Freezer Meals Part 2

A couple of days ago I posted the first five recipes for my freezer meal themed posts.  I absolutely love freezer meals and once-a-month-cooking.  It saves so much time and money, and makes my life 10 times easier. 

I hope you all enjoy the next five recipes I have to share with you!

Notice that most of the meals I make are either Mexican inspired or Asian inspired! I'll try to throw in a few more Italian or American dishes next time.  To lighten up these recipes or any meal, you can always substitute lean ground turkey instead of red meat.  I made the switch a few years ago and I don't even notice a difference.

Let me know if you try these recipes by leaving a comment!

Freezer Meals Part 1

When my daughter Haley was born, my sister gave us the best gift possible - she came to our house while we were in the hospital and cooked 15 meals for us.  She used the "once a month cooking" (or OAMC) method that is trending on Pinterest and blogs everywhere.  After a week of eating these easy to prepare meals, I was hooked on OAMC.  My sister's meals lasted about 6 weeks.  Then, I created my own meals, spent one Friday afternoon cooking about 20 meals which have lasted 2 months - and counting!  Each meal feeds my husband and I both for dinner, and has enough leftovers for lunch the next day.

15 Frozen Meals in Ziploc Bags All Fit on Bottom Shelf of Freezer! On Second Shelf From the Bottom are Frozen Casseroles

What OAMC consists of is spending about $130 at the grocery store, chopping vegetables, measuring sauces, mincing garlic,etc, and adding all ingredients to ziploc bags.  You then label the bags with the name of meal and brief cooking instructions, and freeze.  Most meals are cooked in a crockpot, which makes for super quick and easy weeknight dinners.  This budget of $130 (including bags of frozen steamfresh veggies as sides) made me about 21 ziploc bags and pans of food - each containing at least 3 servings a piece!

Below are five of my favorite recipes. Four are "ziploc" crock pot meals and the last is an oven meal.

All recipes are meant to be frozen, then thawed before cooked.

I will be posting additional recipes in the future, but for now, try out freezer meal cooking and let me know what you think!

Lower Body Workout and Some Pies!

Two things that don't go together - pie and exercise.  The only connection these two have had in the past for me is that I eat so much pie at Thanksgiving that I inevitably begin working out for the week following the holiday.  But today I had lots of baking to do for an upcoming family gathering at our home, which included making these delicious mini pecan pies.  The recipe is super easy so I thought I'd share it with you all.  Skip the tutorial to find the full, printable recipe below.

To prepare for having pies in the house, I first did a super intense workout at they gym early this morning.
 I'm gonna call it the Super Sweaty Lower Body Workout cause it will really make you sweat!

If at any point, the reps feel like too much, just do as many as you can.  You will build up an endurance and one day soon will be able to do this and more!  Remember to drink plenty of water, and rest about 30 seconds between exercises.

Now for the tutorial and recipe:


First, make the tart shells. 

With the paddle attachment, beat 5 oz butter, 3 oz sugar, 1 egg and 1/2 tsp vanilla on low until butter is pea sized

Next, add 8 oz Bread flour and mix until smooth, about 1 minute. It should look like this:

 

Roll the dough into a ball and divide into two disks.  Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate about 20 minutes.  This would be a good time to make the pecan pie filling!

To roll out the dough, make sure you use a well floured surface.  Don't worry too much about overworking the dough - the bread flour has a higher level of protein and will help keep the flour strong and resilient. However, you should always let the dough rest in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes between rounds of rolling it out. 

To best roll out any dough, lay the disk in front of you and place the rolling pin in the middle of the disk.  Then roll the pin away from you.  Next, turn the dough 1/4 of a turn (45 degrees) and repeat.  Turning the dough helps prevent it from sticking to your surface.  Roll to about 1/8 inch thick.

 

Then take a mini tart shell mold and place it over the dough as a guide for what size you will need.  Cut a square around it, with a little extra around the sides.  

You can also use a small round cookie cutter - just be sure to measure it against the mold and cut a little larger than the mold.

Lay a square over one of the molds and just barely press it into the sides of the mold with your fingers.

 Place the palm of your hand over the top of the mold and use the edge of the mold to cut the dough cleanly

Then gently push the dough into the sides and clean it up a bit.

 

Place on a sheet pan and freeze for about 20 minutes.  Making the shells cold prior to baking will prevent the dough from bubbling up or shrinking in the oven.

Bake at 325 degrees for about 15 minutes, until lightly golden brown.  Halfway through the baking time, rotate the sheet pan 180 degrees.  

Once the shells are cool, you can fill them with the pecan pie filling.  It's super easy to make and so delicious.

Heat 3.5 oz of butter and 7 oz of corn syrup over medium heat until the butter is melted.

Hint - for a no mess solution to  measuring corn syrup, spray a glass measuring cup with pan spray (PAM or Bake Easy) and then measure.  The corn syrup will easily slide out of the measuring cup!

Once the butter has melted, add 3.5 oz sugar to the pot and stir constantly until the sugar has dissolved.  Take off the heat before it boils.

Have a bowl ready with 3 eggs and 1/2 tsp vanilla extra whisked together.  When the corn syrup mixture is hot and ready, temper it into the egg mixture by SLOWLY drizzling it into the eggs while quickly whisking.  You do not want too go to fast or else you'll end up with bits of scrambled eggs in your pies!  If you do end up with this issue, just use a fine mesh sifter to strain the mixture before baking.

Remember to pour slowly and keep whisking!

Next, Place your shells on a sheet pan lined with parchment (very important that you line your sheet pan so the shells don't break).  Fill with a large pinch of pecan pieces, and then use a spoon to drizzle in a small amount of filling, to just barely cover the pecans.

left - filled too high, right - just right!

 Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes, or until the liquid is slightly bubbling.  Do not over bake.

 

 

 

These freeze really well - just put in a ziploc bag and freeze for up to 2 months.  Let thaw at room temperature (not in the fridge!) an hour or two before needed. 

Here is the recipe:

These are the perfect size to satisfy any sweet tooth and not ruin the great workout you did today (or will do today)!  What other sweets do you let yourself enjoy a little of while dieting? Or do you have incredible will power and not allow any desserts?

My Favorite Salad

I am not a huge salad eater.  It makes me feel like a rabbit to munch on lettuce.  But cheese is another story.  Man, do I love cheese.  Brie, Gorgonzola, Blue, Mozzarella, you name it.  My favorite cheese is soft goat cheese.  So its no wonder that my favorite salad is topped with lots of hot, toasted goat cheese.  Goat cheese is high in saturated fat and is probably the sole reason for my cholesterol being as high as it is.  However I am a firm believer that "everything in moderation" is the key to a successful diet.

Since I don't like salads much, I find that a little goat cheese goes a long way to get me to eat a huge ole salad, like I did tonight!  It was very filling, and because of the cheese in the salad, I didn't find a need to use much dressing at all.

I always wondered how restaurants warm goat cheese without it melting.  I've learned that part of it is in the massive amount of oil they no doubt fry the goat cheese in.  Of course this had to be substituted so I came up with a better idea - using egg whites and a small amount of breadcrumbs to get a crispy outside but keep the rounds of goat cheese in tact.



Here's how to make my favorite salad:

 

I made sure to chop of LOTS of fresh veggies for this salad tonight.  I also added some leftover chicken breast from last night's whole chicken, and a tablespoon of POM's Almond and Cranberry Salad Accents to add some crunch and sweetness. 

One trick for making sure your salads are as healthy as possible is to ALWAYS have your dressing on the side and dip your fork into the dressing with each bite.  This way you'll have just enough dressing to add flavor and take away from the dryness of the lettuce.  The point is to leave out those empty calories and fats and replace them with things that are more filling and more worth it - like goat cheese!

Roasted Chicken and Sample Meal Plan

Today I cooked my first whole chicken at home for dinner.  I don't consider myself an excellent cook by any means, but I did go to culinary school to become a pastry chef and I do have some experience in the kitchen.  So there is no excuse for me to not have roasted a chicken before today.  Checking that the giblets were removed was not fun, but otherwise it was pretty easy!

We have tons of fresh herbs growing in our backyard (post to come soon about how we made the raised garden beds for our growing garden) and I wanted to use them for a fresh, delicious poultry feast.  I took a handful of parsley, rosemary, and thyme and pulsed them in the mini food processor.

Then I got out the roasting pan we received as a wedding gift over two years ago but had yet to use, and poured two bags of frozen steamfresh veggies in the bottom.  I shouldn't have done this, as the fat from the chicken dripped down onto the vegetables.  Next time, I'll steam them separately and add them to the pan five minutes before taking it out of the oven, just so it can soak up a little of the flavor from the herbs and the chicken.

 

Then, I drizzled about half of a cup of chicken stock over the vegetables. I next sprayed a light coat of olive oil on the chicken, and rubbed the herb blend all over the skin.

I poured about a cup of chicken stock over the chicken which gave it a very crisp crust.  It baked at 450 degrees for about an hour, until the juices ran clear and the temp read 170 degrees.  Unfortunately we dug into it before I could get a picture of it out of the oven, but it was delicious!  Don't know what I was so intimidated by, and I will definitely be making this again.

This is not exactly "diet food" but I didn't eat most of the skin and I only had one breast and some veggies (and a large salad to start with).  And I don't eat like this every day!

 Here is an example of what I normally eat on a daily basis for my get fit program:

So even with dessert, 2 snacks, and very filling meals, this sample day was just under 1100 calories! This is a very doable plan to follow.

Would you follow a meal plan similar to mine? How do you keep your calories under your goal?