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Crockpot chicken and veggies

Crockpot Chicken and Veggies

Date: 1/18/2012

Recipe: http://mamaandbabylove.com/2011/04/05/freezer-cooking-with-slow-cooker-recipes/

Modifications: We halved the amount of chicken from 2lbs to 1lb, just because it seemed like a lot of chicken.

Time to table: 30 minutes prep, 8 hours crockpot

Servings: 2 adults, 1 toddler

Ben: Like

Erin: Like

Annie: Dislike

Notes: This dish was meh. The original recipe calls it “barbecue” chicken, but I hesitate to use that word because it doesn’t taste like barbecue at all. We found this recipe to be oddly bland, and when we make it again we’ll for sure add more spices and salt to it. We have another bag of this in the freezer that we’ll most likely use when Erin is on maternity leave in a couple months. I DO like this method of prepping dishes though, as all you need to do is chop your vegetables, mix everything together, and freeze it – no cooking at all. We’re going to try this method with chili and see how it goes.

Annie was in a MOOD tonight and had none of this.

Crockpot BBQ Chicken freezer meal

Crockpot BBQ Chicken freezer meal

Crockpot Chicken and Veggies

 

Veggie cobbler

Veggie Cobbler

I put sriracha on mine.

Date: August 8th, 2011

Recipe: Source: Simply Organic Cookbook

Crust:
1 1/2 Cups Unbleached All-purpose flour (used bleached all-purpose flour)
1/4 cup whole wheat flour or cornmeal (used cornmeal)
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup finely chopped Italian parsley
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, grated
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup buttermilk

Filling:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large shallot, minced
3 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour (again, used bleached flour)
2 cups milk or vegetable broth (used milk)
1/4 cup Madeira wine (did not use this)
2 tablespoons chopped sage
3 cups cooked vegetables - we used eggplant, zucchini, and sweet peppers, cut into bite size pieces
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

To make the crust: in a large bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal or whole wheat flour, baking powder, salt, cayenne, and parsley. Add the butter and cheese and stir in the buttermilk just until blended. Refrigerate while you make the topping.

To make the filling: Prehat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly oil a 3 quart baking dish. I do not own a 3 quart baking dish, so I used a 2 quart dish. It did end up bubbling over just slightly at the very end, so we put a cookie sheet under the dish.

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the shallot and whisk in the flour. Cook, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes, or until the mixture turns golden brown. Slowly whisk in the milk or broth and wine, if using. Whisk until slightly thickened. Add the sage, vegetables, salt, and pepper.

Transfer the creamed vegetables to the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with the cheese. Drop the crust mixture by the tablespoon on top of the vegetables. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the crust is browned. Remove from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Time to table: 90 minutes

Servings: 4 adult dinner, 2 toddler dinners

Ben: Like

Erin: Like

Annie: Love

Notes: I have to admit that this was better the last time we made it, which makes me sad because I remember it being so damn good. Still used up a lot of CSA veggies and it was a hit with Annie, so this was still a winner in spite of it taking a long time to make. I actually made the crust and filling on Sunday night and kept them separated in the fridge overnight and then assembled it (5 minutes) and cooked it (45 minutes) on Monday after work. We had the leftovers on Tuesday night for dinner, and they were even better than the first day!

Veggie cobbler

Precooked cobbler

Veggie Cobbler

Finished product

Veggie Cobbler

Annie eating it up!

Pasta with vegetables

Pasta w/ veggies in a cream sauce

Date: July 19th, 2011

Recipe: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/07/farfalle-with-zucchini-a-yummy-summer-meal/

Modifications: We used a zucchini and a summer squash because that’s what we got in our csa box.

Time to table: 30 minutes

Servings: Enough for 4 adults and 2 toddlers

Ben: Dislike

Erin: Dislike

Annie: Dislike

Notes: This didn’t turn our nearly as well as the last time we made it. Annie was NOT A FAN. I think I used too much pasta which diluted the creaminess of the sauce, so it just kind of tasted like pasta with veggies and no sauce, not very tasty at all. I’m making spaghetti sauce tonight and we’ll use the leftovers with some red sauce. Better than chucking them :)

Pasta w/ veggies in a cream sauce

Vegetable Lasagna

Veggie Lasagna

Date: July 1, 2011

Recipe: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/04/vegetable-lasagna/

Modifications: The veggies I used were: one eggplant, one zucchini, one summer squash, and one red pepper. I realized halfway through that I only got 15oz of ricotta cheese, but it still seemed to be plenty. I used no boil noodles. I didn’t use the wine because there was none up at the cabin.

Time to table: Nearly an hour prep, and an hour to bake on the grill

Servings: probably 10 adults

Ben: Like

Erin: Like

Annie: Love (yes!! I just love it when she willingly eats something with this many vegetables.

Notes: It was hotter than hot that day, but we had all the ingredients and this was our last night up at the cabin so I still wanted to make this lasagna. My dad offered to try grilling it on the charcoal grill using indirect heat instead of turning the oven on and heating up the already scorching upstairs of the cabin, so we gave it a whirl! I think we did around 40 minutes covered in foil and maybe 20 uncovered, and he rotated it a few times. It worked surprisingly well! (I’m tagging this with CSA, even though we only used our parsley in this because it’d be a great dish to use up a lot of late summer veggies)

Veggies for lasagna

Veggie Lasagna

Veggie Lasagna on the grill