Nearly all new moms I've spoken to lately have echoed the same bit of advice:
"Cook meals ahead of time. LOTS of meals."
Good advice, to be sure. Between the fact that our baby is due in under a month AND the fact that we live in a small town where the nearest gluten free restaurant is half an hour away, freezing meals ahead of B-Day (birth day!) seems essential.
So this weekend, we got to cooking. I had a wedding to do in town, so we were around all weekend, which made turning the kitchen into a veritable chopping/cooking/baking/freezing station a lot of fun.
We've tried to freeze meals ahead of time before, but without much success. Often we freeze über healthy things that we want to want to eat but never end up choosing. I mean, really, am I ever going to reach for spinach-and-lentil soup when I could eat ANYTHING else? Probably not.
So we tried to find recipes we were excited about. Foods we liked were heavy on proteins and starches, which is a good balance, since we're always well stocked with fruits and veggies. I'll keep you posted on how successful we are at eating and using these freezer meals, but they sure looked mighty tasty going into the freezer!
What did we make?
Here are a few of the recipes:
1. Baked Penne with Chicken & Homemade Tomato Sauce
Ingredients:
1 package GF Penne
1 c. precooked chicken, shredded
4 fresh tomatoes, chopped
1 t. olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 t. red pepper flakes
1 t. fresh basil, shredded
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
2 T. butter
1/4 c. red wine
Directions:
1. Cook pasta according to package directions.
2. While pasta is cooking, sauté onion in olive oil on medium heat until soft and slightly brown. Add in garlic and stir until garlic is just softened.
3. Add in tomatoes, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, butter, and wine. Sauté until tomatoes have softened and begun to break down.
4. Add in chicken and basil and stir to combine.
5. Toss pasta with sauce and spread in pan to cool. Once cool, cover with tinfoil and put in the freezer!
6. Reheating directions: Bake at 400 for 45 minutes while covered. Uncover, sprinkle with fresh mozzarella, and cook for an additional 10-15 minutes.
2. Baked Linguini with Chicken Sausage, Broccoli, & Vodka Sauce
Ingredients:
1 package GF linguini
1 package GF chicken sausage (we used Bistro's chicken sausage with mozzarella and spinach)
1 t. olive oil
2 heads broccoli
1 small onion
1 jar vodka tomato sauce (we used Classico - it's gf!)
1 t. fresh basil
1 t. red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
Directions: Basically same as above! Cook pasta. In a separate skillet, cook onion until soft, then add broccoli and sausage until both are just undercooked. Sprinkle with spices and add vodka sauce. Toss pasta with sauce and freeze!
Reheating directions: Same as above! (See how easy this is?)
3. Risotto with Chicken and Cheese
Ingredients:
1 gf risotto mix (we like Hodgsen Mills)
1 c. precooked chicken
Directions: Cook risotto according to directions. Stir in chicken. Stick in freezer.
Reheating directions: Same as above, but sprinkle with parmesan instead of mozzarella.
4. Irish Beef Pockets*
Ingredients:
2 t. olive oil
9-10 small red potatoes, washed and sliced
2 pounds ground beef
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 t. fresh rosemary, chopped
1 t. thyme
salt and pepper to taste
2 pie crusts made with Pamela's mix (recipe can be found here).
Directions:
1. Cook potatoes in olive oil over medium heat until brown. Add beef and cook until it starts to brown. Stir in tomato paste, rosemary, thyme, and a cup of water. Cover, and cook until potatoes are tender.
2. Lightly mash mixture with a fork. Season with salt and pepper and allow to cool.
3. Roll each pie crust out into a rectangle, and cut each into four squares.
4. Place 1/2 c. filling on half of each square, and fold squares over to make a pocket.
5. Wrap pies individually and freeze.
6. Reheating directions: Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, or until crust is brown and filling is heated through.
I'm also hoping to make a few batches of breads and muffins to use up the ridiculous amount of zucchini in our garden. In a season where we've suffered a pretty serious drought, parts of our garden have really struggled. We haven't gotten any peppers this year, and our cilantro plant keeled right over.
But the zucchini? It comes up to my chest. It's like Jurassic Park out there.
Good thing there's nothing much better than zucchini bread!
Do you ever freeze meals ahead? If so, what do you like to make?
*Modified from Martha Stewart's Irish Hand Pies recipe. Mine is easier, less fussy, AND modified to be gluten free, but hers is a lot prettier! Up to you which direction you take. :)
The best things we had in our freezer after Eli was born were precooked ground beef & chicken breasts. That way we could just pull some meat out and spice up burritos or pasta very quickly.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much. I am at 25 weeks. I need to start to think about these things.
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