Okay, let's catch up!! worked quite hard these past few weeks - got that deep freezer! yay! started up the baby bullet for baby food! yay! and made and tried some freezer crock pot meals! yay!
Alright - let's start with the recipes:
Hearty Beef Stew:
- 1 lb beef cubes
- 4 carrots peeled and sliced
- 4 Large red potatoes, cubed
- 1 pkg dry onion soup mix
- 2 cans cream of mushroom soup (heart healthy choice)
- 1 8 oz can Tomato Sauce
- 1 10oz bag of frozen peas
once all of the items have been peeled, cut, etc place them all in a large ziplock freezer bag.
when you're ready to eat it - take out and thaw in the fridge for 24 hours
cook in the crock pot on Low for 7-10 hours or High for 5-6
- This one I have made already. Jackson didnt like it (I dont think he even tried it though) and Chris was alright with it and I liked it. I think it cooked on low for 9 hours.
Next up;
Orange Chicken
- 2 large carrots, peeled & sliced
- 2 large red or green bell peppers
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 4 chicken breasts (I decided to cut mine up)
- 2 tsp ginger
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 8 oz OJ
- 2 cans of mandarian oranges (to garnish after you cook it)
Thaw in the fridge 24 hours, then cook on low 4-6 hours.
(this one is still in the freezer) I would choose to serve on top of steamed white rice with a large side of veggies.
Last Freezer/crock pot recipe:
Honey Rosemary Chicken
- 2 lbs chicken breast cubed
- 1/3 c balsamic vinegar
- 1/3 c honey
- 1/3 c olive oil
- 3 T chopped fresh Rosemary
- 1 t salt
Marinate for several hours, then freeze. Maybe if you decide to make all three of these recipes, make this one first and marinate while you prepare the rest :)
Defrost completely in the fridge, put in crock pot and add 1 cup of water
- cook on low 6-8 hours
- 10 min before serving, add a little corn starch to thicken the sauce and serve on top of chicken.
I haven't served this one yet either, but i think with some whole wheat noodles and a salad sounds good. And would you believe, I didnt take a picture!?! (Sorry)
Baby Food:
Just wanted to give a little update here. I followed the instructions from the Baby Bullet. It has a really helpful instruction book for what foods are best first. Sophia didn't love it the first few times. But we're just introducing it all to her slowly. She does best when I mix a little of the baby oatmeal w/ breast milk and baby food - and she certainly doesn't like it cold. We use the Baby Bullet Steamer versus boiling or steaming the food ourselves. PLUS it can steam 6 eggs hard boiled in 13 minutes!
Here is what I loved about it all too. 1 sweet potato cost $1.19/lb - then made 6-8 individual servings of sweet potatoes. If i were to buy this just 1 container of sweet potatoes, baby food would cost $1. HUGE savings :) and no added sugars, preservatives, etc. So we'll see!
Also, I have a cool storage thing that came with the baby bullet, but for freezing large batches, I recommend ice cube trays, pictured below. I got two of them for $10 and you can reuse them as you freeze different things and store the frozen food in a large freezer bag, awesome. Also easy to thaw in the fridge or put in a smaller zip lock bag and thaw in warm water (no need to microwave even!)
