I love sharing recaps of my
freezer swaps with you. It's been quite awhile since I've last
hosted one. I know life is extremely busy for so many of us and its hard to find a day that can work for everyone. I also forget that we don't always have to go on these six hour cooking sprees either. My latest swap was very small but still fun and beneficial nonetheless.
A couple weeks ago I gathered three other ladies and we decided to prepare one main dish each times 4. But all on our own time and then met at my house to exchange. It works really well to do it this way, then others don't feel pressured to commit to a whole afternoon of cooking.
At the last minute one gal had to back out, so we ended up with four meals each still. Just only three varieties, but that's okay since everything looked fantastic...even uncooked and frozen! I have yet to try anything, I'm trying to save them for when we start getting back into our school routine in a few weeks. These meals will help on nights when we have dance lessons, etc. So let's take a peek at what we brought home:
Crock pot creamy ranch chicken
Thai chicken w/sesame noodles
Ingredients:
1 bottle lite toasted Asian sesame dressing
2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
4 chicken breasts, cut into cubes
2 tbsp peanut butter, crunchy
2 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 lb. whole wheat spaghetti
2 carrots, chopped
4 green onions,chopped
8 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
Directions for freezing:
Mix dressing and soy sauce in a bowl. Pour half of dressing over chicken and place into a large gallon freezer bag.
Add peanut butter, honey and crushed red pepper to remaining half of dressing mixture. Put into a sandwich sized baggie.
Place remaining ingredients in a sandwich sized bag. Put all bags together in one gallon freezer bag.
On cooking day:
Thaw and cook chicken in a skillet over medium high heat for eight minutes or until cooked through. Cook pasta according to package directions. Place pasta, chicken mixture and remaining ingredients in a bowl and toss lightly. Serve immediately.
Southern BBQ Pulled Chicken w/Coleslaw
Ingredients:
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts {1.5 lbs}
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/8 cup Worcestershire sauce
4 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp chili powder
2 garlic cloves, minced
pinch of salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 cup barbecue sauce
buns, for serving
Directions:
Combine all ingredients together in a bowl, except chicken and buns. If freezing, place chicken breasts into a gallon freezer bag. Pour sauce over chicken. Remove as much air as possible and seal shut. Lay flat in freezer.
When ready to prepare, remove from freezer and thaw. Cook in a crock pot on low for 8 hours. It's okay if meat is still frozen when you start cooking. Shred meat when cooked through with forks and serve on buns with additional barbecue sauce and coleslaw, if desired.
Coleslaw
Ingredients:
1 med head cabbage
2 carrots
1 green pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup distilled vinegar
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp celery seed
1/2 tsp mustard seed
Directions:
Thinly slice cabbage, or process in small increments in food processor. This takes only a few minutes! Peel carrots and dice green pepper. Place all veggies in a large bowl with salt and let set for one hour. After one hour, drain and return back to bowl.
Meanwhile, combine vinegar, sugar, celery and mustard seed in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and let boil for one minute. Then remove from heat and let cool. Once cooled, combine with cabbage mixture. Divide into freezer containers and store in freezer until ready to serve. Recommend using within six weeks.
