Freezer Meals Again

Girls setting the table for dinner.

This new plan of making freezer dinners once a month has seriously been saving my life.  It has drastically reduced my stress level because I know that no matter what happens in a day, I can get dinner on the table.  The dinner will be good.  It will be planned with sides dishes.  I won't be scrambling for take out.  Dinner will take me around 15 minutes or less including setting the table with the girls.  Having the table set with the girls is another added bonus.  It's a great chore for us to do together as long as we use plastic dishes.  We all sit down to dinner together and it's fabulous.  My grocery lists are easier to plan and that keeps us from wasting a lot of food and money.  

The rules we have created for our little group- meat is cooked unless it is something that just get dumped in a pan and put in the oven, or pushed around a pan to finish up.  Everything must be able to be converted to a gluten free meal.  Meat in a marinade tastes better if it is cooked right before eating.  Every thing gets chopped and prepped before it is sealed in it's packet.  The idea is to make it almost completely ready to eat after thawing.  We each buy the supplies for 5-7 meals and then make each one 3-4 times depending on how many people are cooking with us that month.  We seal everything with a Food Saver so that it is vacuum sealed and stay fresh in the freezer.  They all tasted really good last month.


So now that I've told you how fabulous they are... here is this month's list. The list starts with starred dishes that were repeated favorites from last month.  I don't have all of the recipes together to post yet, but I will update the post soon.

*Cranberry Chicken-  4 lb. bone-in chicken pieces (breast halves and/or thighs) 1 can (16 oz.) whole berry cranberry sauce, 1 bottle (8 oz.) French or Russian Dressing 1 env. onion soup mix.  Freeze raw, defrost and bake for 50 minutes at 350º.

* White Bean Chilli-(2 dinners worth for my family)  1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon cumin, 1 medium onion, diced 1/2 teaspoon oregano, 2 cups cooked shredded chicken, (32 oz) chicken broth, 2 cans Great Northern Beans, drained and rinsed.  Salt (to taste), 1 can corn, drained, Pepper (to taste), 1 can (4 oz) green chilies, 1 lime, juice                

* Crock Pot Chicken Mix-(2 dinners worth for my family) Shredded Chicken, 1 can black beans, 1 can corn, 2 cups salsa.  Heat through in crockpot.  Add cream cheese 30 minutes before serving over rice.
* Italian chicken- chicken breasts, 1 10oz can COC , 1 8oz package of cream cheese, 1 package italian dressing.  Thaw, bake and serve over noodles.
Spaghetti- Meat, tomato paste, tomato sauce, chopped veggies and onions, spaghetti spice packet.  Thaw and serve over pasta

Hamburger Stroganoff- 1 lb. ground beef, 1/2 tsp. salt, 3 slices bacon, 1/2 c. chopped onion, 1 can cream of mushroom soup, 1/4 tsp. paprika, 1 c. sour cream.  Brown beef and bacon - add onion - stir in soup, salt and paprika - remove from heat stir in sour cream - freeze and then heat through after thawing. Serve over hot buttered noodles

Fajitas- sliced peppers, sliced onions, chopped raw chicken, fajita spice packet.  Heat in pan and serve in tortillas.
Sesame Chicken- Chicken, Salt and pepper, 1 cup honey, 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/2 cup diced onion
1/4 cup ketchup, 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (could also use olive oil or canola oil), 2 cloves garlic, minced, 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional - doesn't really add heat, just adds more flavor)
4 teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in 6 Tablespoons water, Sesame seeds 

Lemon chicken- chicken breast, 2 tbs. flour / gluten free flour, 1 tbs butter, 3/4 c chicken broth
2 tbs lemon juice.  Thaw and bake.
Hawaiian haystacks- Shredded Chicken, 1 10oz can cream of chicken soup, 1 cup chicken broth
(every thing else with this meal will not be frozen) Serve over rice topped with chopped veggies, nuts, shredded cocoanut or a myriad of other options.
Garlic ranch chicken- Chicken breast, 1 package Ranch, 1  c milk
2 tbs dried minced garlic
Teriyaki chicken- chicken breast, Teriyaki marinade
Taco Casserole-will add the ingredients soon
16 Bean Soup-will add the ingredients soon
BBQ Ribs-will add the ingredients soon
Honey mustard pork chops- 1/2 c honey, 1 c mustard, 2 cloves minced garlic
Country style ribs-  1 can tomatoe sauce, 2 bottle bbq sauce, few squeezes of mustard, 2 cans rotel tomatoes and to make it more liquid I Lovely N added V8 juice
Chicken Enchilada Casserole-2 dozen corn tortillas (quartered) 2½ lb. chicken breast (cooked & cubedor shredded) 2 small cans diced green chilies, 1 bunch green onions (diced) (I didn’t use, didn’t know who likes them or not), 1 can cream of chicken soup (diluted with ¾ C. water), 4 C. grated cheese
Chinese Chicken Salad- Sauce: ½ C. oil, ¼ C. apple cider vinegar, 2 Tbsp soy sauce, 1 Tbsp honey Salad: 1 to 2 C. chicken, ¼ bundle chive onions.  Serve over lettuce and chow mein noodles.

Spicy Honey Chicken-·8 boneless skinless chicken thighs, about 2lbs,  2 tsp vegetable oil
Rub: 2 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp chipotle chili powder, 1 tsp kosher salt, 1 tsp cumin, ½ tsp onion powder, ½ tsp coriander,  ½ tsp Stude Seasoning
Glaze: ½ C. Honey, 1 Tbsp Cider Vinegar

to see what we made last month look at this post.
To see instructions on making last month's list gluten free see my sil's blog post here.