Hey there! Welcome to Week #3 of our Stock Your Freezer Fridays Series! I hope you have had a chance to freezer cook, even if it was just a few recipes. If you are new here, you can find Week #1 HERE and Week#2 HERE. This week I decided to make use of the many apples we have from apple picking and take advantage of my slow cooker to help me out! I love using my slow cooker for freezer friendly recipes because you can be working on another recipes while it cooks away all day! Soups are probably my favorite things to freeze because when someone suddenly feels a little under the weather, you can just warm up a bowl of homemade goodness for your sick loved one. Do you have a great recipe you would like me to include in an upcoming Freezer Friday? Leave me a link in the comments and I will be sure to check it out! I love trying yummy, new recipes and yours just might be included in one of the next 3 recipe lists in this series!
Here’s what we are working on this week:
Prepare as usual, let cool and freeze in a freezer safe plastic bag or container. Take out muffins individually and warm in the microwave for a few seconds when you are ready to use or let then thaw on the counter overnight and they will be ready in the morning.
(1) Slow Cooker Minestrone Soup
Prepare as usual, let cool completely and store in a freezer friendly plastic bag or container. I like to freeze my soups in gallon sized bags and lay them flat so they take up a lot less space in the freezer. To defrost, place the bag in a large pot to defrost just in case the bag got scratched in the freezer. After a few hours the soup will have softened and you can empty it into the pot and warm it.
(1) One Pot Goulash
Prepare as usual, cool completely and store in a freezer friendly container or casserole dish. Defrost overnight or bake from the freezer as usual. If baking from the freezer, you may need to add a few extra minutes of cooking time.
(2) Spiced Apple Baked Oatmeal
Prepare but DO NOT bake. You can bake this from the freezer or defrost overnight and bake in the morning as usual. You may need to add a few more minutes to the baking time if baked from frozen.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter
- 2 1/2 cups brown sugar
- 6 eggs
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 3 tsp. vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 6 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 4 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
- 3 cups 2 % milk
- 3 large baking apple chopped small (about 1 cup)
- 1 cup raisins
- 6 cups old fashioned oats
- 2 cups applesauce (homemade is wonderful)
- 6 1/2 cups good chicken or vegetable stock (or homemade)
- 2 (15 oz.) cans Italian Style diced tomatoes
- 2 large onions
- 1 large stalk of celery, finely chopped
- 3 medium carrots, sliced very thin or chopped very small
- 6 large cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 1/2 cups green beans, chopped into bite sized pieces ( I have used frozen thin green beans and they work great)
- 1 (15 oz.) can Cannellini beans, drained and rinsed well
- 1 (15 oz. ) can Red Kidney beans, drained and rinsed well
- 1 small zucchini, diced small
- 1 (9 oz.) package frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
- 3/4 cup uncooked small shell pasta
- 5 bay leaves
- 1 tsp. dried sage
- 1 tsp. dried thyme
- rind of Parmesan cheese (if you have it)
- 2 - 2 1/2 lbs. ground beef
- 2 (28 oz.) cans crushed tomatoes
- 2 Tbsp. soy sauce
- 2 1/2 cups elbow macaroni, uncooked
- 3 cups water
- salt
- pepper
- freezer friendly plastic gallon sized bags, containers or casserole dishes with lids
[…] fix! Soup is my go-to meal this time of year and I always like making a big pot of it so I can freeze some of it for a day when someone suddenly feels a little under the weather. You can never be too […]