Her is a list of the meals that I froze
Eggplant casserole 200 cal
Shrimp and Asian Cabbage - 240 cal
Oven fried pork chops with mashed cauliflower and green beans - 350 cal
Salmon with roasted asparagus and Asian zoodles - 210 cal
Roasted Turkey Loin, honey sirracha carrots and Brussel sprouts 310 cal
Hamburger patty with mashed cauliflower and green beans 344 cal
Deer back strap with squash noodles and creamed spinach - 480 cal
Smoked chicken thighs with roasted sweet potatoes and roasted asparagus - 370 cal
Smoked chicken with mustard greens and roasted broccoli with balsamic reduction sauce 335 cal
Smoked chicken with zucchini casserole and creamed spinach 520 cal
Now for a list of the recipes
Eggplant Casserole
4 large eggplants, peeled and chopped into cubes
20 large mushrooms, chopped
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1 onion, chopped
1cup Parmesan cheese
8 oz lean ground meat
Cajun seasoning to taste
Spray large pot with olive oil spay. Brown ground meat and drain and put back in pot. Saute onions in pot until translucent. Add chopped eggplant and mushrooms. Cook on med heat until tender, about 10 min, stirring often. Mixture will be liquidity. Use potato masher or hand held blender to break up large pieces of eggplant. Add seasoning to taste, cheese and bread crumbs. All liquid should be absorbed after adding bread crumbs. Stir well and serve
This dish is an ugly gray color when finished but it is a family favorite. Easy, healthy and tasty. Don't let the look of it turn you away.
8 servings
200 cal/serving
Mash Cauliflower
3 heads cauliflower, steamed and drained
4 TB butter
3/4 cup real bacon bits
1 cup Parmesan cheese
2 T ranch seasoning
Salt and Pepper to taste
Place all ingredients in a bowl. Mash with potato masher until desired consistency and serve
Easy peasy.
10 servings
154 cal/servings
Honey Sirracha Roasted Carrots
3 lbs petite carrots, chopped in half
3 TB Honey
3 TB Sirracha hot sauce
3 TB Olive Oil
Mix honey, sirracha and olive oil in a measuring cup. In large mixing bowl mix carrots and honey mixture. Place on foil lined baking sheet (it may take two baking sheets - you want them in a single layer) Put in a 400 degree oven and bake for 20 min or until tender.
10 servings
116 cal/serving
Green Bean Bundle Casserole
This is my take on green bean bundles, I'm too lazy to make the bundles so I throw all the ingredients in a casserole dish and bake. Same great taste with a lot less work. Win win.
3 lbs fresh green beans, stemmed and snapped*
4 TB butter, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup real bacon bits
1.5 cups chicken broth
2 tsp garlic
1 tsp salt
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Put green beans in 13x9 pan. Mix all other ingredients in large measuring cup. Pour over raw green beans. Bake for 30 min or until green beans are tender and sauce is bubbly.
*This recipe can be made with canned green beans or frozen green beans. We like it best with frozen or fresh.
12 servings
141 cal per servings
Creamed Spinach
8 8oz packages of frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1 pkg onion soup mix
1 cup almond milk
1 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup Monterrey jack cheese, grated
1 8oz pack 1/3 less fat cream cheese
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together and place in 13x9 casserole dish. (the cream cheese will be lumpy, that's OK). Bake for 30-45 min stirring once or twice while baking until all is melted, bubbly and creamy.
11 servings
167 cal/serving
This is one of our favorite sides.
Asian Cabbage
3 pkg shredded coleslaw
1 med carrot, shredded
1.25 teriyaki sauce
2 TB sesame seeds
1 oz sesame oil
Asian Ginger Dressing
Heat oil in large pan, add sesame seeds and saute for 2-3 min until toasted. Add carrots and slaw and saute for a few min until just barely tender (I like there to still be a crunch) Add dressing and stir well.
9 servings
133 cal/serving
Zucchini Casserole
5 med zucchini, shredded
4 TB butter, melted
3 large eggs
1/4 cup egg white
1 pkg onion soup mix
3 TB ranch seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
3/4 cup panko bread crumbs
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese
Mix all ingredients together except cheese and bread crumbs. Put into greased small casserole dish. Mix cheese and bread crumbs and sprinkle on top. Bake at 350 for 30 min until bubbly and top is brown.
8 servings
156 cal/serving
Asian Peanut Squash Noodles
9 med Yellow squash - cut into noodles*
3 TB PB2
4 TB melted butter
4 TB Teriyaki Marinade
Steam squash until aldente - I like a crunch. Mix other ingredients together and pour over drained noodles.
*I bought Spiralizer Vegetable Slicer off amazon for around $30. There are several to choose from. I love mine. Use it often - especially when we are trying to be healthy.
Oven Baked Pork Chops
7 large thin cut pork chops
3 cups panko bread crumbs
1/4 cup egg whites
1 cup unsweetened Almond milk
Season pork chops to taste (I use Cajun seasoning and mustard on mine). Mix egg whites and milk in one bowl and put bread crumbs in another. Dredge seasoned pork chops in milk mixture then bread crumbs. Place chops on greased foil lined pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 min or until no longer pink and breading is browned. Slice each pork chop in half.
14 servings
120 cal per serving
For the meats I used:
Salmon fillets I bought frozen from Aldi, Sauteed each in skillet w/soy sauce
Smoked chicken thighs I smoked in my smoker
Seasoned pork loins I baked in oven
Hamburger patties - I just seasoned the ground meat and didn't add eggs or bread crumbs to not add calories
I also grilled shrimp that I put with the Asian Cabbage.
For the remaining roasted vegetables:
I drizzled olive oil (approx 1-2 Tablespoons per pan and seasoned with different seasonings depending on the vegetables. It's what ever you prefer. I used rosemary garlic, Greek, Cajun, ranch. Just tried to make it different. For the sweet potatoes I just used salt and pepper.
I drizzled some balsamic reduction sauce we bought at our local grocery store and drizzled over the normal green beans (not the green bean bundles) and the roasted broccoli. Very good and doesn't add many calories. Very worth it.
I bought some freezer containers from webstaurantstore.com. I bought he 24 oz Black 9"x 6 1/4x 2 3/4" 2-compartment rectangular microwavable heavy duty container with lid - 150/case. With tax and shipping it was $50 which breaks down to be 33 cents/ container. They are cheaply made but can be reused. Goes from freezer to microwave without a problem and are also dishwasher safe. Some did break after the first use but most hold up for a few uses.
I put each meal in the container and then put each container in a gallon size ziploc and labeled the ziploc with contents of container.
I put up over 100 meals plus some individually wrapped meats. It took me 3 full days of cooking but that was at the end of Jan and we still have some meals left. I only cook about twice a week since then. It is well worth the 3 full days. The kids love it. Home cooked meals of their choice in no time with out the clean up.
The cabbage and squash dishes do put off extra water when heated up but can be easily drained. Not a deterrent for us.
I will be putting up some more meals in a couple of weeks and will try to do some different ones for varieties sake. Hopefully, I won't take so long to get it to the blog.
Hope this helps anyone wanting to tackle the freezer meal fad. I'm glad I did and will continue to do it.
