Ground Beef Day

Two days ago I made more freezer meals than I ever have in one day, and it honestly went rather well! To make things easier on myself I made all of my ground beef meals together. In this cooking session I made and froze: 2 gallon-sized bags of beef chili, 6 quart-sized bags of meatballs, 3 quart-sized bags of taco beef, 1 gallon-sized bag of beef and kidney bean potato topping, and two 9x9 black bean and rice bakes. I have NEVER had this many meals socked away in the freezer, and it feels AMAZING!!! I only have 9 days until I go back to school (and we will be in Florida for 8 of those days!!:) so freezer cooking is my main focus right now, as lame as that sounds for A 23-year-old. ;)  

Anyhow, since my little family of two <3 only eats beef about twice a week, these meals should last us awhile!

This is how we do it ;)

First, I always like to get out all of the produce and canned goods that I will need. That way I am not scrambling to find something that I may not even have, in the middle of cooking a meal. Plus, it looks so beautiful!

 

When making multiple recipes, I try to prep things together as much as possible. For example, I add super finely diced carrots, onion, and bell peppers to my chili, meatballs, taco beef, and beef and bean potato topping. So, instead of dragging out the food processor multiple times, I basically just finely dice a big bowl of each veggie and use them throughout the cooking session.

Pureed Roasted Garlic:

Last week I put myself through the misery of peeling 7 bulbs of garlic. Then I wrapped it all up with a little oil (grapeseed oil, my favorite many-purpose oil) in small foil packets. After roasting it in the oven for a half hour or so, I pureed it. Then, I froze it solid in spoonful sized dollops on wax paper. After it was frozen into solid little chunks, I tossed them into a quart-sized freezer bags, labeled, dated, and popped them back into the freezer. Now I have yummy roasted garlic to add to meals without any extra work! I threw some into all of my ground beef meals. :)

Lazy Laura’s Chili:

This chili is super easy! Just combine all of the ingredients and simmer on the stove top for 2-3 hours.

1 ½ lbs. ground beef, browned with 1 cup diced onions and 2 tablespoons minced or roasted & pureed garlic.

2 cups cooked pinto beans (cook from dry to save money and sodium, or used canned)

2 cups cooked kidney beans (cook from dry to save money and sodium, or used canned)

1 cup finely diced carrots

1 cup finely diced bell pepper

3 cans diced or stewed tomatoes

1 small can tomato paste

1 Tablespoon Chili powder

½ teaspoon cumin

½ teaspoon black pepper

A sprinkle (or more) of cayenne pepper

This is what you get after simmering it for a few hours:

To Freeze Soups:

Cool the soup pot in an ice bath, stirring occasionally. Then pour into gallon-sized freezer quality bags and freeze the soup FLAT. Freezing meals flat, instead of in big blocks, enables the food to freeze faster so that fewer ice crystals form and the quality of the food is preserved. Of course I had to take out a bowl of chili for my lunch before freezing the rest! MMM!

BAKED POTATO TOPPING:

I found this meal idea in a freezer cooking book and it reminds me of a lazy version of Shepherd’s Pie, which I love! Basically you just cook up some ground beef or turkey, diced onions, garlic, diced carrot and peppers if you like, whatever spices you like and a can of drained kidney beans if you please. Freeze this meal flat in a plastic bag, and when you want it for dinner heat it in a skillet and throw it on top of baked potatoes!

ANYONE CAN MAKE TACO BEEF!

Just freeze it flat and then reheat in a skillet and throw on tacos, burritos, or our favorite: NACHOS!

My recipe for meatballs is in an earlier post, but here is a picture of our scrumptious BBQ meatball dinner from last night. (And by the way that is a Yukon gold potato, NOT a cup of butter on it. Hahaha)

Well, I better go get to work. Today is supposed to be my “chicken day”. Lol

-Lazy Laura

Sloppy Turkey Joes & Chicken Patties

Today I drug the TV into the kitchen, rented some movies, made a big iced coffee, and got to work. I made 4 different recipes for the freezer: turkey sloppy joes, chicken patties, 13 bean and ham soup, and white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. I'll share the first two recipes in this post. :)

When I'm making multiple recipes for the freezer, I like to cook meals that have similar ingredients at the same time. This makes things easier because you can combine some of the prep work for the recipes, and I am all about saving time and effort! Haha ;) I add finely diced carrots, onions, and bell peppers to all three of these dinners, so I used my best friend (a.k.a. my food processor) to prep them all.

Turkey Sloppy Joes:

1. In a large skillet, combine 1/2 cup finely diced carrot, 1 cup finely diced onion, 1 cup finely diced bell pepper, and 1 tablespoon diced garlic or roasted garlic puree. Cook veggies for just a few minutes.

2. Add 1 1/2 - 2 lbs of ground turkey, and continue cooking until turkey is just done.

3. Add 1 (14 1/2 oz.) can of tomato sauce, 1/4 cup catsup, 1/8 cup hot sauce (I use Sriracha), 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, and a sprinkle of black pepper. Simmer for a few minutes.

4. Cool the sloppy joe mixture in the fridge. Then pour the mixture into gallon sized freezer quality bags, LABEL, DATE, and freeze FLAT.



An oatmeal canister can come in super handy when you are alone in the kitchen and need to pour fillings or soups into freezer bags.

Freezing meals flat helps them freeze faster (which causes fewer ice crystals to form and helps preserve the quality of your meals) and defrost more quickly for those lazy dinners. :)

TO SERVE:

Defrost overnight or for for a few hours IN THE FRIDGE (never on the counter) and simmer for between 5 and 10 minutes on the stove top. Serve on hamburger buns.

CHICKEN PATTIES:

1. In a large bowl, mix 1 1/2 lbs. ground chicken, 3/4 cup bread crumbs, 1/2 cup finely diced carrots, 1/2 cup finely diced onion, 1/2 cup finely diced bell pepper, 3 tablespoons chicken broth, 3 tablespoons Sriracha sauce (or other hot sauce), 1/2 teaspoon dried sage, and a sprinkle of black pepper.

2. Form the meat mixture into nice thick patties and pan fry with a few teaspoons (okay who are we kidding here? Tablespoons!) of oil.



3. Before wrapping, freeze the patties until solid (about 2 hours) and then go ahead and package, label, date, and freeze them in freezer quality plastic bags.





TO SERVE:

Pan fry or bake at 375 degrees until warmed through.

Serve with baked/mashed potatoes, rice, and/or veggies.

Talk about an easy, lazy dinner!! :)

Freezer Meatballs

Whew! After 6 solid months of intense courses at WSU, I finally have a 3 week break before getting back into it. When I go back, I will be taking 18 credits each term for the next year in order to finish up my Bachelor's degree in Psychology. Basically, I am going to be one busy girl for the next 9 months! In order to lighten my load and decrease my stress, I'm stocking our freezer with dozens of meals for the busy school nights ahead. :)

Meatballs are an awesome addition to my freezer stash because they are so versatile. You can serve them with whatever sauce you like: marinara, BBQ, sweet and sour, or as swedish meatballs. Tonight we had them in marinara sauce on top of spaghetti squash. Mmmm :)

Here is how I make and freeze my meatballs:

Ingredients:

2 lbs. ground beef

3/4 lbs. ground pork or sausage

1 cup bread crumbs

1/2 cup super finely diced (in a food processor) onion

1 cup super finely diced (in a food processor) carrot [Sneak in those veggies where you can!!]

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 Tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 small can tomato paste

1 tsp. dried oregano

1. Mix all ingredients together very well.

2. Form meatballs (either using cookie scoop, spoon of some sort, or just your good ol' hands:)

3. Bake on tin foil on a baking sheet, for about 20 minutes at 375 degrees.

4. When done baking, place meatballs uncovered in the freezer on baking sheet or wax paper. Freeze for 1-2 hours until the meatballs are solid, then transfer into good quality freezer bags.

5. LABEL, DATE, and store in the freezer until ready to use.

When you are ready to eat the meatballs, throw them in a crock pot with sauce or bake the meatballs at 375 degrees for 10 minutes and then add to sauce on the stove top.



I've got a BUNCH more freezer cooking planned for the week, so stay tuned for more recipes!! :)