Honey Mustard Chicken

 Tonight my son asked, "Mom, can you make that chicken with the green things on it?"

After a few clarification questions, I figure out he meant this recipe, which is super easy! (The green things aren't very green, but he says this is the one :)

Ingredients:

• Chicken. The original recipe calls for 3 lbs of bone-in chicken of choice, but you can use this mixture with any chicken you prefer, with or without bones!
• Salt and Pepper
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 Tablespoons Dijon-style mustard 
• 1 Tablespoon herbes de Provence
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire or soy sauce (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly oil a baking dish and place chicken in the dish. Season with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, bring honey, mustard, herbes de Provence and soy sauce to boil in small saucepan. Pour over chicken in baking dish.

Here I used 'tenderloin' sized pieces of chicken breast for a super-fast dinner.

Bake for 40-45 minutes (if using bone-in chicken) or less time if using boneless chicken.

Based on a recipe I cut out of the newspaper years ago... I am not able to locate it online anywhere.

Freezer Meal Session: 24 lbs of Chicken Part 1

The freezer is pretty much empty, which means that it's a great time to prep large quantities of summer meals! I decided to start with chicken, and since I didn't do any actual *cooking* I'm calling these 'Freezer Meal Prepping' Sessions instead of 'Cooking' sessions. Hooray for no sweating over a hot stove!

I picked up 24 pounds of chicken from the store the other day for $65. (Yes, chicken is expensive in my area!)

• 18 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts (27 total)
• 6 pounds of organic chicken thighs (30 total)

I spread the work over two days so that it would fit into my schedule.

Part 1
The first day I focused on processing the boneless skinless breasts. You can read more tips for prepping chicken breasts here.

First I opened all 3 packages and inspected all of the chicken breasts. Some are nicely shaped for grilling or filleting, others have shreds of meat hanging off. Some are HUGE--way larger than one serving size of meat. I picked out 12 nice-looking, moderate sized breasts to be marinated for grilling. Now they are ready to be marinated and frozen with Sweet Asian Chicken Marinade.

A 'Messy' Piece

I cut off the 'messy' part and suddenly this piece is a great candidate for the grill!

Next I picket out the 8 largest, thickest breasts to be cut in half horizontally (filleted). I bagged the filets between pieces of waxed paper (so I can pull them apart easily after they defrost). I can use them for Lemon Chicken or even just salt/pepper/flour them, then pan fry for a quick easy weeknight meal. 16 filets equals 2 meals' worth for our family of 4 plus some leftovers for lunches.

'Tenderloins'

Finally I cut up the 'messy' chicken breasts into 'tenderloins'. These chicken pieces tended to have tears in them or big messy pieces hanging off. Now that they are tenderloin sized, they will bake up in the oven in less than 15 minutes. I try to cut them into relatively uniform sizes. You could make them 'nugget' sized or 'kebab' sized as well. I have two coating recipes that I can use for them: Baked Chicken Tenderloins and Pumpkin Seed Crust. I divided 35 tenderloins into 3 meals of approximately 12 tenderloins each.

Once everything was bagged and labeled, I loaded it back into the fridge in a large storage container and went ahead and froze the filets and tenderloins, which I will season after defrosting.

It only took 45 minutes! Next I will make 2 marinades, a coating for the tenders, and pack everything into the freezer... read about it here.

Meal Planning with evening commitments EVERY NIGHT...

Potato Salad... soooo good!

While scheduling my week this morning I've discovered that we have something happening every night this week. This is very unusual, but a bunch of my evening work events have come up at the same time, and I'm really going to have to realllly concentrate to make dinner come out of our kitchen and not out of a takeout box/bag. :)

Here's the plan:

• Monday-Salt and Pepper Chicken, Sweet Potato Tater Tots (from Trader Joe's the only sweet potatoes my kids will eat!), steamed green beans, and grapes (Prep chicken in baking dish earlier in day. Throw in oven before leaving for work event, add tater tots after 30 min, ready at 7 PM, which is our regular dinner time)
• Tuesday-Grilled Salmon, Sesame Baby Bok Choy, steamed broccoli, soba noodles, and sliced pears (Cook 1 hour earlier than usual: grill salmon (pay fry if it rains) wilt bok choy, boil pasta, slice pears)
• Wednesday-Grilled Chicken Sausage, Potato Salad, grilled zucchini, peas and corn (Make potato salad before soccer practice, grill sausage and zucchini afterwards, microwave peas and corn.)
• Thursday-Spaghetti and Turkey Meatballs, Steamed Broccoli, sliced cantaloupe (Put together before going back to work, also bake dessert for Friday night)
• Friday-Neighborhood Pizza Night, bring dessert... I think I will make these

Chocolate Chip Cookies

•  Saturday-Burgers on the grill, baked beans, steamed vegetables (unless I feel like cooking and make something else:) 
• Sunday-Potato Kale Quiche (w/bacon from breakfast, also assemble Creamy Enchilada Casserole)

Potato Kale Quiche

 Menu planning is a life-saver!

Quick and Easy Play Date Snack

This is our favorite play date snack!

What you'll need:

• 3 apples
• 3 slices of cheese (we like sharp cheddar slices from Trader Joe's)
• Approximately 30 crackers

1. Slice the apples--for small kids I slice them into 16ths, make a nice thin slice
2. Cut the cheese slices into 10 pieces each, arrange in circle on plate
3. Stack crackers in middle of plate.

The kids just scarf this up. Easy, filling, and festive, too!

Kale Brown Rice Casserole

If you're looking for more ways to add greens to you diet, this is a great way to to do it--either for breakfast/lunch, or as a side dish for dinner!

Ingredients:

4 cups cooked brown rice (I used seasoned brown rice that was cooked in chicken or vegetable stock)
1 cup kale (or other green such as spinach or Swiss chard--I like dinosaur kale) minced in the food processor
1 1/4 cups milk
4 eggs
1 Tablespoon nutritional yeast flakes (I skipped this)
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup shredded cheese (optional)

Preheat over to 375 degrees. I shred both my cheese and mince my kale in the food processor.

(I used a lot of that cheese for other recipes!)

Combine brown rice and minced kale, then put into a baking dish.

I layered half the cheese in the middle of the casserole.

Combine milk, eggs, nutmeg, salt, and pepper (and nutritional yeast if using) and pour over the kale brown rice mixture. Bake for 40 minutes or until firm.

Recipe adapted from The Vegetarian Mother's Cookbook by Cathe Olson.

Fast Easy Potato Salad with Picky Eater Option

My kids are sometimes very willing to try different things, and other times not. For some reason, they are very picky about a food that most kids have no problem eating... potatoes. For instance, my daughter loves mashed potatoes, and my son won't touch them (maybe a texture thing? He doesn't like mushy foods...) He prefers very simple baked potatoes, which my daughter isn't excited about.

As for the adults in the family, we like variety, and we'll eat potatoes any old way, but what I really like is a FAST recipe, because potatoes take some time to make, especially if you want them to taste really good! I can put this recipe together in 45 minutes beginning to end and it's so good that I've made it twice in the past week.

I found and tried this recipe from Southern Living Magazine, and it worked really well for us. Here is what I did to make it work for the entire family:

Ingredients:

For the potatoes:
2 pounds small fingerling potatoes (I used red potatoes), halved or quartered
1 tsp salt

For the dressing:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon whole grain mustard
2 teaspoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper (I omitted this, but if you like heat...)

Instructions:

As the recipe states, wash, quarter, and place the red potatoes in cold water with salt. Bring to a boil then simmer on low for 15 minutes. Immediately strain potatoes and place in a bowl to cool to room temperature for an additional 15 minutes. (You don't want them to get too cooked/soft.)

EXTRA STEP: Remove a portion of the cooked potatoes from the main bowl. Mix with a bit of salted butter and keep warm while preparing the rest of dinner (or reheat them before serving... or serve them room temperature as the Plainest Potato Salad Ever). Serve to the picky eaters!

While preparing potatoes, combine the mayonnaise, vinegar, mustard, parsley, salt, pepper(s), and garlic in a small bowl and whisk together.

When ready to serve, add preferred amount of dressing to potatoes. Note: you will probably have more dresssing than you need, so you can use the extra, as a topping for fish, or steamed asparagus, or just save it to use as salad dressing on a salad!

Menu Plan Tuesday, January 10th, 2012

My Favorite Pot Roast

 This week's plan:

Baked Ziti with Mini Meatballs

• Sunday: Marinated Salmon (from the freezer) with Sesame Baby Bok Choy and soba noodles
• Monday: Best Pot Roast with mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli, and fruit
• Tuesday: Bean and Cheese Quesadillas with leftover steamed broccoli and fruit
• Wednesday: Leftovers
• Thursday: Spaghetti and Turkey Meatballs (from Trader Joe) with steamed mixed vegetables
• Friday: Kale White Bean Soup with Grilled Cheese
• Saturday: Maple Balsamic Chicken with Saffron Rice Pilaf, steamed green beans
• Sunday: Baked Ziti with Mini Meatballs (mini meatballs from the freezer), salad, fresh fruit
• Monday: Pizza Night 

Freezer Cooking While Making Dinner:

• Bake a double batch of Whole Wheat Banana Bread while making Salmon dinner on Sunday. Freeze one loaf, eat one loaf.
• Save the pot roast gravy and remaining meat. Freeze; add to Minestrone Soup next time I make it (Delicious!)
• Make Bean and Cheese Quesadillas until I run out of beans and cheese. Freeze extras not used for dinner on Tuesday.
• Freeze single and double portions of Kale White Bean Soup after serving it for dinner.
• Double sauce recipe from Baked Ziti with Mini Meatballs. Use half of sauce, freeze remaining half to go with 2nd batch of mini meatballs already frozen for the next ziti.

 I may also do some chicken processing for the freezer if I get the chance.

Find more meal planning inspiration at orgjunkie.com!

Menu Plan Monday: December 5th, 2011

Salt and Pepper Chicken: As Easy as it Gets!

The plan this week is to keep things as easy as possible. I'll also be holding a freezer cooking session on Tuesday to start re-loading my nearly empty freezer with holiday goodies.

• Monday: Marinated Flank Steak (broiled unless the weather is nice enough to operate the grill in the dark), brown rice pilaf, steamed asparagus
• Tuesday: Pizza night (sliced apples, steamed vegetables)
• Wednesday: Salt and Pepper Chicken, Spinach Rice Stuffing (using rice from Monday night), steamed green beans
• Thursday: Creamy Enchilada Casserole, steamed broccoli
• Friday: Dinner Out
• Saturday: Leftovers (Parents out)
• Sunday: Pot Roast over mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables
• Monday: Spaghetti and Meatballs, steamed vegetables

Find more meal planning inspiration at orgjunkie.com!

Menu Plan Tuesday: November 29th

It's taken over a month, but my freezer is almost cleared out. This is good news, because I have already scheduled 4 freezer cooking sessions for December to prepare a bunch of holiday treats!

 

This week's plan:

 

• Monday: Lasagna (using Lasagna sauce that I quickly made last week before leaving town to use up my fresh produce. Find more ideas for using up perishables before leaving town here!)
• Tuesday: Soy Glazed Salmon (salmon from the freezer), Sesame Baby Bok Choy, steamed broccoli, and soba noodles
• Wednesday: Sauerbraten over Mashed Potatoes (I'll admit it--I use a Knorr package seasoning for this recipe. I add onions, peas, and sour cream for my own version, the stew meat is from the freezer.)
• Thursday: Black-Eyed Pea Hambone Soup (from the freezer) with cornbread and steamed green beans
• Friday: Leftovers
• Saturday: Marinated Flank Steak (from the freezer), Brown Rice Pilaf, Steamed Vegetables
• Sunday: Baked Chicken Tenders (coating from the freezer), Mashed Sweet Potatoes, and Steamed Vegetables
• Monday: Leftovers... or Spaghetti and Meatballs (from Trader Joe)

Even thought I'm not trying to, I will add to the freezer this week even while I am clearing it out;

I should have a few pieces of Lasagna left over to freeze for quick lunches--if I manage to freeze it before someone eats it, that is. I'll also freeze some leftover mashed sweet potatoes so that I can make Sweet Potato Biscuits.

Note that none of this menu includes turkey! We were out of town for Thanksgiving, and I wasn't able to bring any leftover turkey home. My relatives did feed some to this 6-foot alligator in the back yard, though. (From a distance!)

I haven't decided whether to make a turkey this holiday season or not. Is it worth it or not?

Find more meal planning inspiration at Orgjunkie.com!

Holiday Prep: Freezer Cooking

I have made a lot of progress clearing out my freezer in the past few weeks--I even found some scones that I froze back in April--still delicious!

Now that I have all of this free space, I am ready for some freezer cooking sessions to help prepare for the holiday season. My friends and I have picked some kid-free mornings throughout the month to focus on bulk food prep:

• Dec 1: Cheese Bites (80 or so; easy to mix up, tedious to roll, so we do it together while talking!) I'll try to post this recipe, very easy and good.
• Dec 6: Lasagna Sauce, and Sauce/mini meatballs for Baked Ziti. The recipes call for similar ingredients, and we'll freeze the sauce/meatballs, then defrost when it's time to assemble the dish. I'll probably serve my Baked Ziti for a family get together during the holidays.
• Dec 13th: Marinated Meats and Fish. Probably some Marinated Flank Steak and Marinated Salmon, possibly some Baked Chicken Tenders coating or other chicken marinades. Anything that will be simple to defrost and/or cook up during the busy season!

• Dec 16th: Cookie Baking Day, as well as Sweet and Spicy Pecans
• Dec 20th: Cutout Cookies! I'm thinking of baking in advance, and devoting this morning to decorating all of them. This is a huge Christmas Tradition for me, and yes, it's a lot of work! It will go faster with company.

Menu Plan Monday: November 7th, 2011

Sunday Dinner: Roasted Chicken with Spinach Rice Stuffing

I fell off the meal planning wagon last week, but fotunately I had a semblance of a plan in my head!

Here's the plan for this week:

• Monday: Creamy Enchilada Casserole, steamed green beans, fresh fruit
• Tuesday: Turkey Chili topped with shredded cheddar and sour cream, homemeade Skillet Cornbread, steamed broccoli
• Wednesday: Leftovers
• Thursday: Dinner Out
• Friday: Dinner out (kids to grandparents')
• Saturday: Cashew Chicken Curry Stir Fry (from the freezer) with vegetables over steamed brown rice
• Sunday: Apple Sausage Risotto with steamed asparagus and baked sweet potatoes
• Monday: Leftovers (or something very simple, such as Bean and Cheese Quesadillas from the freezer)

I also need to get back on track with my Freezer Cooking While Making Dinner plans. I need to make some fresh Bean and Cheese Quesadillas for the freezer, and I'm also hoping to bake an Apple Cake this week (recipe to come). I haven't decided yet how else to use my newly available freezer space, but I will definitely be restocking as the holidays approach!

Find more meal planning inspiration at orgjunkie.com!

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 While Making Dinner: Pumpkin Puree

While assembling and baking Baked Ziti with Mini Meatballs, I hacked my 4 garden pumpkins in half, scooped out the seeds, and baked them for over an hour, then pureed them, ending up with 8 cups of puree, just what I need to make lots of Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins! (I ate the extra puree... delicious!)

While making dinner on Thursday I assembled a dozen extra Bean and Cheese Quesadillas, and froze them--7 are left, which is enough for 2 meals when combined with other things.

This week I want to use my pumpkin puree to bake mini Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins, and then store them in the freezer until I have the Kindergarten classroom parents over for morning coffee. I'll bake some Whole Wheat Banana Bread as we get closer to the event, too.

As for Freezer Cooking While Making Dinner, this week is another intense one, so I'll be whittling down the freezer supply a bit more rather than making plans to add to it.

Menu Plan Monday: October 17th, 2011

Whole Wheat Couscous with Zucchini and Cherry Tomatoes

I'm continuing to lean on my freezer stash this week! My aim is to use the oldest items, as well as the items taking up the most space this week.

• Monday: Soy Glazed Salmon (sliding from two weeks ago, never even defrosted the fish!) with leftover brown rice pilaf, salad, and fresh fruit.
• Tuesday: Sweet Asian Chicken (from the freezer) with Whole Wheat Couscous with Zucchini and Cherry Tomatoes and salad (and possibly some roasted pumpkin if my plan goes well)...
• Wednesday: Leftovers
• Thursday: Bean and Cheese Quesadillas (need to restock my freezer supply of these) with steamed vegetables, fresh fruit, quacamole (from freezer), sour cream, and salsa
• Friday: Whole Wheat Spaghetti and Turkey Meatballs, courtesey of Trader Joe, with steamed broccoli
• Saturday: Breakfast for Dinner: Scrambled Eggs (topped with Eggplant Stew from the freezer), mini whole wheat bagels, steamed asparagus, fresh fruit, and turkey sausage
• Sunday: Baked Ziti with Mini Meatballs (just need to assemble and bake), salad, fresh fruit
• Monday: Leftovers

Find more meal planning inspiration at orgjunkie.com!

Freezer Cooking While Making Dinner: The Payoffs

Pineapple Zucchini Bread

I didn't do much freezer cooking the week before last because, well, my freezer was full. For a while you took your life in your hands every time you opened the freezer door, because some rock-solid frozen food item was liable to come flying out at you.

Last week, I went away for a weekend, and when I returned, I started working outside the home for the first time in seven years. Needless to say, it was an intensely crazy week! I didn't even make  a meal plan. We did eat take-out on a few occasions (okay, really FOUR), and I leaned heavily on my freezer stash to provide the rest of our meals and food needs.

For instance, over the past few weeks I baked a batch Chocolate Chip Cookies twice, and I went ahead a froze a pan's worth of cookie dough each time.

The Payoff: I had committed to bake dessert for a teacher luncheon at the kids' school, and when it came time to bake, I was feeling exhausted. Instead of making cupcakes like I had planned, I popped the frozen dough into the oven and had 3 dozen cookies ready to go in less than half an hour--and the only dishes to clean were the storage containers from the freezer and the cookie pans and spatula!

I also leaned on my stash to help feed the family when I took a trip with my mom and sisters, and left my non-cooking husband and kids to fend for themselves. The freezer food came in quite handy. I used the frozen topping and chicken to make a large batch of Baked Chicken Tenders before I left town, and also made a list of foods available that they should eat, including a large quantity of leftover pot roast, frozen pre-sliced mini bagels, bread and cheese for grilled cheese, fresh melon and apples, and an assortment of frozen vegetables.

The Payoff: They did eat out a few times, but the rest of the time they were able to put together simple meals at home using what was on hand. Making a clear list of what should be eaten was helpful because my husband would have otherwise not been sure what was okay to eat (all those packages in the freezer start to look the same after a while!)

When I got home, I jumped right into my new job, which included some long days teaching a training class. I was so caught up in the adjustment that I didn't have any brain power leftover to even think about a meal plan--or to make dinner on some nights. We ate some carry-out meals, and on days when I could focus I used these items from the freezer for various meals:

• Marinated Flank Steak (supposed to be on the grill, but then it rained, so I broiled it) with brown rice pilaf and green beans
• White Bean and Kale Soup with buttered bread (also from the freezer)
• Black-eyed Pea Hambone Soup, with mayonnaise topping and salad (salad not from the freezer)
• I had a mini loaf of Pineapple Zucchini Bread for breakfast on several mornings when I needed to leave the house before the sun came up. I warmed it in the oven before eating... delicious!
• I baked Lemon Lavender Butter Cookies for when some friends came over one afternoon. Now I don't have ANY cookies in the freezer. (Crisis!)

Lots of free space!

 Now that things are settling into The New Normal--and I have some newly cleared space in the freezer, I need to get back on track with my menu planning and continue whittling down my current freezer stock to make room for my favorite fall meals, such as Mom's Chili, and for holiday baking, which is coming up just around the corner!


I also want to continue refreshing my freezer stock. I need to keep things simple this week, so I am only going to plan two freezer cooking projects:

1. I need to restock our supply of frozen Bean and Cheese Quesadillas. These are so quick to prepare into a protien-rich, nutritious dinner on crazy evenings--I serve them with salsa, sour cream, steamed vegetables from the freezer, and some fresh fruit. I just need to assemble a bunch of them so that I can grab them when I need them, for quick meals or for snacks.

2. I want to get my 4 homegrown pumpkins baked and pureed for some Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins (my version of this recipe to come). My plan will be to serve some of the pumpkin as a side dish for dinner one night, then to puree and freeze the rest.

First I will have to figure out how to harvest this one.

Maybe I can saw it in half to extract it from the trellis it sneakily grew inside? Hmmm...

I hope to continue this pattern of using dinner prep time to maintain my freezer stash. It's working for me!

Menu Plan Monday: October 3rd, 2011

My Favorite Pot Roast

I'll be taking it easy this week. The freezer is full from my Freezer Cooking While Making Dinner strategies, and I am heading out of town for a girls' trip this weekend! I need to think ahead a bit more than usual, because next week is one crazy week.

• Monday: Leftovers (Lemon Chicken, Carrot Orzo, salad) with steamed broccoli and fresh cantalope
• Tuesday: My Favorite Pot Roast, served over egg noodles with roasted carrots, and fresh fruit
• Wednesday: Soy Glazed Salmon, Brown Rice Pilaf, Sesame Baby Spinach
• Thursday: Soup (various, from the freezer) with Grilled Cheese, steamed vegetables, and fresh fruit
• Friday: Dinner out
• Saturday: Leftovers
• Sunday: Dinner out
• Monday: Leftovers or something simple
• Tuesday: Not sure but we might have company
• Wednesday: Something from the freezer

Find more meal planning inspiration at orgjunkie.com!

Freezer Cooking While Making Dinner: The Freezer is Full!

The Freezer is officially full. SO full that we need to eat some ice cream to make some room for the coffee beans again, so it isn't all bad news!

I made 3 batches of Molasses Glazed Chicken Thighs, served one for dinner, and froze the other two. I also made a pot of Black Bean Hambone Soup, and ended up with 3 packages to freeze (2 large servings each). I made Whole Wheat Banana Bread into muffins for my daughter to take to school for her class's snack, and I managed to freeze another 16 Chocolate Chip Cookies when I was baking for a potluck last week.

I was supposed to also make up additional Bean and Cheese Quesadillas when I put them together last week, but I ran out of time (and space in the freezer).

This week the only food I plan to freeze is any meat leftovers and gravy/glaze from my Pot Roast, which I been using to flavor Minestrone Soup--a little goes a long way! I'm going to take a much-needed break from cooking... and from my family for a long weekend away. :)

Menu Plan Monday: September 26th, 2011

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever

Last week did not work out much as planned, thanks to yard sale preparation and other distractions. I did manage to do some of my freezer cooking while making dinner (see last's weeks results here), and I hope to slide a number of last week's entrees to this week.

• Monday: Creamy Enchilada Casserole (was replaced by spaghetti when I ran out of time last week) with steamed asparagus
• Tuesday: Black-Eyed Pea Hambone Soup with Skillet Cornbread and salad (sliding from last week because you gotta SOAK those beans in advance! I couldn't pull it together to do so...)
• Wednesday: Molasses Glazed Chicken Thighs (marinating 3 batches: one for dinner, two for the freezer) with mashed sweet potatoes (freeze 3/4 for future Sweet Potato Biscuits) and steamed broccoli
• Thursday: Leftovers
• Friday: Potluck dinner: bring Bean and Cheese Quesdillas (make extra for the freezer) and Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever
• Saturday: Host Libra Birthday Get-together, using this menu
• Sunday: Leftovers
• Monday: Favorite Pot Roast over egg noodles with steamed carrots and broccoli (sliding from today because I haven't yet purchased a roast much less put it in the crock pot!)

Find more meal planning inspiration at orgjunkie.com!

Menu Plan for October Birthday Get-together

We have 3 family members with birthdays in the first 4 days of October, and I am hosting a family get-together to celebrate this Saturday! Here's what I'm planning to serve:

• Basil Pesto and hummus with crackers and grapes (appetizer)
• Lemon Chicken with Carrot Orzo (with whole wheat pasta)
• Green Salad with Green Goddess Dressing
• Fresh Cut up Fruit
• Rolls (store-bought)
• Mini Sour Cream Pound Cake Cupcakes
• Wine, Italian soda, Coffee

Strategy

This Week: make pesto and freeze, make dressing and refrigerate, grocery shop

The Day Before: Cut chicken breasts, bake and frost cupcakes, make green salad, cut fruit for fruit salad

The Day of: Cook Chicken and Carrot Orzo beforehand, and keep warm in chafing dishes. I'll triple the chicken recipe and double the orzo recipe as we are expecting 13-15 people total. Set up extra table, serve meal buffet-style.

I'm hoping that by keeping the menu simple and doing as much as possible before the get-together we'll have a relaxing gathering!

Freezer Cooking While Making Dinner: Ziti Sauce and Meatballs

I didn't get to the store for the chicken, but I managed to double the sauce and meatballs for Baked Ziti with Mini Meatballs and added it to my freezer stash. Now all I have to do is boil the pasta and combine with the sauce and cheeses! These meatballs are extra-special because I added cooked, finely chopped, unpeeled eggplant to the ground beef mixture. The meatballs aren't as sturdy as usually (some of them dissolved into the sauce) but my kids liked them just the same so I was pleased.

Freezing just the sauce saves space in the freezer. I have also frozen my lasagna sauce in the past successfully. Something to consider if your freezer space is limited.

We won't eat them for dinner, but I did manage to freeze 16 balls of cookie dough for The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever.

I also started experimenting with freezing sandwiches for school lunches; I was inspired by this post on bulk lunch prep from Sara's Deals. I had some leftover whole wheat potato rolls that I combined with ham slices (no condiments) to make 7 little sandwiches for the week. Now we can pull them out as needed to expedite the lunch process a bit. I'll also be loading up little containers with cottage cheese, peas and corn, and cantalope chunks this week.

In addition I hope to get the Molasses Glazed Chicken Thighs marinating finally this week, as well as preparing Bean and Cheese Quesadillas for a potluck dinner, and make up Whole Wheat Banana Bread into mini muffins to send to school for kindergarten snack.