Curry Chicken Buns

I have long been a fan of Asian dumplings.  Unfortunately, they can be hard to find in many places across the US, which means I have to learn to make my own.  I love these curry buns, and they are one of my favorite meals.  Spicy curry chicken is wrapped in a soft, light bun and then brushed with a honey glaze, that little bit of sweetness contrasting to the spicy filling within.  They are amazing.

Pork Meatballs

This is another delicious addition to my collection of meat patties/meatballs that work so well as summer meals.  They're delicious and convenient.  They would also be great as the meat in a Bahn Mi Sandwich.

Difficulty: Easy
Category: Freezer to Pan
Column: EI

Head over to The Garlic Diaries for the meatball recipe.  The only change I make is that I use soy sauce instead of fish sauce as I am not a fan of fish sauce. Make the meatballs, but don't cook them.  You'll freeze them raw, and cook when you're ready to eat.

To freeze:
Place the raw meatballs on a sheet pan lined with parchment.  You can do up to two layers on a tray, separated by parchment.  Freeze them until solid, then transfer to a container or bag for storage.

To serve:

Coleslaw
1 bag coleslaw mix
10 basil leaves, sliced
5 mint leaves, sliced
3 tbsp cilantro, chopped
1 green onion sliced
1/4 cup rice vinegar
5 tbsp mayo
4 tsp sweet chili sauce (available in the Asian section of the grocery store)

Sweet chili sauce
Lettuce leaves (romaine or butter lettuce)
Lime wedges

1. Combine the coleslaw mix, basil, mint, cilantro, green onion.  Combine the vinegar, mayo and sweet chili sauce.  Toss the dressing and vegetables together.
2. To cook the meatballs heat a frying pan over medium heat and coat with a thin layer of oil.  Add the meatballs to the pan.  Cover the pan with a lid to help the meatballs cook.  Flip the meatballs occasionally, so they brown evenly. Cook the pork until reaches 170 degrees.
3. Drizzle some sweet chili sauce over the meatballs and toss to coat.
4. To serve, make lettuce wraps by filling the lettuce leaves with coleslaw and meatballs, and squeeze the limes over everything.

Korean Fried Chicken

I love this spicy and sweet fried chicken.  It's one of my favorite meals.  It's a part of my series on making and using frozen breaded chicken cutlets.

Thai Chicken Patties

Between the gyro patties, black bean burgers, Southwest chicken patties, falafel and now Thai chicken patties my summer freezer meals are becoming a variety of patties.  I'm okay with that.  As evidenced by the list above, patties come in a variety of flavors and proteins, so even though the shape is the same they can be vastly different meals.  Patties are also easy.  They're easy to make.  More importantly they're easy to cook.  They require no thawing and can go straight from the freezer to the frying pan.  Plus they cook quickly.  I'm even thinking the next time I make meatloaf I will try making meatloaf patties, so they won't require a long thaw and cook time like meatloaf.  I can also cook just a couple patties for dinner instead of having a large meatloaf we eat for a couple days.

Anyway to these specific patties.  They're delicious.  I made a quadruple batch and wished I had made more.

Difficulty: Easy
Category: Freezer to Pan
Recipe Column: DU

Days 5 & 6: Veggie Crepes Continued and Thai Chicken

Day 1: Shopping
Day 2: Chicken and Brisket
Day 3: Jambalaya and More Brisket
Day 4: Veggie Crepes, Potato Tacos and Gyros
Days 5 & 6: Veggie Crepes Continued and Thai Chicken
Day 7: Pierogi, Lentil Joes, and Black Bean Burgers
Final Days and Summary

Sunday

Day 5 was on a Sunday, and during the day I didn't do much other than go to church and take a nap.  All this cooking is tiring!  In the evening I got back to work.

Bahn Mi

Shortly after I had smoked and frozen pork butt for the first time a friend described to me a Vietnamese sandwich called a Bahn Mi.  It sounded absolutely delicious, and I knew I had to try it with my frozen pork.  Unfortunately we blew through our frozen pork, and I ran out before I got a chance to make this.  The desire to try bahn mi definitely contributed to me making a second batch of smoked pork so soon after I had made the first.  I usually wait a while before I get around to making a freezer meal again.  This was worth it though.  It was delicious and we definitely be having it again.

There are a lot of parts here, but they are all easy and can be made in advance.

Adapted from: Epicurious

Difficulty: Easy

Pork Noodle Bowls

This is seriously one of my favorite meals ever.  The combination of the pork with sweet, juicy mango and mint is simply amazing.  I have served it a number of times to guests and while some have been skeptical about such unusual flavor combinations, it has always been incredibly popular.  I make this using pre-cooked, shredded, frozen pork.

Adapted from: Smitten Kitchen
Difficulty: Easy
Category: Some Assembly Required

Coconut Green Curry

I have been working on this recipe for about a year and a half now.  The first time I made this it was very tasty, but I wasn't fully satisfied with the proportions of the different ingredients to each other.  I wanted to try again but still had five batches of the original in the freezer that needed to be eaten first.  When we finally did finish eating all of them it took me a while to get around to making it again.  So, here we are a year and a half later, and I am finally posting the recipe.  This is why posting here is so irregular.  The development process for freezer meal recipes is a long one.  This curry is delicious though.   I think it's worth the wait.

Difficulty: Moderate
Category: Simple Side
Recipe Column: CF

Chicken Potstickers

I love potstickers and now my daughter has declared them one of her favorite meals as well.  They are a bit time consuming to make, but they cook quickly straight from the freezer.  They'll definitely be a regular in our freezer meal rotation.

Difficulty: Difficult - They aren't difficult to make, but they are time consuming.
Category: Freezer to Pan
Recipe Column: DM

Yields about 50

Poolkogi (Korean BBQ Beef)

I used to know a Korean woman who made this whenever she had people over and it was always delicious.  I am still working on perfecting my cooking technique, but this is still tasty and makes a good freezer meal.

Difficulty: Easy
Category: Some Assembly Required
Recipe Column: BS

Get the recipe here.

To freeze:
Prepare the meat and place in the marinade as instructed in the recipe.  Divide the marinade and meat into containers or bags freeze.

To serve:
Thaw the meat in the marinade.  Remove the meat from the marinade and cook according to the directions in the recipe in step 6.  Serve the meat with rice, lettuce and vegetables such as slices of peppers, cucumber spears and carrots.  Place the meat, vegetables and rice in lettuce leaves and wrap them up.  There is also a sauce recommended for to accompany this dish.  We tried it and didn't care for it, so we stick with the plan meat and veggies with the rice.

Peanut Chicken Noodle Bowls

I wrote previously about smoking, shredding and freezing whole chickens.  These noodle bowls are one of our favorite ways to utilize our pre-cooked chicken.  They're delicious and very refreshing for hot summer days.  We have these regularly when we have guests as they are always a big hit and each person assembles their own bowl and can customize it to their specific tastes.  The peanut sauce is easy to make and freezes well, so you can make up a big batch and freeze it in smaller portions to save you the work the day of or you can easily whip it up when you're getting your bowls ready. This is a "Some Assembly Required" meal, but it is very easy to throw together.

Adapted from: Smitten Ktichen
Difficulty: Easy
Category: Some Assembly Required
Column: BN

Chicken Wraps

These are a pretty tasty summer meal.  One big advantage for this dish is that it already has a lot of vegetables cooked into it before freezing. They're easy to prepare and easy to reheat and serve.

Difficulty: Easy
Category: Simple Side
Recipe Column: AI

Get the recipe here:

Asian Lettuce Wraps

To freeze:
Cool the chicken mixture and divide between desired number of containers or bags.  Freeze.

To serve:
Thaw the chicken in the refrigerator overnight.  Reheat to 140 degrees in a frying pan.  Serve with rice and Boston butterhead lettuce leaves.