Freezer Stash

So in order to get ready for baby, I've been throwing together casseroles. (As noted in previous blogs.)

 

We bought a new freezer a few weeks ago. It was right before we picked up our beef from Crooked Creek Beef. Our landlord had left his 5 cubic foot deep freeze for us, and we were torn on if we should buy another deep freeze or splurge for a larger upright freezer. We went with the Kenmore 13.7 cubic foot from Sears. I like using Sears for larger items. We got our Treadmill from Sears and for $79 dollars they deliver AND put it together. Nordic track wants like $300 to deliver and put it together. Delivery for the freezer was $69 and they moved it downstairs (had to take off a few doors and the handrail) and did a great job. Always reward your delivery men! I offered them Gatorade and they were very happy.

Only took one month to fill it!

 

So after picking up beef, splitting it with the neighbors, and making a lot of casseroles, here's what it looks like now.

 

Freezer Goodies

18 Cups of Chili

20 Black Bean Soups (thanks Mom!)

6 Chicken Enchiladas Casseroles + ingredients to make another one

6 Beef Enchilada Casseroles + ingredients to make another one

8 Tater Tot Casseroles

6 Lasagnas (Thanks Mom!!)

1 Sloppy Joe (Just defrost, heat, add buns.)

12 1-pound ground beef

5-pounds ground turkey (Sam's Club purchase)

2  1-pounds of ground pork

Hot Dogs, Brats, and Sausages

12 premade hamburgers

Steaks, steaks, and more steaks.

 

Other deep freeze goodies

2 pack of Bertolli Chicken Florentine & Farfalle (Sam's Club purchase). Easy skillet meal to throw together.

Pepperoni & Mozzarella Cheese to make homemade pizzas

6 Salmon filets

7 Twice Baked Potatoes

4 Carmel Apple Tartlets

10 Potatoes au Gratin

4 16-ounce bags of Broccoli & Cheese

2 boxes Toaster Strudels

2 frozen DiGiorno pizzas

 

The items from Kansas City Steak & Omaha Steaks were the "Freebies" earlier this year when I made a few purchases. I can eat the twice baked potatoes with GD, but can't have the apple tarts or potatoes au gratin. We also purchased the toaster strudels before GD also. The pizzas are mostly for Jason for when I was traveling.

 

Our upstairs freezer includes goodies like Eggos, frozen veggies, ice cream, tater tots, maybe some frozen fruit.. you know.. frozen odds and ends.

So yes, that's 31 main casserole meals.. at one a week, it gets us to mid-March. We'll probably make 1-2 a week and be done with it around the end of the year!
 

So in summary, if there is another major power outage, please come to my house and help me eat this all or take it off my hands!

 

 

 

 

Easy Beef Enchiladas

So continuing the freezer meals.... we made beef enchiladas too. I again used the easy Ortega recipe which is the same recipe listed on the back of the El Paso can (except for some of the measurements.)

 

Ingredients:

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 can (19-oz.) ORTEGA Enchilada Sauce, divided
• 1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided
• 6 (10-in.) flour tortillas

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°F.

In a large skillet, brown ground beef over medium-high heat until thoroughly cooked; drain. Stir in 3/4 cup enchilada sauce and 1 cup cheddar cheese.

Spoon meat mixture into tortillas. Roll up, burrito-style, and place seam-side down in a 9-inch baking dish. Pour remaining sauce over the top and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until hot. Serve warm.

 

Again - great for one! And Beef Enchiladas really are easy to make. I used to make them all the time in college and Richmond! A huge time savor is to keep cooked ground beef on hand. That saves around 20 minutes of prep time if you want to throw them together after work.

 

IN BULK

I had approximately:

7-8 pounds of ground beef

4 pounds of cheese. We had some leftover shredded cheddar and bought a large bag of Mexican Shredded blend.

Bunch of Cilantro

6 29-ounce cans of Enchilada Sauce (I used Old El Paso)

3 Packets of Enchilada Seasoning

50-60 8-inch white flour tortillas

 

We cooked the ground beef with the enchilada seasoning to flavor it. Drain it, let it cool.

On a scale - measure:

1 lb cooked ground beef

8 ounces of cheese
 

Add:

1-2 Tbsp of chopped cilantro

1.5 cups of enchilada sauce (about half a 29-ounce can)

 

Mix together well.

Pour a little enchilada sauce into the bottom of a 8x8 or 9x13 pan.

Using a 1/2 measuring cup, scoop mixture into tortillas. Roll, place in pan.

We were able to fit 6 enchiladas in the 8x8 and 10 fit in a 9x13.

Top with remaining enchilada sauce and shredded cheese.

 

We made a total of 56 enchiladas. 6 8x8 pans, 1 9x13, and enough mixture & (10) shells to make another 9x13 at a later date.

 

I estimate the total cost of these to be almost $84. Because of the leftover cheese, and fact that I used two very large packages of ground beef from Sam's Club to make both sloppy joes and enchiladas, it's a slight estimate.

 

Estimated Cost:

$84 total

56 enchiladas = $1.50 each

9 casseroles with 6 each (even though I have 2 "tens"), is $9 each casserole, plus $2 container = $11 for a 2 person meal. (Because 3 enchiladas is a nice serving.) This is a little more expensive than my Tater Tot Casserole or Chicken Enchiladas, but it's still better than eating out. 

Chicken Enchiladas!

So preparing for baby... I've been trying to stock the freezer. Jason helped me make 8 Tater Tot Casseroles last weekend (half beef and half turkey) and Beef/Turkey Chili (18-2 cup servings.) They are in our deep freeze now, along with 50+ pounds of meat. I even cheated and bought a few things at Sams Club that are easy to whip together in a skillet or throw in the oven. Mom is hopefully going to make some lasagnas and black bean soup!

 

This weekend was supposed to be beef and chicken enchiladas. But oh my lord! We made 10 chicken enchilada casseroles and I was super swollen and tired and with a few other things to do, only got the chicken ones done. This week we're going to knock out the beef ones. I can brown the meat one night, and make the casseroles the next night.



Martha's Enchilada's
(I kept forgetting to take a picture of mine.)

The original recipe I went with was a really simple one from Ortega. I prefer the Ortega Mild Green Enchilada Sauce. It comes in 16 ounce jars and is available at Walmart for $1.98 or Schnucks for like $3.99 (It seemed like a LOT more expensive the one time I looked at Schnucks.)

 

Oretega Recipe for Quick & Easy Chicken Enchiladas:

2 cups cooked chicken

2 cans (10 ounce) Enchilada Sauce

1 cup cheese

1 can (4-ounce) green chilis

8 (6-inch) corn tortillas.

 

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 11x7-inch baking dish.
• Spread 1/2-cup the enchilada sauce onto bottom of prepared baking dish. Combine chicken, 1/2-cup enchilada sauce, 1/2-cup cheese and chiles in medium bowl. Spoon chicken mixture evenly down center of each tortilla; roll up. Place seam-side down in baking dish. Top with remaining enchilada sauce and cheese.
• Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

That sounds great. If you're making a meal for one night.

 

Here's what I wound up with:

6.77 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts (cooked ~ 14 cups of chicken)

Jar of jalapenos, Lemon Juice, Lime Juice, Cilantro Bunch

8 pounds of Monterrey Jack Cheese (You can't find this shredded, thank heavens for food processors!)

8 - 16 ounce jars of green enchilada sauce + 2 - 10-ounce cans.

4 - 7 ounce cans of diced chilis

70 corn tortillas

 

Total = $57.59

Fancy Pants Gladware Container = $2/each

Total per casseroles = $7.76/each! And it's usually 2-3 servings depending on a level of hunger.

 

Since I really liked the Martha Stewart recipe for green enchiladas I made a few years back, I went a little that way, but still keeping it simple.  (You can see pictures of those here.)

 

Ortega doesn't suggest on how to cook the chicken. Pinterest will tell you to cook it in the crock pot with some chicken broth and then shred it with your paddle attachment on your kitchen aid mixer. Martha likes you to bake it... with some special seasonings.

 

I prepped the chicken by cutting each super large chicken breast  in half so they would cook quicker. I put 1/4 cup of lemon juice, lime juice, and jalapeno juice in a cup and brushed that on each piece of chicken breast. I salted and peppered each piece.

I chopped the cilantro and sprinkled that on the chicken.

I chopped 2-3 tablespoons of jalapenos and sprinkled those on the chicken breasts.

I baked the chicken for around 40 minutes at 375 F.

 

I let the chicken cool - over night. Cooling the chicken before adding the cheese is very important. I then chopped the chicken up into little pieces.

 

I used my food processor to shred the 8 pounds of cheese. I like the Monterey jack cheese, it's perfect flavor for green chicken enchiladas.

 

Since I haven't made these in such a large bulk before, I did it in small portions.

 

I combined:

4 cups of diced chicken (16 ounces)

2 cups of cheese (6 ounces)

1 - 16 ounce bottle of green sauce

1 - 7 ounce can of diced chilis

and used 18 corn tortillas.

 

This made 3 pans worth. I did that 3 times.

 

The fourth and final mixture was about 2 cups of chicken, 2 cups of cheese, a bottle of sauce, and can of chilis. I mixed this together and put it in a ziploc for freezing and making later. I was out of time, and had other places to be!

 

To make the enchilada casseroles:

If you are pregnant, SIT DOWN. Clear the kitchen table. DO IT.

Have your mixture ready, some extra sauce, and your husband heating up the corn tortillas between moist paper towels for 15 seconds.

I spread a little sauce on the bottom of the container (less than 1/3 cup).

Scoop 1/4 cup of mixture into a corn tortillas. Roll up. Place seam side down in container.

Repeat. A million times.

 

The casseroles aren't complete yet! Make sure to spread sauce & cheese on the top! We used 4 jars of salsa in the mixture, one jar to spread on the bottom of each pan, and had plenty of leftovers to spread over the top of each casserole. You'll want to make sure to spread enchilada sauce over the top of the casseroles, and add a handful or two of cheese!