Saturday, May 22, 2010

I have been interested in freezer meals for the last few years. The idea just really appeals to my plan-ahead personality. I was at the library the other day and came across a couple of cookbooks that intrigued me. One of them was Don't Panic: More Dinner's in the Freezer and Holly Clegg's Trim and Terrific Freezer Friendly Meals. I haven't really looked at the second one yet, but really liked the first one - in fact, I bought it (fyi-I found out you can buy used books through Barnes and Noble online for really dirt cheap!). We tried one of the recipes for pork chops last week that was really good and oh so easy:

Herb Crusted Pork Chops
8 pork chops, bone-in (mine weren't bone-in)
1 1/2 cups breadcrumbs (I used the seasoned breadcrumbs)
1 cup fresh parsley, chopped (I used 1/4 cup dried parsley)
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1/2 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste (I didn't think it even needed either)

Mix all the ingredients except the pork chops together. Dip the pork chops in the mixture. If you're freezing them, at this point wrap in plastic wrap, put wrapped chops in a ziploc bag and stick in the freezer. If you're serving them, broil on high for 2-3 minutes each side, then set the oven to 350 and bake for 20 minutes or until they're tender. (If you're cooking them after freezing them, just make sure they're completely thawed before you cook them the same way.) The easiest way is to do double what you'd do for your family and bake up half the night you make it, and freeze the other half. Same prep time, but two meals!

5 comments:

  1. Sweet!

    I definitely would like to hop aboard the frozen meal train :) Thanks for sharing!

    You made me a ravioli after I had Henry and it was SO WONDERFUL. Thank you for that!

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  2. You should check out this blog http://moneysavingmom.com/category/from-my-kitchen

    She does these huge freezer cooking days once a month where she makes meals or part of meals all in one day and then freezes them. Takes care of most of the month that way. It sounds like something you could handle :) She posts recipes too and tells you if they work or don't work for freezing.

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  3. Oooh, I'm excited! Thanks Ashlee! =)

    Ali, do you want that recipe? It's another way easy one.

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  4. I have been looking into the freezer meal thing, too, but the problem is, who has an entire day to devote to cooking! I can't even do that during canning season. The other thing is recipes that say "thaw in refrigerator for 8 hours, then cook..." Clearly, if I was THAT on top of my game, I would already have a meal in mind and then have organized my day so that I would have enough time to cook it. Not gonna happen! I need something that's the equivalent of the potstickers from Costco--I cook it, and 10-30 minutes later, dinner is done and ready! I got a book called Fabulous Freezer Dinners (http://www.amazon.com/Fabulous-Freezer-Meals-Ahlstrom-Stanger/dp/1935217380/ref=sr_1_20?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274826083&sr=1-20) from Costco the other day, and I think it's going to fit my needs better than anything else I've seen yet.

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  5. Oh, and please don't use dried parsley--come over to my house and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE use some off of my plant by the front door. It's taking over my world, and we can't eat it fast enough.

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