Two Happy Bellies

Don't Panic - Books 1 and 2

While I don't do nearly as much "freezer cooking" in the summer, I've started back up again and realized I've not raved about one of my favorite resources. I call them the "Don't Panic Ladies" . . .

       

These two cookbooks help create many delicious dishes in our family. I've mentioned a few of them here and there however there are many more that we do use and even more that should definitely be explored. Some new ones we plan on trying include the Grilled Coconut Lime Chicken Tenders, the Bangkok Chicken Satay, and the Orange Teriyaki Chicken (I'm sure Aaron would love for me to try the Chicken Pot Pie as well). Can you tell I'm on a chicken kick? I find it so easy to "freezer cook" with beef and pork, however not too many chicken dishes have made it into my reportoire and I'd really like to change that.

The best part of these books, to me at least, is they come with instructions on how to create the recipe with a reasonable amount of servings and they also tell you how to scale it up, sometimes by 2, 4, and 6 and sometimes by 3, 6, and 9. While I haven't done a cooking session with friends in a long time, the scaling up feature makes it easy to cook and share in a group setting. One person makes a specific recipe times X and then each person in the group gets to take that dish home with them as well as all the others. Or, if I'm being honest, I might make the recipe in multiples and keep them all for us if it is one of Aaron's favorites ;-).

I did also just discover they had a new book (Don't Panic - Quick, Easy, and Delicious Meals for Your Family) come out last April - I see a new addition to my cookbook shelves in the near future!

 

FTF - Twice Baked Potatoes

We did some freezer cooking on Sunday and tried something new . . . twice baked potatoes. I've known for a long time you can freeze twice baked potatoes, however we've never actually done them. Inspired by the Don't Panic ladies (and a huge bag of potatoes sitting in our kitchen) we made the leap.

We used 6 potatoes, 8 oz. low fat cream cheese, milk, onion powder, butter, fresh ground mixed pepper and some leftover parsley from our Meat Sauce.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and clean your potatoes. Season the outsides if you are used to doing this (we enjoy EVOO or butter and coarse salt), then bake for 1 hour or until done. Remove from oven and set aside until cool enough to handle. Then cut them in half lengthwise and scoop out the insides into a large mixing bowl. Add other ingredients, then mash away. You can also add any herbs (parsley, dill, etc.) at this point.

Spoon mashed potato mixture back into your shells, then sprinkle with any additional items that catch your fancy such as paprika. Wrap each potato half individually in plastic wrap and insert into freezer bags. The only thing you have to do when you are ready to eat them is to thaw potatoes completely and bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 - 30 minutes or until heated through.

While they turned out just fine, one tip I have for future attempts is to not let them cool as much as we did. It made it hard to get the flesh out without tearing the skins, so we had to leave a fairly large "wall" around the twice baked part. We do look forward to enjoying these yummy potatoes and they are easy enough, we'll be making them again.

FTF - Green Chile Pork

I have an old tattered copy of this recipe from (I think) my friend Jenn. I say old and tattered b/c it has been used so often there are food stains everywhere. This is one that we threw in the slow cooker late last week to have for dinner that night, and then froze the rest for easy meals later on. We have modified the recipe a bit to stretch the servings a bit more and allot for less meat in each serving. This would be an attempt to make it slightly more balanced.

(I know the picture isn't the most appealing, however once the fat is skimmed off, this is very tasty.)

• 3-4 # pork roast
• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 t. ground cumin
• 2 t. oregano
• 2 C. homemade stock
• 2 4 oz. cans diced green chiles
• 2 16 oz. cans stewed tomatoes (Mexican style if you can find them)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• salt and pepper to taste

Pour undrained tomatoes in bottom of insert, add all remaining ingredients, finishing with the pork roast on top. Cook on LOW for 6-8 hours or HIGH for 5-6 hours. When finished, shred meat. This is great on nachos, burritos, tacos, or over a baked potato or rice.