Freezer Meals: Chicken Spaghetti

Pioneer Woman's Chicken Spaghetti - recipe here

Simultaneously, I boiled the chicken as per the recipe while I did the pork prep. I used two whole legs instead of a cut up chicken. I followed the portion sizes roughly (using half a large onion and pepper and the other half went into the pulled pork from earlier).

It looked so good while I was making it that I just wanted to put my face in it! I tasted it and the baby gave me a hard, swift kick. I think it's fetus approved!

I used this trick that I read online where you line a baking pan with aluminum foil, scoop the food in, freeze a little so it maintains its shape, pop it out, wrap tightly in more foil and a ziplock bag, then pop it into the freezer for the long haul.

These are 8x8 pans and 2-3" deep. There was plenty here to feed a family. I'd say there is plenty to take to lunch the next day but it's so yum that you might end up eating it all at once.

In the recipe, you have to set aside a cup of chicken broth that you used to cook your chicken...I saved a little more than a cup....more to come on that.

Freezer Meals: Ice Cream Sandwiches, Chicken Satay, Uncooked Pork, Pulled Pork

(I can't get my pictures to adjust so forgive me. I'm pregnant and super crunched on time, so I don't feel like bothering to figure out what's wrong.)

After a little research on "once a month cooking" and "freezer meals" I set forth to do what many have been doing successfully. Shop when things are sale, cook for hours and then have meals for several days. I started off small. This week at Shop Rite, pork loin was on sale for $1.99/lb. So I just did a little mental planning on what I could do with a hunk of pork - Korean pork, noodles & pork, pork stir fry with pickled cabbage, pulled pork, baked pork loin...before deciding on purchasing so much of it. Chicken legs were also on sale for .67c/lb. I bought two packages for $4 & $3 which for us is good enough for 4 meals. We love dark meat and I could always use legs for BBQ, soup, baked, stir fry, etc.

Time: 1 hour

Cost: $16 Pork, $7 Chicken, $1 Onion, $2 Pepper

Chicken Satay

We had company so I made oven baked chicken satay. We planned on putting it on the grill, but then I got lazy and put it in the oven instead. Cook for 1 hour at 350 degrees. This was enough for 4 people and everyone had seconds.

Pork Prep

The pork loin came whole in a long package. This one was $16. Usually, I spend about $5/package of pork loins that are pre-sliced (6 slices at 1/2" thick), so by comparison the $16 was a great deal. I brought over to the butcher and asked him to slice them up into 1" thick slices and leave the end whole so I can roast it or put it into the crockpot. He did just that. No work on my part!

I divided the pork into portion sizes for one meal for the two of us. I do this anyway, but this time I seasoned it before popping them into the freezer. Since the slices are 1" thick, 1 slice should be enough for dinner (along with rice and a side vegetable) and the 3rd and 4th slices will be packed for lunch the next day. If they were sliced thinner they would cook faster, but I don't want them to be dry and I imagine I'll be walking away from the oven/stove often with baby in hand.

Then I packaged each portion in saran wrap and made sure it was nicely sealed and got all the air out of it. I labeled each one with exactly what I marinated/seasoned it with. I put labels on both sides of the package. I made 3 meals (4 slices each) of pork loin with 3 different marinades/seasonings.

I set aside 2 portions for stir fry. Each portion utilized 3 slices of pork loin. 1-2 slices would have been enough for a family of 4 if we ate like a true Chinese household where there are at least 3-4 dishes, rice and a soup. Since I only cook one dish as our main dinner, we need a bit more and then some to have enough for lunch the following day. My mom freezes ginger so I thought I'd give it a try and included it in the package, so it's one less thing I need to prep.

With the tail end of the pork loin (8" worth), I hacked it up into large chunks. I could have/should have left it whole, but I dunno...I never made pulled pork before so this was a first attempt. Line the bottom of the pot with onions and peppers. Add some water, salt, sugar and BBQ sauce. See my junk bag over there to the left (from the peppers). I do that when I'm cooking so I don't have to keep running to the garbage can. Yeah, Rachel Ray and her junk bowl has nothin' on me. My mom and I have been doing this for decades.

This is what it looks like with the sauce.

Put it on high for 20 mins and then cook it on low for 10 hours (based on a recipe I read). I love my old ass crock pot that was a hand me down from a neighbor. I love the character.

As you can see in the freezer, I have everything lined and stacked up. To the right in the foil are ice cream sandwiches I made from a large container of cookies I had and a container of cookie dough ice cream. They are soooooo good! Just assemble, wrap individually and freeze. Although frozen, the cookies are just softened enough by the ice-cream.

At the same time, I was boiling chicken for Pioneer Woman's chicken spaghetti...Up next!

Zucchini Pizza

I made this for lunch today and it really hit the spot.

Recipe from Giada at Home.

Ingredients: pizza dough, flour, 1 zucchini sliced thinly, shredded mozzarella, olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano, garlic powder, black olives. (I omitted the olives and added sun dried tomatoes and prosciutto which ended up being a mistake because they burned)

1. Preheat the oven at 450F. Roll out the dough on a floured surface.

2. Place the slices of zucchini on the dough, olive oil, season. Bake until edges are starting to get brown (about 12-15 mins). Keep a close eye on it.

3. Put cheeses (and olives) on top of the pizza. Put it back into the oven for a few minutes until the cheese is melted.

Enjoy!

Olives and Sun Dried Tomato Vegetables

This was a great way to dress up your vegetable side dishes. The olives and sun dried tomatoes really make this dish! So far, I really enjoy her recipes and I look forward to trying something new each night (or every other night).

Look how beautiful this is!

Recipe from Giada at Home.

1/3 cups of olive oil, thyme, pepper, salt, 1 zucchini, 1 summer squash, 1 red bell pepper

5 marinated sun dried tomatoes (I did not use marinated)

1 tablespoon of pitted green olives (marinated)

1 tablespoon of pitted black olives (marinated)

3 shallots

Combine the oil, thyme, pepper, salt, and chopped olives and tomatoes in a bowl. Set aside and allow to sit. Slice the bell pepper, squash and zucchini into 1/4" rounds. Slice the shallots. Heat up a medium pan on medium to high heat. Add the shallots and cook till translucent. Add the vegetables until soft. Turn off the heat. Put into serving dish and pour the sun dried tomato and olive mixture on top. Serve immediately.

Bon appetit!

Giada at Home

My best friend gave me Giada at Home for Christmas. I love it! It's organized very well with a large selection of recipes using only vegetables. There are lots of recipes that I can see myself using with what I grow in my garden from appetizers to soups. Also, all her recipes are a two step process - just prepare or marinate and then cook. That's definitely my cooking style! Have you cooked anything new lately? Or just eaten anything that you really enjoyed?

Mother-in-law pleaseing Eggplant Lasagna

Keith's mom came over for dinner today. Eggplant and lasagna are some of her favorite foods so I combined the two and whipped this up!

Ingredients:

• 1 medium italian eggplant sliced 1/2" thick
• 1 box of no boil lasagna noodles
• 1 can of crushed tomato (I use Tottorosa)
• 6 oz of ricotta cheese with an egg mixed it
• some shredded mozzerella
• 1 small onion sliced thinly
• olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder

1. Place all your sliced eggplant and onion on a large baking tray with a generous drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until cooked and tender. A little brown is good but not black. If you do over bake, just leave out the black burned pieces.
2. In a 9x7 lasagna pan, layer your ingredients together. This is how I did it: baking tray, crushed tomato, noodles, crushed tomato, ricotta cheese, eggplant/onion, shredded cheese, noodle and repeat.
3. I made it ahead of time and put it in the fridge. The following day, just bake it in the oven at 350 for 1 hour. Serve with warm bread.

I don't add a lot of mozzarella because it can overpowering and I'm lactose intolerant anyhow. If there is too much, it doesn't seem to bake all melty the way I want it to either. I did not make tomato sauce. I just used the crushed tomato from the can as is because the eggplant had plenty of seasoning in it. Although it involved a little extra prep work, it was still an easy dish that you can put together and just throw in the oven and then get ready for your guests.

How do you like your eggplant?

Uncle Paul's Seafood Sauce

Inspired by my husband's uncle's delicious seafood sauce on linguine that I had to come home and try making it myself. He didn't give me the recipe, but I came up with something based on what I tasted. I added some chopped tomatoes, fish and bay seasoning to kick it up a notch. I love Cioppino and that was what I was going for.

Here are my ingredients:

• a full bunch of parsley (no stems)
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 1 onion - diced
  
• olive oil
• butter
• white wine - Yellowtail
  
• 2 filets of fresh catfish
• seafood mix - mussels, clams, calamari, baby shrimp
• 1/2 lb jumbo shrimp - cleaned and deveined
• 1 can of whole tomatoes - coursely chopped
• 1/2 jar of clam juice
• Bay seasoning, salt, pepper
• 1 box linguine
  

Cook the onions, garlic, tomatoes, etc and make your base sauce first. Add a little white wine and the seafood mix. Then add the fresh fish and shrimp. Serve over pasta with some grated cheese or lemon juice.

Patty Melt

Ingredients:

• Ground Beef/Burger Patties
• 2 Onions
• American cheese
• Butter
• Bread

1. Cook the burger patties in a skillet.
   
2. Caramelize the onions until they are golden brown.
3. In the mean time, lightly butter your bread.
4. Make a sandwich by placing your burger on the first slice of bread. Top with onions and cheese.
   
5. Then place the other piece of bread on top and grill it on the skillet like a grilled cheese sandwich.
   

These are soooo yummy!

Fried Rice

Fried rice is a meal made with leftovers from the week. Often times, my family had rice leftover from dinner each night. On Friday night, my mom would chop up all the leftover meats and veggies and combine them with the leftover rice to make delicious fried rice! It's so yummy because it has all the seasonings already from the leftovers.



Ingredients:

1. Leftover rice - If you make fresh rice, let it sit uncovered over night in the fridge.
   
2. Vegetable or olive oil
3. 2 Eggs
4. Diced onions and garlic
5. Diced meat and veggies
6. A drizzle of soy sauce - I recommend Kikkoman for fried rice.

Heat up the wok until it's hot. Add a drizzle of oil. When the oil is hot, add the diced onions, garlic and rice. Give it a good stir until it's brown and toasty. Then add the diced meat/veggies. Drizzle some soy sauce. It's not necessary, but some people like it. Stir it all around.

*If you're using raw meat and veggies, cook that with the onions and garlic first. Cook the meat until it's fully cooked. Then add the rice and soy sauce.*



The last thing you do is add 2 eggs. I crack the eggs into the center of the wok and scramble them up. Then I stir everything together and it's ready to eat! Re-season if necessary with salt and pepper.



(I used leftover baked chicken and broccoli tips).

Enjoy! Let me know if you try this!

Stove's back in!

We've finally plugged the stove back in and to mark the occasion Keith made us some goulash. I missed pasta so much and this really hit the spot.



I took a few more pictures for my photography assignment. There is a lime green house a few blocks away and I asked for permission to photograph out front. Turns out the owner is an Architect and was really friendly! I looked up and noticed solar panels sticking out from the edge of his addition which is his studio. He was all excited to talk about it and I was so pleased that someone actually does use them! We're going to look into it too because they pay for themselves.







Their big sheep dog Frank. He's really friendly.

The Violets Meet The SnowPeas

Meet

I met Mrs. Violet back when I still just a wee reader of weddingbee. We had a lot in common and were instantly buds. She even made me Thank You cards for my bridal shower and I still go to her with my stationary needs. Recently, she, Mr. Violet and their dog Sam made a trip all the way down to my house for a visit.

Mrs. Violet (left) and Mrs. Snow Pea (me - right)


Mr. Violet and their beautiful dog Sam.



She is the most friendly, well-behaved, and fluffiest dog ever! I couldn't stop petting her.



Of course, no party of mine would be complete without photos of food. These are jalepenos stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped with bacon from Pioneer Woman.



They were a real hit!



I made my own salsa and hummus dip.



Mr. Snow Pea BBQ'd as per usual.



Oh yeah, baby!



Sam had dinner too.



Mrs. Violet brought me this adorable dish she got on Etsy. It's perfect for holding my rings.



After dinner, we played some games. Mr. Violet totally schooled us on all the computer related or video game questions.





My bridesmaid Lambchop brought cream puffs from Beard Papa's all the way down for us. It was to commemorate our trip to San Francisco where we met Mr. and Mrs. Plumeria.



Thank you so much for coming Mr. and Mrs. Violet! And Sam!

Lemon Fusilli with Arugula

I love arugula and enjoyed Ina Garten's other pasta salad recipes that I thought I would try this one out. I'm growing lots of arugula this summer, so I'll have plenty of it. If you like the bitter bite that arugula has then you should definitely try to grow it yourself. It's super easy and it's a perennial that grows back each year.

Lemon Fusilli recipe



In the same episode she makes a Green Goddess dressing made of basil, lemon and scallions! That sounds divine!



Can't wait to try this in the summer!

Here's a few for safe keeping. I freakin' love Barefoot Contessa!
Oven Fried Chicken
Warm Duck Salad

Gruyere Popovers

By Sugar Pond (Sandy)

My friend Sandy invited us to dinner at her place over the holidays. One of the many delicious things she made were popovers! I've never had one before and they are doughy like "chinese donuts" - the fried dough that you eat congee (rice porridge) with. You can add anything to them and they taste so savory. Well, here is her recent addition. The popover pan is from Crate and Barrel.



Gruyere Popovers

2 cups all purpose flour 1 1/4 teaspoons salt 2 cups whole milk 4 large eggs

Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 1/2 cups grated Gruyère cheese (about 6 ounces)

Place one 12-cup muffin pan and one 6-cup muffin pan in oven. Preheat oven to 350°F. Whisk flour and salt in medium bowl to blend. Heat milk in heavy small saucepan over medium heat until very warm, about 125°F. Whisk eggs in large bowl to blend. Gradually whisk warm milk into eggs. Gradually stir flour mixture into milk mixture just to blend (batter may still be slightly lumpy).

Remove hot muffin pans from oven. Spray pans with nonstick spray. Spoon 1/4 cup batter into each of 16 muffin cups. Top each with 1 1/2 tablespoons cheese. Bake until puffed and deep brown, about 40 minutes. Remove popovers from pan.

She recently started a food blog called Five Spice Duck.

Baked Artichokes

It's been a while since I had artichokes. I love them, but they are time consuming to make and for most, it's not worth the effort for what is virtually no "meat".

Choose heavy, tightly packed green ones.


Trim 1/3 to 1/2 the top off. Remove 2-3 layers of leaves from the base. Trim and remove the stem.


Pull out these inner (light yellow) leaves. They are very spikey and makes for a painful dining experience.


Then using a spoon, firmly scrape the fuzz at the bottom of the center. If the artichoke is very young, the fuzz hasn't formed yet and you don't need to do this and can eat it. It's worth the effort to do this. Rinse.



Chop up tons of garlic and make an egg, flour, bread crumb, parmesean cheese, s&p mixture.


I had lots of bread leftover from my cucumber tea sandwiches, so I used those instead of bread crumbs (which I don't like anyway). Drizzle lots of olive oil. Add 1/2 of chicken stock or water to the bottom of the pan.


Cover and bake for atleast 2 hours. It's ready when the leaves pull off easily.