Freezer Cooking My Way

As much as I enjoy a hot, home cooked meal, most nights I honestly don't feel like spending more than 20 minutes actively preparing dinner.  Lately I've learned that keeping a few staples on hand in the freezer and pantry really aid me in getting dinner served without any hassle.  I keep a stock of steaks (nothing fancy, folks), various types of fish (salmon, tilapia, and cod we buy for cheap at Sam's Club), and veggies in the freezer, and quick starchy sides in the pantry.  When I stay stocked I can throw together a quick and satisfying dinner with little to no time spent in the kitchen.  I've also gained a repertoire of entrees and sides that we adore that I can make in bulk, freeze, and quickly prepare straight from the freezer.  Keeping myself stocked in this way has made planning and preparing weeknight meals a breeze, and I've noticed the huge added benefit that my weekly grocery bills have been cut in half!

 I recently ran out of a few of my freezer staples, so I planned a freezer cooking day to restock on my favorites and try out a couple new recipes as well.  My absolute favorite recipe to make in bulk and keep on hand in the freezer for quick dinners are Creamy Chicken Taquitos.  These taquitos have been in constant rotation in my house for well over a year, ever since I first made them shortly after Annie's Eats shared the recipe.

These taquitos are so near and dear to me that they made the menu of my 24th birthday last June when I made a full Mexican feast for 14 close friends.  They were definitely the crowd favorite among the dishes.  I've made these taquitos so many times now that I have the process down to a science.

I have ALWAYS doubled this recipe and until recently I would use a store-bought rotisserie chicken to keep things as quick and simple as possible.  After watching rotisserie chickens shrink in size but raise in price, I've started preparing my own rotisserie style chicken in the crock pot to shred and use in these taquitos.  I started with Busy Mommy's recipe for inspiration but I use seasonings that I think will compliment the taquitos: smoked paprika, chili powder, cumin, coriander, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper.  I mostly just eyeball the amounts to taste.  Once the chicken is done cooking in the crock pot, it will be so fall apart tender that it will practically shred itself for the taquitos!

I find that using the entire chicken provides the perfect amount of meat for a double batch of taquitos.  I use Mission brand small flour tortillas, scoop 3 tablespoons of the chicken mixture onto each tortilla and I always end up with 20 taquitos (which is perfect as the Mission small flour tortillas come in a pack of 20).

When I make these, I work in an assembly line fashion 8 taquitos at a time.  I warm the tortillas in the microwave, scoop the filling, shape the filling in a tight log, then roll the tortillas and line them up on a wax paper line cookie sheet that fits perfectly in my freezer.  These freeze beautifully and can be baked frozen, straight from the freezer.  I like to serve them with a side of Authenic Mexican Rice and a little steamed corn.

Another favorite that I think everyone should keep on hand for a sudden sweet tooth or unexpected guest are chocolate chip cookies.  These Award Winning Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies are my current favorite recipe and I love that the recipe yields such a large quantity, perfect for stocking one's freezer.  I make a full batch, portion the dough with a 1 1/2 tablespoon scoop, and freeze the dough until solid.  Store the dough balls in freezer bags and you'll be able to bake a cookie or two to enjoy as a weeknight dessert, but you'll also have plenty on half if you need to feed a house full of guests on short notice.  Just bake these straight from the freezer, adding an extra minute or two to the baking time, if needed.

These Twice Baked Potatoes from The Pioneer Woman are one of the two new recipes I tried for this round of freezer cooking.  I figured these would be nice to have on hand for quick lunches or as a side for nights we grill steaks for dinner (a nice alternative to the instant mashed potatoes I typically make).  Besides, who doesn't love a twice baked potato filled with bacon and cheese?

I followed Ree's recipe fairly closely but I decided to use 16 smallish potatoes rather than 8 large potatoes to have a larger yield but to also make these a more modestly sized side.  I followed the ingredients in Ree's recipe, adding in additional quantities until the consistency of my potato mixture was just right.  I filled the potato halves up with the mixture, froze them solid, then wrapped them each individually in plastic wrap before placing them in freezer bags for storage.

Lastly I made these Mini Beef and Cheese Empanadas (on the left, bagged up for the freezer, in the photo above) from Tracey's Culinary Adventures but unfortunately was pretty over the whole all-day freezer cooking thing at that point so I didn't snap any in-process photos to share with you.  If you want to see what the assembly of these empanadas looks like, I suggest you check out Tracey's post.  I plan to serve a few of these as a dinner entree with our usual "Mexican" style sides (rice and/or corn).

All in all, a little over a day of work and my freezer will be stocked for several weeks.  I'd like to spend another day in the near future preparing a few other items that we enjoy that I know keep well in the freezer: garlic knots, sandwich bread, scones, biscuits, etc.  There are lots of variations on freezer cooking out there.  I tend to prefer to make items that are ultimately baked, preparing them to the point just before baking, then freezing them and baking them straight from the freezer as needed.  In my experience, these sorts of items keep the best and can be prepared from the freezer and taste just as delicious as if they were freshly made.

What are you favorite freezer-friendly recipes?

Beauty Haul: CVS, Rite Aid and Sephora

 I wanted to share with you a little beauty haul/mini review of some products I picked up over the past week from CVS, Rite Aid and Sephora.

I had several Extra Care Bucks about to expire at CVS last week and nothing essential I needed to get, so I decided to treat myself and I finally picked up the Essie polish Set in Stones from their Luxeffects line that I had been eying for months.  It's a gorgeous silver glitter that is very densely packed with sparkle.  I love using glitters like this as an accent over polish on my ring fingers.

On the same shopping outing, I took advantage of a 40% sale on Revlon products that was going on at Rite Aid and I picked up three of the new Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains which I had heard glowing reviews about from two of my favorite YouTubers: makeupTIA and redheadphd.  These balm stains are just what the name implies: slightly minty balms with somewhat sheer, but buildable color that stain your lips to leave behind beautiful color even after the balms have worn off.  There are currently 12 shades offered in the range, everything from a nude to a deep red.  The shades I purchased were Honey, Smitten, and Romantic.  I have to say I have been very pleased and impressed with these balm stains!  The initial application is fantastic and I find the stains themselves to last a very long time.  When I catch these on sale again, I definitely plan to browse the shades again to see if any more catch my eye.

Recently Sephora had a "15 Days of Beauty" promotion going on where each day a different product was offered as a free gift with any online purchase over $25.  I had been wanting to pick up the new Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment in Coral for several weeks and when I heard about the promotion Sephora was offering, I checked every day to see what the free gift was.  I was holding out on making my purchase until the free gift was something I really wanted or needed, and when the free gift was a full size Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion near the end of the promotion, I knew that was the time to place my order as I was finally running out of the travel size that came with my Naked palette that I purchased a year ago (this stuff lasts positively ages).

To pass the $25 minimum for the promotion, I checked the sale section and found a Nail Dotting Tool and figured that might be fun to experiment with and added it to my cart.  Now I'm cheap and I hate to pay for shipping when I don't have to, so to qualify for free shipping I decided to purchase a Clarisonic Deep Pore Cleansing Replacement Brush Head.  I actually don't currently own a Clarisonic, but I plan to utilize some Birchbox points and birthday cash to purchase a Clarisonic Mia sometime this month.  I've heard nothing but glowing reviews for the Clarisonic from everyone I know who owns one and I've been dying to see if the Clarisonic would help improve my oily, acne-prone skin.  Perhaps I'll share my experience with the cleansing system after I've purchased the Mia and had a sufficient time to see results.

I thought I'd share what swatches of the Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains in Honey, Smitten, and Romantic look like, as well as the Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment in Coral.  Here you can see swatches of the products in that order (from left to right).

Have you picked up any new products from the drugstore or Sephora/Ulta lately?  I'm really loving a lot of the new products that have released for spring/summer.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Cookies

I first made these Strawberry Cream Cheese Cookies back in February of last year almost immediately after Madison of Espresso and Cream had shared the recipe on her blog.  The cookies were darling and the flavor sounded so very enticing.  I made them for hubby and I that Valentine's as a simple treat to enjoy while we were both recovering from the flu.  Even with muted taste buds I thought they were fantastic!

These cookies are rather humble and incredibly easy to whip together (the cookie itself is from a cake mix and the frosting is essentially just cream cheese and powdered sugar), but they were so yummy that I began dreaming up other flavor combinations I could try based off this recipe.  You might have seen the Orange Creamsicle version I posted about previously.  After trying a few variations, I've decided the strawberry version is my absolute favorite.  I can't believe it's taken me over a year to make these again.  They are just as good as I remember.

I baked and frosted these last night and boxed up all but a few (to photograph and share with you, of course) for the hubby to take to work to share.  He let me know that there were many "These are soooooo good!" comments coming from his work kitchen today.  Looks like these are as much of a hit with others as they are with me!

I followed Madison's recipe exactly the first time I made these cookies, but found the 1/4 milk suggested for the frosting made more of a glaze and less of a spreadable consistency, so I've decided to omit the milk in the frosting altogether.  I've also added a half teaspoon or so of vanilla extract to the frosting, because I really believe everything sweet should have at least a splash of vanilla.  Other than those minor changes, I follow her recipe exactly.  I suggest you bake and frost these the night before you'd like to serve them, as I find the texture improves after a few hours.  The cookies are incredibly soft and the strawberry flavor is strong and sweet and nicely complimented by the tangy cream cheese.

I suggest you grab a box of strawberry cake mix next time you're at the store and make these cookies pronto.  You won't be disappointed.

 Strawberry Cream Cheese Cookies

1 box of strawberry-flavored cake mix (I used Pillsbury)
1 large egg
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup water
8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
a smidgen of pink food coloring (optional)
white sanding sugar and sugar pearls (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, egg, oil, and water.  Stir by hand until ingredients are evenly combined.  Scoop dough by tablespoon portions and roll between your hands to make a smooth ball.  Set on the prepared cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until slightly cracked on top and just lightly golden around the edges.  Be careful not to over bake.  Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

To prepare the frosting, in the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth.  Add in the powdered sugar, vanilla, and food coloring.  Continue to beat until fully incorporated.

Using an offset spatula or knife, spread frosting on top of cooled cookies and garnish with white sanding sugar and sugar pearls, if desired.