Quick and Easy Freezer Recipes

I've been thinking for the past few days that I should do some freezer cooking today. So when I made my weekly run to the grocery store for the girls Saturday morning donuts, I made a quick trip through the meet department to find some deals. I grabbed some B1G1 chicken packages a coffee and 2 donuts.  When I freezer cook I try to use up food that I have been meaning to eat, once it is prepared in an easy to eat way it doesn't last long. (ie. zucchini I froze this past fall, the ground turkey I got a GREAT deal on etc..) Here is was I made. (I still have a slow cooker full of chicken that I will deal with tomorrow. So stay tuned.)

I started with dough for cinnamon rolls in the bread machine so that I would have time for 2 batches.






Then I split the 2 packages of chicken.

Placing the legs, and wings in a stockpot on the stove and simmered for about 4 hours
2 cups of sliced carrots
1 cup of diced onion
some salt and pepper
8 cups of water
3 chicken bullion cubes

In the slow cooker I placed the thighs and breasts while in a saucepan I sauteed 1 cup sliced carrots, 1/2 cup diced onions and poured over chicken. Then seasoned with GrillMates Montreal Chicken Seasoning. Set the slow cooker to low for 8 hours.




After 4 hours when the stock was ready I removed the chicken and split the broth into 2 pots. I pulled the chicken off the bone and grabbed some Mexican seasoned chicken breast slices I had leftover. In the first pot I used the chicken from the stock to make. Zucchini Chicken Soup (I had some dried Tortellini from Sam's Club that I used instead of the refrigerated. I did have to add extra chicken broth because of it though). In the second pot I made Chicken Tortilla Soup (Again I modified with the leftover taco chicken meat, I also had a can of tomatoes with green chilies already in it so I skipped the Jalapenos, since I am freezing I will ad the lime slices, fried tortilla strips, and mozzarella cheese when I thaw and serve later.)

We ate our choice of soup for lunch and then froze the rest in Tupperware containers to thaw at a later date.

The girls wanted to make cookies. So we also did a double batch of Mixed Chip Cookies. (like chocolate chip, but using up the half bags of different chips I already had open.)
1/2 c. butter (2 sticks)
1/2 c. shortening
3/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. packed brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
2 1/4 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
partial packages of white chocolate, milk chocolate, semi-sweet, and butterscotch chips.

I made a double batch so I could bake some to enjoy today, and then I scooped cookie sized balls onto a parchment lined jelly roll pan, flash froze then stored the uncooked dough balls in a freezer bag. We like our cookie fresh from the oven and this way we can bake a few at a time.

I rounded out the day with a new recipe for a veggie packed 'healthy' meatloaf. I pre-made the sauce and froze in a snack sized Ziploc bag so that it would be ready when I wanted it. (I had green peppers on hand and not red so I made a substitution.) I froze in a loaf pan then removed and placed in freezer bag for longer storage.

We had chicken from the slow cooker with some veggies for supper, and I will make that into meals tomorrow....
****Update**** I got lazy so we used the slow cooker chicken for supper 3x! Just paired it with some cooked veggies. One time I did try this sauce I saw on PBS's American Test Kitchen