Blogging the Recession: Freezer Foods

I LOVE Dumplings.  Love them.  I always have a stash in the freezer for a quick meal. When I decided to make some myself, I went straight to the source: Jen from use real butter has an awesome recipe plus photos that make the process really easy.  I made the pork dumplings pretty much exactly to the recipe and they were delicious.  It took about three hours start to finish, and I had to make two batches of dough to have enough for all the filling, but the great thing is I got about 50 dumplings from the original recipe so I have a bunch in the freezer for another night.  This would go a lot faster using pre-made dumpling wrappers (usually near the refrigerated tofu at our grocery stores) but don’t be afraid to make them yourself, it was a lot easier than I expected.  There were no blow-outs or other dumpling mishaps despite my shoddy pleating, actually they were a lot more forgiving than the usual freezer-aisle ones during the frying process.

Cost analysis:

• 1 lb grass fed pork: $5.99
• 1 piece of ginger: $0.56
• 3 green onions: $0.35
• 4 napa cabbage leaves: $0.56
• 7 fresh shitake mushrooms: $1.12
• Total cost for 6 servings or 50 dumplings: $8.58 or $1.43 per serving or 17¢ per dumpling

Thanks Jen!  I can’t wait to try the shrimp filling!

Sorry about my prolonged absence this week.  My intention was to switch to a Monday, Wednesday, Friday posting schedule.  Unfortunately my air conditioner has been broken and it is beginning to get hot enough here in Texas that I haven’t felt like cooking when its 85°F in the kitchen.  So here is a tip, sans recipe.

Breakfast for dinner is such a great solution but one I often forget about when trying to plan meals.  First, it makes the kids really happy.  They love both the weirdness of eating breakfast foods at dinner time and the fun and comfort of foods like scrambled eggs and pancakes.  Breakfast for dinner is also a great choice in a dinner Emergency.  You know, that night you get home too late to defrost the chicken or can’t figure out how to fit a meal in between homework and soccer practice.  It is quick to make and you usually have the ingredients in your pantry.  Of course the best part is that breakfast for dinner is cheap!  Again, eggs are a great inexpensive protein source and this is another way to make them that isn’t a quiche.

Breakfast For Dinner on chaos in the kitchen:

• Breakfast Tacos/Burritos
• French Toast
• Microwaved Poached Eggs
• Sauteed Mushrooms (for the omelets above)
• Perfect Bacon

Another tip:  almost any breakfast food lends itself really well to being made ahead or frozen.  So if you aren’t in a rush make extra pancakes, waffles, or french toast and freeze them.  They toast up from frozen just like fresh.

Our freezer food line-up so far consists of Corn Dogs, French Toast Sticks, Breakfast Burritos, and Pizza Bagels.  Now I’ll show you a way to make oven-ready chicken nuggets for the freezer, so you can serve fresh baked chicken nuggets any time the need strikes.  I admit, I often buy pre-made frozen chicken nuggets at the grocery store.  They are a great dinner or lunch for the kids when I am working and mrChaos doesn’t feel like cooking.  This recipe, however, is so easy and cheap to put together and the nuggets take just as long in the oven as typical processed chicken nuggets.  I don’t know that I’ll be spending my money on the pre-made ones any more!

Oven-Fried Chicken Fingers for the Freezer

• 3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts or tenders, trimmed of fat
• 1 cup flour
• seasonings (salt, pepper, garlic, as desired)
• 2 sticks (1 cup) butter, melted
• 8 cups cornflakes, crushed finely

1. Trim chicken and cut into desired shapes.
2. Add flour and any desired seasonings to a large bowl or bag.  Add chicken pieces and toss to coat with flour.
3. Take one chicken piece and dip it in melted butter, allow excess to drip off.
4. Then roll chicken in cornflake crumbs, patting crumbs all over to have them stick.
5. Place chicken on a baking sheet, continue until all chicken is breaded.
6. Either bake chicken strips at 400°F for 15-20 minutes or place chicken strips into the freezer.
7. After several hours, once chicken strips are frozen, place them in labeled freezer bags.
8. Instructions to cook from frozen: place on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 425°F for 20 minutes or until juices are clear.

These are a great, quick meal or snack.  The ones above are full sized chicken tenders, next time I will cut breasts into smaller pieces because I like the size and texture better.

I had a little trouble with the cornflakes crumbs: they really need to be finely crushed and even then you have to really pat them on.  I was a little skeptical as to how they would bake up, but they were delicious!  The cornflakes create a nice, crisp crumb coating.  They were actually a lot better coated than I expected them to be (the picture above is my first batch-you can see a few bare spots), the crumbs actually stuck really well.  I used chicken tenders to save some time but my kids didn’t care for the large size, so next time I will definitely make smaller breast nuggets. I first saw this recipe here, but there are variations all over the internet.  You can also make these with less fat by omitting the butter and flour and dipping the chicken in low-fat buttermilk before coating them in the cornflakes.  I have also seen them dipped in ranch dressing first.  I haven’t tried any of these variations yet, so if you do, let me know how they turn out!

Cost Analysis:

• 3 lbs all natural chicken breasts: $11.97
• 2 sticks organic butter: $1
• 8 cups cornflakes: $1.40
• Total cost for 3 pounds: $14.37 or $4.79 per pound (29.9¢ per ounce, the frozen chicken tenders at the store are 30¢ per ounce, so ha!)

I love strawberry short cake.  It is one of my favorite easy desserts during the spring and early summer when strawberries are sweet and juicy and cheap!  We always served strawberry shortcake on top of sliced pound cake when I was growing up and it is still my favorite way to enjoy this simple dessert.  I saw this pound cake at  Obsessed with Baking and I wanted to try it for a party.  It made a huge amount, rising up and over the sides of my bundt pan, which is actually great because next time I will make several loaves instead and keep some in my freezer-just like the Sara Lee frozen pound cakes we ate as kids!

This cake was amazing: light and tender and sweet and buttery.  It was everything pound cake should be and I will definitely be making this again before the summer is over.

Elvis Presley’s Favorite Pound Cake (and mine too!)

• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3 cups cake flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups sugar
• 7 large eggs, at room temperature 30 minutes
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup heavy cream

1. Do not preheat oven. Grease pan and dust with flour.  You need a large enough pan (or pans) to hold 3 quarts.  My regular bundt pan was too small and the cake rose up over the edges and cracked.  So next time I would make several loaves or a bundt and a small loaf.
2. Combine flour and salt in a bowl.
3. Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes in a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment or 6 to 8 minutes with a handheld mixer.
4. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in vanilla.
5. Reduce speed to low and add half of flour, then all of cream, then remaining flour, mixing well after each addition.
6. Scrape down side of bowl, then beat at medium-high speed 5 minutes.
7. Fill pan or pans and tap on the counter to release any air bubbles.
8. Place in the cold oven at turn on the heat to 350°F.
9. Test cake after 1 hour for doneness.
10. Cool cake in pan for 30 min, then turn over and cool on rack.