Batch Cooking

I have always been fascinated with batch cooking, meal exchange, and food storage. The problem is I have one of those 2 door refrigerators with the teeny tiny narrow freezer and the almost as teeny tiny and narrow fridge section. Whoever invented those had never cooked. So for my birthday (last week) I begged and begged for a deep freezer. John and my dad went in together and got me a small one so I was inspired to batch cook. Some days I'm just too tired to cook. I love to cook, but not when I am tired and hungry. I have found it to also be a great way to use all of the ingredients- limp, rotting celery  in my fridge drawer is like the story of my life.

Last week on one of my tutoring days off I decided to try my hand at batch baking. I have a once a month cook book, but like I have mentioned in previous posts, I can't turn down a good cooking magazine. Paula Deen had her 5 year anniversary best recipes cooking magazine out so I was inspired.

There are a few main rules/ideas that I have found that are very helpful to batch cooking:

1. get some storage dishes with tops- for my batch of stuff I used pyrex with lids- you want something that can go straight into the oven-for my grandmother's stuff I made I used tin pie plates and baking dishes

2. invest in some freezer bags, Glad press n seal freezer paper, and heavy duty foil- you don't want freezer burn to ruin all of your hard work

3. use centralized recipes- stick with a few main ingredients so you don't go bonkers in your cooking excursion- I used chicken and shrimp for my stuff and just chicken for my grandmother's

4. never thought you'd add a fraction again? add up all of the amounts of onion, celery, bell pepper, chopped chicken, etc and go ahead and cut it up and measure it. This will save your life.

5. Label, Label, Label!! Label all of your entrees with what temperature to cook them at, what else you need to complete the supper, and attach any toppings possible (I had individual portions of cheese to top stuffed shells)

6. Figure out the best way to store- some stuff needs to be cooked before you freeze, some half, some not at all- I assembled pot pies, stuffed shells, and enchiladas but did not bake them before freezing- i under cooked all pasta since it will be cooked again, I cooked things that needed to meld together all the way through- my jambalaya had raw rice and the squash casserole had bread crumbs

7. If you aren't feeling creative, check out websites on the internet dedicated to batch baking

individual meals

After I did my batch cooking I decided my grandmother would really benefit from this- I just did 1/2 portions of my stuff, but she is blind and bed bound most of the time so she needs individual portions of meals or small family sizes. I found some small chicken pot pie tins and bought 2 dozen. Even with organization and similar ingredients, both times I have done this I've spent about 5-6 hours in the kitchen- it is worht it. It feels so great knowing I have meals in my freezer if  I don't want to cook.

Here's what I made for me:

Spicy Seafood topping to go over stuffed potatoes
shrimp topping for shrimp and grits
chicken and sausage gumbo
tex mex lasagna
squash casserole
chicken cakes
chicken enchiladas
I also saved 15 c of leftover chicken broth in mini 1 c serving bags

For Grandmama I made:

Chicken Jambalaya
Chicken Enchiladas
Chicken Pot Pie
Chicken and Rice Casserole
Chicken Noodle Bake
Stuffed Shells

Crockpot Applesauce

I had some mealy apples just sitting in my fridge waiting for them to turn bad enough to throw out, so I decided to make applesauce. I saw an article about how to make crockpot applesauce a few weeks back and I really wanted to try it! It is super easy- everyone should make this soon!!

The recipe had measurements, but since apples aren't really in season and as sweet as they could be, I threw the measurements out the window.

I made 2 crock pot batches, but I will give you the recipe for 2 pints of applesauce.

10 apples- cored and chopped- I left the skin on because I am lazy and it is more healthy
toss the apples in a little lemon juice to keep them from browning- put them in the crockpot
I did a handful and a half of brown sugar and covered the top layer of the crockpot with sprinkled cinnamon- 1/2 c hot water and a splash or two of vanilla

I am apologizing in advance for these grainy, poorly lit iPhone photos
The plastic thing in my crockpot is the best thing ever invented, a crockpot liner, so you don't have to wash it- worth the extra money!!

this is after about an hour and a half- I was impatient

Cooking time/level: you have 2 options and it depends on how much of a hurry you are in- last night I wanted applesauce immediately so I did them on high for 3-4 hours until soft- when I decided to make my second batch because I was hooked- it was 11 pm so I did it on low from 11pm-6 am- once your apples are soft throw them in the food processor or blender (my blender takes up less space in the dishwasher so it won)- I bought some canning jars and since the stuff is still really hot the lids seal themselves.

You don't have to can it, you can just eat it that day, but I am really into food hoarding and saving and stuff (and apparently lots of commas in my sentences in this post)

3 pints pictured because I made 2 batches and one jar isn't shown

Sorry if this post is a major run on, etc I just downed a grande caramel macchiato.

Easy Chicken and Dumplings Recipe

I want to make something cool for Cinco de Mayo tonight so be looking for another recipe post soon. Two nights ago I made this really easy Chicken and Dumplings recipe. Chicken and Dumplings has always been one of my favorite meals, but the traditional way of making the dumplings is a mess and takes a lot of time. I have experimented with the "biscuit method" in a couple of different recipes, but it took a long time for me to find a recipe that the biscuits as dumplings didn't taste like biscuits or have biscuit texture if that makes sense. Also this recipe calls for a whole fryer chicken.. I tried that whole cut it up and use the pieces thing and it was a pain.. I think it is well worth it to just buy a spinning hen (rotisserie chicken) from the store for about $5 that is already cooked.

Chicken and Dumplings
1 whole cooked fryer chicken
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 box of chicken stock (I think they are 36 oz)
2 small cans of buttermilk biscuits- cut them in quarters and toss them in flour
3 T butter or margarine
milk (to thin)

Boil the can of cream of chicken soup and the box of broth while you cut up and flour the biscuit dough- add these in and boil 10-15 minutes- do not stir and make sure they are all covered in the broth mixture. After 15 minutes add in the cut up chicken and the butter- if it seems thick or there isn't enough juice in there add in milk as needed- I add probably close to half a cup because I like the juice thin. Cook for another 10 minutes on low- salt and pepper. I serve this over rice.

Easter Recipes.. Part 2

Greek Potato Salad
5 lbs boiled red potatoes quartered
8 oz feta cheese
2 cans drained artichoke hearts
2 cucumbers chopped and quartered


For the dressing I originally made a lemon vinaigrette- 1/2 c olive oil 1 T vinegar 2 lemons squeezed- I realized this was too lemony after I had drenched my potato salad with it- so I added half of a bottle of Greek vinaigrette- my potato salad was swimming a little, but it helped balance it.

** Warning this salad is very very light- as we found out on Sunday all Mediterranean food has this same lemony light flavor- I overheard one of my siblings say on Sunday that, "this just tastes like potatoes with dressing".. haha


Okay.. onto my last dish I made- Greek Green beans with Tomatoes

Greek Green Beans
2.5- 3 lbs fresh green beans- cut
2 fresh tomatoes- chopped
2 c onions
handful of almonds
2-3 t sugar
oregano
paprika
salt
1/2 c olive oil

Saute the onions in olive oil until clear, then add green beans- saute for 5 minutes or so- add tomatoes and the other ingredients- turn down on low and simmer with top on for 45 min to an hour.

I liked this one a lot- it is a different green bean dish and a little sweet and I loved the tomatoes in it.

Pizza Bellas

Last night I made these wonderful Pizza Bellas that I saw Hungry Girl make on a morning show. I have one of her cookbooks and LOVE it! These little pizzas are only 118 calories a piece! Can't beat that :-)

Here's what you need- large portabella mushroom caps, turkey pepperoni, tomato sauce, light string cheese, italian seasoning, green pepper

Cut off the stems and chop the stem (save it for later)

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Place caps on greased cookie sheet- Bake on 400 for 8 minutes while chopping other ingredients

For 2-3 caps

Chop 2 cheese sticks, 8 pepperonis, 1/4 green pepper, mushroom stems

Spread sauce on the caps after you drain off excess mushroom juice

top with toppings and sprinkle with italian seasoning

Bake 10 more minutes on 400

Enjoy!

If you don't like mushrooms you can serve these on eggplant instead

fruit leather and fruit chips

Remember this story?

"This is the napping house where everyone is sleeping.."

This is what it looks like around here as I write this post:

Last night I made fruit leather! I wasn't able to finish the process until I was home from school today, but I think overall it turned out great! John David's business partner, Josh, let me borrow his food dehydrator to experiment with before I decide if I want to buy one or not.

First thing I did was cut parchment paper to fit the plastic tray so the fruit leather wouldn't leak through. This was not very fun. Ideally food dehydrators come with a special fruit leather tray. This one did not.. it caused problems down the line because the inner circle did not have a lip so it dripped down to the other levels. I made 3 tray covers for fruit leather and kept 4 for dried fruit. Another mistake- if I were to do this in the future and wasn't so rushed, I would do an entire thing of fruit leather than an entire 7 trays of dried fruit.

Here is all you need- I did mango and strawberry- depending on how tart the fruit is you may need to add some sugar. I ended up adding 1/2 c sugar and 1 small snack size carton of apple sauce to the strawberry and only 1/4 c sugar to the mango.

For every 4 cups of fruit add a scant 1/2 c of water

While my fruit reduced down I had John help me cut the apples (those aren't my hands)

I sprinkled some lemon juice over these but I should have soaked them in some lemon water because they ended up turning brownish later.

After they simmered for about 15 minutes I added the sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice.

I let it cook down some more and thicken

I pulsed it to a puree in the food processor- taste it here to make sure you don't need to add anything else. This is where I added the extra 1/4 c of sugar to the strawberry and the unsweetened apple sauce

Spray the parchment paper with cooking spray then pour it onto the trays

I had some leftover strawberry so I did some in the oven on the lowest setting

Here they are after about 9 hours in the food dehydrator

This is the tray coming out of the oven- this is a little burned- it tastes okay, but the leather coming out of the food dehydrator tastes better. I did these overnight in the oven so next time I think I would start checking this around 6 hours. I liked how these came out when cutting them so I think I just need to time this better in the future.

This afternoon when I peeled these up to cut them

I used clean scissor to cut these rather than get frustrated with a knife. I think a pizza cutter would probably work too.

They are easiest to eat rolled up, but since there is cooking spray on them, they didn't stay rolled very well.

This photo was taken after I had taken some off, but they did shrink up considerably. The fruit chips did not ever turn crispy like I hoped- they stayed chewy. They still tasted great, but I want to figure out how to get them crispy. They stayed in the food dehydrator about 10 hours.

3 pears, 3 apples, 2 cartons of strawberries, and 2 mangoes shrunk down to these 5 ziplocs.

I was very pleased with my first dried fruit adventure- I want to experiement some more over the summer

April Fools

I am a little surprised since I teach in a high school that there haven't been any April Fools jokes around here. Let me be honest, I do not take jokes well. One time in high school we were running late as usual, I was down to my last uniform shirt that I had to dig out of a pile. As we were running out the door my mom asked me to add more water to the fish bowl- so when I turned on the water she had tied with a rubber band the squirt nozzel and it sprayed all over my last clean shirt. I was not happy. It is a little funny now.. but not really :-)

I saw these on Bridget's blog (Bake at 350) and I think they are really cute- this is a really fun idea that I would do for little kids

Dessert- Mashed potato cupcakes- the top is icing, a yellow starburst, and caramel for the gravy

Dinner- meatloaf cupcakes with mashed potato icing

spaghetti and meatball cupcakes

Go check out this blog for the recipes

I finally did it!

Last night I decided that I was going to attempt a pot roast... again. Since John David and I have been dating I have tried to make his favorite meal numerous times and always failed horribly. I tried the roast in the crock pot like his mom does it and in oven- it has never ever worked.  Well tonight my luck changed! I recently purchased Pioneer Woman's cookbook- as I was flipping through it I saw her roast and decided to try again.

I got my olive oil heating on medium high in the pot while I chopped my onions in half- I used baby carrots so those didn't get chopped.

Brown the carrots and onions seperately in the pot just enough to get brown on each side.

Salt and sear the meat on both sides- I used a 1.5 pound chuck roast because it wasn't for a lot of people. This searing thing is easier said than done. For some reason my pot was really smoky- like set the smoke alarm off twice and then finally have to climb a chair to take the battery out smoky. When I finished preparing the roast and got it in the oven and went to lay down on the couch the house was so full of smoke my throat burned a little. ha. So not sure what the fix is for that one- PW said it was supposed to be hot so that is what I did!

Remove the roast from the pot

Add about a cup of beef stock and a few tablespoons of cooking wine and scrape the bits off the bottom of the pot.

Then, throw everything back in the pot

I put a few sprigs of rosemary out of my garden- tucked down in the pot so it would get in the juices

Add more beef stock until the roast is about halfway covered- then I added about 1/4 cup of red cooking wine

Bake on 275 for 2 hours for a 1 1/2 lb roast and 3- 3 1/2 hours for a 3 lb roast. This is the key cook it low! (I'm not sure if this was my prior problem since I had done it in the crock pot on low before)

While it was cooking I took a much needed nap and then made some of pioneer woman's mashed potatoes- I also modified this one a bit- I boiled red potatoes with the skins on until they were done- I added half a stick of butter and 4 oz cream cheese and some milk. These were awesome with the roast!

The entire meal earned rave reviews from the boyfriend and my roommate who said (and I quote) "I don't want to end up in your blog!"

So proud! I give all of the credit the freshly grown rosemary from my garden- and to Pioneer Woman for talking me through it step by step :-)