Food Saver for Freezer Meals

I recently received one of the best gifts ever- a FoodSaver.  I've never had or used one before, so I didn't realize what I was missing.  If you've never used one either let me tell you, you're in for a treat.

The gift arrived in perfect timing as I had just finished up another round of freezer meals with my sisters.  For new readers, we do this every few months and stock up our freezers full of delicious, homemade dinners for our families.  We average about $6/meal, and when I say meal I mean really good food- we're not talking hot dogs and noodles folks.  For more info on how to start making your own freezer meals, catch up on my tips and some recipes HERE.

Typically I pack up my freezer meals in a zip loc bag, lay them out flat to freeze and then stack them neatly in the freezer.  This doesn't work for everything however, like the casserole/enchilada/lasagna recipes.  Here's how I used my new FoodSaver to 1) store my food in airtight bags that will last longer without freezer burn, and 2) save me the mess later of having to wait for my meal to thaw enough to remove the saran and foil before I drop it in the pan.

Step one: Seal one end of the FoodSaver roll (unless you are using FoodSaver bags, which will already be sealed shut on one end)

Line up one end of the roll against the sealing strip,

 close the lid and lock it in place,

press the "seal" button and wait with anticipation,

and voila, one end is sealed.

Step two: Cut your bag to size

I found that the easiest way to do this was simply to hold the bag over my freezer meal, and then eyeball an additional 3 inches to the length of my meal.

Step three: Seal the deal

If desired, label the top before you seal it as it will be easier to do this with a flat surface before the food is inside. I quickly wrote the name of the meal, and cooking instructions.

Place your food in the bag, leaving at least 3 inches of space from the food to the top (unsealed end) of your bag. 

Tuck the top end into the vacuum chamber, close and lock the lid, and press the "vac/seal" button.

Watch in awe as this awesome machine sucks out all the air and gives you this cute little package in the end.

A few tips if you would like to use a FoodSaver to freeze meals like freezer meals, or your excess leftovers.  First, you really need to pre-freeze the meal.  The FoodSaver pulls excess liquid out, so if you were trying to freeze soup for example, you're going to a lose a lot of the meal.

With most of my meals, I froze them in the dishes I plan on using later to bake them in, then removed them from the dish once frozen and sealed them in their frozen state.

 When I'm ready to use the meal, I remove the frozen meal from the sealed bag and set it in the dish to thaw until it's time to cook.

To save a step, you can also put the meal right into a foil pan, and after freezing it you can seal it up right in the foil pan that you will cook it in.  It bends the shape slightly when it vacuums the air out, but not enough that it's going to hurt anything.

Here is my cute little finished stack of freezer meals all vacuum sealed and ready to store!

Did I mention how much I love this new gadget?  I can't wait to start storing my chicken and meats I buy in bulk with the FoodSaver bags in my freezer.

Do any of you have any tips on other things I might get excited about using the FoodSaver for?

~PW

Got Herbs? Freeze them!

Not the kind of herb you're thinking about, peeps, garden herbs!  I love nothing more than having fresh herbs that I can run outside to and pick when I'm whipping up dinner.  I feel a bit wasteful though when I have huge bushes of basil that look like this:

I felt saddened that I can't have this year round for those dreadful winter months that lack fresh herbs and seasonings.  Thanks to google, I discovered a way to preserve some of these babies.

Here's how I'll be enjoying my fresh basil, mint, and parsley all year long.

Step 1: Pick and Wash

Really, there's no explanation needed here.  Pick your herbs, rinse them off well and pat them dry with paper towels.

Step 2: Chop and Drop

For basil- toss into a food processor, and add a little bit of Olive Oil until the basil has all been chopped and has a slightly liquid consistency.

Other herbs (like parsley and mint) don't need the Olive Oil.  This just helps the basil to retain it's beautiful color better and to avoid browning.

With mint and parsley you have the option of chopping the herbs down (either by hand with a knife) or in the food processor, or you can keep them whole.

Spoon or place your herbs into ice cube trays until about 3/4 of the way full.  The basil/ olive oil is ready at this point and can be scooped right into the trays. 

sneaky little hand in there

I opted to put my mint leaves in whole.

For the other herbs (aside from basil), finish filling up each tray with water. 

Step 3: Freeze 'em

Place the trays in a freezer until the ice cubes have solidified.



mmmm... butterfinger...



Step 4:  Bag 'em

Twist the cubes out of the trays (you know, the old fashioned way we all did it before ice makers in the freezer???) and place them into freezer zip loc bags.

Step 5: Use 'em

This is the most important step!  Don't forget to use these bad boys!  Whenever you're using a recipe that calls for fresh herbs, pull out an ice cube at a time and toss it in your pasta or casserole.  The mint cubes can be dropped right into a tall glass or lemonade or iced tea.  I did this last year with my basil and can't tell you how fabulous it was to have year round.  I'm stoked to try it out with mint and parsley this year also.

Enjoy those herbs, people (the legal kinds of course... )

:)

XOXO

~PW

P.S.  I am officially insane.  My first dining room table wasn't enough fun for me, so I decided to do another one.  She's finished now, but I am only going to tease you with the before pic...

Stay tuned...

Peanut Curried Chicken

To all of my curry loving peeps out there- this one is for you. Here's a recap of my sweets' and my conversation from the other night when I heated up this amazing dish from the Freezer Meal Night.

• Sweets:  (mouth full of food and about to inhale a second forkful) How many more bags of this recipe did you make?
• Me: Just this one.
• Sweets: Uh oh. Let's steal your sister's and mom's. 
• Me: (immediately texting away to all who joined me for the freezer meal night) We ate the curried chicken tonight and it is awful.  I feel so horrible for suggesting this meal.  We're willing to sacrifice one of our lasagna dishes for your curried chicken.  So sorry!

Unfortunately the plot didn't work as we had hoped.  Everyone had already eaten theirs and instead of laughing at the joke they were a bit slow and questioned why we didn't like it when they all loved it.

I promise it was funny when it happened.  Reading it now, it just looks like a waste of your time.  Sorry folks...

The majority of this recipe come from Rachel Ray and can be viewed here.  This version has been adapted to Penny Wenny's liking (and heat removed to satisfy all the kiddos that we have to feed).

Peanut Curried Chicken

 For the Freezer Meal Night, this recipe was multiplied by 4 and then divided up among 5 families.  If you only intend to make this for your family, only do a quarter of each ingredient.

Source: Rachael Ray

Ingredients:

4 small bunches green onions, coarsely chopped                   

4 inch cube ginger, peeled and grated                                   

8 TBSP minced garlic                                                

2 cups cilantro leaves (approx 2 bunches)                  

2 containers of Medium Curry blocks (or 10 TBSP curry powder).  The blocks give you a much more authentic indian flavor

4 cans chicken broth                                                  

4 TBSP veggie oil                                                                  

15 chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces             

1 1/3 cup chunky peanut butter                                                         

3 cans coconut milk               

To Prepare:

Combine scallions, ginger, garlic, cilantro, curry powder and a splash of chicken broth in mixing bowl and whisk into a paste. 

Heat a large skillet over medium heat with oil.  Add chicken to pan and brown, 2-3 minutes.  Add spice paste and stir 1 minute to combine.  Add peanut butter to the pan and whisk in chicken broth.  Bring to a bubble and whisk in coconut milk, lower heat and simmer 7-8 minutes.

To freeze (optional):

 Ladle into zip loc freezer bags.  Cool in refrigerator.  Seal bag and freeze until ready to serve.

To serve:

 Defrost chicken in refrigerator the day prior to serving.  Heat in skillet over low heat until heated through. .

OPTIONAL: Add red pepper flakes for heat if desired.  Serve over rice

Our house smelled like Indian Heaven while this was heating up.  Even little Trav couldn't wait to dig in (sitting at Daddy's place of course...)

And yes, his shirt really does say "Dude your girlfriend keeps checking me out".  He's a lady's man for sure.

 I have to end this post with the best quote I heard today from my friend Heidi, the Shoeologist:

"When God closes one door, he opens a box of girl scout cookies".

That He does, Heidi.  I am incredibly sad to say however that I have yet to eat my first girl scout cookie of the season and typically by now I have inhaled at least 3 boxes.  Am I on a diet, you ask?  Watching my calories?  Trying to eat healthier?  Heavens no.  I just never remembered to order them.  I am dying!  If anyone just so happens to drop some off at my house tomorrow morning for my breakfast, I promise I won't object. MMMkay, thanks.

This darling Shoeologist is hosting a giveaway for a free pair of adorable Lucha shoes in gray or red.  Hop on over HERE and enter to win.  They are sooo my style.

I'm sharing this recipe with:


~PW

Rotisserie Chicken, Rice and Vegetable Soup

I wish I was ready to post part 1 to the "Re-upholstering with a drop cloth" tutorial that I have all written out for you fine folks, but I am still waiting for my pictures that were downloaded to my destroyed laptop to be transferred from the hopefully salvageable hard drive onto an external one.  Fortunately we have a friend who is working on that for me as we speak.  In the meantime, perhaps I can tempt your taste buds with a fantastic and super easy soup.  Anyone who follows my recipes knows that I love to cook with pre-cooked rotisserie chickens.  I pick one up every time I hit up Costsco and usually that little "cluck cluck" (as my little Trav says) feeds us for 3 meals.  When we are getting to the last bits of meat, I typically use it to make a soup.  Here's one of our favorites (ironically from my favorite cookbook, "Favorites- A Collection of Favorite Ivory Family Recipes), adapted to my liking using rotisserie chicken and a few minor changes.

Rotisserie Chicken, Rice and Vegetable Soup

Ingredients

 1 medium yellow onion, diced

6 TBSP butter (the real stuff)

3-4 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced

8 medium sized mushrooms, sliced (if you like fungus... I opt out for this ingredient, thank you very much)

2 ribs of celery, thinly sliced

1 cup uncooked long grain rice

Approx 5.5 cups chicken broth (equivalent to 3 cans if you aren't making some of your own broth)

1/2 cup white wine

1 can green beans

Broth Ingredients

Day 3 of your rotisserie chicken (approx 1/4 the meat of a full rotisserie)

1 bay leaf

3 peppercorns

1/4 of an onion

1 celery rib (leaf included)

 

Directions

Cut the meat off of your rotisserie chicken.  Don't worry about getting it all off, as the meat will fall off the bone when you boil it for your broth.  

Throw the leftover "stuff" (carcass, skin, and fat) into a pot with approx 4 cups water, a bay leaf, 3 peppercorns, 1/4 of an onion (not diced), and 1 rib of celery.

Bring to boil over high heat, reduce to a low boil and cook for approx 20 minutes.

I use this time while my stock is cooking to chop all of my veggies.

 

Remove the pot from the heat, pull out the carcass and set aside (such a gross word when you're talking about food but I really don't know how to say it sweetly), and strain the broth into a large bowl.

 

 

Pull any remaining meat off of the "thing" and any chunks in the strainer, and add to your pile of shredded chicken.

In the same large pot, melt butter over medium heat.  Add sliced veggies (onion, carrots, celery and mushrooms) and saute until tender. 

Add rice, and stir to coat with butter.

 Add 1 can of chicken broth, your homemade chicken broth, and white wine, and bring mixture to a boil. 

Cover, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes or until rice is tender.

Uncover, add green beans and simmer until heated through, approx 5-10 minutes.  Taste test your broth, and add salt and pepper as needed.  If you didn't get enough flavor from your rotisserie, add a chicken bouillon cube and stir until dissolved. 

 

Scoop into bowls and serve with a warm loaf of crusty French Bread.

Enjoy!

 

~PW