Freezer Meals

A few of my friends have gotten together and swapped freezer meals. It's tricky to find ladies that this swap works with because it's best if your families are similarly sized and they have the freezer space to store spare meals.

Freezer Meal Round 1 - we decided to do a main dish to exchange. I made chicken enchiladas and boy were they tasty! I've been slowly working on variations of my enchilada recipe and I think I hit the nail on the head this time. The homemade sauce is killer and the filling was spot on. Candler prefers corn tortillas and I like flour so the choice is yours. I took enchiladas and came home with 5 different delicious meals that we are slowly working our way through.

We had some learning experiences as a group on the best way to freeze and what to freeze. Luckily my friend Hillary did a ton of freezer meals before her second child was born so she put together a fabulous list of what works the best - Hillary's Freezer Meal Bible.

Here are the pictures and my chicken enchilada recipe. Be aware I only doubled the recipe and made 7 pans of six enchiladas so it makes a bunch :-) Estimated cost based on my ingredients purchased was $5-6 per pan which I thought was pretty good for such a filling main dish.

Chicken Enchiladas

Makes about 20 Enchiladas – about 2-3 pans

Recipe Source – Colleen Eve adaptation from Cooks Illustrated and http://www.simpleorganizedliving.com/2010/12/29/chicken-enchiladas/

Fast Enchilada Sauce

“Although all of the brands of canned enchilada sauce we tried were passable, homemade is always best, and in this instance it’s quick, too. Strain the sauce if you want a smooth, authentic enchilada sauce.” America’s Test Kitchen and I agree. I buy my spices at Aldi and Marc’s making this also very inexpensive.

·         1 tablespoon vegetable oil

·         1 onion, minced

·         ½ teaspoon salt

·         3 tablespoons chili powder

·         3 garlic cloves, minced

·         2 teaspoons cumin

·         2 teaspoons sugar

·         2 (8 oz.) cans tomato sauce

·         ½ cup water

Note – Tomato paste can also be used in place of the tomato sauce. One 6oz can tomato sauce + 1.5 cans of water = one 8 oz. can of tomato sauce.

1.       Heat the oil in a 12 inch skillet over medium heat until shimmering.

2.       Add the onion and salt and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.

3.       Stir in chili powder, garlic, cumin, and sugar. Cook until fragrant, about 15 seconds.

4.       Stir in the tomato sauce and water. Bring to a simmer and cook until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Enchiladas

Meat Mixture

·         3 T. cooking oil

·         3 small onions — chopped

·         2 4oz. cans chopped green chilies

·         5 c. cooked & shredded chicken

·         Half of the enchilada sauce from above (about 1.5 cups)

Cottage Cheese Mixture:

·         3 c. cottage cheese

·         1 c. sour cream

·         salt and pepper to taste

Other Ingredients:

·         20 8″ tortillas

·         3 c. shredded Monterey Jack cheese – divided

·         Half of the enchilada sauce from above (about 2-3 cup

Enchilada Directions:

1.       Chicken Mixture

a.       In a large skillet, heat oil; saute onions and chilies until onions are cooked. {about 5 minutes} Set aside.

b.      In a large bowl combine the shredded chicken and half of the enchilada sauce (about 2-3 cups). Stir.

c.       Add the onions and chiles to the chicken mixture. Stir. Set aside.

2.       In a medium bowl mix cottage cheese, sour cream, and salt and pepper. Set aside.

3.       Measure out 2 cups of shredded cheese. Set aside.

4.       Assembly time

a.       Heat tortillas until soft {I just wrap them in a damp paper towel and nuke them in the microwave for a few seconds}

b.      Spoon about ¼ cup of the meat onto each tortilla.

c.       Spoon about 3 T. of the cottage cheese mixture onto the meat mixture.

d.      Top with 1 heaping Tablespoon of shredded cheese.

e.      Roll up the tortilla and place in a covered baking dish.

5.       Freezer option – Cover with plastic wrap and foil and place in the freezer. I like to include 1 cup of the enchilada sauce in a sandwich baggie and 1 cup of shredded cheese in a baggie when I freeze them so the meal is ready to go when thawed.

6.       Baking Instructions

a.       If frozen pull out in the morning and place in the fridge to thaw (doesn’t matter if they thaw completely)

b.      Preheat oven to 350 degrees

c.       Pour 1 cup of enchilada sauce over the enchiladas

d.      Sprinkle about 1 cup of shredded cheese over the sauce

e.      Bake uncovered for 20-30 minutes (depending on how frozen they still are)

f.        Enjoy!

Note – These turned out to be my best enchiladas yet and I think this recipe is going to be my new favorite. Candler wants me to try using corn tortillas next time and I am sure those will be delicious as well.

Freezer Meal Round 2 - This coming week we are doing another swap. This time with soups and a side. I made my Spicy Taco Soup (love) and still need to make corn bread muffins. I didn't exactly triple the recipe - in between a double and a triple very non-exact. I always add water until it gets a soup consistency otherwise it is very thick and I prefer a little more broth to dip my corn bread in. This vat (yes I used my canning pot) gave me 8 family sized freezer meals, 3 lunch portions, and one bowl for me to eat at 10pm before I went to bed :-) Estimated cost is about $2.85 per family sized serving for the soup, I still need to look at the costs for the corn bread but I know it will be less than the soup. So there is your under $5 meal!