Once a Month Cooking

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  • anslog
    anslog Posts: 2
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    You can freeze pretty much anything. Anything that is cooked in a casserole dish is easy to freeze and reheat (lasagna, enchiladas, etc). I use the Pyrex dishes with lids. If it is a soup or chili or chicken tenders, stuff like that, I just use freezer bags. I have been cooking from Rocco Dispirito's Now Eat This Cookbook lately. I double most every recipe and freeze half for later. I have done the enchiladas, jambalaya and sloppy joe this week and last week. All of the recipes in that book are under 350 calories.

    About a year ago, I was in the habit of cooking 1 day a month (I mean a full day and sometimes 2) and it was awesome. Now I just do it a little bit at a time. I usually cook more often now and put a meal in the freezer every time I cook for the days that I don't want to cook.
  • k8blujay2
    k8blujay2 Posts: 4,941 Member
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    I need to remember to book mark this later or write down ideas.
  • kikicooks
    kikicooks Posts: 1,079 Member
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    Are you on Pinterest? There are always tons of posts for freezer meals on there. I don't have a big enough freezer to do most of them.
    Was going to say this. Here's one of them...
    http://joelens.blogspot.com/2007/01/freezer-friendlymake-ahead.html
  • kokaneesailor
    kokaneesailor Posts: 337 Member
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    Take a Beef, Eye of the round roast, remove the silverskin, and cook it to a medium. Cool, slice in half inch sections, place seperated pieces of cooked meat on a baking pan and freeze, remove from pan and store in a air tight freezer container. You now have instant access to cooked beef for soups, fried rice, etc. :wink:
  • kokaneesailor
    kokaneesailor Posts: 337 Member
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    I don't set aside a day to do large volume cooking. I do it continually. For example if I'm making Borscht because I got a killer deal on beets and beef, I will make a very large pot of it instead of a small one, or I will make two large pot's of different soup's ( that have similar ingredients such as onions, carrots and celery ( Mirepoix) ) and then freeze in portion sized containers. It doesn't take long to build up a stock ( sorry bad soup pun) of soups if you do it this way. :wink:
  • Desterknee
    Desterknee Posts: 1,056 Member
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    Ugh I want a deep freezer.
  • newcs
    newcs Posts: 717 Member
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    I made this last week and it was yummy!!

    http://www.skinnytaste.com/2010/03/shepards-pie-lightened-up.html

    Hmm...I'll have to compare that to mine. I have an awesome one that I adapted from somewhere. Mine's not terrible on calories but has quite a bit of butter in it.

    Also, I LOVE your avatar. Whenever I see a picture of him, I think of the outtake of him lip syncing to Eye of the Tiger...love it!

    ETA: Here's the recipe if anyone wants to tweak it or check it out:
    Beef Shepherd's Pie

    Ingredients

    2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
    4 tablespoons unsalted butter
    2 medium onion, diced
    1 large bag frozen corn (16oz maybe?)
    2 rib celery, sliced
    4 cloves garlic, minced
    1.5 tablespoon salt
    1.5 teaspoon dried oregano
    6 tablespoons tomato paste
    2 pound ground beef
    1/2 cup canned low sodium beef broth
    1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
    Freshly ground black pepper
    4 cups Mashed Potatoes (2 large russet potatoes, 3/4 cup milk, 6T butter -- substitute sour cream, etc if desired)
    1/4 cup grated Parmesan, optional

    Directions

    Preheat oven to 375.

    Heat the olive oil and 3 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium heat.

    Add the onion, celery, garlic, half the salt, and oregano. Cook until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.

    Stir in the tomato paste and cook until tomato paste has turned brick red, about 8 minutes more.

    Stir in the beef, the broth, the remaining salt, the Worcestershire, corn and some pepper, breaking up any large clumps of meat, cook until the meat is no longer pink, about 3 minutes.

    Transfer the meat and vegetables to a 9x13 pan and spread the mashed potatoes over the top.

    Sprinkle with cheese and dot with the remaining tablespoon of butter.

    Bake until potatoes brown and the juices bubble around the edge, about 40 minutes.

    Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

    As stated (using 2% milk), 338 calories per serving, 12 servings per batch.
  • newcs
    newcs Posts: 717 Member
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    I love all the ideas, links and book suggestions! I'll have to start checking out books and look into Pinterest more (I'm on it but mostly pin stuff I come across on the web in general or repin friends' posts). I had a great idea to save some of each batch of baked goods I make so that I could put together mixed baked good platters for gifts and events but always forget.

    Tonight I'm making this: http://onceamonthmom.com/buttery-balsamic-pasta-and-asparagus/ But will portion it out for lunches/dinners for the next few days. I'm planning on cutting down on the butter, oil and salt.

    I'm also going to make a quadruple batch of this: http://onceamonthmom.com/homemade-alfredo-sauce/ I'll freeze 1 portion plain, 1 with sauteed mushrooms, 1 with roasted tomatoes and 1 with browned sausage. It looks like it'd be awesome on pizza.

    I also ALWAYS have frozen pizza dough on hand. It's so absurdly easy to make and I just throw it on the counter or in the fridge in the morning and it's thawed by dinnertime. I don't use sauce on it, just shredded (usually reduced fat) cheese and toppings (usually fresh local veggies). I use this recipe and double it, plus add spices (oregano, basil, garlic powder, onion powder): http://www.fabulousfoods.com/recipes/cheri-s-favorite-pizza-dough I don't use any oil but I do spray the bowl with Pam before I let it rise. I mix it in my KitchenAid, then pull the dough to the side, spray with Pam, turn to coat and cover with a plastic bag to let rise. I cut it into 4 pieces (since I double the recipe), shape into balls, cook 1 and freeze 3 in Ziploc bags.
  • newcs
    newcs Posts: 717 Member
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    In case anyone is wondering...tried the buttery balsamic pasta with asparagus from Once a Month Mom last night and it was very good. I used less salt, only 3T of butter (recipe calls for 8 I believe) and didn't use the oil...I just sprayed the asparagus with Pam. I used slightly less asparagus because that's what was in my bundle (3c instead of 3.5c) and I used 8 1/2oz of chicken (as measured raw). It came out to about 350 calories. Next time I will possibly double the balsamic because I liked the taste but would have liked more (and it would add flavor without adding a ton of calories like butter). If anyone makes it...put your fan on when you start boiling the balsamic or it'll get a little overwhelming with the smell.

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