The Retro Art of Freezer Cooking Day 4 Getting Your Cook On

by kathilipp | Aug 29, 2013 | Home | 20 comments

***Give Away Alert! I will be giving away four copies of my freezer cooking cookbooks The What’s for Dinner Solution A winner everyday Tuesday through Friday. PLUS – a Freezer Cooking Prize Pack including The What’s for Dinner Solution and $25 Amazon Gift Card to buy all the Ziploc bags and 8×8 pans you need to get started! Just leave a comment on the blog sometime this week and I will pick four book winners and one grand prize winner – the more comments, the more chances to win! (One comment per person, per day, please!) ***

All this week, I will be giving you step by step instructions on how to have great, tasty meals for you and your family, every night. To make sure you don’t miss a post, subscribe to the blog!

OK – Now we get down to the nitty gritty. I know you all know how to cook, so I am going to just put down some of my Best Practices when it come to Freezer Cooking and preparing all those meals.

• Think Assembly Line When you have four recipes that called for chopped onions, get your food processor (or the food processor that you borrowed from your friend at church) and chop all those bad boys at once. (Another little trick that works well with onions: Light a wooden match and then blow it out. Hold the wooden part in your teeth while chopping onions to keep from crying. I don’t know why it works, but it does.)

Here is another tip on onions from Kelly www.bittybowsboutique.com :

“I despise chopping onions. I use my food processor on “Pulse”, to chop onions to keep in my freezer, freezing them flat in 1 gallon freezer bags. Whether I need 1 Tablespoon or 2 Cups, I can break off just enough to add to my recipes. It is also a great way to use up a large bag of Costco onions…which is about the same price as a tiny bag from Safeway.”

• Play mix and match – marinade style. When it comes to my marinades, I don’t discriminate on the types of meats I use – If I buy a ½ gallon of Yoshida Sauce (and you all should – it is YUMMY) I will line up my Ziploc bags each filled with a different meat (Chicken Breasts, Flank Steaks, Pork Roast, Pork Chops) and just pour the marinades over the meats. Instantly, I have four different kinds of meals – now all I have to do is come up with side dishes, and that is where I will get a little creative. (For example, with the chicken, I might chop it up after cooking and make rice and mixed Asian veggies for rice bowls. For the pork, I could serve it with veggie kabobs and grilled pineapple.)

Pictured here – Giant Pork Loins that I chop into thirds and get six family-sized meals out of each. For smaller families, your could get up to 12 meals out of these two pork loins.

• Pasta Preparation When I am doing a pasta casserole, I just use up any small pasta I have around – I don’t care if it is penne, macaroni or egg noodle. All of it works. Also, when preparing pasta for freezing, make sure it is al dente so that it doesn’t get mushy in the freezing/cooking process.
• Beg or Borrow Things that will Make Your Life Easier There is no need to chop peppers by hand when your neighbor has a Food Processor that she uses 4x a year. Ask if you can borrow it – and when you bring it back, present her with one of your home cooked meals as a thank you. For years we were frying ground beef and turkey in a stove top pan until I finally invested in a Presto 16” Electric Skillet. Any step that saves me time (and keeps me encouraged to keep on Freezer Cooking) is worth weighing the costs on!
• Play Lots of Loud, Upbeat Music While Cooking
• Do Categories at Once I usually shop and prepare the marinades on Friday, and then leave the rest of the assembly (casseroles, chilis, soups, etc.) for Saturday.

Label EVERYTHING as it Goes into the Freezer No mysteries allowed. That defeats the whole purpose.

For today’s free download, go to my Facebook Page this week (through September 1. 2013) and get our our 50 Dinner Ideas.

Tell me below – What is you favorite thing to freeze? You could win a copy of The What’s for Dinner Solution or the grand prize of The What’s for Dinner Solution and a $25 Amazon Gift Card.

Want more freezer recipes? Did you know you can get a free ecopy of Six Chicks Freeze and Fix: How to Start a Freezer Meal Co-op just by liking my Facebook Page. Once you hit “Like” just go to the tabs and download the booklet. It’s that easy. Over 20 great family-pleasing recipes!

We’ll have a free freezer download every day this week. Stay tuned!

Reader’s Favorite Chicken Marinades

by kathilipp | Jul 21, 2013 | Home | 2 comments

Reader’s Favorite Chicken Marinades

Reader’s Favorite Chicken Marinades

Most of us eat chicken and it is probably the animal protein we eat more than others.  So it is no surprise that it can get to be a dull and boring dinner dish and before you know it we are cooking the same chicken dishes over and over again. Over 40 of you responded with great recipes when I asked what your favorite chicken marinades are. Bev Galema got busy and blessed us with 4 great recipes. I have posted her and a few others below. This should help you with the menu planning for the next week and you have the answer for “What’s for Dinner?” Bon Appétit

Teriyaki Dump Chicken

Suggested by: Bev Galema

1 clove garlic crushed

1/3 cup soy sauce

2 T cider vinegar

2 T brown sugar

1/2 T minced ginger

1 1/2 lb’s chicken pieces (5-6 boneless skinless breasts)

Directions:

Place all ingredients into a gallon sized freezer bag, seal and gently shake to blend. Label and lay flat in freezer.

To make dinner from the freezer meal: Thaw in refrigerator overnight. To cook in Crockpot, pour contents of freezer bag into Crockpot and cook on low 6-8 hours or on high for 4-5 hours or until done.

To bake in oven: bake at 350 degrees in baking dish 30-45 minutes or until done.

These would be great on the grill as well!

Caribbean Dump Chicken

Suggested by: Bev Galema

8 oz. can pineapple chunks with juice

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup orange juice

Optional: 1/2 cup golden raisins

1 1/2 pounds chicken pieces (5-6 boneless skinless breasts)

Directions: Place all ingredients into a gallon sized freezer bag, seal and gently shake to blend. Freeze laying flat.

To make dinner from the freezer meal: Thaw in refrigerator overnight. Place all ingredients in Crockpot and cook on low 6-8 hours or on high 4-5 hours or until done.

To bake: Bake in oven in baking dish 350 degrees 30-45 minutes or until done.

Chicken in Mushroom Sauce

Suggested by: Bev Galema

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted

1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream

4 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled

Place chicken in a 3-qt. slow cooker. Combine soup and sour cream; pour over chicken. Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours or until chicken is tender. Sprinkle with bacon. Yield: 4 servings

BBQ Chicken

Suggested by: Bev Galema

4-6 Chicken Breasts

12 oz bottle of BBQ Sauce

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup vinegar

1/8 t of cayenne pepper

1 t garlic powder

Once the chicken is cleaned, I like to rub it with the Cayenne Pepper. But, if you’re in a hurry you can just add the Chicken to a freezer gallon Ziploc bag and then add the rest of the ingredients. Once bag is closed, use your hands to mash all the ingredients together! To cook: Take the freezer meal out of the freezer and hour before starting OR run it under some room temperature water for about 30 seconds. Dump meal in a Crockpot and cook on Low for 4-6 hours!

Sweetened Wine Chicken

Suggested by Jennifer Huffman

1 bottle Marsala cooking wine (small bottle, usually with the vinegars in the salad dressing aisle)

1/2 cup honey

4 cloves grated or crushed garlic

Whisk ingredients, together and coat chicken pieces thoroughly. Marinate for a minimum of 4 hours. Cook in skillet or grill over medium heat.

Herb Chicken

Suggested by Liliana Toler

Put your chicken pieces on a Ziploc bag add

2 T of olive oil

2 cloves of garlic minced,

1 t of 4 of each of your favorite Italian herbs fresh is best , but dry can be use as well

1 T of balsamic vinegar

Salt and pepper mix the ingredients and put to oven to oven 350 for 20 min or so or best grill or skillet is delicious and you will enjoy it!

Blackened Chicken

Suggested by Kristen Williams Reichert

My father in law owned his own chicken restaurant for years and his secret is the brine. For every 2 pounds of chicken use

1 T of salt

1 t of garlic powder

Place in a bowl of water left overnight in the fridge. Then add whatever spices you like before cooking. I like balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, honey and rosemary.

Blackened Spice Mix for Chicken

Suggested by Susie Neiger

I keep a spice-mix in a jar, and sprinkle it on boneless chicken when sautéing…

Here’s the spice mix:

Blackened Chicken Spices (enough for 5-10 lbs of chicken … use sparingly unless you want it really spicy!)

4 T paprika

2 T onion powder (or dried minced onion)

2 T garlic powder

2 T pepper

1 T salt

1 T oregano

1 tsp. cayenne pepper

Mix and store in a jar. Use a little or a lot, (depending on how spicy you want it) – sprinkle on boneless chicken when sautéing in a little oil in a skillet.

How to Make Homemade Blue Ice

by kathilipp | Jul 2, 2013 | Home | 5 comments

How to Make Homemade Blue Ice

My hubby Roger has been having some foot trouble lately. I think it is from an over abundance of Disney walking. So while Roger wants to have happier feet, he is not willing to give up our Disney trip in November. He is launching a full footal assault (sorry, couldn’t help it…) to restore himself to full podiatric health.

One of the recommendations by his doctor was to use blue ice on his foot several times a day. Our doctor gave him the recipe to make blue ice at home:

Homemade Blue Ice

1 part water

1 part rubbing alcohol

a little blue food coloring… just so people know it’s not drinkable water

Mix in an empty bottle or double bagged Ziplocs (be sure you leave a little “squish room” in the baggies.).  It will not freeze solid.  That’s the point of the rubbing alcohol.  It will get crazy cold.  But it won’t burst the bottle.

Warning: Science Stuff… The alcohol lowers the freezing point of the water so it won’t freeze. You can also use 2/3 water to 1/3 alcohol to save money. The mixture will freeze a little bit and expand, so fill the bottle a little less full.

We found out about this just in time for all our summer chilling needs. Great for those long trips in the car while packing a cooler, in a lunch thermal bag,  or keeping drinks cool when you go to the park.

You can also wrap the lid of the water bottle with colored duct tape in order to make them “toddler-proof”.

Do you have any great summer ideas? If so, tell me about them in the comments below. If we post one on the blog, you can choose any one of my books to be sent to you!