My First Make-Ahead Meal

Thursday May 22nd, 2008 at 1:47 pm

I’ve recently discovered something about myself .. I really enjoy eating home cooked meals. On top of that I love to find recipes and try them out. However, I dont like to cook every night, more like once a week, I really enjoy cooking once in awhile. But because I don’t like to cook regularly I find myself heating up ‘bag meals’ and zapping microwaved box meals too often. So I started to wonder if I could start making my own frozen dinners. I found in my last Real Simple magazine that they had a ‘make-ahead’ recipe for steak fajitas. I then spent the rest of my Sunday afternoon reading everything I could about freezing meals and once a month cooking (OAMC). Monday I packaged up my first make-ahead meal, those steak fajitas, and this afternoon I reheated a bag for the first time.

Here’s straight from the freezer

After 10 min of defrosting

After draining extra water & turning heat up to cook the meat

Here is my fajita ready to eat (yes, I know I rolled it into a burrito, that’s just how I do it). Perfect meal for after my wii workout

The Recipe (from Real Simple Magazine, June ‘08)

freeze it

1lb flank steak, thinly sliced against the grain
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 red bell peppers (I used 1 red, 1 green)
1 jalapeno, seeded (if desired) and thinly sliced (I diced mine)
1 teaspoon chili powder (I ran out so I used a little chili powder, some cumin, & some cayenne pepper too)
1 teaspoon hot sauce (forgot this)
Kosher salt
4 1-quart re-sealable plastic freezer bags (I used 1 gallon because I put 2 servings in each bag)

In a large bowl, combine the steak, onion, bell peppers, jalapeno, chili powder, hot sauce, and 3/4 teaspoon salt. Divide evenly between 4 bags. Freeze until ready to cook, up to 3 months.

cook it (per serving - my bags have 2 servings each, so this was doubled)

1 bag frozen fajita mixture
1 teaspoons olive oil
2 8-in flour tortillas, warmed
salsa (optional)
sour cream (optional)

In a large skillet, over medium heat, heat the oil (use 1 teaspoon per serving). Empty the frozen contents of the bags into the skillet. Cook, covered, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes. Raise heat to medium high and cook, uncovered, until steak is cooked through, 2 to 6 minutes. Serve with the tortillas & salsa and sour cream if desired.

My changes - I doubled the recipe, ending up with 8 servings, or 4 bags of 2 servings.

I’ve been inspired, I picked up a few cookbooks and I can’t wait to start stocking my fridge with yummy meals that I made! And I really can’t wait until Nikki can cook again and we can start exchanging make-ahead meals!

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Sean’s Stuffed Peppers

Tuesday May 20th, 2008 at 3:00 pm

This is one of my favorite things Sean will cook for me. Well, he used to cook it, until I learned how Since there isn’t a real recipe, it took me a bit to learn. All my cooking experience comes from baking, where you have to follow a recipe closely. Cooking is more abstract, and I’m starting to ‘get it’. Of course the more you cook, the easier it gets

(Keep reading …)

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Mom’s Beef Stew

Saturday October 29th, 2005 at 5:50 pm

6 Tbs shortening (I use 3 Tbs pnut oil)
3 lb beef chuck, round, or rump, cut in 1.5 inch cubes (I use 1.5 to 2 lbs)
2 med onions coarsely chopped
1 cup red wine
2 bouillon cubes (sometimes I use canned beef broth or even consommé)
1 clove garlic, finely chopped (we put 2)
2 Tbs finely chopped parsley (1 tbs dried)
1 bay leaf
1/8 tsp dried thyme
1 1/2 Tbs salt (I use less)
1/4 tsp pepper
6 med potatoes (3)
6 med carrots (3)
10 small white onions (whatever we can find, usually yellow, 3)
3 stalks celery
2 med peppers (1 usually and sometimes a combo of red & yellow too)
2 med toms; or 1 can 8 oz. Toms undrained

Over medium heat, slowly heat shortening in Dutch oven. In it brown meat cubes well, turning on al sides. Remove, and set aside.
In Dutch oven sautée onions until tender.
Return meat to pan; add 4 cups water, the wine, bouillon cubes, garlic, parsley, bay leaf, thyme, salt and pepper, Cover; simmer 1.5 hours or until just tender.
Meanwhile, prepare veggies: Peel potatoes and carrots; halve. Peel onions. Cut celery in 3-inch sections. Remove seeds and ribs from peppers; cut in chunks. Quarter fresh toms.
When meat has cooked 1.5 hours, add potatoes, carrots, onions, and celery. Cook 1 hour. Or until meat and veggies are tender.
Twenty minutes before end of cooking time add peppers and tomatoes.
This is where I add the dumplings after the stew returns to a boil after adding peppers and toms. The recipe is on the Bisquick box.