Easy Non-Freezer Meals

After a couple months and four service visits my new freezer is finally working.  It was fixed shortly before I left for a three week road trip with my kids.  I didn't have the time or energy to fill the freezer before the trip.  Now I'm back and recovering. I'm getting ready to do some freezer cooking, probably next week.  In the meantime I thought I would post some of the easy meals I've been making while I have not had a freezer.  Something I noticed is that a number of them are things I already make for the freezer.

These easy meals that freeze well are a good option for those who don't want to dedicate a whole day or week to making freezer meals.  Instead you can make these meals for dinner make enough to freeze at the same time.  Check out the new "eat one, freeze one" category in the index to find meals that would be a good candidate for this.  I've been making a lot of the meals in that category lately.  Here's more meals I've been making that are easy and don't freeze well.

Mascarpone Walnut Pasta

I used to make this dish a lot before I started freezer cooking.  It's delicious and easy.  It was nice to have it again while we were waiting for our freezer.  I briefly considered working on a casserole version of this dish, but it's so fast and easy it doesn't seem worth it.  I didn't think to take a picture.  The last time I made it, so you'll have to use your imagination. :)

Mascarpone Walnut Pasta

From: Great Pasta Sauces

Serves 6

1 lb pasta (I live campanelle, but you can use something else)

4 tbsp butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1 3/4 cup chopped walnuts
8 oz mascarpone
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan
salt and pepper

1. Put the pasta on to boil according to the package instructions.
2. In a large frying pan melt the butter.  Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
3. Add the walnuts and gently stir for 3 to 4 minutes until they are toasted.  Be careful not to burn!
4. Stir in the mascarpone then the parmesan.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.
5. Add the cooked pasta and toss to combine.

This is very tasty served with a bacon and spinach salad.

Lemon Chicken and Gnocchi Sheet Pan Dinner

I haven't had a freezer for the past few months, so I've been exploring other quick and easy, but still tasty, meals.  Sheet pan dinners have been really popular online lately.  I admit that I have been skeptical of them. Generally sheet pan meals have potatoes, vegetables and meat all cooked together on one tray, and some of the ones I see seem like the meat would be way overcooked before the potatoes are tender.  However, I do love this sheet pan chicken tikka, and it convinced me to take a look at more sheet pan dinners for quick non-freezer meals.

Previously for the chicken tikka I have put the chicken in the marinade and frozen it to simplify the process and make it a freezer meal.  Lately I have been just making the marinade and putting the chicken in it a day in advance since I didn't have a large freezer to do bulk freezer cooking.  In this way it works as an easy meal when you don't have freezer meals, or as a freezer meal where marinading  and portioning a bunch of meat in advance does simplify things.  Really any meat in a marinade in the freezer is an easy and common way to do food prep in advance.  Look at your favorite marinaded meat dishes see what you could prep and freeze to simplify your life.

Cooking Days 1 -3: Smoked Pork, Chicken and Barbecue Sauce

Well, this last month has not gone as I had thought.  I thought by now I would have a freezer full of prepared foods and would not be cooking every day.  I was wrong.

Our new freezer has turned into a long a frustrating saga.  We purchased and had it delivered about a month ago.  One of the features that attracted us to this freezer is that it has a high temperature alarm.  The freezer beeps when the temperature gets above a certain temperature.  I have lost a freezer full of food before when I left the door open.  It is a painful event not only because of the cost of the food lost (about $400) but because of the labor that went into making the lost food and the fact that I no longer had that food to rely on to make my days easier.  A high temperature alarm sounded like a good feature to have on our freezer to avoid losing food in the future.

Unfortunately the high temperature alarm goes off constantly despite the fact that the freezer is plenty cold.  GE has sent out a repairman three times now.  The first time he reset it and declared it fixed, but the alarm came back on in a couple hours.  The second time he ordered some replacement parts.  The parts were on backorder and we had to wait a while for them.  He came for the third time yesterday and installed the replacement parts.  It was declared fixed again.  And yet again the alarm came back on in a couple hours.

Freezer Jam

I'm supposed to be doing a boatload of cooking this week to fill up my brand new freezer, and, hopefully, still have enough energy to blog about.  Unfortunately there is a problem with the new freezer, and I am holding off cooking until it's taken care of.  Instead I decided to make freezer jam, which can go in the small freezer on top of my fridge.

My grandma used to make freezer jam when I was a kid.  I loved the stuff.  Later as an adult I decided to try my hand at making it.  I was delighted to find that it is super easy to do and soon had delicious freezer jam of my own.  I was less delighted to discover that the two main pectin brands, Ball and Sure Jell, did not yield a consistent product.  Sometimes I would end up with delicious, set jam, but just as often my jam would not set at all.  Instead I would have many jars of fruit syrup.  It was still delicious but not what I wanted.  In talking to other jam makers I learned that others also had problems with inconsistent set.

Planning Part 2: What to Make

Planning, Part 1: How Much Food to Make

I don't know if there is a meal planning equivalent to writer's block, but there should be because I definitely get it.  I suspect it is a common problem.  I don't know why, but when I sit down to meal plan I suddenly can't think of anything to make.  I know how to make many delicious meals and yet, nothing.  There are some ways to combat this.  I keep a list of ideas. When I'm going about my life and think of something I'd like to eat I put it on a list on my phone.  When it's time to plan I consult the list to help me with ideas.

I also come up with categories.  It's a lot easier to think of things when you narrow it down to specific categories.  This helps me to have a variety of things, so I don't end up with chicken everyday.  When I did meal planning before I started doing freezer cooking I would do categories like: chicken, soup, pasta, vegetarian,....  With freezer cooking my categories are different, which I will elaborate on more in a bit.

Planning, Part 1: How much food to make

Well, I finally have a freezer being delivered.  Tomorrow!  I haven't had a freezer since we moved in January and we left our very old freezer behind.  That means I have been cooking just about every day for a few months now.  In some ways it has been nice.  I got to make some things that I haven't for a while because they don't freeze well, but I am ready to get back to my freezer meals again.  I have missed having meals ready to go or simplified and it is way harder to stay on top of keeping the kitchen clean when dinner needs to be made every day.