Freezer Meals: Part II

So I left you last week with this post about our two favorite meals we made for freezer meals. Today I'll be sharing three more of the recipes we used. 

First, one of our favorite meals to make...but it's a little time consuming...chicken pot pie.

Ingredients:•1 whole chicken (thawed)
•1 bundle of celery, 4 large carrots, 1 white onion (all chopped)
•1 bay leaf
•water

•2-4 garlic cloves, diced

•1 1/2 white onion chopped

•3-4 carrots, sliced

•frozen corn or beans as desired

•2 sticks of butter

•1 c flour

•4-8 c chicken stock (as made in step 1)

•Bisquick biscuits (12 per pan)

Directions:

Step 1
1. Put whole, thawed chicken into large stock pot

2. Add celery, carrots, onion, & bay leaf to stock pot. Season as desired. I usually add salt, pepper, oregano, and some sage.

3. Add water to stock pot and fill until chicken is just covered.

4. Simmer most of the day until chicken is done.
(I started mine at 9:15am and pulled it around 3:30pm)

Step 2

1. While chicken is cooking, dice, slice, and chop your veggies for the final product.

2. Melt 1 stick of butter in large stock pot or dutch oven. Add garlic and simmer.

3. Add veggies (NOT corn or beans) and saute until softened...but not mushy.

4. Pull veggies out and place in a separate bowl until later. Leave as much butter at the bottom as possible.

Step 3

1. Remove chicken from stove & separate the meat from the carcass. Place meat in a bowl.

2. Strain liquid and veggies. Discard the veggies and any extras in your liquid. Keep liquid!!

3. This liquid is your chicken stock...save for gravy.

4. Shred chicken.

Step 4

1. Start roux for gravy. Melt second stick of butter with the drippings from sauteed veggies.

2. Add flour and whisk until smooth. Add salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste and whisk til smooth.

3. Add chicken stock until thinned.

4. Simmer and stir until thickened...this will be your gravy.

5. Add veggies (sauteed AND corn/beans) and meat to the gravy. Mix well.

6. Split gravy/veggie/meat combo into 2-3 pans.

7. Mix up Bisquick biscuits to bake on top of the pot pie. *

*There are two options for the biscuit portion...you can bake the whole thing with the biscuit dough on top. Then let it cool completely before freezing. OR you can bake drop biscuits first and add to the top of your pot pie. Then cool before freezing.*

Reheat at 325-350 degrees F until pot pie is bubbly. Don't let the biscuits burn!

Like I said above, this is our most complicated recipe that we tried...don't be discouraged! It looks hard, but the most difficult part is cutting up the veggies and shredding the chicken. 

Second, we made burgers.

You can find the recipe for burgers here. The best part about the burgers is that you can add more or less seasoning and they'll still be great! We bought 6 lbs of ground beef for burgers and made approximately 1/4 lb burgers...some were a little smaller, or we had a little more than 6 lbs...because we ended up with 26 patties to throw in the freezer.

The key here, make patties, freeze by the lb (approx), and separate with wax paper and freeze in ziploc bags. We fit 3 (ish) lbs in each ziploc.


Third, we made Baked Ziti.

Now, you can make ziti however you want. As long as you have ziti/penne noodles, you're good to go. But we followed this recipe.

I've never tried this recipe, so do your own trial and error, okay?

One thing I'll add here, is that the veggies we used were zucchini, yellow squash, carrots, onion, & garlic. You can really use any roasted veggies that you'd like.

I also added chicken, because I know my husband and I know myself...we love protein.

I should've added more sauce, but we will just make 

sure to have some on hand when we bake it.

I'll have a few more recipes for you sometime next week, as long as baby doesn't show up! Stop on by and see what's new!

Happy Thursday!