My Freezer is Full!

It's 5:45pm.  My two-year-old is having a mommyIneedsomethinginmybelly melt-down on the kitchen floor.  My husband is just pulling into the driveway and in just a few seconds will be coming through the front door with food on his mind.  I am standing in front of my empty refrigerator, willing something that resembles dinner to magically appear on the shelves.  Anyone else been there?


I have had way too many panic attacks trying to make dinner plans at five o'clock after a R-E-A-L-L-Y long day.  That's why, when two of my friends suggested we try a freezer cooking day last month, I jumped on the idea right away.  Our March cooking day took place on a Saturday when our wonderful husbands could hang out with the kids.  We were a little optimistic about what we could accomplish and ended up cooking from 9:00am to 7:00pm - yikes!  (The freezer full of food I came brought home was well worth the effort, though.)


This morning we tried our second freezer cooking day.  We learned from our mistakes last time and set our sights a little lower.  We cooked from about 10:00am to 2:30pm and each ended up with the yummy stuff listed below.


-Two 8X8 pans of Chicken Chow Mein
-Two 8X8 pans of Poppyseed Chicken
-11 Southwest Roll-Ups 
-Pizza dough for four pizzas
-About three dozen oatmeal chocolate chip cookies 
(I hardly ever make cookies because three of us cannot should not eat three dozen in two days.  A friend from church recently suggested freezing cookie dough in cookie-sized balls.  I put them on a cookie tray in the freezer for a couple of hours and then throw them in a freezer bag.  Now I can bake one, two, or three dozen cookies at a time.  Love it!  Thanks, Stefanie!)


Last month, instead of staring at my 'fridge when I started to go into Five O'Clock Panic Mode, I opened my freezer.  Dinner magically appeared...every time. =)  Also, I was able to quickly prepare a meal for company after a long day at work, and I had plenty of quick and easy meals to give away if someone got sick or had a new baby.  All in all, I think our two freezer cooking days have been totally worthwhile.


So...want to grab a couple friends and try it?  Here are a few things we've learned along the way...


-Start small.  We tried six recipes (tripled or more) the first time around.  That was over-the-top.  This time we did three recipes and made enough for each of us to take home two batches.  We also made pizza dough and cookie dough.
-Plan ahead so you can shop around for good deals.  If you decide on your recipes a couple of weeks in advance, you can usually find your ingredients on sale.  We used chicken for all three recipes this time, and we were all able to get it on sale at Kroger.
-Hire a babysitter or cook on Saturday when dads are around.  We've had one cooking day without kids (well, my friend's six-month-old joined us, but she was very sweet and cooperative) and one with kids (three kids two and under to be exact).  The day without kids went MUCH. MORE. SMOOTHLY.  I'm a pretty good multitasker, but multiplying fractions to double a recipe while trying to dodge little ones, teach sharing, and dish out snacks is a challenge!
-Try recipes you've used before.  We learned this the hard way when our freezer burritos were a major pain in the rear not really fun to roll up.


It's been a little challenging to find good freezer recipes, so I thought I'd share three that we've all enjoyed.  (If you have any good ones to pass along, please do!)


White Chicken Chili
This recipe was given to me by a friend a few years ago.  I make it all the time.  It's super easy.  It doubles (or triples) really well, and it's a great freezer recipe.


2-3 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded or chopped
1 family-size can cream of chicken and rice soup (Walmart sells this in their store brand.)
1 family-size can water (You can use less if you like your soup to have a thicker consistency.)
1 14.5 oz can kidney beans
1 14.5 oz can black beans
1 can sweet corn (whole kernel, not creamed)
1 can Ro-tel tomatoes and green chiles (We're big fans of spicy food, so we usually use the hot variety.  Stick with original or mild if you can't handle the heat.  Original has just a little zing.)
1 teas. cumin


Combine all the ingredients except the sweet corn in a large saucepan.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 25 minutes.  Add the sweet corn.  Cook until heated through (about five more minutes).  Serve with sour cream, shredded cheese, and Fritos (yum!).


Pizza Pasta Casserole
This recipe was taken from the Taste of Home website.  Last month I served it to four kiddos (ages four, three, two, and one) and they all ate it.  What kid wouldn't eat something named Pizza Pasta?


2 lbs. ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
2 jars (28 oz each) spaghetti sauce
1 pkg (16 oz) spiral pasta
4 cups (16 oz) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
8 oz sliced pepperoni


Cook spiral pasta noodles according to package instructions.  While pasta is cooking, in a large skillet over medium heat, brown ground beef and onion until beef is no longer pink.  Drain fat.  Once noodles are cooked and drained, stir in the spaghetti sauce and pasta.  Spray two 9"X13" baking pans with non-stick cooking spray and divide mixture into both casseroles evenly.  Sprinkle each with cheese and top with pepperoni.  Cool if needed; then cover and freeze.


To cook: Thaw casserole in 'fridge overnight.  Bake uncovered at 350F for 35-40 minutes or until heated through.


Poppyseed Chicken
Two sweet friends made this for me after Emma was born.  They gave it to me frozen in 8X8 pans.  It's yummy, easy, and another big hit with all ages.


Combine the following and spread in a greased 8X8 pan...
Shredded chicken (two breasts or one small rotisserie chicken)
2 10.5 oz cans cream of chicken soup 
1 pint sour cream 
1 Tbsp. poppyseed


Top with...
One roll of Ritz crackers, crushed
One stick of melted butter


Cover and freeze.


To cook: Thaw overnight in the 'fridge.  Bake at 350F for 30 minutes.  Serve over rice or chow mein.


I hope you enjoy these and maybe get brave enough to try your own freezer cooking day.  If you do, I'd love to hear about it.  Please, please share your good freezer recipes with me!  It's always fun to try something new.


On another note, please pray for our adoption paperwork to come together quickly.  We are waiting on two important papers.  (If you want to pray really specifically, one is called an I-171h and the other is an official copy of our marriage certificate from a very slow state WWAAAAYYY out west.)  I PROMISE my next post will be about our adoption.  Lots of you have asked about our recent change of direction.  Thanks so much for asking and praying.  We appreciate it more than you know.