Freezer Cooking Days

Crystal over at Money Saving Mom and FishMama from Life As Mom are hosting a couple of freezer cooking days.

I plan to do most of my baking and cooking tomorrow but this is what I’ve got on the agenda for this afternoon.

Cut up and peel pumpkins we used for jack-o-lanterns

Steam pumpkin pieces, cool a bit and then puree

Make pumpkin soup

Freeze pumpkin puree in 1 c portions to use in recipes over next several months

I’ll add a picture of the pumpkin soup along with the recipe later this evening.  I’ve never made pumpkin soup before so I’m creating the recipe as I go along.

As promised, here’s the picture and the recipe for the pumpkin soup.

Pumpkin Soup

½ onion

2 stalks celery (complete with leaves)

2 carrots (peeled)

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 c beef broth (I used the drippings leftover from a beef roast that I had in the freezer)

4 c pumpkin puree

1 c whole milk (or whatever milk you have on hand)

½ tsp curry powder

½ tsp cumin

Salt and pepper

1.  Finely chop the onion, celery and carrot.  I usually chop by hand but today since I already had the food processor out to puree the pumpkin I used that.

2.  To a large pot… add 1 tbsp olive oil and then the onion, celery and carrot.  Saute until onions are clear.

3.  Add 1 heaping tbsp of minced garlic and beef broth.  Allow to simmer until celery and carrots are tender.

4.  Add pumpkin puree.   Continue to simmer a few minutes more.

5.  Add milk.

6.  And finally add curry powder, cumin and salt and pepper to taste.

SuperMom’s Caramelized Onions and Collards

Whenever we move to a new area, one of the things we do is try out and if we like them, adopt new dishes.

While living in Germany we added spaetzle and zwiebel kuchen, among others.  During our time in Hawaii, spam musubi became a favourite.

I have to confess though that since moving to the Southern States I have never been able to develop a taste for collards.   Which is strange since I love other greens.  But I’ve tried collards several times and each time they tasted so bitter that I had just decided that this was one dish we wouldn’t be adding to our menu.

That is until a couple of weeks ago.  You see earlier this spring we joined a local CSA.   Each week, we get an e-mail from Rise N Shine Organic Farm on the morning of our pick-up day with a list of everything we’re getting that week.  And you guessed it, one of the things included in our weekly selection for the past two weeks has been collards.

That first week, on the way to the pick-up point, I told our son that we’d check the swap box and see if there was anything we could swap the collards for.  But when we got there, the bunches looked so fresh and crisp that I decided to take one home and see if I could figure out a way to make them palatable.

After a search of the net and reading through dozens of recipes, I decided to try caramelized onions and collards since fried onions makes almost anything taste better.  There were quite a few versions so I took what I wanted from each and after a bit of tweaking I came up with a recipe that we not only love, but that had us searching the swap box for collards last week so that we could make it again.  (We got there a bit late and the collards on the main table were gone.)

To make my version of Caramelized Onions and Collards you’ll need:

1 bunch of fresh collards

1 large onion

1 heaping tbsp of minced garlic

2 c homemade turkey stock  (store bought chicken stock would work too)

A few grinds each of sea salt and black pepper

1 Tbsp vinegar

Thoroughly wash collards.   (I wash them at least once in a basin half full of water and then drain and wash again.)    After the second wash, remove the stems and shake off the excess water.

(Don’t waste the stems… they can be coarsely chopped and added to your compost.)

Stack several collard leaves and slice into ½” pieces.

Slice onion thinly and fry in 1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp olive oil.  It will take 15 minutes or so on medium heat to caramelize the onions.  Don’t try to cook them too fast or they’ll burn.

While the onions are cooking, bring turkey stock plus 1 c of water to a boil.

Add the collards.  Put a lid on the pot and cook for 8 to 10 minutes.

The collards should still be a bright green.   Drain the collards, reserving the liquid to make gravy.

Add minced garlic to onions and cook for another minute or so and then add the collards.  Add a few grinds each of sea salt and black pepper.

Just before serving, stir in vinegar.  Enjoy!

SuperMom Tip of the Day – Get Creative With Leftovers

Last night we had egg rolls for supper.   When I was at the store, I only picked up one package of egg roll wrappers since it was just our son and I eating.  But I’m so used to making a double batch now that when I was chopping up veggies, I chopped up the usual amount.  And that meant that we had a bowl of filling leftover.

I didn't think to take a picture before I started using the leftover filling, so this is half of what was leftover.

Now with a teenage boy in the house, what to do with these kinds of leftovers isn’t a question that comes up often in this house, as most times they become an after school snack the next day.  But this leftover bowl of filling looked like it would be too much for a snack.

While I didn’t have anymore egg roll wrappers, what I did have was a ball of pie dough in the freezer that was leftover from making pies at Easter.  So last night, I moved it from the freezer to the fridge.

Then today, I rolled out the dough and cut out rounds using a Tupperware lid as a template.

On each round I place a generous spoon full of the filling.

Then I ran a bead of water around half the circle of dough and carefully folded the dough over and crimped the edges.

I found it easiest to crimp the edges just a bit at first so that it would hold together and then I picked up the filled half-round and finished crimping by holding it in one hand and pinching with the fingers of my other hand like I do when making perogies.

I continued making turnovers until I ran out of dough.  Before popping them in the oven, I poked each turnover with a fork to allow steam to escape.

Then I baked them at 375 F for about 25 minutes until the dough was a light golden brown.

Here they are… piping hot from the oven.

And this one… I just had to sample.  You know, just to make sure they tasted good.  It was delicious!

How do you get creative with leftovers?   Share your ideas in the comments.

This post was included as an entry for Frugal Friday over at Life as Mom.

Be sure to check out the many other money saving ideas linked to.

Making Bread – Making Life

I love making bread.  The old fashioned way… kneading it by hand.  It is probably the most satisfying of all the baking I do.

I enjoy the whole process: from proofing the yeast to the kneading; from walking away to let it rise to coming back and finding it has grown and expanded.  From forming the loaves to the final wonderful smell of fresh baked bread.  It can be very difficult to wait to cut into a loaf and oft times we sacrifice one loaf to allow the others to rest their required time.   (Bread continues to cook inside for approximately 40 minutes after being removed from the oven.)

When I saw these two videos… the lady expresses so well how I feel about making bread that I had to share them.  Enjoy!

Super Mom’s Jambalaya

1 to 1 ½ lb country sausage

½  medium onion, diced

2 stalks of celery, diced

½  green pepper, diced

1 tbsp minced garlic (if you don’t have minced garlic, use 1 tsp garlic powder)

2 – 6 oz cans tomato paste

4 c beef broth

1 – 14 oz can diced tomatoes

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp chili powder

1 Tbsp sweet basil

¼ tsp black pepper

¼ tsp white pepper (if you don’t have white pepper, double amount of black pepper),

½ tsp cayenne.

1 Tbsp of Worcestershire Sauce

1 ½ c long grain rice

Cut 1 lb country sausage in half lengthwise and then slice into about ½ inch pieces.  If you can’t get country sausage, you can substitute kielbasa or polish sausage or any other similiar kind of sausage.  A more heavily spiced sausage will add heat to the recipe so you may want to adjust your spices accordingly to suit your taste.

Fry sausage in a large pot until the sausage is cooked and little bits have stuck to the bottom of the pan.  This will add flavour.   Transfer sausage to a bowl.  Drain off any excess fat.

Dice onion, celery and pepper.  For this recipe I used a mix of yellow, orange and red pepper to add a bit of colour and because I had some chopped and ready in the freezer.

Now because the sausage I use leaves hardly any fat, for this next step I add a bit of olive oil to the pot.  Add onion, celery and pepper.  Saute until onions get that nice clear look to them.

Next add the tomato paste and let it brown a bit.  What you’re doing here is allowing the sugar in the tomato paste to start to caramelize.  This deepens the flavour and the colour but you do have to stir it constantly over medium heat so that it doesn’t burn.   It will take a few minutes until the tomato paste turns a dark, dark red colour.

Stir in 2 c of the beef broth.   (As you can see, hubby decided to come help while I manned the camera.)

Add spices and worchestershire sauce.   Stir in diced tomatoes and last 2 c of beef broth.

At this point you’ll want to taste to determine if you want more spices.  We find this is plenty spicy but go ahead and adjust this to suit your family’s tastes.

Add back the cooked sausage.

Lastly, stir in the rice.

Stir everything together

Cook over very low heat until the rice is done.

Check and stir often.  If needed add extra water until rice is completely cooked.  This may take up to an hour.  Don’t try to cook it too fast or over higher heat.  The rice with stick to the bottom of the pot and burn.

Serve and enjoy.

A dollop of sour cream will help cut the heat

This recipe has been added as part of:

SuperMom Tip of the Day – Have Breakfast at Suppertime

Today being Pancake (aka Shrove) Tuesday, we’ll be having pancakes and breakfast sausages for supper.    It’s a tradition that we celebrated when I was living at home with my parents and something that I have continued with my family.

For those who may not be familiar with this tradition, tomorrow is Ash Wednesday which begins the lenten period for Christians.  Lent is a time of reflection and of abstinence; of giving up certain indulgences and foods in the weeks leading up to Easter.  The Tuesday before Ash Wednesday therefore became the day to use up those foods that you would be required to forego during lent.  Pancakes were a way to use up things like butter and eggs which were forbidden during lent.

Whether your family will be observing Lent or not, serving what traditionally would be considered breakfast (or lunch items) at supper doesn’t need to be just a one day or religious observance.   It is also a great way to stretch your food budget.

Some breakfast/lunch foods that I’ve served for supper include:

Quiche – I always try to keep a few pie shells in the freezer that I make up with any pie dough leftover from making turkey or pumpkin pies.  Then when I want a quick, inexpensive meal, I pull out one or two of the pie shells (depending how many people I’m feeding).

No two quiche will be exactly the same because I use whatever I have on hand.  Sometimes it’s just onions, celery and grated cheese over which I pour an egg/milk mixture seasoned with salt and pepper.  If I have chopped spinach in the freezer I may thaw and drain that and add it to the quiche.  Or if I’ve got a bit of chopped ham in the freezer, that might get added.  Bake at 350F for 30 to 40 minutes, until egg mixture is set.

Grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup (or mushroom soup or whatever soup I have on hand)

Sausages and biscuits with gravy – Since moving to the South, we’ve added this to our menu, but I don’t think I’ve ever served it for breakfast.  It’s just become one of those quick, easy suppers on nights when I really don’t feel like spending a lot of time cooking.

A batch of biscuits takes maybe five minutes to mix together and another 10 to 12 minutes to bake.  Fry up some sausage patties and top with pan or canned gravy, add a side of veggies and you’ve got supper on the table in under 20 minutes.

And of course, pancakes.  As I mentioned earlier, we’re having them with sausages tonight, but I’ve also served them topped with poached or fried eggs.  Or sometimes I just set everyone’s favourite toppings on the table along with the plate stacked with  pancakes and let everyone decide for themselves what they want.

So the next time you’re stuck for supper ideas, think breakfast!

This post has been added as part of Kitchen Tip Tuesdays.

And also over at BeingFrugal.net for:

Spinach Stuffed Pasta Shells

Shells:

1 – 12 oz package of jumbo pasta shells

½ lb bacon, chopped

½ medium onion chopped

2 lbs frozen chopped spinach (thaw and drain)

2 – 15 oz containers of ricotta cheese

1 c asiago, parmesan, romano cheese mixture (see below)

¼ tsp nutmeg

½ tsp pepper

Sauce:

1 tbsp butter

2 tbsp minced garlic

2 c cream

2 c asiago, parmesan, romano cheese mixture (see below)

2 tbsp dried parsley

¼ tsp pepper

Cook pasta until tender but still firm.  Drain.  (Don’t overcook or the shells won’t hold their shape.)

Mix one 8 oz container of parmesan cheese and one 8 oz container of parmesan, romano, asiago cheese in a bowl.   Use 1 c for filling, 2 c for sauce and remainder to sprinkle on top of shells.  (You could also use 2 containers of parmesan cheese or 2 containers of parmesan, romano, asiago cheese.)

Fry bacon for 2 minutes. 

Add chopped onion and continue to fry until onions and bacon are translucent.  Remove from burner and allow to cool while you put the rest of the mixture together.

Squeeze as much moisture out of the spinach as possible.  Place in a large bowl.  Add cheese mixture, ricotta cheese, nutmeg and pepper.  Stir.  Add bacon and onions.  Combine thoroughly.

Generously fill shells with filling and place in a well buttered pan(s).  I used one 8″X12″ glass dish and one 8″X8″ dish.  Use whatever size dishes/pans you have, fill with shells until all the filling is gone.

To make the sauce:

Place butter and minced garlic in a medium saucepan.   Cook, stirring until butter is melted.  Add the cream.  Continue to stir.  When cream comes to a simmer, turn heat to low.  Add parsley, pepper and 2 c of cheese mixture.

Once cheese has melted into the cream and sauce has thickened slightly, pour sauce over the shells; dividing it between dishes.  Top with reserved cheese mixture. 

Bake at 375 F for 25 minutes.  Remove from oven and serve.  Enjoy!

Waste Not Want Not – Use Up That Last Bit of Goodness

Before you wash those empty  bottles of barbeque sauce or mustard or Worcestershire sauce to get them ready for recycling, be sure they really are empty.

Pour about 1 tsp of vinegar into the bottle, swirl it around and then empty it into an almost empty bottle of Ketchup.  (I save those for just this purpose.)

This past weekend we used up the last of a bottle of barbeque sauce.  And I remembered that I had maybe one squirt of mustard left in the bottle in the fridge.  So out came the vinegar and I got to rinsing.

Rinse containers with vinegar

You may have to rinse the bottle with vinegar a couple of times to get out that last little bit of goodness.  Then once you’re done, put the lid back on the Ketchup bottle and give it a good shake, label it and put it back in the fridge.   Add more bottom-of-the-bottle goodness as you use things up.

Then when you’ve got about of cup or so, use that as a barbeque sauce. Or what I most often do is put some frozen chicken pieces into the slow cooker, pour the homemade sauce over it and let it cook all day on low.  The chicken comes out fall off the bone tender and juicy and so flavourful.

This post has been added as part Kitchen Tips Tuesday

And also over at beingfrugal.net as part of………

SuperMom Tip of the Day – Cook Extra to Freeze

Out there in blogland, you wouldn’t have to search far to find posts about cooking meals ahead and freezing them.  In fact, many posts you find talk about setting aside one day a week or every few weeks to cook and freeze meals.  There are even sites that will show you how to make enough meals for a whole month.

I do occasionally have all day meal prep sessions.   Perogy making days are actually two day events.  The evening before to cook and prep the filling and extra potatoes for the dough and the second day for actually making the perogies.   Our last perogy day yielded almost 400 perogies.    As well, Kalua Pork needs to have a day set aside for it in order to prep the four to five roasts and then after the cooking  to shred the roasts and bag them for freezing.

But those kind of marathon cooking sessions aren’t something that I have any desire to do very often.  Many years ago I discovered a cook and freeze ahead meal solution that works best for our family that I can and do practice on a regular basis.

If you don’t have the time or desire to set aside an entire day to prepare, cook and then freeze meals, you can achieve the same result simply by cooking extra a few nights per week.  Sometimes will I freeze an entire meal that then just needs to be popped into the microwave or oven to be reheated.   But because I really do like to cook supper every night, most often I freeze items separately so that I have the option of using them to make meal prep faster.

For example, on Sunday I cooked a whole chicken in the slow cooker which I then served for supper with rice and veggies.   Now there’s no way the three of us could eat a whole 5 ½  lb chicken at one meal, but I cooked a whole chicken with the intention that I would have lots leftover to shred and freeze for use in future meals such as enchilladas, chicken stir fries or fried rice.

And rather than cook only the amount of rice we’d eat that meal, I made an extra large batch of rice so that I’d have enough to freeze.  It doesn’t take that much longer to cook 12 cups of rice than it does to cook 3 cups.   When I cook ahead like this, not only am I saving in future prep time, I’m saving the extra energy it would take to cook 4 separate batches of rice because from 12 cups, I had enough for Sunday supper and for three packages of rice with approximately 3 c per bag.

Those bags of rice are now ready and waiting in the freezer to be used in soup, chili, fried rice or simply as a stand alone side dish, perhaps dressed up with a few spices or some veggies.

This can be done with all sorts of meals.   Stews, soups and chili are easy meals to double or triple for freezing.   Or even something as simple as when you’re making tacos.  Instead of browning 1 lb of meat, brown 2 or 3 and then freeze the extra to use next time you make tacos or burritos or when making a quick lunch of taco salad.

In addition to saving time and energy, an added bonus of cooking and freezing ahead is that when you know you have entire meals or the individual components needed to throw together a quick and nutritious meal, you’ll be less tempted to order take out or go the fast food route, which depending how often you resist that urge, could be a huge money saver.

Want more money saving ideas?   Be sure to check out:

And for more kitchen tips, be sure to check out Kitchen Tip Tuesdays.

This post has also been added to all the other great ideas that you’ll find over at Frual Friday as it fits right in with Crystal’s post on menu planning.  I don’t use a formal plan.  I’m the type of person who needs lots of flexibility and my informal plan involves having a stock-pile of ingredients on hand in the cupboard and the freezer so that I can make whatever meal I feel like making that particular day.

Crock Pot – Whole Chicken Cranberry Bake

After baking my Cranberry Coffee Cake with whole cranberry sauce leftover from Christmas, I remembered that I had the jelly type of cranberry sauce leftover from Thanksgiving that I’d popped into the freezer.   So today we’re having Whole Chicken Cranberry Bake cooked in the crock pot.

Wash and drain one whole chicken.  (For this recipe I used a 5 lb fryer.)  Place chicken breast side up in crock pot.

In a bowl, combine 1 can cranberry sauce, ½ c orange juice and 1 envelope onion soup mix.

Spread over chicken.  I also spooned a generous amount into the chicken cavity and spread it around.

Cook on high for 2 hours and then low for 4 to 5 hours, until done.

If you need to start this first thing in the morning before leaving for work or other activiites, cook on low for 8 to 10 hrs.

This came out fall-off-the-bone tender.  I served it with rice and a veggie.  Then I shredded the leftover chicken, put it in a quart freezer bag and froze it for future use in enchilladas or soup.