How To Make 38 Frozen Burritos for Lunches

This post is for my friend Maria.  We were talking the other day about how I make  freezer burritos and I thought I would put it in a post for her.  And you.  Whoever else is reading this.

This is one of my favorite projects because these burritos taste soooo good.  The hubby likes to take them in his lunches.  I like them when mac & cheese and dino chicken nuggets are on the menu and would prefer something else.

You can also use these for a quick dinner.  Place 4-6 burritos in an oven safe dish.  Cover with a can of green enchilada sauce and cheese.  Bake until warmed through.  Yum.

There are two main parts to my freezer burritos: homemade refried beans and sweet pulled pork.  They are both made in the crock pot and are both very easy.

THE BEANS.  Homemade refried beans taste vastly better than canned stuff and they are super easy to make.  I use this recipe I posted for the beans.  There are only two changes I make since that first post.  I add bacon grease from 1/2 to 1 pound of cooked bacon and I no longer remove any water.  I just cook them down after blending.

THE PULLED PORK.  I wish I had two crock pots.  Then I could made the pork in one and beans in the other.  Since I don't.  I will make the pork one day and beans the next.  Or the other way around.  Here is what I throw in for the pork.

3 lbs. pork roast

1 16 oz. jar of green salsa

1 c. brown sugar

I cook on low for 8-10 hours and then shred it.

Once the beans and pork are done you can assemble your burritos.  I use flour tortillas.

First a little beans . . .

Next a little pork . . .

Then some shredded cheese . . .

Roll them up and freeze them on a cookie sheet.  This will prevent them from sticking together when you put them in a bag.  You can also wrap them individually, but I usually don't bother.  This makes a lot, but it depends on how much of the ingredients you put inside.

Bountiful Basket Freezer Meals

A few weeks ago it occurred to me that a great way to use all the vegetables in my Bountiful Basket would be to create freezer meals.  I often don't get a chance to use all the veggies when they are at their freshest.  Creating meals and freezing them seems like a win win.  Fresh vegetables and meals that are ready to go. 

Not all the veggies in a bountiful basket will freeze well.  So here are the ones I am planning on using:

Spinach

3 Zucchini

Cabbage

I think I will create a freezer meal for each of them.

Spinach artichoke dip chicken

Pork chops with zucchini casserole and stuffing

Cabbage burgers

Spinach artichoke dip chicken

For this one I think I will just wilt the spinach in some garlic and butter.  I will add that to a spinach artichoke dip recipe like this one.  Before cooking it I plan on freezing the mix.  When I am ready to cook I will probably place several chicken breasts in the crock pot, cover them in the dip and cook until the chicken is done.  

Pork Chops with zucchini casserole and stuffing

This will be another crock pot meal.  I found this recipe that looks easy and yummy.  I think it will be easy to mix the soup, sour cream and the veggies together and freeze them.  When I am ready to cook I can mix the stuffing and the butter together.  Then layer half the stuffing, pork chops, veggies and soup, and last the other half of the stuffing.  Cook until the pork chops are done.

Cabbage Burgers

This one is a favorite.  I found this recipe some time ago and have made them two or three times since.  I like to use my pizza dough recipe, but am sure the frozen bread dough would be good too.  They freeze beautifully and make great lunches on the go.

There you have it.  Three freezer meals from the Bountiful Basket veggies this week.  

Slow Cooker Coconut Chicken Curry: Review

Would it surprise you to know that I didn't take a picture?  Oh, well.  Life is busy and I am mostly happy that I managed to make dinner and blog about it.  How about another moving picture instead?

 

What I put in my crock pot:

1-2 lbs chicken, cubed (I would lean towards more meat, just sayin')
1 whole onion, diced
1 t. garlic, diced
1/4 c. dehydrated bell pepper (use 1 whole green pepper diced)
1 6 oz. can of tomato paste
1 15 oz. can coconut milk
1 1/2 t. salt
1 T. curry powder
1 T. garam masala (I made my own with this recipe)

I cooked it on high for about 5 hours.  It smelled wonderful.  I served it over white calrose rice.

What I thought:

This one has by far been one of the best slow cooker recipes I have made.  I loved it.  The flavors were wonderful and my 5 year old had seconds.

In addition, this one would work really well as a freezer meal.  I will not hesitate to make this one again.  And again.

Slow Cooker Pizza Soup: Review

This is the second meal that I said I was going to make this week.  This one isn't really new for us because I am pretty sure I have made it before, but I haven't posted it.

I didn't take a picture of this one either.  I almost took a picture of a bowl of leftovers I had for lunch today but Kimball was playing Angry Birds Star Wars on my phone so I couldn't take a picture.  Plus the table was a mess and I didn't want to clean it before stuffing my face.

So how about this for a picture?

Lol.  He totally makes me laugh.

Anyway, here is what I put in my crock pot:

2 c. homemade spaghetti sauce from the freezer
6 c. water
1 small onion, diced
1/4 c. dehydrated bell peppers (use 1 whole bell pepper diced)
1 small package of cherry tomatoes, quartered (use 1 can diced tomatoes drained)
1 c. pepperoni, sliced and quartered
3/4 lb. mild Italian sausage, sliced and browned
1/4 wagon wheel pasta, added in the last half hour

I served it with a generous helping of mozzarella cheese and garlic pull-apart bread.

You could also add mushrooms to this or even black olives.  Mmmmm.

What I thought:

This on is a winner all around.  Everyone ate it.  The cheese is a must and makes it taste just like pizza.  It probably won't satisfy a real pizza craving because it's soup after all, but it's close.

I also think this would be a pretty easy freezer meal.  You would have to brown the sausage before freezing, but that's not too much trouble.  I would also leave out the water and add it to the crock pot when ready to cook.

Slow Cooker Scalloped Potatoes: Review

I didn't take a picture of my food.  To be honest I was hungry and anxious to get the kids fed so I could stuff them in bed and call it a night.  But I know that it's nicer to read a blog post with pictures,so how about this one?

Ha ha!!  I don't know how google+ does these little moving pictures, but this one makes me laugh!  Well, on to the food ...

What I put in the Slow Cooker:

3-4 medium-ish potatoes, sliced into rounds
1 large head of broccoli, chopped
1 cup turkey ham, diced
1-2 cups grated cheese, Monterrey jack and cheddar mix
1 can cream of chicken
1 can of milk

I assembled the items in layers.  First potatoes, then broccoli, ham and cheese. Another layer of potatoes, then broccoli ham and cheese.  I topped it off with another layer of potatoes and a little more cheese.  Then I mixed the soup and the milk together and poured it over the entire thing.  I cooked it on low for about 7.5 hours.

My thoughts:

I would say this was a success.  I was surprised to see that some of the potatoes browned on top, at least the ones near the edges. I thought the broccoli would turn to mush, and it was soft, but not gross.

Bryce and the boys liked it.  I thought it was good too.  Not fabulous, but Bryce said he liked it well enough to make it again.  When I do, I will make a few changes.

First, I used turkey ham and Bryce doesn't like the texture.  He also would like it in a smaller dice.

Second, I am unsure that this would make a great freezer meal.  I really liked the layering.  This would be hard to replicate if you dumped all the ingredients in the bag, froze it and then dumped them into the crock pot.  Also, I am a little wary of frozen potatoes.  However, I do think this would work with frozen broccoli.

This was a very easy meal to assemble.  The boys liked it, so I will make it again.

One Week of Crock Pot Meals

Lately, my crock pot has been a good friend.  I, like half of the pinners on Pinterest have been mildly obsessed with meals that can go straight from the freezer to the crock pot.  However, mine is a love/hate relationship.

My biggest hesitation in making a large amount of meals is that I don't know if my family will eat them.  I don't want to make three meals of cilarntro lime chicken only to find out my boys and even my husband are going to turn up their noses. 

So, I have been on a hunt for freezer to crock pot meals that my family likes.  I have often made meals without bothering to freeze them.  If they are a hit then perhaps when I am more organized I can made them for the freezer.  

So this week I am trying four new crock pot meals that could potentially be freezer meals.  

Here is what is on the menu:

Scalloped Potatoes and Ham

Pizza Soup
Coconut Chicken Curry
Korean BBQ Beef (I'm doing this in the crock pot)

So, if any of these are worth making again, I will let you know.

Random Crock Pot Pins

After discovering you can make granola in the crock pot, my mind began to wander.  I wonder what else you can make in the crock pot that I've been completely unaware of?  Below are some pins I found to answer that question.  Not to mention all the dinners that are possible!

I'm feeling a bit inspired to use the crock pot a little more often.  If you want to check out my new crock pot pin board, you can find it here.

Source: crockpotladies.com via Jamie on Pinterest

Caramel from sweetened condensed milk.

Source: 3.bp.blogspot.com via Katherine on Pinterest

Source: crockpotladies.com via Katherine on Pinterest

Source: crockpotladies.com via Peggy on Pinterest

Source: crockpotladies.com via Peggy on Pinterest

Source: crockpotladies.com via Peggy on Pinterest

Breakfast

Source: alattewithotta.com via Peggy on Pinterest

Source: crockpotladies.com via Nikki on Pinterest

Granola in the Crock Pot

Thanks to Pinterest, I have discovered that there are a few unusual uses for my crock pot.  Yesterday, I saw this pin for granola in the crock pot and decided to give it a try.

Source: theprairiehomestead.com via Patricia on Pinterest

I used my own recipe which you can find here (but I did add the salt to the syrup).  It filled the whole crock pot.  After reading the instructions I found by following the links in the pin I was a bit overly concerned about burning it.  I left it in for 2 and a half hours and guess what?  It's chewy!  Sure it taste's delicious, but who likes chewy granola?

So here's the verdict.  My recipe needs more time in the crock.  I do think I'm inclined to try this again because it means I don't have to wash two large cookie sheets and one big bowl, none of which fit in my dishwasher and usually sit on my counter for three days before I get around to washing them.

Oh, and I did take a picture of the granola in the crock but it looked so much like the one above I didn't bother uploading it.  Just picture a cream colored crock and no holes in the spoon and then you'll see what mine looked like.

Crock Pot Spaghetti Sauce for the Freezer

I'm not a huge fan of raw tomatoes.  Ok, I can't stand them.  So when I order a Bountiful Basket and tomatoes show up I have to find something to do with them.  Although I have been known to simply can them, I am more likely to make spaghetti or pizza sauce.  In fact, I made some yesterday.  Here's how.

1.  I need about 7-8 cups of tomatoes.  This batch only came to about 6 cups so I added in some canned.

2.  Into the crock pot they go.

3.  Next add two chopped onions.

4.  Then 1/2 half green pepper chopped, 1 T. garlic minced, 2 T. italian seasoning, 2 T. sugar, 1 T. salt, 1/2 t. pepper, 2 T. dried parsley.  (I added parsley that was frozen in cubes, but dried works fine.)

5.  1/2 can of a 6 oz. can of tomato paste.

6.  Mix it all together and simmer for 6-8 hours on low.  If you like it chunky then you're done, if not you can use an immersion blender.  If you don't have one of these handy tools then you can blend it in a regular blender in batches, but be careful it will be very hot.

7.  Let it cool and then package it in freezer bags.  I used gallon bags even though I only added few cups.  Hey, use what you got.  Label and freeze for a quick meal later.

Fat Free Refried Beans in the Crock Pot

When I first saw this recipes for fat free refried beans I was skeptical because there was no presoaking nor boiling.  You just throw the dry beans in the crock pot with the seasonings.  I was worried that the beans would be crunchy (which I can't stand), but I was pleasantly surprised.

Here is what I put in my crockpot:

2 lbs dry pinto beans

1 small onion rough chopped

2 T. minced garlic

3 T. cumin

1/2 T. oregano

sprinkle of chipotle pepper

4 t. salt 

12 c. water

 Cook on high for 6 hours.  Remove 3 c. liquid and mash.  I didn't have a potato masher so I used my immersion blender.  It worked well.

The only real problem with this recipe is that it makes a TON!  So I am freezing some to make this soup.  Any other ideas for what I can do with refried beans?

What We Ate For Dinner: Crock Pot Massaman Curry

I cannot promise you that I will take pretty pictures of my food.  Most of the time I will forget.  (The above is of the curry after I put it in the crock pot but before I cooked it.)  But, this experiment is not about pretty food.  Hopefully, it's about tasty food.  And this is one of my favorite recipes of all time.  I adapted it from one I found on allrecipes.com.

I threw this in the crock pot before church and used my rice cooker with a delay timer.  Everything was ready when we got home.  My in-laws came over and I think we each had seconds.  It was such a nice evening.  And my father-in-law gave my wheat grinder a bit of maintenance work.  I am seriously so thankful for him.  Whole wheat bread here we come!

1 can coconut milk
1/4 c. peanut butter
3 T. curry powder
3 T. brown sugar
3 T. fish sauce
2 c. chicken broth (or bouillon and water)
2-3 chicken breasts in chunks
3-5 potatoes in chunks
2 c. baby carrots or 2-4 carrots in chunks
1 onion diced
3 cloves garlic minced
1/2 c. peanuts (optional)

Place first 6 ingredients in crock pot and whisk until peanut butter is combined.  Add everything else except the peanuts.  (You could saute the onion in some oil to soften it a bit, but I usually don't bother.)  Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6.  Add the peanuts a half hour before it's ready.  Serve over brown rice.