I am not a vegetarian, vegan, or anything. I am not on a crash diet, flush, or fast. I'm just a young mother trying to eat better and get my kids to do the same. I fell in love with vegetables during my last pregnancy, and that's usually what I have for lunch. Most of my reason for starting this blog is to document the simplicity of the healthy meals I eat so that others can enjoy them as well, even in a short amount of time (or with one hand, as is often my case).

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Freezer Meals

Let me start by saying that I am in NO way any sort of expert on this subject. It's something I'm going to try to start doing, and I thought I'd share the recipes that I'm going to try.

These are things that my family already eats and enjoys and/or things I'm sure they'll like, and most I already have the ingredients for. My freezer is tiny and currently filled with zucchini and all the frozen food I just bought, so this is not going to be one of those "I made a month's worth of food in one day!" kind of experiments. More like, I'm going to cook 3 or 4 this week and maybe a few more next week as my freezer gets emptier. Luckily most of these will use ingredients already IN my freezer, so that will help.

Another qualifier for these meals is little to no preparation at the time of eating. I can just pull them out of the freezer and pop them in the oven or crock pot. So most are casseroles.

At any rate, I'm sharing my list of recipes so that anyone else who wants to try this idea can have a starting place. When I searched on Pinterest I didn't find a comprehensive list that I liked, which means this list probably won't be exactly what you're looking for, but hopefully it's helpful for someone :)

To start with, I'm going to do some of my tried and true personal favorites.
My Sweet Potato Casserole
Spinach Lasagne Rolls
Chicken Avocado Enchiladas
Marilyn's Enchiladas - Recipe here:


2 lbs chicken
1 packet taco seasoning
1-2 lbs cheese (I like cheddar or colby-jack)
...about 30 flour tortillas
2 cans cream of chicken
1 pint sour cream
1 small can of green chilies
Enchilada sauce

Cook chicken and shred or dice. I prefer to shred. Add taco seasoning to chicken. Shred cheese and divide in half.
In a large bowl mix sour cream, cream of chicken, green chilies, half of the cheese.
Mix together, then add chicken.
Pour enough enchilada sauce in the bottom of pan to coat the bottom of the pan.
Spoon about a half cup of enchilada filling into tortillas. Roll tortilla and set in pan. I like to really fill the pan by squeezing in as many as I can. Once full, cover enchiladas with sauce then sprinkle with cheese. Bake for 30 min at 350.


Now here are some I found on Pinterest the other day that look super yummy and easy.
These first two are from the same blog post, and there are lots of other meal ideas there as well. You have to scroll a bit to get to the recipes.
Brocolli Cheddar Chicken Pasta
Tex Mex Chicken
Pizza Casserole (I also got this from a blog with lots of other recipes. The post in its entirety can be found here.)
Hamburger Casserole (confession - this is only on here because I already have hamburger that I need to use up. I don't usually cook with hamburger.) The recipe on this blog makes 8 casseroles.

And last but not least, the crock pot experiments.
Chicken Taco Chili
Bean & Spinach Soup

I'm planning to make 3 of each of these, but not all at once. Hopefully by clearing out my freezer as I go I can make enough room for about 10 by the time the baby is born, but really I'm thinking this might be a new lifestyle for me. Making dinner at dinner time can get really stressful with a newborn. But if I can make 3 dinners while she's asleep, either at night or during the day sometime, then I won't have to be stressed at dinner time for the next 3 days :)