Well, I started out with a rather ambitious list for my first “baking day” or “freezer cooking day” — however you wish to say it. I didn’t make every item I’d intended to, but I’m happy with the final result. For my final tally I ended up with:
- Chicken oreganata
- Pineapple lemon chicken
- 1 lb. turkey taco meat
- Italian dressing marinated chicken
- Cooked, shredded BBQ chicken
- Sausage, egg & cheese breakfast sandwiches (x6)
- Shredded rotisserie chicken
- Baked oatmeal (6 portions)
- Applesauce (3 containers)
- Chicken stock
Now, I don’t actually have room in my freezer for the chicken stock, so I’ll be using it up this week. If I can rearrange my freezer I might make another batch. We’ll see about that though.
This was an interesting experiment for me. I’m not sure a designated “baking day” really works for me, but I think I will attempt to make a few extra things here and there when I have the time and ingredients and consistently fill my freezer with easy meals I can just toss in the oven or Crock Pot.
A few of you e-mailed me with a couple questions, so here are those answers:
Q: How do you make your French Toast sticks?
A: For the French toast sticks, all I do is make french toast my usual way and then I slice each piece into strips (a pizza cutter works great for this). Then I line them all up on a baking sheet and flash freeze them. Then I store them in a ziplock freezer bag.
Q: How do you make the breakfast sandwiches and how long do they last?
A: For the sandwiches I use a roll of turkey sausage (it comes packaged in a roll like Jimmy Dean sausage so it’s easy to make patties). I cook the sausage patties and let them cool. Then I use a muffin tin and crack an egg into each cup and
lightly scramble it, add salt and pepper and bake at 350 degrees until they are cooked. I pop them out and slice each egg cup in half (since they are a little smaller than the English muffins) and let them cool. Then I assemble the sandwiches and wrap each one individually in foil and store in a freezer bag. To reheat, I just pop the sandwich (in the foil) in the toaster oven at 300-350 for about 20-30 min. You could also pull a sandwich out and defrost it in the fridge overnight. You could also unwrap the sandwich and microwave it in a paper towel, but the toaster oven just works a little better for me. I am not sure how long they last because in our house it is not very long,
LOL! I think after 2 or 3 months they’d start to lose a little, but I only make 6 at a time.
Quite a few of you requested recipes, and I am happy to oblige. Here you go!
Baked Oatmeal
3 cups old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup plain yogurt
fresh, dried, or frozen fruit of your choosing
In a large bowl, combine the oats, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Combine the eggs, milk, butter, and yogurt in a separate bowl and then add to the dry ingredients. Stir in the fruit. Pour into a greased 8-inch square baking dish. Bake, uncovered at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Cut into squares.
TO FREEZE: After cutting into squares, either wrap squares individually with foil, or wrap as an 8×8 square in doubled foil. Place into freezer bag and label before freezing. To thaw, simply unwrap a square and pop it in the microwave. Serve with additional milk or yogurt if desired.
Chicken Oreganata*
3-4 chicken breast halves, cut into 1-inch chunks
4-5 red potatoes, quartered
1 tomato, cut into eighths
1 medium onion, cut into medium chunks
1 Tbsp. dried oregano
salt, pepper
olive oil
Combine chicken and vegetables in a large bowl. Add oregano and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle olive oil over mixture and stir to combine until all ingredients are coated. (I didn’t measure the olive oil, just added more as needed.) Place all into a freezer bag. Seal, label, and freeze.
TO SERVE: Thaw completely. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place chicken and vegetables into a roasting pan or Pyrex baking dish. Cook for approx. 30 min. or until chicken is cooked through.
Pineapple Lemon Chicken*
2 chicken breast halves
10 oz. crushed pineapple (1/2 a 20 oz. can) + 1/4 cup reserved juice
1 small lemon, thinly sliced
1/8 cup ketchup
1/3 cup honey
1/2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. dried rosemary
Place chicken breasts in freezer bag. For marinade, in a large bowl combine pineapple juice, ketchup, honey Worcestershire sauce, garlic, salt, and rosemary. Stir in crushed pineapple and lemon slices. Pour marinade over chicken. Seal bag and freeze.
TO SERVE: Thaw completely. Drain chicken, reserving marinade. Grill, turning once and brushing with 1/4 cup reserved marinated, until chicken reaches 170 degrees and is no longer pink.
* These recipes are new to me and I haven’t tried them yet, so I really can’t vouch for how good they are. I adapted them from the book “Don’t Panic: More Dinner’s In The Freezer.”
