Feed the Freezer...

...and later, it will feed you!

Today I cooked up lots of Freezer Favorites. My hubby brought me 12 pounds of chicken breast. First off, I set almost 4 pounds in my marinade for Triple Play Chinese Chicken. The guys ate some for dinner tonight. Later this week I will make it into a soup and even later, a wonderful salad with bok choy. Both are delish! I featured both of these about a year ago. Look here and here for more info. That is a photo from last year, but trust me it is nicer than a picture of freezer bags. I think I will have enough left over to put some Chinese Chicken Cubes in the freezer for longer term storage, but I need to see how hungry they are this week.

I also saved some birdy breasts to make some Blackened Chicken. The spice mix recipe is in the January newsletter. That is feeding the freezer this week. I cooked it, (love the sizzle in a hot skillet) and then sliced it for really good salads on the go. I love mine with a splash of hot wing sauce and some blue cheese dressing. If you move the slices around a bit while they are freezing, you will be able to grab a few slices at a time for single salads.

After the chicken was done, I decided on the spur of the moment to use the marinade for some beef medallions I was thawing for a barbecue crock pot dish later in the week. So I let those marinate about an hour and then baked them. These too are going into the freezer. I can pull out a meal's worth and defrost really quickly. These work well added to stir fry dishes, or simply reheated with some cauliflower rice or my personal fave--snow peas. I usually keep some rice cooked in individual servings for my carby boy. I should have done that today, but forgot. That skinny boy can eat these as sandwiches too.

Lastly, I made a triple batch of Mediterranean Chicken. All of that went into the freezer too. I found a great deal at Big Lots with a one carb Italian dressing for the marinade. Just a dollar. Doesn't get much easier or cheaper than that. This is one of the Dump recipes that I don't bake before freezing. Easier on prep day, you just remember to thaw the day before.

Since I have been restricting calories, I have not been eating my share of the weekly breakfast casserole. That means I didn't need to bake one today. We still had leftovers from last week. If you find one casserole is just too much, go ahead and do like I did. Slice it into individual servings and wrap well in plastic wrap. Then put the individual pieces into a gallon size freezer bag labeled with the recipe name and the date. Even husbands who don't cook can rewarm these for a hot breakfast.

See what time savers can be accomplished on a Sunday afternoon? (also made some Tilapia soup and experimented with a new recipe for hot wing chicken.) Going to get some yogurt started this evening too. All in a day's fun.