Freezer Cooking & Baking Day

I thought I'd share my cooking/baking goals for today. We just purchased a large freezer and I am excited to fill it up! My grandma is coming over to help, and I of course, will share the goodies with her. I will give the play-by-play and share recipes sometime this week. 


Here we go-


I'm going to try to update and mark them off as I go. 

• 1lb. bag of Pinto Beans in the crock pot
• Large pot of tomato sauce to use for spaghetti and pizza
• Brown Sugar Biscuit Twists
• Whole Wheat Buttermilk Waffles x2
• Whole Grain Cinnamon Rolls 
• 100% Whole Wheat Bread
• Cranberry Orange Scones x2
• Thumbprint Scones x2
• Hamburger Buns
• French Toast
• Whole Grain Pancakes
• Banana Whole Grain Pancakes

Wish me luck!


Edit- We accomplished all of this, cleaned up, and packaged everything by 4pm yesterday. Wow! The funny thing is we didn't even fill a whole shelf in my new freezer. 

Dreaming...

of eating THIS today,
while enjoyng a cup of hot black tea.

Blogs and Inspiration

Here are a few of my favorite "foodie" blogs and websites. I'll be linking them up in the sidebar soon! Do you a favorite food related site? If so, please share it with me in the comments. 

All Recipes (numero uno source! always look at the reviews of each recipe…they almost always contain vital info)

Good & Cheap Eats

Old House Kitchen (they have a giveaway right now! go sign up!)

The Kitchn

Happy Lady Eats

Everyday Food

From Scratch

Tasty Kitchen

Italian Sausage and Sweet Pepper Ragu

The sweet peppers are the main attraction in this dish. Enjoy!

1/2 lb of italian sausage removed from casing

2 large yellow, red, or orange bell peppers, chopped, medium-large size pieces

1 small-medium onion, chopped small 

2 cloves garlic, grated

1 jar prepared tomato pasta sauce- I use Ragu b/c I always get it on sale

1 15oz. can petite diced tomatoes

1tbsp sugar or honey- cuts acid in tomato and balances out flavor

Seasoning to taste:

italian seasoning

salt

pepper

red pepper flakes

onion powder- adds a different layer of onion flavor

garlic powder- adds a different layer of garlic flavor

21 Seasoning Salute from Trader Joe's

Serve with:

12oz-16oz box whole wheat rotini or penne

Cook in stock if you'd like an extra layer of flavor

Saute meat & break up as it cooks. Let it brown and caramelize a bit. Add peppers and onions, saute until onions are softened. Season this layer of flavor. 

Add sauce, tomatoes, and sugar. Let it warm through to let the flavors meld together. Taste it for seasoning and the sweet/acidic balance. Add more sugar or salt if needed. Season again. 

Simmer while pasta is cooking. Drain pasta and place back into pot. Add sauce and combine. 

The large sweet pepper pieces make this sauce a little different than my regular tomato sauce. The spice of the sausage along with the sweetness of the peppers  is a great balance. The flavors in this dish are balanced so well that you don't need to serve it with cheese. I found that the traditional parmesan sprinkle threw the balance off. So, save some calories. Believe me, you won't miss it!

Roast Chicken & a TON of Chicken Stock: Part 2- The Stock

This pretty gal is gonna make us a ton of chicken stock, therefore making many many dishes to follow much much more flavorful. 

I use chicken or vegetable stock (I'll show you how I make that as soon as I run out of chicken stock)for all kinds of things in my kitchen. 

Most often I use it in this:

Always as a base in my homemade soups

To cook pasta and plain or spanish rice 

To make pilaf 

 To thin sauces

To make gravy

Pretty much any savory cooking that you'd add water to, I use stock instead. 

Alright, this takes a while but it's SO worth it, I promise. 

You'll need:

all the cooked bits, juices, veggies, etc. left from your roast chicken

the neck and offal

2 -3 onions- not peeled, quartered

1/2lb baby carrots

1/2 bunch of celery stalks leaves included, broken into medium pieces 

8 cloves garlic- not peeled, smashed a bit
parsley stems from one whole bunch and some of the leaves
black pepper
white pepper
paprika
onion powder- I know this is a bit redundant, but to me, it's a totally different flavor that fresh onion
oregano
basil
Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute or Classic Mrs. Dash
generous amount of salt
35-40 cups of warm water (this is an estimate)


Mix everything but the seasonings and water in a large bowl. 


Divide into the pots you plan to use to make your stock. Or just use a BIG stock pot. I don't have a huge stock pot, so I use my 3 largest pots seen here:

This is not an exact measurement kind of thing. You want about 2-3inches of stuff in the bottom of each of your pots. Just be sure to divide the chicken bones and bits evenly between the bowls. 


Now, fill your pots with warm water, about an inch from the top of the pot. 


Season with your dry seasonings. Be very generous. For my large pot, I start with 1tbsp of onion, oregano, basil, 21 seasoning, and salt and 2tsp of the peppers and paprika. You are building flavor here and we want it to be delicious! Plus, my method involves stretching this chicken for as much flavor as I can get out of it. We need to help it out with a ton of veggies, seasoning, and to be honest, quite a bit of salt. 

Bring to a boil. Reduce to a nice simmer. 


Once the veggies are soft, give the broth a taste. Season it up a little more.


Simmer until the celery and parsley have turned that horrible, I mean MARVELOUS!, green-grey color. You want to cook this stuff to death. We are, after all, trying to suck every bit of flavor out of this stuff, right?


Turn off the burners, cover, and let it steep for about 20-30 minutes. It will stay HOT HOT HOT for a while. 


Strain the bits out and put the stock into 2 big bowls. This is what my garbage bowl of boiled stock bits looked like after I had strained everything. Yuck!

We need to cool the stock off as quickly as possible, so fill 2 large plastic freezer bags with ice, seal, and place one in each of the bowls. When the ice is melted, take the bags out and put the bowls in the fridge. 

Chill the stock until the fat has risen to the top and hardened up. Remove it from the top with a slotted spoon or your fingers. Save the fat if you'd like to make matzo ball soup or add some extra umph to your dumplings (that's what I'm going to do). By the way, the chicken fat is sometimes called schmaltz, but it's debatable if this method actually creates schmaltz.You can decide. I call it schmaltz. It sounds fancier than chicken fat.  


Divide the stock into freezer bags. I do it in 2 cup serving sizes. It's makes less waste for me that way. 


I realize that this is not as much a recipe as it's a "method."
If you're confused, or if I ever miss something in the steps, just ask me to help. 

Roast Chicken & a TON of Chicken Stock: Part 1- The Chicken

We had roast chicken for dinner. I make it when I need chicken stock. It turned out well. The lemon added a touch of flavor that made it extra delicious. 

The two of us get 3-4 meals out of one roast chicken, plus 30+ cups of stock. This makes several very affordable dinners along with stock that will last me a few months in the freezer. 

For the roast chicken:

1 5lb-ish whole chicken rinsed and patted dry- save the neck and offal for the stock 

5-6 red skin potatoes- medium size- cut in half or quarters

1/2lb of baby carrots

1 large onion peeled and wedged

1 lemon

1/2 bunch celery stalks leaves included

4-6 whole cloves garlic- peeled

fresh parsley

salt

pepper
Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute of Classic Mrs. Dash

olive oil

I use my large stoneware bowl from Pampered Chef to bake this in. They don't make it anymore. This would work the same way though-without the lid. Or a roasting pan that the chicken fits comfortably in.  

Lay the carrots, onions, celery, & garlic in the bottom of the pan. Salt & pepper them. They will act as your roasting rack. They will end up swimming in a delicious puddle of roasted chicken drippings. That makes for a GREAT chicken stock!

Place the bird on top of the veggies breast side up. Tuck the wing tips under the bird. I don't truss the bird. I give it such a comfy and moist environment to bake in that I've never had a problem of uneven cooking or a dry bird. 

Season the chicken liberally with 21 seasoning, salt & pepper. 

Arrange the potatoes around the bird. Season those too. 

Squeeze half of the lemon on the chicken and potatoes. Then, stuff that half of the lemon into the chicken. Add in a small bunch of parsley too. 

Slice the other lemon half into thin slices and arrange them around the potatoes and the chicken. You can even put them on the chicken if you'd like to decorate it a little. 

Drizzle the whole thing with a little olive oil. 

Bake uncovered at 375 degrees for 1 1/2-2 hours. Whole chickens don't need to be covered when roasting. The chicken should be 170 degrees when you remove it from the oven. Test the temp in several areas. The chicken will continue cooking about 5 more degrees once it's out of the oven. You want to end up with a 175 to 180 degree chicken. 

Rest on a cookie sheet along side the potatoes and carrots. Cover for 15 minutes. Leave the rest of the stuff in the pan, you'll be using it in your stock. 

Carve chicken and serve with potatoes, and carrots. 

Once dinner is over and the leftover chicken has cooled off, remove every bit of meat from it. Save the skin, bones, and other bits in a bowl. Use the leftover meat in a salad, pot pie, or just re-heat and serve with some yummy side dishes. 

So as not to make this the longest blog post EVER, I will show you how to make the stock tomorrow. 

Easy Garlicky Croutons Out of Extra Bread

We eat these in our salads. Especially delicious in caesar salad! 

Start with whatever bread you'd like- I use leftover loaves that are a little past their prime.


Cube the bread. I make mine about 1/2"-3/4" squares. You can make them as small or large as you'd like. You'll have to adjust how long you bake them. 


Put the cubes in a large bowl. Drizzle with a good amount olive oil. For 2 cups of croutons, I do 2-3 turns around the bowl with the olive oil. 


Toss them lightly to coat. You want them to be pretty shiny. The oil adds a lot of flavor. This makes them taste like actual croutons and not the seasoned stuffing mix cubes you buy around the holidays to stuff your bird with. 


Sprinkle with salt, pepper to taste- be generous. 


Grate 2 cloves garlic into the bowl with your Microplane. Toss again to distribute the garlic bits. 


Spread evenly onto cookie sheet. 


Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. Toss them around a bit. Bake for 15 more minutes until the are crunchy on the edges. The middle might be a little soft, but they will firm up when cool. Adjust bake time if you cut your cubes a different size. 


Store in an airtight container in the fridge- they'll last a long time that way.