A bun in the oven and dinner in the freezer.

I have been sorely neglecting this blog AND my freezer meal stash these past few months, but for the happiest of reasons: we're expecting a baby this May. And with expectations of a baby comes expectations of having much less free time and much less desire to cook. It's time to start ramping up my freezer stash!

It's been a while, so I thought I'd write a quick refresher course for my new readers. I've been at this game for a couple of years. In our house, we've found we eat about a freezer meal a week when they're available. We do fairly well at cooking on weekends, and we manage most nights to pull something together, but generally on either Tuesday or Wednesday the ambition and the ingredients run out and it's a big relief to throw a casserole in the oven, add a salad, and call it a meal.

From what I've read, most meals are best if eaten within 3 months of freezing. I've stretched that out longer and not had too many problems, but the quality will go down the longer they're in there. They won't "go bad" in the sense of food poisoning, but the flavour and texture won't be quite as nice.

There are two main things I've figured out over time: it's easier to focus on cooking only one protein in a session, and it's easiest to package most things in 8x8 foil pans.A pan this size feeds the two of us dinner, and then one or two of us lunch depending on how hungry we were and if we paired it with some other food. They're also really cheap, stackable, and easy to just cover with foil and get into the freezer. The key thing to know: any recipe made for a 9x13 pan will make 2 - 8x8 pans. My other containers are typically medium-size freezer ziploc bags (which is 1 meal for the two of us) and 750 mL yogurt containers for soups and stews.

As for the "one thing at a time", I've discovered that I don't really like to cook for 6 hours. I can still get through 2 hours fairly easily at 7 months pregnant, but 6 is just not reasonable. That means I've scaled down from doing everything to doing what we like the most. Last round, that was 4 pans of lasagna, 2 pans of enchilada bake, 1 bag of sloppy joes, and 2 pans of cornbread taco bake. That was 5 pounds of ground beef (and a can of white beans to stretch the meat) cooked all at once, then divided into 4 simple recipes. Two hours, nine meals.

My next plan is to pre-marinade most of a Costco case of chicken breasts with the dump chicken recipes that appeal. I have found that chicken does best if frozen raw. We tend to buy our chicken already frozen, so I just take two frozen chicken breasts, put them in a ziploc, pour the marinade over them, seal it up and get them back in the freezer before they start to thaw. When I want them, I leave them in the fridge to thaw (usually take them out the night before and give them about 24 hours), then bake, barbeque, or whatever one would normally do to cook chicken.

My other consideration pre-baby will be to do a bit of baking and breakfasty prep. I normally eat oatmeal for breakfast, but I like breakfast foods like waffles for lunch or dinner. So a few hours will be put toward creating a freezer stash of homemade waffles (great in the toaster), muffins, and banana bread.

The last thing to remember: stock up. There are lots of things I know we will need that will just be easier if we don't run out of. It's not hard to buy some extra toilet paper, cat food, cat litter, dishwasher soap, etc. to make sure the house can kind of survive on minimal attention for a few weeks. I figure a big trip to Costco is in order around week 38 or 39 of this pregnancy just to ensure we don't really need to go back for a while.

I also wanted to include a link to Jolene's fabulous freezer-friendly section at her blog, What's Cookin, Chicago?. A lot of them are a bit more ambitious than I usually do, but if chili doesn't appeal for summer time, she's got loads of great ideas.

Shaker Pancakes

Finally, another use for that thing you have to make protein shakes (or in our case, gravy and white sauce). I've been tempted by the Dr. Oetker version in the grocery store, but could never bring myself to spend $3 on a little tiny shaker of pancake batter. This recipe is from my grandma's Blue Ribbon Cook Book.

Blue Ribbon Pancakes
Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
3 tablespoons canola oil (or other veggie oil)

Add all ingredients to shaker. Seal lid well. Shake shake shake. Open the little spout to pour perfect pancakes into a frying pan heated to medium (I find I don't need any oil in a non-stick pan). Turn when pancakes have lots of bubbles. Remove when browned on both sides.

Serve with whatever you like on pancakes: syrup, jam, strawberries, whipped cream, Nutella, or today's choice: caramelized bananas (slice and fry some bananas with a bit of butter and sugar).

This recipe just barely fits in my shaker, which has a capacity of about 2 cups. Makes enough pancakes for 2-3 adults.

Pickled Green Beans

A couple years ago, I bought some green bean seeds to plant in my garden. It seemed wise, until my first picking of beans when I realized neither of us really loves beans.

Not one to give up, I planted a bunch more from the same packet this year. I have a new garden space, and it's huge, so I sort of planted everything I had. As a result, I have many green beans and no end in sight. My houseguests enjoyed a few good meals, but even with that, they got ahead of me.

Enter the solution: pickles. I haven't eaten any yet, as they need to sit a couple of weeks, but I like pickles of all varieties and expect these to be great. I used this recipe: Crisp Pickled Green Beans. I don't mess around with canning recipes, but pickles are a really safe beginner project if you're not too confident. The vinegar kills everything, so you are unlikely to food poison yourself.

I gave one jar to my mom, and will likely continue to spread the dilly bean love once they're ready to eat.

No-Tahini Hummus

My cupboards are already bursting with odds and ends of specialty cooking ingredients. Many kinds of spices and herbs and sauces are stashed away, waiting for their own little obscure calling. When I can, I try to avoid shelling out for yet another ingredient I need only a little of. This recipe works well to avoid buying tahini - providing, of course, that you have sesame seeds already. For some reason, I do. Sesame seeds may also be easier to find if you're not near a store which caters to ethnic ingredients.

No Tahini Hummus

2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
1 15-20 oz. can chickpeas, drained - reserve juice
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons lemon (or lime) juice
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
pepper to taste (optional)
finely chopped parsley (optional)

Toast sesame seeds, either in a small frying pan over med-high heat or in a hot air popcorn popper. (Some did escape the popper on me, but it still beat trying to keep them in motion on my own.) Dump everything in a food processor or blender. Puree well, stirring to mix everything to a spot where it is blended. If it won't quite mix, use some of the reserved chickpea juice to thin it a bit. Taste, adjust as you like.

I used a blender - it did work, but took some stirring to get it all down to the bottom where it would mush together. A food processor would make this easier, without a doubt.

Carrot Lentil Soup

It is another pureed vegetable soup! Plus, it has the goodness of lentils. Lentils are high in fibre and a good source of vegetarian protein. The best part? You won't even know they're there after they're pureed. It's a great soup if you're not really into lentils (or you're feeding a picky eater).

Carrot Lentil Soup
1 1tbsp tbsp(15 mL) (15 mL) canola oil
3 3carrotcarrots, sliced
2 2oniononions, chopped
2 2cloves garlic, minced
1 1tbsp tbsp(15 mL) (15 mL) minced gingerroot
1 1tsp tsp(5 mL) (5 mL) ground cumin
1/2 1/2tsp tsp(2 mL) (2 mL) salt
1/4 1/4tsp tsp(1 mL) (1 mL) pepper
6 6cups cups(1.5 L) (1.5 L) vegetable stock or chickenstock
3/4 3/4cup cup(175 mL) (175 mL) red lentils
Garnish
2 2tbsp tbsp(25 mL) (25 mL) chopped fresh coriander or parsley
1/2 1/2cup cup(125 mL) (125 mL) plain low-fat yogurt
(Alternately, sour cream and dill)

Heat oil in saucepan over medium. Cook everything except the lentils and stock in the oil for about 5 minutes (until onions start to soften).

Add stock and lentils. Bring to boil, then simmer 20 minutes. When carrots and lentils are soft, puree soup with immersion blender or in batches in regular blender.

Garnish with herbed yogurt pr sour cream when serving. This soup freezes well.

Assuming 4 servings (and these would be very large servings):
Calories: 248, Protein: 13g, Fat 6 g (1 g sat), Carb 38g (7 g fibre)

Lemon Poppy Seed Sour Cream Loaf

Fresh and delicious! I had a lonely lemon in the fridge and some poppy seeds that have been in the pantry far too long... and now I have this delicious cake instead!

Lemon Poppy Seed Sour Cream Loaf from Canadian Living Magazine
1 1cup cup(250 mL) (250 mL) granulated sugar
2 2tbsp tbsp(25 mL) (25 mL) freshly grated lemon rind
1 1cup cup(250 mL) butter, softened
4 4eggeggs
1/4 1/4cup cup(50 mL) (50 mL) lemon juice
2 2cups cups(500 mL) (500 mL) all-purpose flour
2 2tbsp tbsp(25 mL) (25 mL) poppy seeds
3/4 3/4tsp tsp(4 mL) (4 mL) baking powder
1/4 1/4tsp tsp(1 mL) (1 mL) baking soda
1/2 1/2cup cup(125 mL) (125 mL) sour cream
Icing:
1 1cup cup(250 mL) (250 mL) icing sugar
5 5tsp tsp(24 mL) (24 mL) lemon juice, (approx)
Glaze:
2 2tsp tsp(10 mL) (10 mL) lemon juice

Mix the grated lemon rind with the white sugar. Add butter/margarine (softened in microwave), eggs, and lemon juice. Mix well. Add flour, poppy seeds, baking powder, baking soda, and sour cream.  Mix well again, until batter is uniform. Pour into small loaf pan (9 x 5 inches). Bake 1 hour at 325*F, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Mine took more like 1 hour 15 minutes.

Mix icing sugar and 5 teaspoons lemon juice to make icing. Divide in half and thin one half with 2 teaspoons more lemon juice. Brush thinned glaze onto loaf while warm. After cool, spread icing on top. Slice. Serve with coffee. 

Free OAMC e-book!

If you're a first-timer wondering if it's possible to prep such a great number of recipes all in one go, or an old hat at OAMC, this is a great resource:

Freezer Cooking Guide from 30 day Cafe

Full of checklists to get you organized and general logistical solutions. And all for the low, low price of free!