This Week's Freezer Meal Round Up

We just finished up our second week of school and I am soooo pleased with how it's going. A few things are attributing to our (whopping 2 weeks) of success:

 1) Doing dvd school

 2) Scheduling our entire day

It has truly been the biggest unexpected blessing...another blog post on that soon!

 Anyway, I cooked up some freezer meals at the beginning of this week (while the 2 older ones were finishing school and the little ones were taking naps) and I thought I would share them with you! These ones were super easy! I think I shared some of these before, but I'm sharing them again just in case. Trust me--once you start freezer cooking you won't want to stop! It's kind of daunting to actually begin but man. The thought of having all my food pre-done in the freezer is awesome, plus it's way cheaper to feed my family this way!

 I keep lot of frozen veggies on hand--broccoli, green beans and corn are favorites--to add for sides with our meals. And I buy fresh fruits/veggies once every week and a half or so. But I really try to grocery shop just twice a month and cook just twice a month. Nice, huh?

1) Cilantro chicken with lime and black beans  (1)(not sure how I feel about freezing fresh cilantro and cooking it all day in the crock pot, but we'll see how it turns out!) This we will do over rice and top with sour cream and cheese, maybe some tortilla chips if we have enough (they go fast around here ;)

 2) Maple Dijon glazed Chicken  (1) I use honey and forgot the vinegar! But I can add it after it thaws. We love this recipe! Super easy with baked or roasted potatoes and a salad!

 3) Meatballs in BBQ sauce (2) I adapted this recipe. I use turkey/ground beef, an egg and oats. I love the chili powder in these--great flavor! And I use cheap store bought BBQ sauce, ha. These are great over rice or with roasted potatoes and carrots.

4) Shredded pork tacos//pork roast with gravy/bbq pork (3): No recipes for these ones but so easy! I love buying a big pork butt roast (usually around $14-$16) and cutting it into 3.
 One I'll season with taco seasonings or any Mexican spices I have on hand and freeze in one chunk. Thaw overnight, put in the crock pot all day, then shred and put into tortilla shells with whatever taco toppings you like.
 Another I'll did a ranch seasoning packet with and cooked in the crock pot as a roast. After I remove the roast to rest I add a little cornstarch and milk right into the crock pot and whisk it until it makes a gravy. You could also do onion soup packet for seasoning and cream of mushroom soup that makes an amazing gravy with the soup mixes and juice from the meat. We ate over rice but would be awesome with mashed potatoes ;)
 The last one I'll freeze as is (maybe some salt, pepper and a simple rub), cook and add bbq sauce at the end when I shred it. This I'll usually serve over baked potatoes--a favorite for sure!

5) Lastly, I made 2 pans of chicken enchilada casserole. I actually didn't use a recipe for this either. I boiled chicken breast, shredded in the kitchen aide (best thing ever), then made a mixture with the chicken, some sour cream, mayo, cheese and seasonings. Layered that with green chile enchilada sauce and corn tortillas. The kids actually ate this tonight with Grandma and Grandpa while we went on a date ;). This morning I put on a big pot of beans on the stove to simmer and threw them in the blender really quick before dinner for refried beans. This is also great with rice and salad or another veggie.

 So, all in all we have about 9 meals but with leftovers we'll squeeze 2 weeks out of it. Plus on nights we're on the go I might just do some sandwiches quick. I also keep pasta and canned sauce on hand (Italian grandma turning over in her grave as we speak) and that's easy to throw together. I had a bag of shrimp left in my freezer that my brother-in-law left so I made some shrimp scampi the other night. So that's an easy option, too--trust me, it's not as daunting as it sounds!

If you have some freezer meal recipes to share--or just any recipes for that matter--feel free to leave in the comments!
  Have a great weekend! :)