Freezer Cooking: Cranberry Chicken

Freezer cooking.

At long last we will talk about freezer cooking.  This idea transformed my approach to cooking and got me in gear on the way to homemaker-dom last year.  

Last Spring I was very pregnant, not working due to back issues and, of course, nesting in full glory. With all 3 pregnancies I've been known to mass-produce muffins, and I rarely bake them otherwise.  Being home so much last year, I finally got a household routine going with laundry, cleaning (hah) and cooking.  And now I plan my meals/grocery lists at least 2 weeks ahead.  If you had told me I would be that mentally-organized 2 years prior, I would have laughed.  As preposterous as the idea of me starting a cooking blog someday!

So there are different approaches to freezer-cooking.  Many regular hotdishes and casseroles can just be doubled, so you can make one/freeze one.  There is a movement around the idea of cooking once a month, usually cooking 2 batches of each recipe and having a 2 week menu you repeat. Once A Month Mom has menus and recipes for many different diets and menu needs, and it is completely overwhelming to me to think of planning for a month.  [Maybe in 2 more years...]  Their website is amazing, an icredible resource.  However, they recently began paid memberships to access their database.  These menus usually involve cooking the food completely in 1 big cooking day, then freezing and reheating later.  You will find freezer-cooking recipes all over the Interwebs, though, so I wouldn't recommend joining their site until you've tried freezer-cooking and want to make it a lifestyle.  

At the other end of the spectrum is a site I love and use frequently: Mama and Baby Love.  The "Mama" is Stephanie Cornais who adapted several of her favorite recipes into meals that can be prepped and frozen while still raw, then dumped into a slow-cooker day of.  Now that is convenient.  She also writes the recipes to make 2 meals' worth, so the method is chopping up everything and dividing between 2 gallon freezer bags or comparable containers.  I have her ecookbook and there are several good recipes in it, however some of them call for expensive ingredients like lamb and duck, so they are not always cheaper even when you're cooking in bulk.  

The downside to slow-cooking is mushy vegetables and thin sauces, so I don't cook that way 100% of the time.  But there is an amazing feeling to dump a bag in a slow-cooker at 10am and then when late afternoon comes, there is no dinner scramble.  Except to sometimes make rice or noodles.  So this method is great for quick weeknight meals when you want more variety in your rotation.

Some other great sites are Six Sisters Stuff, 30 Meals in One Day, and Tammy's Recipes, the last one being especially simple and budget-friendly.  And if this is something you begin to get excited about, Google and Pinterest will guide way.

When I know I'm going to be using the slow-cooker, I use bone-in chicken instead of boneless breasts.

White meat tends to dry out in my crockpot, but the dark meat does well.

Label and date 2 gallon-sized freezer bags or equivalent containers.

Order of ingredients is not strict in freezer cooking, 

except that I recommend adding liquids last, because it's less messy.

We'll begin with slicing the apples.

Add to bag.

Chop onions.

We recently acquired an immersion blender for making soups,

and to my joy, it came with a small bowl/blade attachment to make a small food processor.

So there were no tears shed over these onions.

And they were done in 3 pulses--heck yeah!

Slice lemons.

Removing sticker is optional.

 

 Instant tapioca is a great thickener.

Crockpots lend to runny sauces because the steam never escapes and so there is no reduction. 

Adding a thickener definitely helps.

Add chicken.

Ahh, lovely cranberry sauce.

Such an appetizing shape.

And not pictured, add honey.

Squish ingredients together to get out as much air as possible.

Also, whatever liquid or sauce you add will fill in the gaps, so move it around as you can.

Lay flat in freezer and you will be able to stack them and save space.

Ahh, the crockpot.
Doesn't look like much, but its tasty!

It's in the nature of a slow-cooker to cook things "to death" if you're not mindful.
I have a regular slow-cooker cookbook and it has cooking times of 10-12 hours on many recipes.
Now that's just not necessary: on low, 5-7 hrs for chicken from frozen, 6-8 hrs for beef from frozen.

Serve over rice, I recommend Jasmine rice.

Once you go Jasmine, you'll never go short-grain again.

Not gonna lie, this is not the most amazing chicken dish I've ever made, but it is pretty dang good, especially for a weeknight.  And so easy, because so little prep and thought goes into it, and that time and mental energy is precious!

Cranberry Chicken

by Stephanie Cornais

3 med apples, cut into wedges

2 med onions, chopped

Juice of 2 lemons

2 Tbsp quick cooking tapioca

4 lb chicken breasts/thighs/legs, cut-up or whole

2 can cranberry sauce

2 Tbsp honey

Divide ingredients equally between 2 gallon freezer bags.  Label and lay flat in freezer.
Day of cooking, dump contents of bag into slow cooker and cook on high for 3 hrs and low for 6 hrs.
Serve over rice.