Tasty Tuesday: Freezer Cooking Update and a Recipe

Happy Tuesday ladies! I hope you are all having a great week. I know I'm late to the party, but I have to say that I LOVE freezer cooking! Meal planning in general is something that I've been working on and it is keeping me so much saner.  I used to love to just pick what we would be eating for dinner in the morning based on what I was in the mood for.  But between unpredictable nap schedules and sick and/or cranky babies, that was sometimes leaving us without a dinner!

Enter meal planning and now freezer cooking!  I don't know that I'm ready to convert to a once a month (or even once a week) cook, but I am totally on board with the idea.  Last week, a friend and I got together and made a quick freezer meal (it actually made two dinners of the same recipe) while our kids played.  It literally took 15 minutes.  I then popped it in the crockpot one day this weekend and we had an easy and mess free dinner (recipe below)!

Also, I typically cut recipes down as I've found that they make too much for us, but a couple of times in the last week, rather than doing that, I've just made the full recipe and split it into two pans.  Same amount of work, twice the dinners!  Like I said, I know so many others are already doing this, but I don't know why I was really hesitant before.

Crock Pot Cilantro Lime Chicken Tacos
Recipe adapted and photo from Over the Big Moon
*Makes 2 meals that serve 4 easily with leftovers

6-8 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts 
4 Tbs Olive Oil
2+ Limes, juiced (I like a little more lime then the recipe calls for)
2 Cups Cilantro
1 large bag of Frozen Corn (or two smaller bags)
4 minced Garlic Cloves
1 finely Chopped Red Onion
2 cans of Black Beans, drained and rinsed
2 tsp Cumin or Chipotle powder
Salt an Pepper to taste (I salted when I put it in the bag, and salted again in the crockpot after shredding)
Take ingredients and split everything into two containers.
Mix bag by shaking, seal, label and put in the freezer.

Cooking instructions: Cook in Crockpot on Low for 8 hours or High for 4 hours. Remove chicken breasts and shred (I used the kitchenaid). Return to crockpot and salt to taste. Heat for a few more minutes on warm.  Serve with hot tortillas and dress with sour cream, guacamole, and/or cheese.

Tasty Tuesday: Freezer Cooking and Blue Cheese Meatloaf

Do you ladies do much freezer cooking? I do a fair amount of cooking in bulk and freezing of things like muffins and cookie dough, but I had honestly never frozen a dinner. Isn't that crazy?? Since there are really only 2.5 of us eating dinner in our family, I am constantly cutting recipes in half and it struck me the other day: shouldn't I just make the whole thing and freeze half? I can't tell you how many nights I'm running around like a crazy person trying to get dinner together because I haven't planned well, it's been a crazy day, or the kids are in bad moods. When I read this post over at the blog Six Sister's Stuff, I was totally inspired that I should have a freezer cooking day once a month as well. I like some of the recipes that she suggests, but I think I may try to adapt some of our family favorites as well. Are there any prep-ahead or slow cooker meals that y'all love?

Today's recipe is for an amazingly delicious Blue Cheese and Caramelized Onion Meatloaf that I made last week for dinner.  I found the recipe, where else, but Pinterest (pinned from here).  My husband is sort of on the fence about blue cheese and my son is, of course, 2, so I was a bit skeptical that they would like it, but it was a hit!  You can make it as a large loaf, but I made ours in a muffin tin both so that they would cook faster and because I thought it was cuter.  I made a couple of minor changes to the original recipe.

Photo via What's Cookin, Chicago?

Blue Cheese and Caramelized Onion Meatloaf
Made 12 mini meatloaves, which would probably serve 3-4 adults

Ingredients

3/4 cup breadcrumbs (I used homemade from gluten free bread)

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (This was not called for in the original, but I like things extra cheesy)
1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
1 pound 80/20 ground beef
1 egg (slightly beaten)
1/2 cup caramelized onions
salt and pepper to taste

Ranch Dressing (my addition)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a muffin tin and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine cup bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, and crumbled blue cheese. Add ground beef, egg, onion, salt and pepper. Blend to incorporate all the ingredients evenly throughout.

Divide meat mixture evenly into the 12 muffin wells.  Make a small depression in the top of each loaf and squirt a bit of ranch dressing on top.  Bake meatloafs for about 20 minutes until cooked through and browned on top. Allow to cool slightly and serve.

Tasty Tuesday: Cinnamon Roll Cake Gluten Free

My little baby girl is sick today, y'all, so I'm going to keep this short and sweet... just like me ;)

{image via cookin' up north}

This is the recipe for the delicious cinnamon roll cake I made for breakfast on Christmas morning.  I adapted it to be gluten free of course and made a couple of other small tweaks, but the amazing original recipe is from here.


Cake recipes like this are really ideal for converting to gluten free.  I love regular cinnamon rolls, but yeast doughs just don't get the proper rise without gluten.  This cake also has the distinct advantage of being ready from start to finish in about an hour!


I recently had a reader email me asking for some tips about feeding her toddler who is about to start a gluten free diet.  I am, of course, going to email her personally, but her questions made me wonder if I should do a little series with tips on feeding kids with gluten and other food intolerances.  Let me know if you have any interest or any specific questions!

Here's my version!

Gluten Free Cinnamon Roll Cake
*One cake easily fed our very hungry group of 7 with a piece left over

Ingredients
Cake:
3 cups all purpose gluten free flour (if you don't have an AP flour you like, I recommend trying Better Batter.  Otherwise, substitute 2 cups brown rice flour, 2/3 cup potato starch, 1/3 cup tapioca starch)
1 tsp xantham gum (omit if using an AP that already has it, such as Better Batter)
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup granulated sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 cup milk
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), melted

Topping:
1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp. flour (more of your AP or you could also just use brown rice flour)
1 Tbsp. cinnamon

Icing:
2 c. powdered sugar
1 8 oz package of cream cheese (heated in the microwave for about 20 seconds to melt slightly)
5 Tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
Pinch of salt

Directions 

Mix everything together except for the butter. Slowly stir in the melted butter and pour into a greased 9x13 pan. For the topping, mix all the ingredients together until well combined. Drop evenly over the batter and swirl with a knife. Bake at 350 for 28-32 minutes.

Beat the melted cream cheese, powdered sugar together in a bowl.  In a small ramekin, combine the milk, vanilla and salt.  Mix until salt is dissolved.  Add the milk mixture to the cream cheese mixture and beat until combined.  Spread over cake out of the oven.  You should have some extra, which I like to offer on the side for those who like even more decadence!  This is awesome enjoyed warm out of the oven but pretty delicious room temp too.

Linking up to Savvy Southern Style

Tasty Tuesday: Happy New Year!

Happy New Year y'all!I hope that everyone had a wonderful New Year's Eve. I spent mine doing exactly what I wanted: chilling on the couch with my sweetie. I made a fun cheese plate and some champagne jello shots and we watched an old movie. It was perfect. We toasted, kissed at midnight and we were in bed by one!

I'm not really big on New Year's Resolutions, but I have been trying out a new system for establishing habits and I hope it continues to be successful this year.  I am full of hope and optimism about 2013 for our family.  It's a far cry from how I felt last New Year but I really am happy and I can't wait to see what the year brings.

For those of you hoping to start the year cooking more or eating healthy, here is a delicious recipe I made up for gluten free banana avocado muffins.  They are very moist and rich, but full of healthy things like banana (obviously), avocado, flax, and pecans.  Phillip and I are eating a couple of them for breakfast every day right now. 

Gluten Free Banana Avocado Muffins
Makes 36 mini muffins


Ingredients

• 1 cup gluten free all purpose flour (I use Better Batter, but any blend with xantham gum will do.  If you don't have a blend, I recommend 1/2 cup brown rice flour, 1/4 cup tapioca starch, and 1/4 cup potato starch, plus 1/2 teaspoon of xantham gum)
• 1 cup flax seed meal
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 ripe avocado, mashed
• 2/3 cup honey
• 3 tbl cooking oil (any but olive!)
• 1 tbl vanilla
• 1 egg

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 and grease two mini muffin pans
• Whisk flour, flax seed, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl.
• In the bowl of a standing mixer, beat mashed bananas, avocado, hoeny, oil, vanilla, and egg until combined.
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet in three additions, mixing until combined.
• Stir in nuts
• Fill the muffin tins about 2/3 to 3/4 full and bake about 15-17 minutes until top springs back when lightly touched.



Tasty Tuesday: Baked Chicken Taquitos

Happy Tuesday everyone! One week until Christmas and I think I'm finally finished with all of my shopping. My original goal was to be done the first week in December. So, yeah, that happened...

The recipe I'm going to share with y'all today is so simple and yet so delicious.  I serve it at least twice a month and you can really change it up with what you have on hand.  I first saw the idea for baked chicken taquitos on Our Best Bites.  Their version, creamy chicken taquitos, is phenomenal.  I've since seen a few other versions, and I mine is a mash-up of all of them.  I think the most important elements they all seem to have in common.  First, they should be made with corn tortillas.  I know there are die hard I hate corn tortilla people our there, but there are just some recipes that flour tortillas won't do for.  Corn tortillas can get much crispier, which you obviously want here.  Another important step involves spritzing the top of the rolled taquitos with a bit of cooking spray before putting them into the oven.  I also like to follow that with a light sprinkling of kosher salt.

These can of course be made with beef or beans or anything else you have on hand, but I'm lazy and like to shred a rotisserie chicken.  If you want to use chicken breasts, cook about a one pound package.

Baked Chicken Taquitos
*Makes 12 taquitos - I'd say enough for three people, but you could stretch it to four with enough side dishes

Ingredients

• 2 cups cooked shredded chicken (I like to use a rotisserie chicken and save the leftovers for another dinner!)
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/4 cup yogurt, sour cream, or softened cream cheese
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 12 corn tortillas
• cooking spray
• additional kosher salt for sprinkling

Directions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees
• Combine shredded chicken, spices, cheese and yogurt (or sour cream or cream cheese) in a bowl and stir to combine.
• Dampen two paper towels and place 2 or 3 tortillas at a time between the paper towels.  Microwave for about 20-30 seconds to soften the tortillas (this will keep them from cracking when you roll the taquitos!).
• Place about 2 tablespoons of the filling onto a tortilla and roll up tightly.  Place on an ungreased baking sheet, seam-side down. Repeat heating and filling all tortillas.
• Spray tops of the taquitos with cooking spray and sprinkle with kosher salt (you could add a bit of chili powder too for a kick!).
• Bake for 20-25 minutes until crisp.

Here's everything you need!

Oh wait... except for these things too ;)

About this much filling...

Roll 'em up, 'spray em, sprinkle some salt and into the oven they go!

I like to serve them with guacamole and salsa to count as our veggies for the meal :)  Hope y'all enjoy them as much as we do!

Introducing... Tasty Tuesday

I've decided to organize things a bit more here on the blog, just so I can keep my thoughts together and let y'all know what's coming when. So without further ado:

Motherhood Mondays:  war stories, tips, and everything that has to do with the best job in the whole world.

 

Tasty Tuesdays: recipes of course!

 

Wednesday Whereabouts: what we've been up to lately.

 

Thursday Thoughts: just that... random thoughts and sometimes thankfullness.

 

Fashion Friday: fashion for me and the littles - sometimes things we wore and sometimes things we just plain old want!

 

 

Today's recipe is a delicious corn chowder I adapted from Cook's Country Magazine.  If you've never read Cook's Country or its sister publication Cooks Illustrated, you are really missing out.  I've honestly never had a misfire recipe from either one.  Sometimes though, I think they make the recipes a bit more complicated than necessary and frankly these days I need to get dinner on the table in a flash!  So, here's my version of their delicious corn chowder switched up a bit for my hectic schedule and currently dairy free diet.  We enjoyed this last night and it was delicious!  I served pumpkin cornbread and green beans on the side (I know, I know... so much corn).  Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

Corn Bacon Chowder

Adapted from Cook's Country

 

Ingredients

• 3 cups frozen corn, thawed
• 2 15 oz cans whole kernel corn
• 5 cups chicken broth
• 4 slices bacon, chopped
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 1 lb red potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1/2 inch dice
• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
• salt and pepper

Directions

• Puree canned corn and 2 cups broth in blender.
• Cook bacon in  dutch oven over medium heat until crisp.  Using a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to a paper towel lined plate to drain.  Cook onion, thawed frozen corn, 1/2 teaspoon slat, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in bacon fat until vegetables are softened and golden brown, 6 to 8 minutes.
• Add potatoes, corn puree, and remaining broth to the dutch oven and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.  Discard cobs and stir in almond milk and reserved bacon.  Season with salt and pepper.