Once a Month Cooking

Whenever I cook a time-consuming meal, I try to at least double the recipe so I can freeze the other half for a dinner later in the month.  I have been wanting to apply the economies of scale to dinner planning and prep meals on a larger scale to make the most of the time, energy, and money I put into cooking for my family.  I've recently become motivated by a lot of "once a month cooking" posts I have seen on Pinterest and I finally took the plunge this week.   

Three days, 13 hours, 18 recipes, and $308.91 later I have 32 meals in my freezer for my family.  Not bad as that works out to only $9.65 per meal and each meal will include leftovers.  I figure these meals with last us at least 6 weeks or so as I'll probably continue to cook one or two nights a week.  I just need a break from cooking Every. Single. Night.  My only regret is not waiting until the weekend to do my cooking when I could have some help with kids and dishes.  I had a plan for doing all my prep work one day and all the cooking the next.  I ended up just jumping in and my lack of organization (and managing kids and other stuff throughout my days)  added hours to what it could have been.  Next time I do this, I will definitely enlist Scott's help with childcare and dishes....I'm guessing it would have cut about 5 hours off my time. 

In case you are interested in doing something similar, here's what I made... 
(1) All Day Flank Steak
(2,3) Tamale Casserole
(4,5) Crockpot Stroganoff
(6,7) Italian Beef Sandwiches (doubled and will use extra meat for Beef Tacos)
(8,9) Chicken Delicious
(10) Autumn Stew
(11,12) Sausage and Vegetable Stew
(13,14) Cashew Chicken
(15) Chicken Cacciatore
(16,17) Arizona Chili
(18,19) Chicken Waikiki
(20,21,22,23) Tuna Casserole
(24,25) Shepherd's Pie
(26) Marinated Flank Steak
(27,28) Kielbasa and Sauerkraut
(29,30) Pepper Steak
(31) Lasagna
(32) Spanish Rice

Quick Tips:

**Meat is cut more easily when it's partially frozen.  Pop meat in the freezer for a few hours before slicing.

**For crockpot dishes, I labeled the bag with the recipe name, date, and any necessary instructions.  I placed a gallon ziploc in a medium mixing bowl and folded down the edges of the bag so they were inside out (this way any ingredients didn't drip on the outside of the bag when assembling).  I then put all ingredients together in a ziploc bag, closed it up, and layed it flat in the freezer so the contents would freeze that way.  After frozen, you can line it up/stack it up however will best fit best for you.

**For casserole dishes, I prepared the dish as much as needed and then placed in a disposable casserole dish.  I covered with foil, labeled it recipe name, date, and any necessary instructions.  I then wrapped the entire thing in Glad Press N Seal (love.that.stuff!) to seal it up real well. 

**For recipes I will heat up on the stove, I cooked the meal in it's entirety.  I then let it cool and dumped into gallon ziploc bags as I did with the crockpot meals. 

I'm curious if anyone else does this mass cooking in their home.  I'd LOVE for you to share your favorite freezable meals with me.  Most of what I came up with here was because I needed to use up certain items in my pantry or freezer.

Lasagna

-9-12 lasagna noodles, cooked and drained
-1 pound Italian sausage, casings removed, browned, crumbled and grease drained
-2 jars (24 ounces each) pasta sauce
-1 container (15 ounces) ricotta cheese
-4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
-1/2 cup (or so) Parmesan cheese
-2 eggs, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In a large pan, combine cooked meat and 1 jar of sauce and simmer for 5 minutes.  In a large bowl, combine ricotta cheese, 3.5 cups mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese and eggs. Spray 9X13 inch baking pan with cooking spray.  Spread 1/2 jar of sauce in bottom of baking dish.  Place 3-4 noodles over the bottom, slightly overlapping.  Spread half of the cheese mixture over noodles and cover with 1/2 the meat sauce.  Repeat layers.  Cover last layer with remaining noodles and remaining sauce.  Sprinkle with 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese and a little Parmesan.  Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove foil and bake 10 more minutes.  Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Chicken Curry

Before yesterday I hadn't made Indian food at home (other than buying jarred Tikka Masala and the like and throwing in some chicken).  This curry recipe was a good start and very simple to make.  Since moving back from England we have really missed Indian food.  Yes, I meant to say England...there is a huge Indian population and lots of fab Indian food over there.

-3 tablespoons olive oil
-1 small onion, chopped

Saute onion in olive oil over medium heat until lightly browned.

-3 teaspoons chopped garlic (about 6 cloves)
-3 T McCormick Red Curry Powder plus 4 T McCormick Hot Madras Curry Powder (I use 4T McC Red Curry Powder and 3T McC regular regular curry powder because that's all I had)
-1 teaspoon cinnamon
-1 teaspoon paprika
-1 bay leaf
-1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger root, grated (I use 1/4-1/2 t ground ginger)
-1/2 teaspoon white sugar
-Salt to taste

Stir in the above ingredients and cook for 2 minutes...

-3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into bit size pieces
-1 tablespoon tomato paste
-1 cup plain yogurt
-3/4 cup coconut milk

Add in the ingredients above. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20-25 minutes. 

-1/2 lemon, juiced
-1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Remove bay leaf and stir in lemon juice and cayenne pepper and simmer 5 more minutes.  Serve over rice with Naan.

From the kitchen of Denise Flick.

Chocolate Spoons

This year, I made some chocolate spoons to add to the goodies I gave to friends and neighbors for Christmas.  They can be used in coffee or warm milk to make hot chocolate.  My kids had fun watching the chocolate on their spoons melt and then drinking it up.  These are very easy to make and you can decorate however you like.

Melt chocolate or white chocolate chips (I microwave for about 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds or so).  Dip plastic spoon and coat with the chocolate.  While chocolate is still wet, coat with your choice or topping/decoration.  We have used shredded coconut, Christmas sprinkles, crushed candy canes, mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, etc.  Then, lay on a sheet of wax paper and let the chocolate completely harden. 

Grandma Drake's Baked Apples

These baked apples have been a holiday staple in our family since my Mom was a little girl.  From what I understand, the recipe was passed along to my Grandma so I'm sure it goes back even farther than I know.  My mom and I tried to make these for Christmas while she was visiting this year.  However, we didn't trust the original recipe (thought there was too much flour) and ended up botching the entire batch.  I tried making them again this week and they turned out PERFECT!  It's amazing how food can bring back so many memories from childhood.  We eat these right along with the turkey dinner, but you could also serve them as a dessert.   

 -3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and cut in half
-1 cup white sugar
-1/2 cup margarine (cold)
-3/4 cup to 1 1/4 cup flour (enough to make thick dough like consistency)
-1 teaspoon vanilla
-cinammon

To make the filling, use a pastry cutter.  I couldn't find mine so I just used a fork.  In a large mixing bowled, cut margarine into the sugar with a fork (or your pastry cutter) until thoroughly combined.  Then, slowly cut in flour until you get a VERY THICK, dough like consisentcy.  I ended up using a little over a cup or so of flour.  (When my mom and I made these we did not use enough flour and the filling just melted off the apples...make sure the filling is super thick).  Add vanilla and combine thoroughly with fork/pastry cutter. 

Lay apple halves, core side up in a 9X13 inch pan.  Spoon a generous amount of filling into the core/top of each apple.  Sprinkle lightly with cinammon (use your fingers to sprinkle just a tad on each apple.

Bake uncovered at 325 degrees for about 1/2 -1 hour.  Baking time depends on your oven and the apples. Start checking apples for doneness at 30 minutes but they will most likely cook for close to an hour.  Use a fork to poke the apple to see if it's tender.  It should be tender, but not completely soft.

Christmas Bark

Whoops...this one has been sitting in my drafts box for the last month. 

Christmas Bark is one of my favorite things to consume during the Christmas season.  Ghirardelli's version is A-mazing but gets a little pricey (at least with the amount that I consume during the Christmas season).  I'm just as happy with my version...

-24 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
-24 ounces white chocolate chips
-40 or so peppermint candy canes, crushed
-Green, red, white sprinkles

Lightly grease 2, 9X13 inch baking sheets and line with waxed paper, smoothing out the wrinkles.  Set aside.

Melt semi-sweet chips in microwave.  Heat for 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds.  Pour into the baking sheets and spread evenly over the bottom of the sheet.  To smooth the ridges/bubbles, I gently slam (can't think of a better word than slam) the cookie sheet on the counter a couple times.   Sprinkle half of the crushed candy on top of the chocolate and press gently with your hands.  Refrigerate until completely hardened, about 1 hour.

Melt the white chips in microwave the same as before.  Pour the white chocolate over the hardened semi-sweet chocolate layer.  Spread evenly. Cover with the rest of the crushed candies and some Christmas colored sprinkles and gently push it down into chocolate with hands.    Slam the cookie sheet on counter again to remove ridges/bubbles.   Refrigerate until completely hardened.  Remove from pan and break into small pieces to serve.  I start this by slicing a chunk with a knife and then break with my hands.

Octopus Hotdogs

I'm not a fan of hotdogs, but had to give these a try for the kids (another Pinterest find).  I save these kinds of things for when Scott is traveling for work and I want the boys to think I am super mom.  Plus, they helped me make them and thought it was a blast.

Cut 5 hotdogs into 3 pieces each.  Poke pieces of spaghetti through each piece of hotdog.

Cook hotdogs in boiling water for about 10 minutes or until warmed through.  I let the kids eat with their hands and dip in ketchup.  I wouldn't touch these things with a 10 foot pole but A & Z went ga ga for them!