So there was a thread the other day about that couple who registered for meals post delivery of their baby. Obviously DH and I won't be doing that.
And I know if we don't make stuff before I deliver, I will eat so much delivery that my breast milk will probably taste like pizza and the kid will grow up only wanting Jet's. DH and I decided a while ago that we'd buy an upright freezer for our basement and store tons of meals that we'll make ahead of time.
I'm trying to assemble a bunch of recipes. I have a few that sound awesome, but I want more variety. So what are your favorite crockpot or other freezable recipes?
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Re: Crockpot Recipes and Freezable Food
I made this for my bible study group and they loved it. I froze the leftovers.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooker-chicken-tortilla-soup/
I did alter the recipe. I hate frozen corn and cilantro so I didn't add them. I also used regular tortilla chips and avocado as a topping.
1. Homemade meatballs. In a pinch, 2 minutes in the microwave then heat in a jar of sauce while pasta cooks.
2. Homemade chili. Consider making it mild. My sister found that heat kept the baby up when she was breastfeeding.
3. Misc. soups. You may want to keep the beans to a minimum in case the baby doesn't love them (a problem for a friend).
4. Lasagna in meal-sized servings. Lasagna roll-ups are also really handy.
5. Bags of stuff you can toss in the crockpot-- pre-browned meat with veg, sauce, etc.
6. Your favorite frozen pizzas, when on sale.
While not meals, a few other things to keep around:
1. Consider having some pre-marinated meats and frozen veg around.
Sometimes you want to eat something that doesn't feel as heavy or slow cooked.
2. Frozen chocolate bars. Aldi makes these mini bars of dark chocolate which make life so much better.
3. Chunks of frozen fruit for smoothies, etc. If you're trying to keep junk food to a minimum while breast-feeding, fruit smoothies are great. If you freeze the stuff yourself in smoothie-sized bags, you'll be ready to go.
1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts OR pork loin, trimmed
12 oz Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce
1/2 cup Kraft Free Zesty Italian dressing
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Cook on low about 5 hours. Pull out meat and shred, then add back to sauce.
We also make spaghetti sauce with crumbled hot Italian turkey sausage, onion, green pepper and diced tomatoes added to our favorite jarred sauce and freeze that flat in ziploc bags. Then all we need to do is make the pasta and thaw the sauce in the microwave while the pasta is cooking.
We keep the same cooked frozen sausage in the freezer and use it for pizza toppings , to throw in an omelet or soup, etc as well.
White bean chicken chili!
16 oz each garbanzo, pinto, kidney beans
~1.5 lbs of chicken breast
16 oz diced tomatoes (I like the Mexican style ones)
Cook on low appx 6 hours or so
After cooking add in sour cream and shredded Mexican cheese
so easy and provides so much warm cheesy goodness
Chicken noodle soup!!
We have a food saver and you will pry that puppy from my cold dead hands. If it ever dies I will be in my car asap to replace it. You can boil the bags with some things for easy dinner prep.
We usually have sloppy joes, taco meat, pulled pork, and refried beans in the freezer. Quite often we will have beef stew or other soups too. All of those things are precooked so we can reheat them in a pan of water while in the food saver bag.
I remember a couple of episodes from Pioneer Woman that had freezer meals that looked pretty good:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/chicken-pot-pie.html
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sour-cream-noodle-bake0.html
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/carrot-thyme-soup-with-cream.
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2012/06/easy-calzones/
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/chicken_spaghet/
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2014/05/lasagna-rollups/
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2013/01/sunday-night-stew/
Oh, and there is a crapton of ideas on pinterest too.
FI is obsessed with that sour cream noodle bake. I like it too, it's just a bit heavy for me.
I also love doing lasagna rolls ups. The ones I like are you take chicken, ricotta, and pesto and mix that up as your filling, and then spread on the noodles and roll up, then top with marinara and mozzarella. They're easy cause you can freeze each roll individually if you want, for single servings.
We make this quite often and it freezes really well.
Crockpot- 6 boneless pork chops, 2 cans cream of chicken, 1 can chicken broth, 2 packets ranch seasoning mix. High for 2 hours.
Stove- package of egg noodles. When crockpot is done, cut chops into bite size pieces and serve with the sauce over egg noodles.
Here's the recipe for those chicken pesto lasagna rolls http://traceysculinaryadventures.com/2012/09/chicken-pesto-lasagna-rolls.html