Impromptu Freezer Cooking Day: The Plan
We got eight inches of snow yesterday afternoon and evening, so we’re staying put today. And just for fun (and because I’m hoping to warm up the house a little more by using the stove and oven!), we’re having an Impromptu Freezer Cooking Day!
I’ll be live-blogging my progress a few times today so you can peek in on the goings-on in our bustling household.
Here’s my plan:
List of Things I Hope to Make
::Bag of chicken breasts baked and chopped
::Green Rice Casserole
::Freeze oranges (for smoothies)
::Granola
::Ultimate Double Chocolate Chip Brownies
I’ll post an update in a few hours to let you know how things are going.
Are you cooking/baking anything today?
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114 Comments
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I have a couple of questions for you. I’m not sure if you were going to answer them in future posts today or not, but I’ll ask anyway. 🙂
How do you cook your chicken breast? I’ve always used my George Foreman grill for this, but I’m wondering if there is a better way.
Will you post the recipe for Green Rice Casserole?
Thanks!
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I roast mine too!
http://thebigredpot.blogspot.com/2010/03/get-to-roasting.html#
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depending on how many i have to cook, i put just a bit of water in the bottom of a skillet, place my breasts in with salt, pepper, and garlic powder on top, put on a lid, and simmer til done…usually 15 minutes. easy, moist, and yummy!
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wow i did not know u could make and freeze all this things m eager to know how u r doing it 🙂
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I’m not baking (I’m working late) but the recipe you posted for pumpkin carrot cake muffins a while back has been a staple at our house : ) Every time I host a family dinner I get a request for them!
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Thank you for this! My husband is currently an over-the-road truck driver, but is going for a 2nd interview with a local job. I’ll be needing some lunch ideas. And I’ve been wanting to do some freezer cooking too. We make a lot of homemade pizza, I’ve been meaning to spend a day prepping the crust dough and freezing it.
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Hi, Crystal. No cooking today-but I made the Cinnamon Swirl Bread from Heavenly Homemakers…and it turned out great. I was rather proud of myself-considering my baking skills sometimes. Here’s a link with pictures if you’d like to see it. Happy Cooking 😉
http://myfavoritefinds.blogspot.com/2011/02/cinnamon-swirl-bread.html
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Wait… are you making and freezing the pancakes or just freezing the batter?
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Oh how I wish we had more supplies on-hand. We’re snowed in too!
I’m plannin to cook on Sunday! http://Www.livingwiththreeboys.com for recipes and cooking plan!
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Everything sounds so good! How do you freeze oranges?
Thanks! -
You have such nice handwriting!
I’m taking a vacation day today and hanging out with my little guy (okay at 7 months old and 22 pounds he is not so “little”, but still).
I baked snickerdoodles and coffee cake before I got him up, and I just started crockpot chicken that will be enough for 4 meals for our family 🙂
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Hey Crystal! Love your blog! What is the best way to freeze oranges? I just got some big bags at Aldi for .99. Thanks!
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I’m not Crystal, of course 😉 but … I just peel mine, break them apart into sections, lay them on a cookie sheet and slide into the freezer. Once they are frozen firm I wrap them or put them into baggies and label and date. Hope that helps 🙂
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i had no idea you could freeze oranges. makes sense, though.
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It all sounds good! I’d love to see the recipe for the double chocolate chip brownies. Yum!
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Can you please explain how you freeze oranges? I have never heard of that and would appreciate directions on how to do that. Thank you for all you do. Love your video series on groceries budgeting and your freezer cooking posts. Your are such an inspiration.
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Stuffed shells (enough for dinner for 2 nights & take-to-work lunch once for my husband and I), homemade marinara sauce (kind of a necessity for the stuffed shells but it makes a TON and I like having it on hand for quick pasta suppers), and veggie vermicelli (vermicelli pasta with tons of veggies & a homemade garlic/oil sauce).
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I keep forgetting you can freeze rice! It’s a hassle to make so maybe you’ve enticed me to make some this afternoon!
I would get so overwhelmed with all the stuff on the list. I’m a one-or-two-item type of freezer cook. This morning I peeled and diced a bunch of pears!
I like to use bone-in chicken for freeze-cooking. I buy a couple packs when they are $99/lb, season under the skin, bake, dice, and fill up a couple freezer ziplock bags.
*Do you do the trick where once you’ve filled a bag full of diced cooked chicken you quarter section the bag with your hand to separate meal-sized portions? That or flash freeze first and then add to bag? Took me a few boxes of empty ziplock bags to figure this out – saves TONS of bags. Kind of a “duh” moment for me but I’m glad I figured it out!
I can’t tell you how much I L.O.V.E having cooked diced chicken on hand in the freezer. (Ground turkey also.) Besides for quick casseroles (especially if you freeze egg cooked egg noodles too!), I feed it to my son or use it to make chicken salad sandwiches for me (no canned chicken!!). In the mornings I take out a few pieces to thaw for my 10-month old’s lunch – he eats it cold (but not frozen) so it’s a super easy way to get protein in him.
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I’ve got beef cooking in the crock pot for shredded beef tacos tonight. I don’t think that counts as a freezer cook day, but it should be good.
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We’re baking, too! Just pulled some pumpkin chocolate chip bars out of the oven! I’m trying to find recipes to use up some of this organic pumpkin I scored for 80¢ each through Amazon!
I’ll have to search your site! Do you have any favorites? I can only make so much of Chloe’s tofu pumpkin pie!
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I got that too and have made muffins, quick breads, and waffles out of it (and some other canned pumpkin I found on markdown). Another thing is, I sneak a scoop or two into my son’s yogurt or oatmeal sometimes too. He will not eat veggies so sneaking pumpkin into things is a way to help him get some nutrients.
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I like the idea of “sneaking” it in! I’ll have to give it a try!
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I like soups with pumpkin in them: curried pumpkin soup (here’s an example: http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2007/01/santa-fe-pumpkin-chowder.html) or chili with pumpkin in it (http://www.lynnskitchenadventures.com/2010/11/slow-cooked-pumpkin-chili.html).
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I really want to try your chocolate chip pancakes! Yum! I plan on making rolls today! I’ve seen a new trick on how to make perfectly round rolls, so I want to try it out! Looking forward to your updates today!
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I love impromptu cooking days! I can’t join in as we are away from our home due to medical treatments. BUT….next month we are going to see our daughter (she’s been pet sitting for us during treatments) and I’m planning on doing a cooking day to help fill her freezer while we are there. Reading your posts today will help motivate me to come up with a plan for her.
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We too have a bad weather day so I have a roast in the oven and 15 bean soup cooking on the stove! Yum!
Thanks Crystal for inspiring us to jump in the kitchen and make delicious meals for our families! 🙂 Happy snow / cooking day! 🙂 -
I have butterhorns in the bread machine. I will probably make rolls with half and cinnamon bread with the other half. I also have hamburger potato soup in the crockpot. I was thinking about making a cherry pie for dessert. Anyone have a good pie crust recipe? 🙂 I also need to freeze cookies for later…if the day allows!
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i would like to have the recipe for green rice casserole please!
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I agree! I’ve never heard of green rice casserole before!
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We aren’t doing freezer cooking but have a snow day so are getting ready to bake Chocolate Chunk Cookies.
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aw, no pumpkin choc chip muffins?!?!? lol.
Those muffins are a staple at my house thanks to you!!! I even made them with sweet potato puree (store was out of pumpkin AGAIN!) and apple chunks the other day, and they were still amazing! I’ve also learned to cut down the oil by using 1/2 applesauce. Yum!
Best wishes on a productive day!
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I’ve been telling my husband we need a freezer! I hope to get one in a couple of weeks. I will actually be able to something like freezer cooking now that I’m home-schooling my DD8 (just started 2 weeks ago). I imagine I can use some of the cooking/prep time to teach my daughter math, fractions and such and have quality time with her. Even get her to help me make the menus and plan our shopping list. Could even have her help find coupons that match what we plan to buy. =) Can’t wait for my freezer and to try your recipes!!!
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Congrats on starting homeschooling, I know it’s a big adjustment! You can teach tons of science in the kitchen, if you can teach her to bake good bread, she’ll be ahead of the game!:)
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My hubby and I made crepes for the first time this morning for our snow day brunch 🙂 love learning how to make new things! I’m excited to hear more from your freezer cooking day!
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I feel so negative all the time, living with my mother-in-law. I would love to cook and bake and fill the house with the smells of something delicious… but it isn’t my house and I dislike her kitchen. So for the time being, I’m going to have to live vicariously through you
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Been there, done that! Don’t get discouraged!
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((Hugs)) to you. I don’t even want to think what it would be like to live with my in-laws! Wow!
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This is a little OT but we love the premade rice too, and my boys like it warm with milk and some sugar. MMM!
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I’ve made applesauce, Laura from Heavenly Homemakers whole wheat graham crackers and I’m trying homemade yogurt for the first time today.
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Would love to see your cinnamon swirl bread recipe
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Ditto!
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I’m making lots of hot dog chili today…for hot dogs tonight and some for the freezer for a quick meal after blessing #4 arrives!
We are keeping our eyes on Craigs List for a used freezer or fridge/freezer. We had a full size freezer that I would stock with meals before our last babies were born and then fill it with breast milk to use to make cereal for baby and homemade baby food, but when we made our 4hour move a few months back we sold it along with many other things to ensure everything would fit into the moving truck. Hoping we can find a good deal so I can get busy filling it up!
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I’m actually cooking today too. We got about 6 inches of snow last night and I had the same thought as you about using the oven. I’ve already made a double batch of your waffles. I plan on making some beer bread, possibly some muffins, and I’m also going to make about 20 lbs of mashed potatoes for the freezer.
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Frozen mashed potatoes? Please share how you do this! My potatoes get gritty and wet : (
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A friend brought me a bag of Trader Joe’s frozen mashed potatoes when I came home from the hospital with a broken leg. It looks like they froze them in an ice cube tray and popped them out into a bag. You take out as many cubes and you need and microwave them. They recommend stirring in a little milk part way through the reheating process. They weren’t bad.
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Wow! I decided to do some cooking today too but not all for the freezer. We got 12 inches of snow and more coming! We won’t be going any place anytime soon.
In the spirit of the mom who did the posting on working mom and presented some short cuts on cooking and because my asthma is sort of bad today, I decided on:
Green bean casserole in the crockpot–cooking
Chicken cooking in the crock pot to be used to make chili chicken soup and chicken soup
Turkey breast cooking cajun style–cooking
25 containers of pudding–done and in refrigerator
1 chocolate pie–done and in refrigerator
2 dozen sugar cookies–done and in freezer
8 chicken salad sandwiches–cooking
3 dozen cinnamon tortilla chips–made and bagged for snacksSome of my cooking is for meals over the next few days and for lunches next week. I buy Walgreens 5 puddings/$1 when is goes on sale. I have my own containers, make 25 puddings, let it set and then add a touch of whip cream and then seal. The containers are reusable. (We are a family of 4 kids and 1 adult.) I don’t use 1/2 cup but more like a 1/4-1/3 cup serving. Very cheap. I also take tortillas, cut into 8 sections, spray with Pam, flip over, spray again, then add cinnamon and sugar mix, then cook till brown. Serve with apple sauce as a dip. Kids love it. I am going to make chicken chili with barley later today or tomorrow for meals as well as just chicken soup. I had chicken already cooked so used it to make chicken sandwiches to freeze. The turkey breast will probably last a meal or 2 and the green bean casserole can be eaten or in freezer.
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Ahhh… sweet inspiration! No snow day here, but I have the day off work and need to get some food cooked up! I’ve been meaning to get rice and black beans frozen, and I think I’ll freeze up some chicken, too (I’ve never actually done that… surprisingly). I’m thinking I might make up a batch of chicken curry for dinner, and finish making a “mexican lasagna” for the freezer (it’s been half-finished in the fridge for a few days).
The pumpkin goodies that everyone is talking about sound delicious. Has anyone tried the recipes with fresh pumpkin instead of canned? I cooked up several sugar pumpkins this fall and froze them.
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Today is my cooking/freezing day as well. I’ll be making a Apple pie and using the left over apples to make applesauce ( http://www.alittlesimplicity.com/?p=376 )!! I bought about 4 dozen of Apples the other day on sale at Safeway!
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not today, but did a batch of pumpkin chocolate chip muffins last night for the freezer (this is after working all day!)… those are the one my son wanted….
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ooh yea, and in the crock pot, pork for pulled pork.. Mom and dad will stay for dinner, so not sure there will be any leftover to freeze 🙁
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but what a blessing to have company over for dinner!
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Is there a secret to preserving the “fresh” taste when you freeze items? I have a very small fridge/freezer in the apartment and decided to make some double portions to freeze for later. I used quality freezer bags and aluminum foil and in some cases containers that seal. Some items were ok, but there were some that tasted…not so great! One was sausage I had fried ahead of time then froze. It was like chewing on a balloon. I just did all this freezing in the last 3 weeks so shouldn’t have gone bad. The sausage was wonderful fresh, so it wasn’t bad sausage.
Any suggestions?-
BS –
Sometimes it depends on how you reheat things. How did you prepare the sausage pre-freeze and how did you reheat? I did a batch of chicken sausage that I baked in the oven until the casing was browned and crisp. I just froze them in Ziploc freezer bags. To reheat, I thawed in the ‘fridge during the day (took them out of the freezer in the morning) then tossed them in a dry skillet to heat through. I didn’t microwave because I thought that would make them tough.
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I just finished some cream cheese brownies. A friend and I are getting together for a “girls’ movie night” {I’m finally going to see Like Dandelion Dust!} and I’m taking some of them with me. Of course, I have to leave some of them at home for my hubby and two boys. 🙂
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I made our granola bars today! Yummy and the house smells GOOD!
Bread was yesterday! But then when you have to make pretty much all of what you eat becuase of allergies you end up having a baking day everyday! 😛
http://nicholejordan.blogspot.com/2011/01/allergy-friendly-nutty-fruity-soft.html -
Are you freezing the granola as well?
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I’m amazed that you can decide to freezer cook “on a whim” –without even a special shopping trip to get the ingredients first!
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i enjoyed reading your list. i love love love green rice casserole !
I’m not sure where you live..but have you tried Jambalaya ? I have a good recipe for it and its wonderful as leftovers!
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I would have a difficult time without my chest freezer. If you are looking for one, check FreeCycle.org in addition to Craig’s List. The Energy Star chest type use so little electricity, it isn’t a terribly long pay back when you consider how much you can save on stocking up on sales.
Thankfully, I did a big stock-up and extra cooking/baking over the holidays. (My 5 young adult kids were home and I got over zealous shopping and cooking.) I broke my leg a little over 4 weeks ago. “Shopping” the freezer has been a real blessing. So many friends and neighbors brought food the first week I came home from the hospital, I had hubby freeze a lot of it in single serve portions. It is nice to grab that bag of rice and have one less thing to prep.
Even now when I cook after sending hubby to the store for deals, I make double batches and freeze half – stuffed peppers, meatballs, etc.
All of your talk about pumpkin has me thinking muffins. I might pop a batch in the oven, and then the freezer, while I’m up making dinner tonight.
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You sound so positive after such breaking a leg! Hope you are healing nicely!
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Thanks, Anna. I’m doing great. I do keep my leg up a lot. But I got a stool on wheels so I can scoot around the house, especially to cook. If I was on crutches all the time, I would be a lot more cranky! 😉
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Happy healing!!
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Not sure if this has already been asked, but will you post the recipe for those double chocolate brownies? They sound delicious!
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Oh, yeah… I NEED the recipe for Ultimate Double Chocolate Chip Brownies!!!
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Here is what I made today:
http://everydaynutrition-thelast5pounds.blogspot.com/2011/02/ricotta-part-five-homemade-ravioli.html
Love your blog Crystal!
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Love all the ideas. I too have a small chest freezer. It is full. Chicken legs, pork roasts, meats, vegetables that I bought from the farmers market and cut then blanched them and then individually packaged them. And Bread from the entenmann’s thrift outlet The bread that goes for at least 5.00 per loaf (3 for 3) for my husbands sandwiches. They also have other goodies at the outlet. I need a larger freezer.!!!! and for all the new recipies that I want to make from all that are submiited. I am new to this. I made eggplant parm tonight. it was easy. The left over breaded eggplant I save to make lunch for my son. He likes it on those thin flat and round breads Great blog.
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Maybe this has already been asked (I scanned above and didn’t see it but maybe I missed it), but what are your kiddos doing while you do all this? I *try* to prep things and bake ahead but can’t seem to because my son is 14 months and all over the place. How do you keep your kiddos occupied? I need a little bit of that mommy advice! You are a PRO!
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I made whole wheat bagels, 3 1/2 dozen pumpkin muffins, breadsticks, and roasted a butternut squash to puree. It doesn’t sound like much but being pregnant with a toddler makes everything feel like a marathon 🙂
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