What to cook after working a full day?

[Disneymaniacs]

This thread is making me hungry. I am also one of those people who make large quantities of food and freeze them. Some example are:

Spagetti sauce- I spend one afternoon making a large batch of homemade spagetti sauce with lots of meatballs.
meals- spagetti, meatball hoagies.
I take 2 freezer containers and put about 12 meatballs covered in sauce in each for 2 future meals of meatballs hoagies (I have a family of 4 but the kids don't eat hoagies so they each get 2 meatballs served on toothpicks). Cut hoagie in half lengthwise but not all the way through, put 4 meatballs inside, cover with sauce and mozerella, bake until toasty.
The rest of the sauce goes into containers too for future meals of spagetti or lasagna.

Chicken- I buy the 3.5 Tyson frozen skinless boneless chicken breasts. I defrost and marinate them all in italian dressing and then grill them all.
Meal #1- grilled chicken, baked potatoes (time-baked in oven while I'm at work), salad
extra meals- chicken divan, chicken enchiladas, chicken quesedillas, or just dice the chicken and put on skewers and serve with bbq, sweet and sour, or ranch- my kids love anything served on a stick.

Ground beef- I cook 4 pounds at a time then rinse and freeze into 4 freezer bags.
meals- chili, tacos, spagetti

chuck roast- meal #1 cook large roast in the crock pot, serve with mashed potatoes, gravy, & corn.
extra meals- bbq sandwiches or bbq potatoes (large baked potatoe topped with cheese, sour cream, butter if you like, bbq meat, and thinly sliced scallions.

easy kid favorites at my house-
chicken on a stick with dips, veggie, fresh fruit.
grilled steak with skewer of sliced fruits.
chili in a sundae cup- I saw this one on food network one day- my whole family loves it. Presentation is the key. Take a water goblet or glass ice cream cup like you would get in a soda shop, fill 2/3 way with cooked wide egg noodles, cover with homemade chili, top with cheese, dollop of sour cream, scallions, and stick a couple of fritos on the top corner to look like a straw, serve with extra fritos.
quesedillas- butter outsidd of 2 tortillos, fill with finely dice cooked chicken or ground beef and cheese, brown both sides like a grilled cheese sandwich, serve with salsa, shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, and sour cream.

Please everybody share more recipes. I feel like I make the same things over and over too.

 

[Katy Belle]

This is my favorite "planned leftovers" meal.

Meal #1- grill steaks, bake potatoes, whatever other sides, baked beans, salad etc. (grill extra steaks and bake extra potatoes

Meal #2- dice up some green pepper and onion, fry in a little olive oil. Cut up the steaks, cut up the baked tators. Stir them in with the peppers and onions, heat until all hot. I usually season with Seasoning Salt. YUM-O Some of my family members like this better than meal #1.

Katy

 

[hallie615]

No problem! These aren't the original versions - which were the kind you do all the cooking at the same time. These are the versions where I use the shredded chicken.

Chicken Chimichangas

2½ c cooked chicken, shredded
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ Tbl chili powder
16 oz salsa (mild or spicy)
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp cinnamon
pinch salt (opt & I skip)
6 flour tortillas (10”)
1 can refried beans
1 c shredded cheddar or Mexican cheese

Mix together garlic, chili powder, salsa, cumin, cinnamon & salt if you're using it. Stir in shredded chicken. Preheat oven to 350.
If not using a no-stick casserole dish, you'll want to grease or at least spray the vertical edges.
Working with one tortilla at a time, spoon a heaping tablespoon of beans down center of each tortilla. Top with a scant ½ cup of the chicken mixture. Sprinkle some cheese over chicken mixture. Fold up the bottom, top and sides of tortilla. Place chimichangas in greased baking pan, seam side down. Bake 20 to 25 minutes.

For a low-fat dish, you can spray or brush the chimichangas with oil. They should be done when they turn golden brown.

Otherwise use this for a topping:

1 can of Cream of Chicken or Cheddar Cheese Soup
½ c sour cream

Combine soup & sour cream; stir until smooth & spread over chimis. Bake until soup bubbles. Tope with additional cheese if desired.

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The cordon bleu is so dumb I'm almost embarrassed to post it. LOL It's good & quick but its only resemblance to the "real" stuff is the ingredients.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

shredded chicken (about 2 cups)
slices of boiled ham (I get it "chipped" at the deli & just use it that way)
cheese - either deli sliced or pre-shredded (cheddar, swiss, american, ??)
Italian bread crumbs
Parmesan cheese (opt)
olive oil

I just layer the chicken on the bottom of the casserole & then cover with cheese. Add a thin layer of bread crumbs on the top. Sprinkle Parmesan over the bread crumbs. Spray oil over the top...it helps make a crust out of the crumbs without using a bunch of melted butter. If you don't have an oil sprayer (like a Misto) you can just drizzle it out of the bottle over the crumbs.

I do something similar to make Chicken Parmesan - just change the variety of cheese used to Mozzarella or Provolone and add spaghetti sauce before the bread crumbs. They're not haute cuisine, but we like them.

Thanks, for the info, I can't wait to try out both of these, I'll let you know how it goes.

For the people who cook ground meat ahead of time and then freeze it, what to you freeze it in, and how does it taste?? I keep thinking I should try it could it would really save time. I started doing that with shredded chicken, my problem is that I always freeze to much in one package, and then get stuck using it all.

 

[MazdaUK]

weigh it into plastic freezerbags - to work out how much, decide how many portions the meat would have served cooked fresh and get that many bags ready. Put one on the scales, and then dish it up (one for you, one for you etc! ) - make a note of the one on the scale for next time. For bolognaise I know that 2 ladles=1 adult portion, so some tupperware pots get 2 portions (for Dh and I) some get one (DS(14) ) and some 1/2 (DS(7), all labelled accordingly.

 

[hallie615]

Easy Chicken Casserole

1 1/2 cups cooked chicken
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 1/3 cup of Minute Rice
1 cup water
1 can (Durkee) french fried onions

Mix all but onions together and bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes. Cover with onion rings and bake 20 minutes longer.

QUOTE]

Silly question, do you use cooked rice or uncooked?

 

[piratesmate]

Thanks, for the info, I can't wait to try out both of these, I'll let you know how it goes.

For the people who cook ground meat ahead of time and then freeze it, what to you freeze it in, and how does it taste?? I keep thinking I should try it could it would really save time. I started doing that with shredded chicken, my problem is that I always freeze to much in one package, and then get stuck using it all.

I just use quart-sized Zip-Loc freezer bags for freezing the meat. If I run out of the actual freezer bags, I'll use regular ones & just toss several quart bags into a gallon bag. But I generally use it within 2 - 3 months (it's that long if I forget about it ) and it's always fine. I've never noticed a "taste" to it other than ground meat. I always drain it through the colander before putting into the bags, no matter how "lean" they say the meat is.

As for how much per bag...I don't think many Americans have scales for cooking, unless they do Weight Watchers. I tend to just "eyeball it", but you might check your recipes to see what it calls for. Maybe put 2 - 3 cups of ground meat per bag? Or go by the weight of the original family pack & just divide evenly...meaning if you brown 3 lbs of meat, put it into 3 bags.

For the chicken, it's a bit more difficult to measure as shredding the chicken leaves so much air space. I suppose you could really pack it into a measuring cup, but I like the air in it. With the chicken, I can actually break the frozen stuff off for a smaller recipe or if I want to make chicken salad without actually defrosting the whole thing!

For both types of meat I always spread the meat out so the bag is flat & then squeeze out the air. That makes it easy to break off what you want if you suddenly have fewer or more people for dinner too.

HTH

 

[MazdaUK]

I don't think many Americans have scales for cooking

I couldn't manage without my scales! Especially for baking. I do have cup measures but I find them a pain (especially for butter - even my Pampered Chef thing) so usually use a conversion chart. Mind you, I have to do without all the great refrigerated dough products and other short cuts you can get which makes it difficult to follow a lot of recipes

 

[piratesmate]

Who measures butter?!?! I just estimate if it's not still in the wrapper with the tablespoon markings on it. I've always laughed at people saying that cooking is like chemistry...I'm sure it's true for things like baking, but other than that I just do a lot of estimating & throwing in whatever sounds good. LOL

DD & I have been watching The Naked Chef on BBC America lately and she thinks it's funny that he's always weighing things instead of using measuring cups.

 

[dahirsh]

I've always laughed at people saying that cooking is like chemistry...I'm sure it's true for things like baking, but other than that I just do a lot of estimating & throwing in whatever sounds good. LOL
QUOTE]

Actually, cooking is an art, but baking is a science. Throw in whatever looks /sounds good when you are coioking, chances are it will be fine, but the results will be quite different is you do the same while baking

 

[MazdaUK]

Since being a PCC I'm pretty good at estimating the correct quantities - I can generally cut the right amount of butter or cheese right off - but I always check it on the scales. I even weigh my cereal - but that's a WW thing

If DD thinks the Naked Chef is funny weighing things, she should watch Delia Smith who measures EVERYHTING

 

[piratesmate]

I haven't seen Delia Smith yet. I'll have to watch out for her. What's the name of her show?

I've been diabetic for over 30 years and started on the ADA diet - where everything was weighed and/or measured...mostly measured. After measuring out foods at every meal for years, I pretty much know what a cup, half cup, etc. looks like. Periodically I measure again just to make sure I haven't lost track & expanded my definition.

It's not really the measuring that we find funny, it's the weighing - and just because it's so foreign to us.

 

[MazdaUK]

Delia's done loads - summer collection, winter collection, Delia Smith's Chirstmas (all quite old now) and she did her "How to Cook" series, starting with real basisc - eggs and toast. Lots of chefs said that was silly, but DH pointed out to me he had no idea how to cook any of the stuff she showed The books are all available online, and are very easy to follow (and reliable) but I find her portions a bit small - either because we're greedy or because she assumes you're having several courses, or lots of extra veg she doesn't mention.