A Week of Menus - Easy, Peasy, Freezy Meals

{Grand Canyon Image from the NPS website}

Hey everyone! If you follow me on Facebook, then you know I was out of town for a couple of days. My family and I decided to go to the Grand Canyon - it was a fun trip, but a lot (!) more driving than I realized. And, since it's the first major road trip we have ever taken as a family (there were 8 of us), I think we were a little unrealistic (overly-optimistic???) on how long it would take, how few breaks we would need, how long a stop at a gas station could actually end up taking.....

But, it was fun!!

Sorry for the late-ness of these menus - we didn't actually get home until Monday night and we just finally got our rental car returned last night. And now we are ready to eat a home-cooked dinner!! But, since I am still in vacation mode, I am using some meals that are VERY fast and easy and some others that I have socked away in the freezer so that getting dinner on the table goes faster. (This is a great idea for when you KNOW you may not have time to cook next week or next month - you can just make double of some recipes that you think will freeze well, wrap them up, stick them in the freezer and in a couple of weeks, you have TONS of pre-cooked food that just needs to be defrosted during the day and then re-heated when it's dinner time!)

BUT - on to the menus (:

Monday

{Stir Fry with Noodles}

Cheese and Refried Bean "Quesadillas"

Tuesday
Bean Burritos

Wednesday
Garden Burgers and Broccoli

Thursday
Frozen Black Eyed Peas
Green Salads
Dinner Rolls

Friday
Tofu Stir Fry with Noodles
(using frozen stir-fry mixed vegetable bag)

Saturday
Dinner Out

Sunday
Pasta Dinner
Green Salad
Garlic Bread

Do you have any summer vacation plans?? Leave me a comment and let me know what they are!
More later! (:

Freezer Friendly Eggplant Parmesan

Here's an easy, affordable, Italian delicacy that you can whip up! Eggplant Parmesan!

I will not lie to you - - this is an EASY recipe. However, it IS time consuming and it IS messy!! But...you can make a ton of it at once and it freezes really, really well (making it perfect for quick weeknight dinners or even fast lunches).

Eggplant Parmesan

2 cups bread crumbs

Egg Replacer (equivalent to one egg)

2 Tbsp soymilk

1 cup of flour

1 large eggplant

salt

1. Peel and slice eggplant horizontally (so that you end up with mostly round slices of eggplant about 1/2" thick). Lay eggplant in a colander and (lightly) sprinkle salt between layers. Let eggplant "rest" in the colander for approximately 30 - 40 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, set up work station with three shallow bowls or pie pans. In the first pan, mix the egg replacer and soymilk; in the second pan, put the breadcrumbs; in the third pan, pour in the flour. Organize the pans one after another - first the flour, second the "egg wash", third the bread crumbs.

3. Rinse off each slice and pat dry (in a kitchen towel).

4. Dip each eggplant slice into first the flour, then the wash, followed by the breadcrumbs. Lay each slice on a prepared baking pan / cookie sheet.

5. Bake at 375F for approximately 25 - 30 minutes or until lightly browned on both sides, turning 1/2 way through. (These won't brown like you expect, but they will be crispy.)

These are good on their own in a sandwich, layered over pasta with red sauce, or sliced on top of a salad. When eggplants are in season, I will sometimes grab two or three, bake this up, let it cool and then put into freezer bags to store for whenever I want something "prepared" that can be pretty much just warmed up and eaten.

If you make this, please let me know what you think - and how they came out!

Enjoy!! (:

Basil Pesto

I made a trip this weekend to the Vietnamese grocery store by my house.

This place is soooo different than walking into some place like Vons or Ralphs - - first of all, the store is HUGE - - I mean, unbelievably huge!! The fresh produce section is about twice the size of what you would find in a normal grocery store and there is just so much cool and unique stuff!! The freezer section is the same way, they have a WHOLE aisle that is just soy sauce - - all different kinds - - and they have a seafood section in the back that is all live crabs, lobster, and different kinds of fish.

There is also a jewelry store, a shoe store, an appliances store, a sushi ordering bar, a boba tea bar, a sandwich shop, a post office, an electronics store, a gift shop - - it's unreal. These little stores are more like huge booths on the periphery of the store, but they are permanent.

I went in to get some things to make Thai food at home (because I have been ordering it a lot the last couple of weeks and I figure that I could try to learn how to make it, mess it up a couple of times, buy everything again and still be spending about what I would pay to order it from a restaurant!!).

However, before I get started on trying to make that, there were a couple of other things, I couldn't help but pick up:

 
Basil - Can you believe all this basil was less than $1.50!!!!


















Garlic - All of this was less than $2 and came pre-peeled for me!!!








In light of these great finds, I decided that it was high time I make some pesto (since it freezes easy, I can keep the taste of summer in my freezer for months when I wish the clouds or rain would go away!)

Quick Pesto Recipe

1 large bunch of basil, cleaned, removed from stems, and rough chopped
2 - 3 basil cloves, crushed
3/4 - 1 cup of walnuts or pine nuts (a couple of big handfuls), rough chop
1 Tbs nutritional yeast, optional
3 Tbs. cashews, optional
olive oil

Put basil, garlic, and walnuts (and nutritional yeast and cashews, if using) in a food processor. Start mixing and slowly add in olive oil in a thin stream until desired consistency is reached. Add salt and pepper if desired.

Notes:

• The cashews and nutritional yeast (not baking yeast, nutritional yeast can be found in health food stores, Henrys, Whole Foods, or Sprouts) will give this sauce an added creaminess and means that you won't miss the cheese. You could use just cashews or just the yeast, if that's what you have on hand. Or omit both, and it's still great.
• This sauce is great - I use it on sandwiches and tofu or thinned out (with water and a little more olive oil) on salads and cooked, grilled, or raw veggies or thinned out (with pasta water) to use on regular pasta or in pasta salads.
• And because this recipe is made without cheese, it freezes great! So make a big batch, pour it into ice cube trays, let freeze, and then pop in a freezer bag to save for days when you want to taste the goodness of summer!!
• Another reason that I LOVE this recipe is that it is FORGIVING!! If you don't have basil, sub in parsley (italian or curly) or even arugula or anything dark green and thin; if you don't have pine nuts, use walnuts or cashews, or even pecans or brazil nuts. It will change the flavor a little bit, but it will still taste good (as long as you like those things; ie - if you hate parsley, don't use that, but otherwise, you are good to go!).

More later! :)

Tweet

Freezing Beets

I have decided that since I have a TON of beets, I will spare my family another week of beet-related meals and save them for when the weather turns cooler.
I love beet soup and quick (and easy) microwave beets. I also love shredded beets in salads with some apples and either pecans or walnuts (for some reason beets in salad makes me think of early fall and not summer).
I freeze A LOT of stuff - right now, I have beans, bulgur, brown rice, cooked beans, extra pasta sauce, extra freeze-dried herbs, homemade "ice-cream", and soup base in my freezer. I will literally attempt to freeze anything if it means that I can save it before it goes bad or before it goes to waste. I have never attempted to freeze beets before, so I won't be able to tell you - until maybe September or October - - how they come out, but I will be sure to mention it once I use them again.

This was my method to freeze the beets:

Clean beets; trim off ends; submerge in a pot full of water; bring to a boil; Continue to boil for approx. 25 minutes (until you can insert a knife or fork into the largest one easily).

Drain pot of hot water; add cold water and (lots!) of ice cubes to cover; leave for approx. 15 minutes (or until beets are cool enough to handle).

Peel beets (I use wax or parchment paper on my cutting board so that I have less (beet juice) to clean up).

Slice beets, if desired (I sliced some and left the small ones whole).

Lay out on parchment paper on a small cookie sheet or jelly roll sheet and put in the freezer overnight.

Put in freezer bags to save for later!!

What kinds of things do you freeze?

You can find me at some of these cool linky parties this week!
More later! :)

Tweet