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.

Carrot Miso Soup

Soups are the workhorse of my winter freezer meals.  They are endlessly variable, one-pot meals that are easy to freeze and reheat.

Carrot Miso Soup
Difficulty: Easy
Column: DH

This healthy soup is very cheap to make.  It's also a great way to use up a lot of miso, which I find handy since I sometimes have trouble getting through a package.  Look for miso in the refrigerator section of your local Asian market.  This is very easy to make if you have a food processor to slice the carrots.  I don't even bother peeling the carrots.  I just wash them well, cut off the ends and thinly slice them in the food processor.  Without the food processor, this soup will be more time consuming.  This soup becomes even easier with an immersion blender.

Serve with a drizzle of sesame oil and sliced green onions.  We also like to have it with naan from the grocery store.

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.