it.

Many recipes that are freezer friendly don't say that they are freeze-able and they don't come with baking instructions post-freezing or thawing. But if you just keep an eye on it in the oven, it will reheat beautifully and be just as hot, bubbly, cheesy, and yummy as if you had just made it that day.

The best way to reheat these meals (the ones I am sharing now) is either to allow them to thaw completely in the refrigerator overnight and then bake as directed (usually, it will be necessary to add anywhere from 10-30 minutes to the baking time since the dish is being put into the oven cold rather than warm, which would be the case if you were baking it immediately after assembling it) or to double the original baking time if you are putting a frozen dish directly into the oven. Make sure to keep the casserole covered with foil until the end (this will keep the cheese from browning--or burning--before the casserole is evenly cooked/heated). Then, remove the foil and continue baking until the casserole is hot and bubbly and the top/cheese is nicely melted and browned.

I'm going to share two Mexican-style casseroles and two baked pasta recipes.

I found one of the baked pasta recipes in a Martha Stewart photo/recipe gallery devoted entirely to dinners that were freezer friendly. If you would like to check out that gallery, click here.

Everyone has times when they either don't feel like cooking or there's a small emergency and it comes in handy to have a meal on hand that can just be popped into the oven. In that case, simply double these recipes so that you can freeze one for just such an occasion.


Green Chile-Chicken Casserole

Makes 12 servings (about 3/4 cup each)

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 cup canned chopped green chiles, drained
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup fat-free sour cream
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 (1o 1/2 ounce) cans condensed 98% fat-free cream of chicken soup, undiluted (such as Campbell's)
1 garlic clove, minced
Cooking spray
24 (6 inch) corn tortillas
4 cups shredded cooked chicken breast (about 1 pound)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the first 9 ingredients in large saucepan, stirring with a whisk. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

Spread 1 cup soup mixture in a 13x9 inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange 6 tortillas over the soup mixture, and top with 1 cup chicken and 1/2 cup cheese. Repeat layers, ending with the cheese. Spread remaining soup mixture over cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or until bubbly.

Nutrition information: Calories 335, Fat 10.8 g, Iron 1.5 mg, Cholesterol 66 mg, Calcium 270 mg, Carbohydrate 34.3 g, Sodium 693 mg, Protein 23.9 g, Fiber 3.2 g.

Source: Cooking Light, November 2003


Weight Watchers Layered Mexican Chicken

Makes 12 servings (6 WW Points per serving)

Ingredients:

Olive oil cooking spray
2 pounds uncooked, boneless, skinless chicken breasts
30 oz canned black beans, rinsed and drained
3 cups fat free sour cream
2 cups reduced fat shredded Mexican-style cheese, divided
8 oz chopped green chilies (two 4 oz cans)
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp black pepper
12 medium corn tortillas, cut into 2 inch strips
1 cup salsa (mild, medium, or hot)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a lasagna pan with cooking spray.

Place chicken in a medium saucepan and fill with enough cold water just to cover chicken. Set pan over high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 10-15 minutes; drain. When chicken is cool enough to handle, cut into 1-inch pieces.

Transfer chicken to a large bowl and add beans, sour cream, 1 cup shredded cheese, chilies, cumin, and pepper; mix well and set aside.

Arrange half of tortillas in bottom of prepared lasagna pan, overlapping pieces to cover surface. Top tortillas with half of chicken mixture, layer with remaining tortillas and then top with remaining chicken mixture. Sprinkle with remaining cup of cheese.

Bake until filling is bubbly and cheese is melted, about 30 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before slicing into 12 pieces. Serve with salsa on the side.

Source: Weight Watcher's website.

Notes: I didn't cut the tortillas into strips, I kept them whole. Also, I added a few more tortillas so that it created more layers to the casserole (rather than just two). If you can, I would even suggest assembling this the day before and baking it the next day (because the flavors get stronger with this casserole when it has been allowed to sit for a bit).


Baked Penne with Chicken and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Each baking dish serves four; bake one tonight, and freeze the other for a ready-made dinner later on. When ready to cook, bake it straight from the freezer.

Serves 8

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons butter, plus more for baking dishes
coarse salt and ground pepper
1 pound penne rigate
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (8 ounces each), halved horizontally
1/2 cup, plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
4 garlic cloves, minced
6 cups whole milk
10 ounces white mushrooms, trimmed and thinly sliced
1/2 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups shredded provolone (6 ounces)
1 cup finely grated Parmesan (4 ounces)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter two shallow 2-quart baking dishes. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta 3 minutes short of al dente; drain pasta, and return to pot.

In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high. Season chicken with salt and pepper; cook until opaque throughout, 3-5 minutes per side. Halve each piece lengthwise, then thinly slice crosswise.

In a 5-quart Dutch oven or heavy pot, melt butter over medium. Add flour and garlic; cook, whisking, 1 minute. While whisking, gradually add milk; bring to a simmer, whisking frequently.

Add mushrooms and tomatoes; cook 1 minute. Off heat, gradually stir in provolone and 1/2 cup Parmesan.

Add chicken and pasta to pot; season with salt and pepper. Divide pasta mixture between baking dishes; sprinkle each with cup Parmesan.

Bake, uncovered, until top is golden and bubbling, about 25 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

If freezing: Prepare through step 4; let cool. Cover tightly with foil, and freeze, up to 3 months.When ready to bake, thaw in fridge overnight and follow instructions below.

Preheat oven to 400, and bake (still covered in foil) on a rimmed baking sheet until center is hot, about 1 1/2 hours. Remove foil; bake until golden, about 15 minutes more.

Source: Martha Stewart website.

Notes: I doubled the recipe so that each baking dish would serve 8 and I baked each in a 9x13 inch pan. Make sure to taste for seasoning preference before baking. After baking, I realized mine needed a little more salt and pepper. Otherwise, it will be too bland.


Baked Ziti with Italian Baking Sauce (Ziti al forno con mozzarella e carne di manzo)

Ingredients:

1 box Barilla Ziti (1 lb)
1 jar Barilla Italian baking sauce (or favorite jarred marinara sauce)
Cooking spray, to coat
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 medium white onion, diced
1 pound ground beef
Salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 cup water
4 cups (16 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

Grease or spray a 13x9 inch baking pan.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add onion; saute until golden. Add ground beef and cook until brown. Season with salt and pepper.

Add Italian baking sauce/marinara and water. Simmer 5-10 minutes or until excess water evaporates.

Cook pasta ccording to package directions. Drain and add pasta to skillet. Add 2 cups of shredded cheese and mix well.

Transfer to baking dish. Top with remaining cheese.

Bake 10-20 minutes until cheese is melted and bubble.

Source: I found this recipe on Barilla's website. I really like Barilla brand pasta, myself. (No, I'm not a spokesperson). :) My point in telling you that is that if you like a certain food product, they usually have a website with a ton of recipes that you'll probably like too. Do a web search and see. You might just find some fun recipes.

Notes: I like this recipe because it is just one of those basic baked pasta recipes. It's easy to assemble and it hits the spot. I couldn't find the Italian baking sauce referred to in the recipe, so I used marinara sauce. Also, I would suggest adding 1 teaspoon (or to taste) of Italian seasoning when browning the beef. You could also add 2-4 cloves of minced garlic to the beef, if you like. If baking from frozen, I would suggest baking the ziti, covered, for 40-60 minutes and then uncovered for another 10-20 minutes. Just check it from time to time to make sure that it gets fully heated...but not overcooked. Oh, and there is no reason to use 1/4 cup of olive oil to saute the onion in. The beef will render enough fat when you brown it. I only used 1 tbsp of olive oil for the onion.