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  • Recipes/ Ideas needed

    Long story short: One of my aunts is in a rehab facility for a serious fracture of her femur. She will probably be there a few more weeks. My uncle has been staying with her pretty much all day, every day (he's retired), as her helper and cheerleader for PT.

    I've learned that when faced with a big problem, I should focus on the parts I can do something about - in this case: my uncle doesn't know how to cook, and is having trouble feeding himself properly.

    I decided to make a bunch of easy-to-reheat meals to put in his fridge so he will have one less thing to worry about.

    So far I've made:
    • Lemon chicken with rice and peas
    • BBQ (dry rub) chicken with baked potato and broccoli
    • Teriaki stir fry chicken with rice and sweet peppers
    • Chicken with spinach and cheese ravioli and broccoli Alfredo


    I don't want to keep making the same things, so I'm asking for ideas and recipes.

    Money's a little tight, so chicken or pork (beef is real expensive around here) are preferred. Vegetarian can also work. The main thing is it has to be something that can be cooked, frozen, and reheated without losing too much of its appeal. Anything along the lines of traditional German comfort food would be especially appreciated.

    Thank you all in advance.

  • #2
    Most soups and chilis will freeze and reheat wonderfully. This one is a little unconventional, but my husband and I love it, and it can easily be scaled to make bigger portions. It's vegetarian so it's relatively healthy and pretty cheap. If pressed for time, you can use canned sweet potatoes instead of roasting fresh:
    http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/African...up/Detail.aspx

    I also make a bean and veggie chowder that is full of flavor and, again, vegetarian and pretty healthy/cheap. Sorry, I don't have actual measurements, I just use however much of everything I have on hand and base it on how many people I'm feeding:

    Onion, carrot, celery, diced
    Canned diced tomatoes, with or without added flavoring (like garlic and italian spices)
    Canned cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
    Frozen corn (or canned, drained)
    Barley, rice, or a very small noodle such as ditalini (optional)
    Salt, pepper, dried Italian herbs, and fennel seed (don't overdo it on the fennel, 1/2 tsp or so is usually enough. Can always add more.)

    Sautee the onion, carrot, and celery in some butter or olive oil, until tender. Add the undrained tomatoes, beans, corn, and as much water or chicken/vegetable stock as you want to fill out the soup. Add some seasoning and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer. Allow to simmer as long as you can, the longer the better since the flavors will marry. Keep adding water or liquid if it starts to get too thick. If you want to add another starch, you can either bring the soup to a boil and add it directly in and allow it to cook in the soup, or cook some separately in a pot of water and add it in right before serving. This is also great to make in a crock pot and can be left to cook on low all day.

    Here's a recipe for vegetarian enchiladas that I know freezes really well, since I've made them before, and it's easy to customize with your favorite veggies:
    http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/st...as/#more-11755

    I'm not a vegetarian...honest. I just happen to have several good vegetarian dishes. But here's a chicken tortilla soup recipe that uses all canned items, so very affordable. If you don't like the idea of making it with canned chicken (I have and I think it's fine, but it weirds some people out) you can use cooked cubed chicken, or buy a rotisserie chicken to use. Also, I use 1 can of cream of chicken soup and 1 can of chicken stock instead of 2 cans of stock, to make it a little thicker:
    http://allrecipes.com/recipe/six-can...up/detail.aspx

    Also, keep in mind that you don't necessarily have to cook full-blown meals for them. Once they get home, you could bring them over some fresh lunch meat, cheese, bread, lettuce, tomato, and maybe a piece of fruit and they could have sandwiches for lunch or dinner (at least, this is perfectly acceptable in our household.) Try throwing a package of bratwurst in their freezer (even better if you boil them in beer for an hour first) with the instructions to thaw and bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees, turning over once halfway through. (or you could do that and then they'd just have to thaw them.) Also leave a can of baked beans (or make your own) and a fresh watermelon and they've got a backyard cookout in their kitchen.

    I'll stop there since I'm sure you're going to get a lot more suggestions from other people here. I think it's great that you're trying to help out like this. Hope your aunt's recovery goes well!

    Comment


    • #3
      I'll second soups/stews as you can go one step further and portion them out and then freeze them so that all that has to be done is take it out and pop it in the microwave/stove and bob's your uncle.

      I'll bug my GF for her Split Pea Soup and Lentil soup. Both very good, and they come from her German mother as an added plus (that said, they might not be German for all I know :P)

      Comment


      • #4
        Lasagna is a pretty good freeze-and-store meal. Since beef is expensive where you are, you could probably do ground pork instead, or even a vegetarian version. As with thansal's idea, you could also easily make individual portions of it.
        "Things that fail to kill me make me level up." ~ NateWantsToBattle, Training Hard (Counting Stars parody)

        Comment


        • #5
          Hormel sells these microwave meals called "Compleats" which I've been eating every other day or so. They're not minimally costed, but they may be within your budget, and they're very convenient. You don't have to keep them refrigerated or frozen, and they nuke up in a minute and a half. They're a bit under $2 each at Walmart (your price may vary).

          Comment


          • #6
            Quoth TheSHAD0W
            Hormel sells these microwave meals called "Compleats" which I've been eating every other day or so. They're not minimally costed, but they may be within your budget, and they're very convenient. You don't have to keep them refrigerated or frozen, and they nuke up in a minute and a half. They're a bit under $2 each at Walmart (your price may vary).
            The salt is very high on these fyi

            Comment


            • #7
              Pasties also freeze incredibly well, but they're also a little more work. For the unfamiliar, pasties (yes, pasties, not pastries) are a type of hand pie usually filled with savory ingredients. The most common and traditional are Cornish pasties, which include beef, onion, potato, and turnip or rutabaga. Here's my recipe for homemade pasty dough, which is very similar to pie dough:

              Crust:
              3.5 cups flour
              2 tsp salt
              1 cup cold lard, cut into small cubes
              3/4 cup cold water, or more/less if needed

              Place flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the lard and pulse a few times, until the mixture is sandy. Add about 1/2 cup water and pulse a few times to get it going, then turn the food processor on low and drizzle more water in slowly until it forms a ball. Be careful not to add too much water, or to over mix.
              If you don't have a food processor, you can do this by hand. Just cut the lard into the flour/salt with two forks or a pastry cutter, then drizzle the water over and toss to combine.
              Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for an hour.

              Of course, if you don't want to go to the trouble of making your own dough, you can use store-bought pie dough, the ready-to-use kind in the refrigerated section (don't use the frozen pie crusts, though.)

              Whichever dough you decide to use, roll it out to about 1/4" thick (you'll want to roll the store bought dough out thinner than it comes) and cut into circles about the size of a small plate. Place about 1/4-1/3cup filling in the middle of the dough, and fold over to form a half-moon. Seal the edge well by crimping the crust, or just use a fork to crimp. Wash with an egg wash if desire (1 egg + 1 tablespoon cold water, beaten together) and cut a few slits in the top to ventilate. Bake at 350 for an hour.

              Here are some filling ideas:

              Traditional Cornish Pasty:
              1lb boneless round or chuck steak, uncooked
              1-2 small potatoes
              1 carrot (optional)*
              1 small turnip or rutabaga
              1/2 packet beefy onion soup mix
              1 tsp garlic powder
              salt & pepper
              2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
              3 tablespoons butter
              *Carrots are not part of the traditional Cornish pastie, and anyone who knows pasties will tell you so...but I like to add them anyway.

              First and most important: make sure everything is diced very very small! This will make folding the pastie dough over the filling much easier. If there are big chunks of potato or turnip in the mix, they may rip holes in the dough when you try to fold over.
              Mix everything except the butter together in a large bowl. Place 1/4-1/3 cup filling on the rolled out dough, and dot with 1/2 tablespoons butter before folding the dough over.

              Taco Pasties
              1lb beef or chicken, browned and seasoned with taco seasoning or spices
              1/2 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed
              1/2 cup frozen corn (or canned, drained)
              Salsa to taste (optional)
              Shredded cheese

              Mix everything except the cheese together. Fill as above, sprinkling the filling mixture with cheese before folding the dough over.

              Italian Chicken Pasties
              1lb chicken, cooked and shredded
              1-2 small potatoes
              1-2 small carrots
              1/2 packet dry Italian dressing mix
              3 tablespoons butter

              Mix everything except the butter together. Fill as above, dotting the filling mixture with 1/2 tablespoon butter before folding the dough over.

              For reference, the butter/cheese helps keep the pasties a little moist inside. They can become very dry otherwise. If you like, you can serve pasties with some kind of dip. Ketchup is very common for the Cornish pasties, or some kind of gravy. Salsa or sour cream would be good with the taco pasties.

              If making my homemade dough recipe, I usually get about 6 medium pasties out of it. Once the pasties are cooked, just let them cool, wrap in plastic wrap, place in a zip-lock baggie and throw in the freezer. As I said, they freeze incredibly well and to serve, just throw them in the oven (straight from the freezer, no need to thaw first) for about 20-30 minutes, until heated through.

              While I was typing this, I thought of something else you could do: A pot pie. Just get yourself some disposable pie tins, some pre-made pie dough like the stuff I mentioned above (or make your own) and find a good chicken pot pie recipe. I like Alton Brown's curry pot pie recipe a lot:
              http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/a...ipe/index.html
              Just line a disposable pie pan with one piece of pie dough, pour the filling in, top with the other piece of pie dough, trim/crimp the edges, cut a couple slits in the top to vent, and bake until golden brown. Then the whole thing can be frozen, or you can portion it out first into slices so they don't have to reheat the entire pie at once.

              Something else that I meant to mention. You said you did some BBQ chicken with a baked potato...did you actually bake the potato fully, then freeze it? In my experience, baked potatoes don't freeze well. They're usually okay if they're in something, like soup or casserole, but on their own I wouldn't think they'd be very good re-heated. But it would be very easy for your aunt and uncle to make a fresh baked potato to go with any meal you prep for them.

              Comment


              • #8
                Quoth MaggieTheCat View Post
                Pasties also freeze incredibly well, but they're also a little more work. For the unfamiliar, pasties (yes, pasties, not pastries) are a type of hand pie usually filled with savory ingredients.
                It rhymes with Nasty not with Tasty! (This was the sign that a Pasty seller at the Union Sq Market used to have :P)

                Maggie's ideas are great!

                On the note of baked goods (sorta...):
                Waffles and Pancakes both actually freeze rather well, and a quick toaster over treatment nets you with really good breakfasts at a lower cost and much better than eggos! For a recipe just grab a generic one, and for freezing, the normal trick holds of laying them flat on a baking sheet until frozen, then transferring them, individually wrapped, to bags. The first part is so they freeze as fast as possible (the faster they freeze, the less they degrade)

                Comment


                • #9
                  There's a site I use for slow cooker recipes that might work for your uncle. He really doesn't need to know how to cook, just throw the stuff in and turn it on then when he comes home it will be ready.

                  http://www.crockpot365.blogspot.com/

                  I cook almost exclusively with the crocpot now thanks to this site, in fact I'm about to buy a 6 quart crocpot because there's a lot of recipes that I go "ooh that looks good... damn need a 6 quart!"

                  Also these recipes are good for reheating, we usually get 2-3 meals worth out of each recipe.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Quoth MaggieTheCat View Post
                    3 tablespoons .
                    Mom always used sweetened non salted butter.

                    With the dough it's actaully easier to mix it using a pastry mixer. A little wire hand device. Because the dough is JUST barley together. If you over mix it the dough will not strech and will taste like cardboard after making. Make sure to wrap with double foil after they come out of the oven and wait 15 mins before tossing into freezer. Give those out of the oven 5 mins to cool before cutting in to eat or you can sometimes have a thick soupy consistency. I swear I've done it all while trying to learn the family recipe.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      I don't have recipes to offer, but something that may work. My aunt's solution for my grandfather was to make up bags for the crockpot. She packed up all the ingredients (already measured and cut for him) for specific meals into ziplock bags an label it with cook times and anything special he needed. All he had to do in the morning was choose one, put it in the crockpot and eat when it was done. Those and some frozen casseroles (likewise labeled) kept him going until grandma got home a month later.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        here's my addition
                        http://www.grouprecipes.com/16762/pitepalt.html
                        simple and tasty ^^

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          As always, I am impressed (though I am no longer surprised) by how willing the people here are to share their knowledge and good wishes.

                          @MaggieTheCat: I'm a big fan of soups/ stews already. The sweet potato soup sounds really good.

                          Also - frozen pasties sent my mind immediately to the gutter That being said, they sound like a great idea - I'll have to try them next weekend. I'll probably ask my wife to make the pie crust (I cook, she bakes, there's a big difference - as she keeps reminding me)

                          I did freeze a fully baked potato - mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. I knew better, but I wasn't thinking (mmm...leathery ). Next time I'll go with mashed or boiled

                          @thansal: That's why I wash and reuse all the little plastic containers I get. I generally have a cookathon on the weekends 'cause I have no time during the week. Also - I knew about the pancakes thing, but hadn't been thinking of it. I guess my mind tends to get stuck on dinner. Thanks for the reminder.

                          @firecat: I make a white lasagna with chicken and spinach that I'm inordinately proud of. The trick is making a small one

                          @Akasa: No idea if my uncle has a crock pot, and with my uncle spending all day at the rehab facility where my aunt is staying, I'm not sure it would work, but my parents have gotten into using their slow cooker recently, so I'll pass the link on to them, thanks.

                          @Kazim: Sounds a lot better than lutefisk - another one I have to try.

                          @everyone: Thanks again. I have no idea how much I'll be able to try, but the ideas and the moral support are a big help.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            A pretty okay way to freeze potatoes is to twice bake them! They're sort of a cross between a mashed and a baked potato.

                            Bake however many potatoes you want, until they're completely tender (you can do this step in the microwave to save time.) When they're still hot, slice them in half length-wise. You can let them cool slightly but you want to do this part while they're still pretty hot so you'll probably need a potholder or paper towels to hold the potatoes with. Carefully scoop out most of the inside of the potato, leaving about 1/8" left inside the potato skin, and being careful not to rip or poke holes in the skin. When all the potato halves have been scooped out, mash the insides together with whatever you like to make them creamy, like mashed potatoes. I usually just go with butter, milk, salt and pepper, but you can add cheese, garlic, sour cream, bacon bits, chives, whatever you want. You want them nice and smooth and pretty thin; not soupy, but not super thick, either. When you get the consistency and taste you want, spoon the potatoes back into the skins. Place the filled skins on a baking sheet and bake for 20-30 minutes, until the tops start to brown and everything is heated through.

                            I imagine you could freeze them either before or after the second baking time, although I've never tried freezing before baking. Alternately, if you accidentally destroy a couple of your potato skins, or add enough stuff to the filling that you don't have enough skins to hold everything, you can just place the filling in a casserole dish and bake it like that.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Oh, I've seen some great ideas here, gotta save a bunch for myself

                              I freeze a lot - living on a very tight budget lately, plus trying to eat healthy, having things to grab from the freezer instead of resorting to fast food, etc.
                              I've been especially good at frugal freezing lately.

                              First, a couple of hints in general. Almost anything you can make in a crockpot can be frozen well & reheated in a microwave. Plus crockpot recipes are good as one-dish meals, with maybe a nice bread on the side.

                              Be sure NOT to reheat in "cheapie" containers (thin plastic "disposable" containers, re-used commercial tubs, etc). Carcinogins and all that.

                              If you're short on containers, find a good freezing/reheating container (pyrex is my favourite), line it with foil, put in your food, freeze, then pop it out and wrap totally in foil, and put back in the freezer (without container), with name of container on it (yellow round pyrex, etc). When you need to reheat, take it out, run a bit of hot water if needed to get foil off, and pop it into original container to go in the mircowave. Saves having a cupboard full of containers when the freezer isn't full.

                              With just hubby & I, I tend to make huge pots of anything, then freeze several individual portions to have later in the month. My personal quick & easy & cheap favourites are spaghetti (just freeze the pasta & sauce together), noodles with alfredo sauce & chicken, chili, and my un-named dish that consists of a pot of macaroni, canned tomatoes, canned corn, spices, & some ground beef or turkey.

                              I also have some great "save money by freezing in odd ways" ideas, but not sure they'd work for taking meals over to someone to heat up at a later time (most involve freezing for putting together at the last minute).

                              I'll try to think up a few more recipes later.

                              Madness takes it's toll....
                              Please have exact change ready.

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