Crockpot Chicken

So You Forgot to Defrost! by Jackie
Freezer Friendz website:
http://freezerfriendz.blogspot.com/search/label/slow%20cooker

I made some modifications to the recipe

Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (frozen)
1 large (26oz.) can cream of mushroom soup
6 oz. can sliced mushrooms, drained out most of liquid
3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

Assembly:
Place chicken in gallon Ziploc bag (inside of round crockpot). Mix remaining ingredients in separate bowl and pour over chicken. Freeze standing up, so it will fit in the crock pot when you are ready to cook.

Serving Day:
Cook from frozen. Remove plastic bag from frozen meal. Place meal in crock pot. Cook on low 10-12 hours. Serve over rice.

I included 5-min rice for you. Just follow instructions on label

Beef Fajitas

Modified from "Don't Panic: Dinner's in the Freezer", p. 122

1.5 lbs sirloin

1 onion - diced

1 green pepper - strips

Tortillas and cheese

Marinade

1/2 cup fresh lime juice

1/4 cup tequilla (I skipped this)

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

1 t. salt

1/2 tsp pepper

(I actually used 1/4 packet of the old el paso seasoning for fajitas instead of salt and pepper)

*freeze like a hockey puck in a muffin tin***

Thawing instructions: Morning/Night before you want to eat. Take sirloin out of vacuum sealing and put in a bag. Add the hockey puck of marinade to the bag. Thaw in the fridge for 24 hours or so.

Cooking instructions:

Option 1: Slice beef, then stir fry.

• After thawed and marinated, slice beef into thin strips. (Throw away marinade).
• In a large skillet, add oil. Stir fry onion for 2 or 3 minutes. Add beef and peppers. Stir fry beef until almost desired doneness.
• Serve with tortillas and cheese... and anything else you like with it.

Option 2: Grill beef. Then Slice

• After thawed and marinated. Grill beef. After letting it rest, slice into strips.
• In a large skillet, add oil. Stir fry onion for 2 or 3 minutes. Add peppers. Stir fry 2 more minutes. Add beef into skillet just to warm and mix all together.
• Serve with tortillas and cheese... and anything else you like with it.
• If you didn't want to mess with stir frying veggies, you could probably put in a foil pouch and throw on grill too.

Tortellini Soup

Modified from Skinny Italian. (Amounts are approximate ; ) Sorry I'm always tweaking!

24 oz (3 cups) chicken broth (if this isn't enough use water)

1 jar (large size) marinara/spaghetti sauce

1 TSBP Italian seasoning

1 tsp pepper

1 bag frozen tortellini. I used the cheese or the beef and cheese HyVee brand. I think it was a 19 oz bag. It was the standard size in the freezer section, but a little bigger than what's sold in the refrigerated section. (Refrigerated tortellini would work in this recipe too).

To improve the nutritional value of this recipe add a cup or two of frozen chopped spinach. Just add from frozen when you add the tortellini. (You could use other veggies if your prefer).

To make this a little more tasty, saute a diced onion in olive oil and add to the broth/tomato sauce.

If there MUST be meat at your house, throw in small meatballs.

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To prepare to eat immediately

Heat the chicken broth, marinara and italian seasoning to boiling. Add tortellini (still frozen) (and spinach or meatballs too if you want). Cook tortellini until tender -- about 10 minutes. Serve with parmesean cheese.

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To freeze -- just mix the broth/sauce/seasonings and freeze flat. (No need to cook in advance). Buy frozen tortellini and frozen spinach and keep frozen until ready to use. You might want to rubber band the bags together so you remember!

To prepare from frozen -- thaw the liquid ingredients in the fridge OR submerge plastic bag in warm water for 20 minutes. Remove bag. Heat liquid ingredients to boiling. Add tortellini (still frozen) (and spinach/meatball too if you want). Cook until tortellini until tender -- about 10 minutes.

Lipton Burgers

From Freezer Friendz: http://freezerfriendz.blogspot.com/2009/08/lipton-onion-burgers.html


Ingredients:
2 pounds ground beef
1/2 cup water
1 envelope onion soup mix

Assembly:
Combine all of the above ingredients and mix well. Shape into 8 patties. You may freeze the patties at this point, or cook them.

Serving Day:
Thaw the burgers completely. Grill or broil until done. Enjoy!

Cookies & Cream Pie (modified from Taste of Home)

Modified from: http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Cookies--n--Cream-Pie

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups half-and-half cream
1 package (3.4 ounces) instant vanilla pudding mix**
1 carton (8 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 cup crushed cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies (about 11 cookies)
1 chocolate crumb crust (9 inches)**

Directions

In a large bowl, whisk cream and pudding mix for 2 minutes. Let stand
for 2 minutes or until soft-set. Fold in whipped topping and
cookies.
Spoon into crust. Freeze until firm, about 6 hours or overnight. May
be frozen for up to 3 months. Remove from the freezer 10 minutes
before serving. Yield: 6-8 servings.


**I used sugar-free french vanilla pudding mix (1 box per recipe) and did not make a crumb crust since I put it in individual servings. It made 8-12 muffin size servings from each recipe.

Corn and Bacon Soup

Corn Soup from "Best of Friends, Too!" Cookbook

4-6 slices bacon, diced

1 large sweet onion, chopped (I used frozen chopped onions)

4 medium potatoes, chopped (I used frozen chopped potatoes)

1 17-oz can whole kernel corn, drained

1 12-oz can creamed corn

1 12-oz can evaporated milk (I used 2% and I'd probably give fat free a try next time)

Salt, pepper, hot sauce to taste.

In a soup kettle, saute the onions and bacon until glossy. Add the potatoes, stirring in enough water to cover all. Cook on medium heat until potatoes are tender. Add corn, and milk. Heat and serve.

******

Instructions for reheating from what I gave you.

• Keep everything frozen until you're ready to make dinner... don't worry about thawing.
• In a soup pot, heat up the contents of the bag of bacon and onions for a few minutes, so the bacon will be a bit crispy again. Spices are in there too.
• Put frozen potatoes in the pot. Cover with water... about 2 cups... cook on medium high.
• When potatoes are no longer frozen, (about 5 minutes), add other ingredients. (Drain whole kernel corn)
• Heat thoroughly and serve. Season as needed.

Mexican Chicken & Black Bean Filling

Mexican Chicken and Black Bean Filling by Amy (from Freezer Friendz Website)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds of boneless chicken (3-4 chicken breasts)
3 teaspoons of cumin
1 teaspoon of chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 can of black beans (rinsed and drained)
1 bag of frozen corn
1 jar (32 oz) of salsa

Optional Ingredients:
1 bag of shredded cheese
1 bag of tortilla chips

Steps:
1. Make a "rub" with the 4 spices and rub on the chicken breasts - place in a crock pot.
2. Add the other ingredients (except chips and cheese) and mix.
3. Cook on low for 10 hours or on high for 3-4 hours. Shred chicken during the last hour of cooking to give the meat more flavor.

If you want to freeze:
1. Cool chicken mixture.
2. Pour into Ziploc freezer bag.
3. Freeze.

Serving day:
1. Thaw overnight.
2. Heat mixture and serve over rice with shredded cheese on top or just eat with tortilla chips.

More ideas for the chicken filling:
1. Mexican pizza topping.
2. Tacos
3. Taco salad
4. Breakfast burrito