Week #1 of the 6 Week Freezer Cooking Challenge is coming to a close and I'm very satisfied with my results. At times, I didn't think I would get everything done that I had planned. And guess what? I was right! And that's OK. Overall, it was a very productive week!
Here's a recap of my Week #1 Game Plan
Crockpot Shredded
Chicken: 2.5 lbs. Recipe coming soon!
Homemade Chicken
Bone Broth(Stock): I will use the bones left from making Crockpot
Shredded Chicken to make homemade chicken stock. For more information on how to
make bone broth and the benefits, please read this
post
from Kitchen Stewardship.
This is an experiment for
me. I'll let you know how it goes!
Chicken Sausage
& Egg Breakfast Cups: This recipe can be found at Skinny Mom's
Kitchen. I will be adapting the
recipe to fit my son's dairy free diet. This will be my first time making these
so I probably won't make a ton.
4x Granola Bars: OK these aren't technically freezer food. But they are
stored in the fridge, so I think they count! Making healthy convenient snacks
is just as important as making healthy meals. There are a few variations of
granola bars over at The Marathon
Mom. I
plan to make at least 2 different types.
My Week #1 Results
Crockpot Shredded Chicken: SUCCESS! I did get this accomplished. I ended up making about 3lbs. of shredded chicken breast. I planned on using bone in chicken breasts that I had in the freezer. After taking them out, I noticed that they had freezer burn. Sadly, I had to trash them. So, I used boneless skinless chicken breasts instead. In the end, I had 6 cups of shredded chicken. I packed them in 2 cup portions since that is a typical amount for most recipes I use shredded chicken for.
Homemade Chicken Bone Stock: FAIL! This basically got nixed since I didn't have chicken bones left from making shredded chicken. I will be putting this back into my plan in 2-3 weeks when after we've eaten the shredded chicken I made this week.
Chicken Sausage & Egg Breakfast Cups: SUCCESS! I had a few hiccups with these as well. I ended up using regular pork sausage instead of chicken sausage. Ya...what I thought was chicken sausage in my freezer was really Italian sweet sausage. What can I say? Sausage links tend to look the same when frozen! Who am I trying to kid? Last week, I was fighting off an awful cold. My head felt like an ocean. Anyhow, it all worked out great. The eggs cups are a HUGE hit at my house! I adapted them by using about 1/4 cup of water to replace the milk. Almond milk in eggs just doesn't sound that good to me. Using water was a successful substitute. I also left out the cheese. I can always add cheese to them when reheating. I only made one dozen of these this week. I plan to include them again in my Week #2 Game Plan.
My other hiccup with these was they stuck awfully bad. I used my Misto loaded with Safflower oil, but it didn't work. I'm trying to come up with a solution. Maybe using real butter to grease the cups? Or liners? But I'm not sure if they will stick to the liner... Suggestions are welcome on this one!
4x Granola Bars: SUCCESS! (sorta) So after I made 2 batches of these, I decided to stop. Here's why...I wasn't sure how well they would freeze and I was standing there looking at 24 freshly made yummy granola bars thinking...will we eat more than this in 7-10 days? I didn't think we would. Well, I may have been wrong. I made these on Monday evening. As of now, we have about 14 bars left. In just 3 days, we went through 10 bars already! I don't think I have to tell you how downright delicious and kid friendly these bars are!
Both batches were Chocolate Granola Bars, so why do they look like different bars in the picture above. Well, I'm impatient as a child on Christmas morning! So, instead of waiting for the mixture to cool before adding the chocolate chips...I just went ahead and dumped them in. Of course, they melted and produced a wonderful uniform chocolate taste in every bite!
For the second batch, I went and fiddled around with my new website (more on that VERY soon) then I started some laundry and ended up back at my computer. I think I stopped to look out the window at a squirrel in the yard and that sidetracked me again...ya, blame it on my A.D.D.! So after wondering around the house and getting next to nothing accomplished, I checked on the mixture and was cool! I mixed in the chocolate chips, threw it in a pan and popped it in the fridge to set up. More waiting...maybe another squirrel, not really sure. Finally, they were set and ready for a taste test. WOWZA! They are amazing!
Ahh yes, my changes to the original recipe:
1. I used coconut oil in place of the butter.
2. I omitted the coconut flakes because...well I forgot to buy some.
3. I added 2 tablespoons of ground flax seed. I wanted to make up for that missing coconut.
4. I also only used 1/4 cup of honey. 1/3 cup just seemed like too much. They were plenty sweet enough for us.
If you are interested in making these bars but discouraged due to an allergy to one of the ingredients, please read through the comments over at The Marathon Mom. There are suggestions upon suggestions of suitable substitutions for these bars including gluten free & nut free.
Bonus Freezer Cooking: This was completely unplanned. On Wednesday, I tried a new pizza dough recipe. I didn't realize that the recipe would make enough dough for two 12" inch pizzas. The recipe turned out to be great! I frozen the extra dough to use later!
Here's everything I made this week:
I'm very excited and anxious to hear about your freezer cooking results for Week #1! If you have a blog, you can use the the Linky below. If you're not a blogger, please post your results in a comment here or on my Facebook page.
Look for my Week #2 Game Plan tomorrow!
Live Frugal. Live Happy.
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