Chicken Strips

These chicken strips were tasty and a big hit with my kids.  They gobbled them up, which is unusual for them.

Adapted from: Once Upon A Chef
Difficulty: Moderate
Category: Freezer to Pan
Recipe Column: AC

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.

French Dip

These sandwiches are a big hit with my family.  They're very tasty plus they are super easy and low maintenance to both make and serve.

Adapted from: Neighbor Food
Difficulty: Easy
Category: Some Assembly Required
Recipe Column: CG
Serves: 6

Saag Paneer

I cannot tell you how delighted I am to have discovered a way to freeze this dish.  Saag paneer is one of my favorite meals and my favorite Indian dish.  Unfortunately we only have one Indian restaurant in town and while they have some delicious food their saag paneer is not great. It can also be pretty time consuming to make saag paneer.  Due to the lack of good saag paneer in my town and how time consuming it is, I haven't been able to have saag paneer on a regular basis for a few years now, hence the delight at being able to freeze it.  Now I make a quadruple bathc and can have it even more frequently than I did when we lived in a town with more Indian restaurants.  As I've said before, Indian food is one of my favorite things to cook.  It's such an enjoyable sensory experience.

Delicious saag paneer with an equally delicious mango lassi right next to it.

This recipe is time consuming and I classify it as difficult based solely on making the paneer, which is a process.  If you can find a store bought paneer or if you want to replace the paneer altogether with chickpeas, chicken or potatoes, this actually becomes and reasonably fast and easy dish.  I love the paneer though, so it's worth the effort to me to make it.

Pupusas

I uploaded an updated spreadsheet.  Go here to download it.

I enjoyed eating pupusas regularly when I lived in New York.  Unfortunately, I've had trouble find good ones anywhere else, and I have missed them.  Finally I have learned how to make them.   It took some experimenting because none of the recipes I found online tasted like the ones I had in New York.  All of those recipes called for the dough to be made with only instant masa and water.  This resulted in a dry, tough exterior not the soft exterior of the pupusas I remember.

Some internet research led me to believe that the difference is made by using instant masa instead of fresh masa.  I don't know of a place to purchase fresh masa and I don't have the equipment or inclination to make it myself.  After some experiments in adding butter and baking power to the dough with the instant masa I got very close to the soft pupusas I enjoyed so much in New York.  I realize this may not be an authentic way to make them, but they taste pretty authentic and delicious!

Corn Crepes

We finished off the last of these tasty corn crepes a couple nights ago.  In fact the freezer is starting to look a little sparse.  I'm gearing up do my once a month cooking over the next couple days.  The grocery shopping is done and I will be doing the chopping, shredding and mincing this afternoon.  I'm looking forward to having some new variety in our meal rotation.

Difficulty: Moderate
Category: Simple Side
Recipe Column: AF

Get the recipe at Smitten Kitchen.

To freeze:
Cool the crepes and divide into dinner-sized stacks.  I generally plan on two to three crepes per person.  Wrap each stack tightly in plastic wrap or place in freezer bags and freeze.

To serve:
Thaw the crepes overnight in the refrigerator.  Remove from the plastic wrap or bag and place on a plate.  Sprinkle 3 tablespoons of water on a clean kitchen towel and cover the crepes.  Microwave in 2 minute bursts at 70% power until hot.  The recipe linked above has a few serving suggestions.  I initially tried the crepe cake with the mayo and queso fresco because I love Mexican corn.  I found the mayo and cheese overpowered the delicate corn flavor of the crepes.  My preferred serving method is just to fold them up and serve with a little sprinkle of queso fresco.  We had it with avocado cucumber salad.  I also think it would be good with a fresh tomato salad.

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