I just finished putting away the meals from the bulk cooking challenge… let’s see, I think I have:

(meals = what would serve the three of us for supper plus lunch for the Munchkin and me the next day…)

4 meals of chicken tetrazzini
4 meals of chicken curry
7 bags of meatballs (I think I put 8 in each bag)
2 meals of chili
8 bags of Big Batch Beef sauce (base for all kinds of yummy tomato saucey dishes)
7 Breakfast burritos (the other 4 didn’t make the cut so we’ll have to eat them this weekend, how sad. )

That’s in addition to what was already in there:

3 meals from my Dream Dinners run in March
1 bag of frozen breakfast potatoes
1/2 bag of frozen french fries
1/2 bag of tater tots
1 bag of raspberries
1/2 bag of blueberries
3 ice packs (1 for the cooler and 2 for aches and pains)
ice cream (I think there are 2-3 scoops in there)
2-3 pounds of bacon
Frozen chicken
Chocolate Chips

I probably forgot a few things…

I had to take out the coffee and the polish sausage to make room, but over all, my new freezer is making the grade. I can do a full cooking run and be able to put it away! WHEEEEEE!

Just one problem: my fridge looks kind of empty. Oh well…

BIG-BATCH BEEF SAUCE
4 Lbs. Ground beef
4 medium onions, chopped
5 celery ribs, thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 cans (28 oz. Each) diced tomatoes, undrained
2 cans (6 oz. each) tomato paste
2 jars (4.5 oz each) mushrooms, drained, optional
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
1Tbsp. Salt
2 tsp. Dried oregano
2 tsp. Dried basil
1 tsp. Pepper

Cook beef, onions, celery and garlic over med. heat until meet is no longer pink and vegetables are tender ; drain. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 1-1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. Cool. Transfer to freezer bags or containers, about 2 cups in each. May be frozen for up to 3 months. Makes about 15 cups. Use in the following recipes:

SPEEDY SPAGHETTI
2 cups Big-Batch Beef Sauce
1 can (8 oz.) Tomato sauce
1 jar (4.5 oz) sliced mushrooms, drained (opt.)
2 tsp. Italian seasoning
Hot cooked spaghetti

Combine the beef sauce, tomato sauce, mushrooms and Italian seasoning. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Serve over spaghetti.

TIME-SAVING TACOS
2 cups Big-Batch Beef Sauce
1 envelope taco seasoning
1/4 cup water
6 to 8 taco shells or flour tortillas
Toppings: shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, sliced ripe olives, shredded cheddar cheese, chopped onions, sour cream, salsa.

Combine beef sauce, taco seasoning and water and bring to boil in saucepan. Reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, until heated through. Spoon about 1/4 cup meat mixture into each taco shell or tortilla and serve with above toppings.

OVEN-READY LASAGNA
2 cups Big-Batch Beef Sauce
1 can (6 oz.) Tomato paste
2 tsp. Dried basil
2 cups (16 oz) small-curd cottage cheese
1 egg
6 no-cook lasagna noodles
4 cups (16 oz.) Shredded mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Combine beef sauce, tomato paste and basil in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 5 minutes. Mix cottage cheese and egg. Spoon a third of the meat sauce into a greased 13-inch x 9-inch x 2-inch baking dish. Layer with three noodles, half of the cottage cheese mixture and a third of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers. Top with remaining meat sauce and mozzarella. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Uncover; sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake 5-10 minutes longer or until bubbly and the cheese is melted. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

WEEKDAY CHILI
2 cups Big-Batch Beef Sauce
1 can (16 oz) kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
1-2 tsp. Chili powder
1/4 tsp. Crushed red pepper flakes
Shredded cheddar cheese

Combine the beef sauce, beans, tomato sauce, chili powder and red pepper flakes in saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until heated through. Garnish servings with cheese.

I participated in HK’s Bulk Cooking Challenge last week and I’m finishing up today. I made:

Chicken Curry
I made two batches, and each batch makes 10 servings, so I ended up with 20 servings, or about 4 meals plus dinner the night I made it.

8 c. cooked brown rice
1/2 c. olive oil
2 c. chopped onions
1/2 c. chopped green pepper
6 c. cooked chicken, chopped
2 T. flour
2 T. curry powder
1½ t. salt
1 c. water
1/2 c. lemon juice
2 c. tomato sauce
4 cloves garlic, crushed
Cook onion and green pepper in oil until tender. Add chicken . Sauté briefly. In separate bowl mix flour, curry powder and salt. Slowly stir in water and lemon juice to make paste. Add tomato sauce and garlic and pour mixture over chicken mixture. Mix. To freeze, freeze in ziploc plastic bag. Freeze rice in separate ziploc bag. To serve, thaw. Place rice in casserole dish. Place chicken mixture over top of rice. Heat through on 350°, about 30 min.

Chicken Tetrazzini
I made two batches, which made about four meals plus dinner the night I made it…

8 oz pkg spagetti (I double the spaghetti in each batch so it’s not as rich… it was 32 ounces for two batches)
1-1/4 cups chopped onion (make sure you use fresh onions!)
1 cup chopped green pepper
3 Tbsp butter
5-1/2 cups cooked, deboned, diced chicken (1 chikcen)
4 cups cheese (half monterey and half cheddar)
2 x 10oz cans cream of mushroom soup (Dan is not wild about mushrooms so I do cream of chicken soup, although for a doubled recipe, I did three cans of chicken and one of mushroom… shhh, don’t tell hubby!)
1 soup can full of milk
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook spaghetti according to package instructions. Saute the onion and green pepper in the butter. Mix all ingrediants together throroughly in large bowl. FREEZE.

To serve: thaw and bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes until bubbly. Makes 12 servings.

Chili – one batch, I haven’t finished packaging it, but it looks like I’ll end up with 3-4 meals plus dinner the night I made it.

2 pounds hamburger
2 cups chopped onion
2 large cans crushed tomatoes
2 large cans kidney beans
1 medium can tomato sauce
2 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp sugar

Cook hamburg and onion until partially done. Drain beans, but don’t discard the juice! Add juice to all of the above and simmer 30 minutes. Add kidney beans and heat. FREEZE Serve with cornbread

Hawaiian Pork (I didn’t make it yet because of freezer space, but I’ll make it in the next few weeks… It’s a great recipe!)

1 ½ pounds ground pork
2/3 cup cracker crumbs
½ cup chopped onion
1 beaten egg
½ tsp salt
½ tsp powdered ginger
¼ cup milk
2 Tbsp cornstarch
½ cup brown sugar
1 15 ounce can pineapple chunks
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1/3 cup chopped green pepper
1/3 cup vinegar

Combine pork, crackers, onion, egg, salt, ginger and milk in bowl. Mix well. Shape into 1 inch balls. Cook in skillet. Combine cornstarch and sugar in pan. Add juice from pineapple, soy sauce, pepper and vinegar to cornstarch mixture. Mix well. Cook over medium heat until thickened and green pepper is tender-crisp. Add pineapple, heat through. FREEZE Spoon onto a bed of cooked rice.

Today I’m finishing up with these two recipes and then I’ll do breakast burritos later this week and then I’ll be DONE! Phew!

Natalie’s meatballs:

(These can be mixed and frozen uncooked, or baked and frozen without sauce, or baked in the sauce and frozen.  They are not tiny spaghetti meatballs, but more substantial!) Serves approx 8

2lb ground beef
handful of chopped fresh basil
salt and pepper
2 crumbled beefstock cubes
1 cup of rolled oats or 3/4c quick cooking oats
4T milk or water
3T or LARGE squirt of runny honey or brown sugar
2 t minced garlic
1 finely chopped onion.

About 30 minutes before you start, add the milk/water to the oats and let them soak to soften a little. Sautee the onion until glossy, then put on a baking tray in the freezer to cool quickly.  Then put all of the ingredients in a large bowl and get a helper to mix it with their hands by tightly squishing it through their fingers!  Then, since their hands are already dirty, get them to form golfball sized meatballs and place in a baking tray/dish.  Cover with lid or foil, and bake in a moderate oven for approx 30-45 minutes - you want them light brown but NOT overdone.  I usually then cool and freeze at this point, because then I can remove the exact number that I require and leave the rest frozen.  To serve just defrost, pour any tomato type sauce over and heat until bubbling. Serve with pasta or rice.

BIG-BATCH BEEF SAUCE — I’ll post this in the next post…

With my wonderful husband’s permission, I went to Dream Dinners last night. I made twelve different meals, but since I did two three-serving portions of each, I ended up with twenty four. My bigger freezer is stuffed to the gills and that’s after taking out two roasts (to take to mom’s next week), two backs of cooked chicken (chicken pasta salad!), two ice packs, half bag of coffee beans and two bags of chocolate chips.

Dream Dinners is kind of like doing once-a-month-cooking only all of the planning, shopping, chopping, prep and, most importantly, clean up is done for you! Yes, you can do it for cheaper at home, but it sure is nice to go and do it the “easy” way. It was like a two hour vacation and I was productive to boot!

I actually did it twice between ^Bun’s^ hospital stays two years ago but then after a bad c/s experience, never went back. (It’s amazing how one store owner can ruin your opinion of an entire chain!) We have since moved away from the area near the “lame” store and when Kim mentioned going to dream dinners a few weeks ago, I figured I’d give it another try. I was not disappointed! This place is amazing!

When I walked into the store last night, they actually treated me like they were really glad to see me! Everyone was super helpful and spoiled me rotten, even when I managed to tip an entire container of oregano over! LOL. When I was finishing up my last meal, one of the girls started packing my coolers up for me and then they put it on their nifty cart and rolled it out to my car for me! Now THAT is service.

I don’t think I’ll go in April since their menu seems a bit boring and easy to make at home, but I’m anxious to see what they will offer in May.