This last month I was the host and chose four different recipes: Crock Pot Chicken Tacos from Cooking Classy (they are supposed to be fajitas, but more on that later), Doc's Turkey Chili from The Biggest Loser cookbook, Freezer Biscuits from Money Saving Mom and Breakfast Sandwiches. Thanks to the hard work by Jami, Amanda and Tiffany, we were able to make eight dinners each of the chicken tacos and turkey chili, 72 biscuits and 80 (!) breakfast sandwiches in a little over four hours.
You might ask, what does it mean to be a host? Each time someone hosts, they are responsible for creating the menu, shopping for all the ingredients and then providing the space to assemble the meals. Last year we started a community box that is given to the host with any leftover spices, extra food storage materials (like aluminum foil, ziplocks or saran wrap), and kitchen tools from our previous sessions. This helps us cut down on cost and sometimes inspires our next menu.
Here are some of the pictures from the day:
Amanda, on breakfast sandwich duty.
Crock Pot Chicken Tacos
Doc's Turkey Chili
Towers of breakfast sandwich goodness...
Our Southern belle, Jami, on biscuit duty!
A selfie, just because.
Flour on the belly...I kind of knew that my bump might be getting in the way!
It's been a few weeks now and the meals are still stretching for our family. The Crock Pot Chicken Fajitas ended up being chicken tacos since I have a 40 minute commute to work and am unable to come home to stop the slow cooker at the 6 hour mark to slice the meat. Oh well. They were still just as good, and we had plenty left over for a couple of lunches and another dinner of chicken quesadillas. Now I know for next time that this recipe will probably work best if we cut it in half and bag into two ziplocks.
For the chili, I was able to take it out the night before and throw it in the fridge. It was still a little frozen, but I just threw it in the pot on med-high heat and let it defrost. When it got to a boil, I let it stew for 20 minutes before serving. This is probably one of my favorite low-cal, go-to meals.
The biscuits are so good! I used half whole wheat flour and white all-purpose flour for mine and they were still very fluffy and soft. The recipe says to let them thaw for 30 minutes before baking, but since I'm normally short on time I tried baking them from frozen and they turned out just fine. It took closer to 25 minutes, but it was still a shortcut from the 45+ minutes you would normally need. Jami baked hers where they were touching and they rose well that way, too.
Lastly, the breakfast sandwiches. I am in heaven. I have saved so much money the past few weeks since I have been able to bypass my usual Starbucks Reduced Fat Turkey Bacon sandwich (and chai latte). We couldn't have made 80 of these guys without our handy breakfast sandwich maker from Hamilton-Beach:
I had bought a single one as a gag gift for my husband for Father's Day last year, but it turned our to the handiest gadget and we use it all the time! My brother-in-law got me a double for Christmas so that we could make three sandwiches at a time and not have to wait to eat as a family (each batch takes 5 minutes to cook). We kept our sandwiches simple with just eggs, cheese and real bacon bits (they are not as greasy as using whole strips of cooked bacon and are easy to scoop). Just wrap in saran wrap and freeze. It was really easy. I usually throw a sandwich in the fridge the night before, then just take off the saran wrap and heat in the microwave on high for 1-1:30.
Well, I have work and baby prep to get back to. Let us know what your favorite freezer meals are and help inspire our next session!
- Casey
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