Meatballs and Gravy

I think of meatballs, gravy  and mashed potatoes as basic American, comfort food.  There's nothing fancy about this dish, but it is delicious.  It is also fairly inexpensive, especially if you can find the meat on sale, and it freezes well.  It doesn't have to be served with just mashed potatoes though.  We had it with mashed cauliflower which was just as tasty.

Mashed Cauliflower

Mashed cauliflower is a delicious alternative to mashed potatoes and it freezes well.

Adapted from: Food Network
Difficulty: Easy
Category: Simple Side
Recipe Column: CP

Green Chile Chicken (or Turkey)

We stayed home by ourselves last year for Thanksgiving.  Our family consists of me, my husband and our two small children.  I bought the smallest turkey I could find, but at 14 pounds it was still way too much turkey for our small family.  Having too much turkey after Thanksgiving is a common problem and generally people still have plenty of turkey left even after all the sides are gone.  It makes sense instead of trying re-purpose turkey for days after Thanksgiving until everyone is sick of it to instead turn your carefully prepared, leftover turkey into freezer meals that will save you time and work in the months to come.

I'm sure there are many freezer meals that could be made from leftover turkey, like soups, stews and pot pies.  You could even freeze shredded turkey by itself and use it in a similar manner as I do my pre-cooked, shredded chicken.  I came up with this recipe last Thanksgiving and it provided six dinners for my family in the months following.  I don't just like this meal because it uses up the leftover turkey and is delicious.  It is is also incredibly fast and easy.  I don't know about you, but I don't really feel like cooking any more right after Thanksgiving.  Once the turkey is cooked and shredded, all this dish requires is opening some cans and jars, mixing everything together and dividing it up for freezing. No more cooking or chopping!  I have also made this when I don't have leftover turkey to use up.  I smoke a couple chickens (or you could roast them), shred them and make it the same.  Either way, it's delicious, easy and inexpensive.

Using the Macro: Holiday Meal Planning

Whew! It's been a very busy month and a half here. I also haven't had a lot of new material as we have been mainly eating through stuff I've already posted, and I haven't been adding a lot to the freezer recently.  However, I just finished cooking for a week and a half, so I'll soon have some new recipes to add.  Posting will probably continue to be sporadic through the end of the year, but I should get back to a more regular schedule with the new year.

I did want to take a chance to talk about using the macro to plan holiday meals.  After all, I designed the macro as a planning tool for buying and cooking large quantities of food and multiple dishes, which describes holiday cooking perfectly.  I uploaded an updated spreadsheet with my holiday recipes.  You can download it here.

Freezing and Holiday Meals
First though let's talk about using your freezer with your holiday cooking.  Generally speaking the freezer is not going to be super useful in making holiday meals.  After all cooking and holidays go together, and most things you have at your holiday meals probably are not going to freeze well.  There are some things that can be made in advance and frozen.  The main issue the freezer causes is that is make things mushy.  Water expands as it freezes and as it expands it breaks down the structure of the food, creating mush.  So, things that are already mushy can generally frozen without issue, like mashed potatoes.  I made a large batch of mashed potatoes a few weeks before Thanksgiving last year and they turned out great.  Since it was just me cooking for my immediate family that year, having the mashed potatoes already made was when I was doing the rest of my Thanksgiving cooking.