The Final Two

Hamburger Soup - There wasn't any redeeming value to this soup. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't especially tasty, either. Also, while the soup was thawing, the potatoes soaked up all the broth, so it wasn't a soup at all (which is fine with my anti-soup husband). We served it with lots of cheese and ketchup to kick up the taste.

No-Tuna Noodle Casserole - Since we left out the tuna for my batch, I had to add some meat. I added some caribou kielbasa, a can of creamed corn, and some cajun seasoning. After all those alterations, it was absolutely delicious! So delicious that I did the exact same thing for the second batch.

We have eaten almost all of the meals now, save for some more of the hamburger soup, and the second helping of black bean chicken, and the second asian pork. I look forward to our next round of cooking on the 30th!

More Reviews

Chicken with Black Bean Salsa - Similar to Morgan's review. Only needed 5 hours to cook, and the chicken fell apart when the cream cheese was added, so it looked a bit like chunky vomit! We served it over rice and it was pretty good, but didn't look great and probably would have been better as a dip or something.

Sloppy Joes - Needed more sauce - I added ketchup, worcestershire sauce, and brown sugar, and the taste was better.

Tace Bake - Very tasty! Would have been just as good with a corn muffin mix on the top, which is a little bit healthier than Bisquick. Next time we should freeze it a bit before adding the tin foil, because the foil stuck to the Bisquick mix on top.

Pork with Apples and Pears - Really yummy! We really enjoyed this one. I forgot to put it in the crock pot earlier, so I cooked it at 350 in the oven for one hour, and it still turned out great.

Beef and Lentil Stew - Pretty good, especially considering how healthy it is. My only complaint is that the broccoli didn't look very appetizing after cooking so long.

Only two left to try: non-tuna noodle casserole, and hamburger soup.

March Cooking Plan

Here's the link to our day of cooking plan: March Cooking Plan. I think it looks great!

March Grocery List

I've already started the grocery list for this month here's the link to it: March Grocery List. So, google docs doesn't "do" fractions. I uploaded my original excel/open office document into my google docs and it converted all my carefully placed fractions into decimals. Oh well.

So there are a couple of recipes that have options for the meat mostly because I bought a bunch of the pork butt when it was on sale at Fry's and now have a freezer full. I know you mentioned that it wasn't your favorite and that's why there are choices.

Shepherd's Pie - could use pork butt or ground beef
Sweet and Sour Pork - could use chicken or pork butt

I was thinking that we'd sign up like we did last time. It would probably make sense for you to provide the basics since we'll be doing the cooking at your house. I've already marked a few things on the list but if you want to go through first and then I'll go through and mark what I have and then we'll divide what's left.

For the granola we can skip the coconut and the raisins, I do have some non-raisin dried fruit that we can use instead. I think we have pineapple, papaya and mango.

We have 4 different recipes that call for 28 bell peppers. I have 8 yellow & orange bell peppers that we can use, they're fresh now but most of the peppers require being chopped up so I'll chop them and freeze them. Also I have some (6?) frozen red peppers that we can use as well.

Tentative Menu for March Cooking

Breakfasts:

1. Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins - http://www.recipezaar.com/Pumpkin-Chocolate-Chip-Muffins-166157

2. Granola - http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/granola-recipe/index.html 

Dinners Requiring Cooking:

1. Chicken Enchiladas - http://www.recipezaar.com/Chicken-Enchilada-Casserole-12832

2. Calzones - http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Real-Italian-Calzones/Detail.aspx 

3. Phyllo Spring Rolls with Halibut instead of crab - http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/baked-spring-rolls-with-crab-recipe/index.html

4. Shepherd's Pie - I have a good recipe in one of my cookbooks

5. Stuffed Peppers -http://www.bulkfreezercooking.com/2009/09/mamas-stuffed-peppers.html

6. Stuffed Pasta Shells - http://www.about-recipes.com/recipes/301450-stuffed-shells.html, or http://www.natecooks.net/2009/04/potluck-fun-baked-stuffed-shells/

Dinners Requiring Assembly Only:

1. Meatloaf - I use a good recipe in the America's Test Kitchen cookbook

2. Lemonade Chicken - http://freezerfriendz.blogspot.com/2009/06/lemonade-chicken-by-katie.html

3. Sweet and Sour Chicken - http://freezerfriendz.blogspot.com/2009/09/quick-sweet-and-sour-pork.html

Possible Meals

1. Chicken Enchiladas - http://www.recipezaar.com/Chicken-Enchilada-Casserole-12832 - except I would like to substitute half of the chicken in the recipe for beans (saves some money and increases the nutritional value).

2. Stuffed Peppers -http://www.bulkfreezercooking.com/2009/09/mamas-stuffed-peppers.html

3. Stuffed Pasta Shells - http://www.about-recipes.com/recipes/301450-stuffed-shells.html, or http://www.natecooks.net/2009/04/potluck-fun-baked-stuffed-shells/ - but just using a jar of pre-made spaghetti sauce instead of the sauces they suggest.

4. Phyllo Spring Rolls with Halibut instead of crab - http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/baked-spring-rolls-with-crab-recipe/index.html - I have lost of Alaskan Halibut, plus 24 oz of phyllo dough that give me the stink eye every time I open my freezer!

Let's decide on our final menu by Tuesday, March 9, as they next day my daughter has a doctor's appointment near Costco and I can swing by and pick up some needed items in bulk.

Crock Pot Meal Suggestion

Next time we put meals in bags we need to stand them up while they're freezing. I had flattened everything out and it took a bit of effort to get the frozen meal to fit into the crock pot.

Black Bean Chicken Salsa

This meal was seriously yummy! I didn't cook it as long as it said because 5 1/2 - 6 hours in I stirred it and all my chicken fell apart. I did add a bit of extra beans and corn and salsa. I mixed the cream cheese in at the end and turned my crock pot to keep warm since Andrew wasn't home yet. We just had it with chips. Peter really loved it too and when the spoon got to be too difficult for him he just went at it with his hands. :) I'm not sure how I feel about it as a main course but we'll definitely make it again.

Chicken Ranch Pizza

The pizza was "okay" - once we finally got it cooked! After thawing the pizza dough overnight, I cooked the pizza as instructed, but while the outside looked nice and done, the middle was still completely dough after 20 minutes at 450. I lowered the temperature to 350 and cooked it for 30 minutes more, and then the center was finally done.

It was an interesting meal, but we both like regular pizza better. The crust was pretty tasty, so I think I will use our other pizza dough to make a more traditional-tasting pizza.

Nothing Special

Tuna Noodle Casserole - it made the house smell like fish and there really wasn't anything particularly special about it. I'm not sure I would make it again.

**Update**
I just realized that we had run out of onions for this recipe so there weren't enough onions and I think it could have used some celery or something to give it more texture. Andrew suggested adding cayenne pepper or something spicy to improve the flavor.

Meal Suggestions for Next Time

1. Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins - http://www.recipezaar.com/Pumpkin-Chocolate-Chip-Muffins-166157
2. Granola - http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/granola-recipe/index.html 
3. Calzones - http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Real-Italian-Calzones/Detail.aspx 
4. Burritos - I have a good recipe in one of my cookbooks
5. Meatloaf - I have a good recipe in one of my cookbooks
6. ? Shepherd's Pie - I have a good recipe in one of my cookbooks
7. ?
8. ? Sweet and Sour Chicken - http://freezerfriendz.blogspot.com/2009/09/quick-sweet-and-sour-pork.html
9. ?  Lemonade Chicken - http://freezerfriendz.blogspot.com/2009/06/lemonade-chicken-by-katie.html

Future possibilities:

http://familymeals101.blogspot.com/2010/01/pizza-rolls.html

Our Meals So Far...

Here's what we think of the meals we've tried so far:

• Curried Chicken Tidbits - I really liked it, Andrew did not like the strong mustard flavor (he doesn't really like mustard). I agree that it would be good with some veggies next time. We had it over rice.
• Easy Taco Bake - I liked this one too, but I think there was too much topping and not enough filling and I think the topping would have been better if it were a corn meal base. 
• Sloppy Joes - This was good but it was a bit too sweet and didn't taste like a traditional sloppy joe. I added a can of flavored diced tomatoes and I would have added a can of tomato paste too if I had had any on hand.

One thing that I've done is put a list of each meal on the door of the fridge and when we take it out of the freezer we cross it off. This way we know what's left to be eaten. 

We still have to plan ahead to for most of the meals because they require thawing before cooking. The nice thing about the planning ahead is we just have to remember to take the meal from the freezer and put it in the fridge the night before and we're good.

So Far...

In the past few days we have tried several of the freezer meals. Here is our analysis:

• Curried Chicken Tidbits: Absolutely Delicious. Next time we would like to try substituting half the chicken with vegetables. Broccoli, cauliflower, and peppers are all great in curries, among other things.
• Sue Sue's Casserole: Also very tasty, and also would be great with more vegetables. Much, much more vegetables!
• Banana Pancakes: I love them, hubby does not (which is fine with me - it means I get to eat them all!) The only sad thing is that they do not submit to toasting - the middle will stay frozen while the outside is piping hot. I wonder if the same recipe could be used to make waffles? (I make freezer waffles all the time and love putting them in the toaster.) Also, it would be great to add more whole wheat flour to the mix.
• Asian Pork: Waaaay to salty. It was barely edible. I don't want to make this one again. Also, I think pork might just be too greasy for our liking.

Our First Attempt at a Cooking Marathon

Yesterday my friend Lauren and I made our first attempt at once a month cooking inspired by the Once a Month Mom. We followed her February meal plan and we were quite successful in our endeavors, though they took a bit longer than we anticipated because of babies needing attention. We are definitely going to do the all day cooking thing again but now that we've got one freezer cooking day under our belts we're going reassess our processes and try out different recipes that are more customized to our likes and try to make them even more healthy. It is really nice so far to have a meal on hand and ready to eat after reheating.