After sharing the woes of the common tired work woman with my mother-in-law, we discovered that it is just so much easier and CHEAPER to pre-plan and freeze meals so that the inner battle that we often wage with our worn-out selves is debating with the inevitable looming question : What to make for dinner?
Whether you hold your business meetings at the office or around the dining table with a few wriggling toddlers in pajamas, everyone faces this question with a weary mind at some point- and often with little energy by the end of the day. Due to this struggle, we tend to give into the evils of the fast food temptations or the sometimes not-quite satisfactory Pizza Hot Pocket which just doesn't fill the spot as a nice plate of chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy.
Although I do not yet have the perfect recipe for the latter, I DO have a few recipes and tips to pre-plan your meals if you are on board the 30 minute or less meal plan train that I am about to embark on and have been telling yourself you are going to do this someday but just haven't gotten around to it.
Let's start with tonight. I decided instead of waiting until the dreaded 6 o'clock hour to stress about what to make by 8 (let's face it- I am a procrastinator and meals take FOREVER, most of you know me) I decided to follow the timeframe of my preggo stomach rumblings and start working on a plan at 5:00. (Hey that is a good start compared to 6!).
If you are unsure of where to start like me and have family that all love chicken- you can't go wrong with this:
I boiled two meals worth of boneless, skinless chicken breasts (which for us is about 8 breasts) and this is a healthy way to start because it is mostly leaner and a lot easier to cook then stock chicken. Typically chicken takes around 20 minutes to boil once it starts roiling- but you can adjust for what makes you feel more comfortable.
If you know me, you know that I am very picky about making sure my meat is WELL cooked. 20 minutes did the trick. The chick is easy to pull apart and susceptible to make for multiple meals.
I decided that Poppy Seed Chicken would be nice since we haven't had in a while, so I started preparing for that recipe and then took the extra chicken and chopped up for a quick lunch salad and for chicken fajitas or tacos that the hubby can just pop in the skillet or microwave quickly and then add cheese and other toppings in less than 30 minutes.
Here is my lovely concoction :
Notice half is with crumbled Ritz crackers, the other is NOT. My husband feels like it tastes gooey when the crumbs are baked, so I add later.
Before I get too ahead of myself, if you are interested in the Poppy Seed Chicken Recipe, feel free to copy it from here, at Cooks.com.
Also, if you want to make homemade Fajita/ Chicken taco mix to add to your chicken to freeze like I did, here is what I used:
- 4 teaspoons Chili Powder
- 2 teaspoons Paprika
- 1 Chicken Bouillion Cube
- 1-½ teaspoon Onion Powder
- 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 1 teaspoon Cumin
- 1-2 teaspoons of my FAVORITE Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning
And if you feel you need some sweetness to balance it out- add 2 teaspoons of white sugar.
I mix it up with water and pour over the chicken in the freezer bag and shake up. Then just freeze!
Back to the Poppy Seed Chicken-
I put in an extra can of Cream of Chicken and extra sour cream to make extra to freeze on top of pre-cooked chicken for later: Look at that delicious substance!
And might I add it was very tasty! I added Velveeta with heavy whipped cream for cheese sauce (I didn't say EVERYTHING was healthy!) and biscuits. The trick with having Sister Schubert's-type biscuits is to add some melted butter on the uncooked biscuits so they will cook flatter and have a buttery flavor. I add a sprinkle of onion or garlic salt to them-yum!
How to know if your meal is good? Check the kid's face. Happy kids, happy mom!
I will be adding some more trial and error recipes as I go for freezing but here are a few I am going to try if you need some ideas:
Frozen Homemade Pot Pies (Gluten-Free!)
A nice edit of this would be to buy the mini disposable pie tins and pour the mixes into them and freeze the extra ones. Also: To cut down on preparation time, use potato soup for potatoes, and frozen veggies.
Stir-Fry Rice
Jasmine rice is the best to use frozen- white rice tends to mush and clump together- long-grain rice separates, just steam it and mix with pre-cooked chicken, cooked eggs and peas and carrots or veggies of your choice. They have a great frozen mix by Bird's Eye called Steamfresh Asian Medley. Store in individual sandwich bags for small meals or can do larger ones as well. You can microwave later! Add green onion for garnish.
Quick Chicken Pizza
Use flatbread and spread your favorite tomato sauce, sprinkle with thawed pre-cooked shredded chicken, add your sprinkled cheese and bake at 350 degrees until cheese is melted and bubbling.
Chicken Salad:
Use your pre-cooked shredded chicken (or fajita chicken mix) and add to a taco bowl with lettuce, cheese of your choice- and tomatoes if preferred -yum! Here is a super easy way to make taco bowls using the underside of a muffin pan! How neat!
Chicken Pasta
Add shredded chicken to your favorite pasta sauce, simmer and add to pasta- then add parmesan! You can make a larger extra casserole dish and freeze then add the sauce later!
Well that's it for now, ladies and gents! Until my next food escapade!
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