Sweet Asian Chicken Marinade

From the Cookbook Fix, Freeze, Feast: The Delicious, Money-Saving Way to Feed Your Family.

This is our favorite chicken marinade from this cookbook so far. Prepare it in bulk so that with this recipe you will have 3 meals of chicken prepared--one for dinner tonight, and two for your freezer! To test the recipe, or to just make a single meal, divide the ingredient measures by 3.

Ingredients:

• 6 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup tamari/soy sauce
• 1/4 lime juice or juice of 1 fresh lime (I recommend fresh lime if possible)
• 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
• 3 Tablespoons minced garlic--about 25 cloves (I recommend fresh--process in a food processor to reduce prep time)
• 2 1/4 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes (or to taste, more if you prefer spicy)
• 3 freezer containers or freezer bags--I find if I use smaller chicken breasts I can fit this meal in a quart-size bag.

1. Divide chicken between 3 freezer containers.
2. Combine sugar, tamari, lime juice, and curry powder in a pourable mixing bowl, whisk to combine. 3. Divide and pour marinade evenly into 3 freezer containers.
4. Add 1 Tablespoon of minced garlic and 3/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes to each container. Mix chicken, marinade, garlic, and flakes, then freeze until needed or marinate for a minimum of 6-8 hours.

To cook: First defrost chicken fully in refrigerator.

To grill (recommended): cook chicken over medium low heat, turning every 5 minutes and basting with extra marinade. Stop basting at least 5 minutes before removing from grill. Cook until center temp of chicken reaches 165 degrees on a meat thermometer. Cover cooked chicken with foil, let stand for 5 minutes. Slice chicken into 1/2 inch strips against the grain.

On the Stove: Slice into 1/2 strips against the grain, then stir fry in a wok or large pan over med-high heat with oil such as peanut oil, until pieces are no longer pink in the center.

Freezer Cooking Day Results 4-12-11

I'm pleased to report that our frreezer cooking day endeavor was a success. This photo shows just half of the meals we prepared yesterday, as my friend took her half home to her own freezer.

Here's the list of prepared food that I ended up with (Most of these recipes are from Fix, Freeze, Feast: The Delicious, Money-Saving Way to Feed Your Family):

• Molasses Glazed Chicken Thighs (2 meals, 1.5 lbs each)
• Cashew Chicken Stir Fry (3 meals, 2 lbs each)
• Sweet Asian Chicken (3 meals, 2 lbs each: 2 meals of whole breasts for grilling, 1 meal of chunks for kebabs)
• Mustard Oregano Pork Chops (this recipe made 12 chops, we each took 6, I will probably make them for 1 meal)
• Turkish Pork Loin Chops with Bacon (6 chops, which I will probably use as 3 meals because they are quite large)
• Shrimp Curry (2 meals)
• Sesame Sirloin (2 meals)
• Roasted Chicken-some carved, some shredded (2 meals)

 If I'm doing my math correctly, I have EIGHTEEN meals from about 6 hours of work--2.5 hours preparation, 3.5 hours for the actual freezer cooking event. Cutting and bagging all of the meat in advance was a huge time-saver and kept us very organized. I did mine right when I brought it home from the store, and it took up less space in the fridge than when it was in the (leaky) store packages.

 

Even more exciting is that my friend decided to package her meat in smaller one-pound portions, so in cases where I ended up with 3 two-pound meals, she ended up with 6 one-pound meals! (Her kids don't eat as much as mine do. I also make more because my husband loves to take leftovers to work the next day.)

 

In addition, I am using my carcass and neck from the roasted chicken to make Chicken Bone Soup today, and I also saved the juices and deglazed the roasting pan, so I will have a nice supply of chicken stock on hand.

 

And yes! Everything fits nicely into my freezer... along with all the other freezer meals I've been putting up here and there...

Freezer Cooking Day: Meat Marinades

Freezer Cooking January Inventory

My friend and I are planning a big, exciting freezer cooking session for tomorrow, using a number of recipes from Fix, Freeze, Feast: The Delicious, Money-Saving Way to Feed Your Family. Our focus is on marinated meats, and we expect to assemble 16-18 meals apiece. This supply will keep us grilling for the next two months!

We decided to focus on meat so that we could make bulk purchases and do a lot of meat processing all at once. If we eat 2-3 of these meals per week, they'll last for 6-8 weeks, and we can focus on preparing side dishes and fresh vegetables. I'll most likely focus more on vegetarian meals for other nights of the week, and perhaps do some vegetarian freezer cooking when the freezer starts to clear out a bit.

Here are the recipes we've selected:

• Molasses Glazed Chicken Thighs (2 meals per family)
• Cashew Chicken Stir Fry (3 meals per family)
• Sweet Asian Chicken (3 meals per family)
• Mustard Oregano Pork Chops (1-2 meals per family)
• Turkish Pork Loin Chops with Bacon (1-2 meals per family)
• Shrimp Curry (2 meals per family)
• Sesame Sirloin (2-3 meals per family)
• Roasted Chicken-some carved, some shredded (1-2 meals per family)

Here is our game plan:

1. Roast Chickens (2 in one pan, one per family) (Carve and shred after cooling.)
2. Make sauce for Shrimp Curry--allow to cool before assembling with cooked frozen shrimp.
3. Prepare 3 marinades for the three chicken recipes. Because of advance prep work, all that is left to do is pour/measure the mixtures over the chicken, which is already bagged. Freeze.
4. Prep marinade for Mustard Oregano Pork recipe. Bag and freeze.
5. Wrap bacon around boneless chops for Turkish Pork Loin Chops. Prep marinade. Bag and freeze.
6. Prep marinade for Sesame Sirloin, which is already bagged. Freeze.
7. Assemble Shrimp Curry.
8. Carve roasted chickens as desired, then shred remaining meat. Bag and refrigerate/freeze for future use, or serve some for dinner.
9. Reserve chicken carcasses and vegetable trimming from recipes to make Bone Soup (if there is any room left in the freezer!) This will be done after the freezer cooking session.

Can we do all of this in the three hours and live to tell about it?

Menu Plan Monday: July 19th

The question this week will be: Did I make enough food? We'll have my 12 year old brother as a houseguest. I need to make enough so that he doesn't starve! At the same time, I need to run out of food by the end of the week when we go to the beach.

• Monday: Grilled Marinated Flank Steak (freezer), brown rice pilaf, roasted vegetables
• Tuesday: Picnic Dinner
• Wednesday: Lemon Chicken with Carrot Orzo and steamed green beans
• Thursday: Pizza at the park
• Friday: Grilled Hamburgers, salt and pepper potatoes, baked beans, and steamed broccoli
• Saturday: At the Beach
• Sunday: At the Beach
• Monday: At the Beach

Find more meal planning ideas at orgjunkie.com!

Menu Plan Monday May 24th: Back in the Saddle

I have no idea what we ate last week, as my life got sort of derailed. At least one of my lunches was fed to me by a friend of mine without whom I would have missed eating. We're all still here and no one is starving, so I guess that's good. Actually, I'm having distant memories of lots of popular kid fare: spaghetti from a jar, hamburgers from a restaurant, and macaroni and cheese from a box. All those grilling recipes I planned previously were rained out, so I have an abundance of meat and fish just aching to hit the grill. Just thinking about it makes me hungry. I'm going to get a little smarter this week and check the weather before planning when we'll grill out (Monday and Friday=Bad).

• Monday: Marinated Salmon, lime cilantro soba noodles, broccoli salad (recipe forthcoming)
• Tuesday: Molasses Glazed Chicken Thighs, roasted sweet potatoes, steamed asparagus
• Wednesday: Make your own Pizza (kids) Leftovers (adults)
• Thursday: Mini Hamburgers (pictured above), baked beans, steamed vegetables
• Friday: Super Special Spinach Pie, Sweet Potato Biscuits, salad
• Saturday: Leftovers
• Sunday: Family Get-together. Bring Salted Caramel Chocolate Cupcakes
• Monday: Creamy Enchilada Casserole, salad

I'm working on a new salad strategy, so I'm not sure if I'll make salad dressing this week. One thing I do know is that from now on salads must be snacks or sides to a main meal; they can't replace my meal. Even when I add protein to the salad (eggs, nuts, etc.) it doesn't seem to be enough!

Find more menu planning inspiration at Orgjunkie.com!

Marinated Flank Steak

I am so glad it's time to cook on the grill! This is one of my favorite ways to eat steak and it is one of the few recipes I have from my dad.

 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup cooking oil
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp vinegar
• 3 Tbsp honey or brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1 1/2 tsp garlic salt
• 1 flank steak between (1 and 2 pounds)

Combine all ingredients except the flank steak in a bowl and mix on medium speed for 5-7 minutes.

In the mean time, place the steak in a large flat container (I use a 13 x 9 pan with a lid) and poke all over with a fork. Pour the marinade over the steak, turning the steak to cover.

Store in the fridge and marinate as long as possible (the longer the better), 6-9 hours, turning steak once or twice.

Grill on medium-high heat, 5 minutes per side or more depending on the thickness of the steak and how well you would like it cooked. (We like it medium--pink in the middle but not bloody.) Transfer steak to a platter, cover with foil, and allow to set for 10 minutes. Use a rimmed cutting board to slice the steak into 1/2 inch slices (slice against the grain). There will be lots of delicious juices, which you can spoon over the meat. Serve with brown rice pilaf and roasted vegetables.

 

If freezing: Place steak and marinade in a sealable freezer bag before freezing. Start defrosting in fridge up to 24 hours before cooking.

 

I usually double this recipe to make two of these at a time, eating one and freezing the other. The finished product we ate last week was gobbled up before I could find the camera. Maybe next time...