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

Burritos

I learned about Uncle Ben's microwave rice bags pretty recently and realized they'd be a quick and easy way to make burritos with pre-cooked, shredded pork.  They're a quick and tasty weeknight meal.

To make burritos, heat a package of Uncle Ben's Spanish rice in the microwave according to package directions and gently reheat your precooked pork in the microwave.  Assemble burritos on large tortillas with rice, drained and rinsed canned beans (black or pinto), pork, cheese, lettuce, sour cream and salsa (I like 505 tomatillo salsa).

Pork Tacos

Tacos are one of my favorite meals.  There's a restaurant near us that sells awesome tacos al pastor, which I crave occasionally.  Unfortunately the last time I ordered takeout from there, dinner cost $40 for our family.  They were delicious but too expensive to have regularly until I realized that pre-cooked, shredded pork could make delicious tacos at home for a fraction of the price.  Plus they're super easy when you have the pork already cooked.  Now I just need to find a good source for horchata.

Serves: 4

6 cups cooked pork or about 1 1/2 pounds
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 1/2 tsp chili
1 tbsp lime juice
chopped cilantro
chopped onion
warm corn tortillas
green salsa - I really like 505 tomatillo salsa

Heat a frying pan over medium heat.  Add the spices and toast for just a few seconds.  Add the pork and lime juice.  Heat the pork gently over low heat.  Cover when you're not stirring it to make the pork heat faster.  Serve the pork on corn tortillas with onions, cilantro and salsa.

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

BBQ Pulled Pork

I wrote previously about cooking, shredding and freezing pork butt.  One of our easiest and most classic ways to use it is to serve pulled pork with BBQ sauce.  We sometimes have this as a sandwich and sometimes by itself.  Either way I always serve it with coleslaw.  I love fresh coleslaw on BBQ pork, and it's easy to make if you get a bag of pre-shredded cabbage from the produce aisle.  I really like this coleslaw, but sometimes I'm not in the mood to measure stuff.  In that case I just take a bag of the shredded cabbage, add a dash of apple cider vinegar, a squeeze of mustard, a spoonful of mayonnaise and salt, pepper and celery seed to taste.  It's fast, easy and delicious.

For the BBQ sauce you can, of course, use a store bought sauce.  I like the Stubb's brand personally.  For pulled pork though, I prefer to make my own mustard sauce.  My favorite is this recipe from Amazing Ribs, although I like to run it through the blender after making because I prefer it smooth.  I make a large batch of sauce when I make the pulled pork.  Then I divide it into containers and freeze as well. It's ready to go when I serve the pork.  You can serve the pork by heating the sauce, adding the pork and gently simmering until the meat is heated through.  If you would like to serve the sauce on the side, gently heat the pork in the microwave.

Freezer Meal Component: Smoked Pork

I posted previously about how I smoke, shred and freeze chickens to use in a variety of summer meals.  Another meat I love to cook in my smoker is pulled pork.  However, I didn't make pulled pork to freeze because I thought it wouldn't be as versatile as the chicken.  And maybe it's not as versatile as chicken, after all I wouldn't throw pulled pork on any old salad like I do with the chicken.  It was mistake to put off freezing pulled pork.  I have been missing out on deliciousness and what turned out to be some of my favorite meals.

We had guests for the Fourth of July and smoked two pork butts and served them with barbecue sauce and coleslaw.  Two pork butts make a lot.  I made so much with the intention of freezing it, thinking that we would have plenty for the freezer.  I did freeze a lot of pulled pork, but it did not last nearly as long as I had hoped.  A week later we had more guests over and served pork noodle bowls.  We enjoyed the pork so much we kept serving it every time we had guests over, and before I knew it, it was all gone.  I hadn't done everything I wanted with the frozen pulled pork, so a scant two months after freezing pork for the first time, I had to make another big batch.

Cooking the pork:

Pork butt is a very budget-friendly meat.  It is a tough cut though, so you will need to cook it in such a way to make it tender and delicious, generally either low and slow roasting or by braising.  Use your favorite method.  I have a Pit Barrel Cooker that I use to smoke my meats and I love it.  I highly recommend it if you are in the market for a smoker.  It's easy to use, affordable and makes delicious meat.

If you don't have or want a smoker, Amazing Ribs has excellent instructions about smoking meat in a gas or charcoal grill.  It's a super informative website for smoking meats.  Before I bought my smoker I used a gas grill to smoke pork butts using Amazing Ribs instructions with great success.  It is a project though and takes all day.  So if you want to do something easier, you can use a crockpot or roast in the oven.  I haven't tried either of those links, but they look promising (although I would leave out the liquid smoke).  Or if you have a favorite tried and true way to cook pork butt, use that.

Freezing the pork

After your pork is cooked, shred it and divide it into dinner sized portions.  The main difficulty with freezing cooked meat is that it gets freezer burn easily.  If this is something you do regularly, I recommend getting a vacuum sealer.  If you're not ready for that, then I recommend putting the meat in freezer Ziploc bags and squeezing out as much air as you can.

Serving the pork

Thaw the pork in the fridge overnight.  If you are serving the meat in a sauce, bring that sauce to a simmer and add the meat.  Simmer gently until the meat is heated through.  Otherwise you can reheat in the microwave.  Spread the meat out on a microwave-safe plate.  Reheat in two minute bursts at 60 to 70% power until heated through.  Don't overheat.  That will make the pork tough.

Pork spread out on a plate for heating in the microwave.

Ways to use the pork:

 Pork Noodle Bowls - One of my all time favorite meals!

 Bahn Mi - A delicious Vietnamese sandwich.

Pork Tacos - Another personal favorite.  And super fast and easy to boot.

 BBQ Pulled Pork with coleslaw - Classic and delicious.

Burritos - Fast and easy.

Beans and Sausage

This recipe is fairly inexpensive.  It is also hardy, easy and tasty.  And it's fast and easy to reheat, so it's generally a freezer meal win.

Difficulty: Easy
Category: Heat and Eat
Recipe Column: DP

Jambalaya

I see that I haven't posted since July! Ack! As much as I'd like to say I'm going to start posting regularly from here on out, I've said that before, and I've come to realize that I'm going to need to accept that, for me, posting about freezer meals is irregular by nature.  After all, the whole reason I started to do freezer meals was because I didn't have the time and energy to make a decent meal for my family every day.  It stands to reason that I would also struggle to find the time and energy to post blog entries on a regular basis.

When life gets really busy and tiring, like it did for the past couple months, I don't add a lot to my freezer or experiment.  I depend on the meals I've already made and frozen to get me through.  This means I don't have new stuff to write. Plus as I've mentioned before, the development of freezer meal recipes can be long.  Sometimes it's a year or more between my first attempt and the final recipe.

So while I can't promise regular posting.  Hopefully these recipes can still be helpful to you as they come.  It is certainly helpful to me to have a freezer full of delicious food when life gets particularly busy.  Please be patient and keep coming back!  I have several new recipes to post.  Plus I'm going to do a Thanksgiving series!

Baked Ziti

Last year I made a meatball pasta baked dish.  I haven't posted yet because I haven't quite gotten the proportions right, but it is one of my favorite freezer meals.  Due to having a baby recently I haven't had the energy this year to make it.  That many meatballs is a big project.  Instead I made this baked ziti.  It is much faster and easier but has a similar flavor profile.  I will eventually get back to my meatball casserole, but this delicious meal fills that slot for now.

Difficulty: Easy
Category: Simple Side
Recipe Column: DN

Get the recipe at Smitten Kitchen.  I pretty much make the recipe as is.  Undercook the pasta slightly and rinse it with cold water after draining to stop the cooking process.  Also I don't bother to cut up the spinach.  I just add the whole leaves to the sauce.

To freeze:
Divide the pasta into containers, bags or pans. If you do pans you can top with shredded cheese before freezing.  I use containers to save space in my freezer, so I leave the cheese off.

To serve:
Thaw the pasta in the fridge overnight.  If you haven't already, transfer the mixture to a pan and top with shredded cheese.  I use a pre-shredded Italian mix.  Cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees until heated all the way through, about 45 minutes.  Serve with salad or vegetables.

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

Prep tip: Leeks

I love leeks, but they tend to be full of sand.  It's very unpleasant to be eating a delicious meal and bite into some sandy grit from leeks that haven't been cleaned well enough.  Here's how I clean them to make sure that doesn't happen.

Trim the root end, but leave the root intact.  This will hold your leek together, making it easier to slice it. 

Green Vegetable Tart

This tart is delicious and packed with nutritious green vegetables. It is one of my husband's favorites and to my surprise my kids really liked it and ate it all up.  I usually post recipes for single batches, so everyone can multiply it to fit their family's needs. This is a quadruple batch.  I post this as a larger batch because it works easier with the amounts some of the ingredients are sold in.  Leeks are generally sold 3 to a bundle, and this utilizes all of them. It also uses a 32 oz container of ricotta cheese which is one of the two sizes it's sold in.

Adapted from: Savoring Appetizers
Difficulty: Moderate
Category: Freezer to Pan
Recipe Column: U

Yields 4 pies.  Each pie serves 6

Chicken Fajitas or Tacos

It's summertime which means once again I have smoked,shredded and frozen several chickens for convenient summer meals.  When I started doing once a month cooking a couple years ago, these chicken fajitas were one of the very first meals I tried as evidenced by its location in column L of the 'Recipes' tab. They turned out all right.  

I combined the marinade with the sliced, raw chicken in one bag and froze it.  In another bag I combined the pepper and onion slices and froze them separately.  I thawed the chicken, cooked it and then cooked the peppers and onions from their frozen state. The fajitas tasted pretty good, but the vegetables were a little mushy. If I were to try to it again I might consider using a frozen veggie mix from the grocery store as the flash frozen vegetables may not be as mushy.  Or I would just go with fresh vegetables like I did for this newer rendition.

I realized with my frozen, pre-cooked chicken I can make fajitas or tacos fairly easily and this replaced having dedicated fajita meat in the freezer.  It is fairly easy although it does require prepping the peppers and onions on the day of.  You may be able to save some time with pre-cut peppers and onions from the produce section or salad bar at your grocery store.

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

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

As I mentioned the last time I posted, I recently had a baby.  I'm still doing my freezer meals.  After all it's the easiest way to stay on top of feeding my family.  But since I currently have a needy, helpless and unpredictable little person to take care of those freezer meals need to be easy in every sense.  They need to be easy to put together before freezing since I have little time and energy for cooking right now.  They need to be easy to cook or reheat on the night that I'm serving the meal since the baby is most likely to be fussy right when it's time to start making dinner.  They even need to be easy to eat since I will most likely be eating the meal one handed while the other snuggles a tiny baby who doesn't want to be put down.  Oh and they need to be delicious.  Fortunately this casserole meets all of these requirements.

Adapted from: Joy Filled Eats
Difficulty: Easy
Category: Simple Side
Recipe Column: DL

Chicken Tikka Masala

My freezer meals have come in very handy lately as I just had a baby two weeks ago.  I am very fortunate to have wonderful family and friends that have helped us with meals since the baby was born, but the freezer meals came in very handy during the last months of my pregnancy when I had no energy to do anything let alone cooking.  I haven't actually cooked in months, and I've been totally coasting on my freezer meals.  This has been great for me but not so great for my blog.  I do have a few new things in the freezer that I still need to post about.  I hope to get to them soon and then start generating more freezer meals.

I have recently discovered another advantage to freezer meals besides being able to eat a delicious dinner when I don't have energy to cook.  I have three young children now and like many young children, they are not always the best about trying new things or eating their dinner.  However, young children become more open to trying foods with repeated exposure, and it turns out that having multiple batches of the same thing in my freezer means repeated exposure.  After the same meal has made enough appearances my kids will generally try it.  After more appearances and trying the food, sometimes they even like it.  Chicken Tikka Masala is the perfect example.  My daughter was initially reluctant to try it, but after several exposures she has declared it her favorite meal.  It's one of my favorites too.

Asparagus in Ambush

Like the Avocado Tacos I posted before, this is not a freezer meal.  However, on occasion I post meals that are simple to make and delicious, which describes asparagus in ambush perfectly.

Adapted from: An American Place

2 lbs asparagus, woody bottom ends cut off and discarded
10 oz thinly sliced ham
14 slices swiss cheese
7 flour tortillas

Makes 7 wraps

1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil over high heat.  Add the asparagus and boil until just tender.  Drain well.
2. Place three slices of ham on a tortilla.  Put two slices of cheese on top of the ham and place a handful of  asparagus in the center on top of the cheese.  Roll the tortilla up around the ham, cheese and asparagus.  Place the wrap in a baking dish.  Repeat with the other tortillas.
3. Bake the wraps at 350 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes or until the ham is hot and the cheese is melted.

Chicken Soup Three Ways

These chicken soups are warm and comforting on a cold day  They would be particularly nice to have when sick.  I plan to keep one batch in my freezer on a regular basis just to have for that reason. It's nice to make a very large batch of this that can be divided into meal-sized portions.  Then we can have it with dumplings, noodles or matzo balls depending on which we want that day or how much time we have.

This recipe turned into quite the project.  My initial plan was simply to create a freezer meal for chicken and dumplings, which we have always enjoyed and eaten regularly.  The chicken and dumplings freezer meal turned out well.  It consisted of two parts, the chicken soup and the dumpling dough that were frozen separately.  I realized the chicken soup part could be used to make other kinds of chicken soup like chicken noodle soup and matzo ball soup.  I decided to wait on posting the chicken and dumplings until I could post all three variations of the soup together.  This took a while as I needed to try all the variations and we didn't want to be eating chicken soup all the time.  There is often a long development process in creating freezer meals.

White Bean Soup

When I was a kid my family went to a restaurant that served a bottomless pot of bean soup that I really liked.  I went to the bathroom before I finished my bowl and when I returned my bowl and the pot of soup had been removed.  I was so disappointed.  Since then I have looked for a good, basic white bean soup.  This one is pretty close.  The smoked ham hock is the key.

Difficulty: Easy
Column: CS
Category: Heat and Eat

Get the recipe here.

I made the soup pretty much as described except once I sauteed the onions and garlic I transferred them to a crockpot with the rest of the ingredients.  Then I cooked the soup on low all day until the beans were tender.  I also took a potato masher to the soup to break up the beans some and make a creamier soup.

To freeze:
Divide the cooled soup into containers or bags and freeze.

To serve:
Thaw the soup in the refrigerator overnight.  Reheat on the stove or in the microwave.  This soup gets pretty thick when frozen.  You may need to add water or chicken stock to loosen it.  If you do, add salt and pepper to taste to compensate for the added liquid.