Make Ahead Freezer Meal: Tex-Mex Chicken and Rice Bake

 Last year's Cookie Boothing with my granddaughter ended up being 4 weekdays and all weekend all through the several weeks of boothing.  That was a lot of cooking and packing it up to eat between after-school pickup and the booth. This year the Cookie Mom has limited weeknight boothing to 2 days a week due to her personal schedule and I am very grateful.  However, while I'm not entirely sure how many weeks cookie boothing lasts, I am planning ahead for 6 weeks which is 12 Make Ahead meals stock-piled into my freezer.  I had some leftover rotisserie chicken as well as one baked chicken breast, so I cut it all up and had enough to make two batches of this recipe.  It calls for shredded cheese on top, but my daughter has a dairy allergy, so I made 3, 8 X 8 casseroles and 3 deli-container individual portions for her without the cheese topping.

Ingredients

2 cups cut-up cooked chicken

2 cups pre-cooked rice (I used the Trader Joes Cilantro Lime this time)

1 can corn, drained

2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can diced tomatoes with green chiles, undrained

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. sea salt

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

1 cup shredded cheese

(You can also add salsa or sour cream to the filling, if baking right away and not freezing, crumbled tortilla chips before the cheese adds a nice crunch, and things like fresh jalapenos and cilantro for garnishment when serving can customize it even more)

Directions

1.  Mix chicken, rice, corn, beans, tomatoes and spices altogether in a large bowl.

2.  Spread mixture into your baking dish (as stated above, I used two 8X8 square aluminum baking pans, but one 9X13 will work too.) and top with shredded cheese.

3.  Cover with foil.  At this point, I slid my pan into a gallon ziploc bag and labeled it for freezing.

4.  If baking right after preparation, pre-heat oven to 350° and bake for 20-25 minutes.  If freezing first, remove from freezer and defrost then bake for 25-30 minutes

Make Ahead Freezer Meal: Ground Turkey and Hash brown Casserole

 This was sort of a mashup of a couple of other recipes I found online and made work with what I had and what I wanted to make ahead for Cookie Boothing in a few weeks.

Ingredients

1 pound ground turkey browned with onion and garlic (I used dried)

Mix in Frozen Vegetables of choice (I had some corn and green beans)

1 pkg shredded hashbrown

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 cup shredded cheddar (or cheese of choice)

1/2 cup milk

t tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

Directions

1.  Line the bottom of your baking pan (I have a bunch of square aluminum foil disposable baking pans for my freezer meals, but use what you have/like) with half of the defrosted (or pre-cooked) hashbrowns

2.  Mix frozen veggies in with cooked meat and spread the mixture over the hashbrown crust.

3.  Sprinkle cheese over-top the meat and veggie mixture.

4.  Add remaining hashbrowns

5.  Mix soup, milk, garlic powder, salt and pepper in a bowl and pour over-top of the casserole (I kind of spread it across the top, patting it down then poked holes with my wooden spoon handle and spread it around repeating a few times to let some of the sauce sink down into the casserole).

Now, here you can either bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes or wrap with foil, then wrap again with press n seal wrap or place inside of a ziploc bag and freeze for up to 3 months.

After Freezing:  Remove from freezer and thaw overnight.  Then bake in a 400 degree oven for 25-30 minutes. *Remove all plastic before baking.

Make Ahead Freezer Meal: Orange Chicken

 I just made this recipe and it's chilling in my freezer for a few weeks from now when Cookie Boothing begins.

Orange Chicken https://happymoneysaver.com/easy-make-ahead-orange-chicken-freezer-meal/

I printed out the 2nd page and taped it to the back of my gallon ziploc bag that contained the chicken.  I put the sauce into a quart-size bag and added that bag to the gallon bag as well.  I will serve it with steamed broccoli (steamed in the bag in the microwave) and freezer rice from Trader Joes. 

3.95 from 17 votes

Orange Chicken Freezer Meal Recipe

This Make-Ahead Orange Chicken Freezer Meal is a delicious and tangy chicken dish with the right amount of ginger and orange, and with the convenience of having it ready in the freezer to whip up last minute!

Prep Time15minutes mins

Cook Time15minutes mins

Total Time30minutes mins

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: Chinese

Keyword: orange chicken

 

Servings: 6 servings

 

Calories: 370kcal

 

Author: Karrie

Ingredients

• 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 2 egg whites
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• fresh green onion, sliced optional

Orange Sauce

• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1/4 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp garlic minced
• 1 tsp ginger pureed or minced
• 1 tsp cornstarch

Instructions

• Dice chicken into bite-sized pieces.
• In a medium sized bowl, combine cornstarch and egg whites. Stir and add chicken to bowl. Turn to coat chicken until all are well combined.
• Add oil to a large skillet over medium-high heat, and when hot, add coated chicken in small batches. Cook, stirring often until golden brown, about 3 to 5 minutes. Drain on a paper towel as you cook remaining batches.
• In another small bowl make the orange sauce by whisking together orange juice, water, soy sauce, honey, vinegar, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, and cornstarch. 

Make It Now

• In a medium saucepan over medium heat, add orange sauce mix. Bring to a boil, stirring continuously, then reduce heat to low and simmer 1 to 2 minutes or until sauce thickens up. Pour sauce over chicken and serve with chopped green onions if using. 

Freeze It For Later

• Place uncooked sauce into labeled gallon sized bag. Seal, removing air. Place cooked and cooled chicken into another labeled gallon size freezer bag. You can add the sauce bag into this bag to prevent them getting separated. Place in freezer and freeze. 

Reheating

• Place frozen orange sauce mix into a bowl of hot water to thaw quickly. Preheat oven to 350°F. Place frozen chicken on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes until chicken is fully heated through. Bring to a boil, stirring continuously, then reduce heat to low and simmer 1 to 2 minutes or until sauce thickens up. Pour sauce over chicken and serve with chopped green onions if using. 

Notes

For a complete meal, serve the orange chicken over a bed of steamed white or brown rice, which will absorb the flavorful sauce perfectly. You can also pair it with a side of stir-fried vegetables such as broccoli, bell peppers, and snap peas for added crunch and nutrition.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 370kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 33g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Cholesterol: 96mg | Sodium: 360mg | Potassium: 623mg | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 85IU | Vitamin C: 12.3mg | Calcium: 10mg | Iron: 0.7mg

Girl Scout Cookie Season

 We all know about the holiday season and every parent and teacher knows about Summer Vacation, though each may look upon it from varying viewpoints, but in a house that holds a Girl Scout, Cookie Season is REAL.  My oldest started to sell cookies at age 6 or 7 and with 5 years between our girls and only 14 years between our youngest and first grandchild, my husband and I have been Cookie Boothing with the girls and their troops for over 20 years with only a couple of years off.  We've gone from having the cute little Brownie who could make change and caught a lot of customers just because she could, through the bargaining with our oldest at 18 to cover one or two of her sister's booth in our place to our current motivated seller who sells more cookies than I ever thought possible granddaughter.  I should be support staff right now, bringing meals, swapping out dry warm outerwear for the stuff that got wet at the first booth of the day, but with her lofty goals and her mom's two-job work schedule, Grandma (and Grandpa) are on the hook to sit and booth in the rain, snow, sleet, wind and cold.  We do it for the girl.  For the experience the actual selling brings and the opportunities the fundraising gives her.  You can't put a price on any of that.  However, the reality of Cookie Season is exhausting to contemplate.  It mean teaching my 4/5 year olds all day, coming home, preparing a dinner to go, picking up the Girl Scout from school, making sure we both have all the possibly needed attire for the ever changing weather, making sure either we have or the partner seller has the cookies, the table, the signs, the table covering and money.  Then off we go for our weeknight 2 hour shift (typically 6-8 p.m.), eating dinner on the way.  Aftewards the cookies and table, money and such have to be turned in to the Blessed Cookie Mom who deserves all the acknowledgement in the world of Girl Scouts, only to do it all over again the very next day.  I enjoy cooking.  I'll be honest though, cooking everyday can be a chore.  Trying to cook healthy meals, that everyone can eat with all their food allergies and dietary restrictions (why take-out is not an option and neither is pre-made meals from the store) in the 30 minutes between coming home from work and having to pick up from school and head to boothing is daunting to say the least.  As I am cleaning up from the holiday season, preparing to return to school after break and watching Cookie Season begin, I feel a little dread at the thought of all of this Cookie Boothing starting in just one short month.  This being said, I am not one to wallow in dread.  I am a doer.  I like solutions and the internet if full of things to try I haven't.  I already meal plan and shop weekly.  I have even gotten down storing a few meals in my freezer for lunches or those last minute I need a quick dinner and my plan isn't going to work today days.  In preparation for Cookie Season, I am stockpiling those make ahead freezer meals.  Last year we boothed most weeknights and multiple ones on the weekends.  It was a lot.  This year, the Blessed Cookie Mom eliminated Girl Scout meeting night and two other nights of the week due to personal committments on her part, so we're down to two weeknights and the weekend.  That is potentially doable.  This week, the girl scout and her mom are traveling, so that opened up a week of premade Costco and Sams Club meals (baked Mac N Cheese, Chicken Pot Pie, Lasagna, and pizza along with a side salad each night if anyone wants to know)  for me and Grandpa so I can devote my cooking time to make-ahead Cookie Season meals.  I got a lot of these meals from another website, but will share them as I make them here on the blog.  As you settle in with your sleeve of Thin Mints later this year, remember all the work and preparation that goes into the sales and know you are contributing to the experience and opportunities for each girl who sells them to you.  Thank you for supporting Girl Scouts.