Fabulous Freezer Meals is available from
Amazon.com,
Deseretbook.com and your local LDS Bookstore
Why Freezer Meals?- Freezer meals save both time and money because you shop less, eat out less, and waste less food. How much money can you save? Depending on the size of your family, you could save up to $300 per month!
- Freezer meals are healthier than fast food and pre-packaged frozen foods.
- With freezer meals, you can cater to your family’s tastes, and you can determine the portion sizes yourself.
- Freezer meals are convenient to take to friends who are ill or unable to cook for their family.
- Freezer meals can save you stress and last-minute trips to the grocery store when you need to prepare a meal for company.
- Freezer meals help ensure that your family eats at least one meal together each day, which can help strengthen family relationships.
White Chocolate-Chip Macadamia-Nut Muffins
Yield: 24 muffins
3½ cups all-purpose flour
1½ cups sugar
1½ tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 bag (12 ounces) white chocolate chips
1 small bag (4 ounces) macadamia nuts, chopped
In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the butter, eggs, and milk. Stir into the dry mixture until moistened. Fold in the chips and nuts.
Fill paper-lined muffin cups q full with batter. Bake at 400ºF for 15 to 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from the pan, then transfer to a wire rack. When muffins are cool, glaze them ½ cup white, semisweet, or milk chocolate chips, melted, combine with 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream. Then place muffins in a zip-top freezer bag, and freeze.
To Serve
Defrost muffins on high in the microwave for 10 seconds.
Breadstick TwistsYield: 2 dozen breadsticks
3 cups all-purpose flour
½ tablespoon salt
1½ tablespoons instant yeast
¼ cup sugar
1 tablespoon dough enhancer
1 tablespoon gluten (optional)
¼ cup canola or vegetable oil
2 cups warm water
24 wooden skewers
Combine flour, salt, yeast, sugar, dough enhancer, and gluten.
In a glass liquid measuring cup, warm the water in the microwave for 1 minute. Add the oil to the water mixture and pour onto the flour mixture. When combined, mix the dough for 2 minutes. Add more flour if dough is too sticky, more water if dry. Let mixer knead the dough for 8 minutes so that bread will rise properly.
On greased countertop, roll dough into a large rectangle, and, using a knife or pizza cutter, slice into 1-inch strips.
Wrap dough strips around the skewers (leaving 3 inches at the bottom of the skewer for a handhold) and place on a greased cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining dough.
Place cookie sheet in the freezer for 1 hour or until dough is frozen. Then wrap breadsticks in plastic wrap or place in large zip-top freezer bags until ready to serve.
To Serve
Place frozen breadsticks on a greased cookie sheet and let them rise overnight. Or set them out to rise a few hours before needed. When they have doubled in size, preheat oven to 375ºF. Bake twists at 375ºF for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. While breadsticks bake, make breadstick topping (recipe follows). Do not brush on the seasoning until after breadsticks are baked. Remove from oven and brush with the butter seasoning. Serve breadsticks warm standing up in a large vase.
Breadstick Topping6 tablespoons melted butter
½ teaspoon garlic salt
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon dill weed
¼ teaspoon Italian seasoning
Mix all ingredients together. Brush on baked breadstick twists while they are hot.
Grasshopper Ice Cream CakeYield: 10 servings
1 bag (32 ounces) cream-filled chocolate cookies
¼ cup (2 stick) butter, melted
4 cups mint chocolate-chip ice cream, softened
4 cups cookies-and-cream ice cream, softened
1½ cups hot-fudge ice cream topping
Reserve 3 of cookies. Crush rest of cookies in a zip-top bag or a food processor. Reserve ¼ cup crushed cookies for topping. Combine cookie crumbs and butter and press into the bottom of a 10-inch springform pan, two 9-inch pie pans, or a 9 x 13-inch pan. Freeze for 15 minutes.
Heat fudge topping in microwave on high until pourable (15 to 20 seconds). Spread on top of the frozen cookie crust and place cookies around the sides of the pan, then freeze for 15 minutes.
Spread cookies-and-cream ice cream over fudge topping; freeze for 30 minutes. Spread mint chocolate-chip ice cream over vanilla layer; sprinkle with remaining ¼ cup cookie crumbs. Cover with plastic and freeze 1 hour or until firm. May be frozen for up to 2 months.
To Serve
Remove from the freezer 10 minutes before serving.
Chicken Pot Pie Yield: two 9-inch pot pies (6 to 8 servings each)
4 cups cubed chicken (or ham, turkey, or beef)
4 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
2 cups sliced carrots
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon pepper
3 cups chicken broth
1½ cups milk
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen corn
pastry for two double-crust 9-inch pies, or use biscuit/baking mix to make crust
Reduce heat, cover, and simmer vegetables for 8 to 10 minutes. Boil potatoes and carrots in a large stockpot. Meanwhile, in another pot, boil cubed chicken for 8 minutes. Drain vegetables and chicken and set aside.
In a large skillet, sauté onion in butter until tender. Add flour, salt, thyme, and pepper, stirring until blended. Gradually stir in broth and milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Add chicken, peas, corn, potatoes, and carrots. Remove from heat.
Crust Option 1
Line two 9-inch pie pans with bottom pastry; trim even with edge of pan. Fill pastry shells with chicken mixture. Roll out remaining pastry to fit top of pies. Cut slits or decorative cutouts in pastry. Place over filling; trim, seal, and style the edges. Bake one pot pie at 425ºF for 35 to 40 minutes or until crust is lightly browned. Let stand for 15 minutes before cutting.
Crust Option 2
Mix together 2 cups biscuit/baking mix, 1¼ cups milk, 1 teaspoon garlic salt, and ½ teaspoon celery seed. (Mixture will be thin.) Spoon over top of chicken pot pie. Bake at 350ºF for 30 to 35 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Cover and freeze remaining pot pie for up to 4 months.
To Serve
Cover edges of frozen pot pie with foil; place on a baking sheet. Bake at 425ºF for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 350ºF and bake for 70 to 80 minutes longer, or until crust is golden brown.
Mini CalzonesYield: 8 calzones
1 pound frozen bread dough
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
(any cheese will work)
½ tablespoon dried oregano
pizza toppings
Defrost frozen bread dough for 10 seconds in the microwave. Slice frozen bread dough into 4 sections and then cut each section in half to create 8 sections of dough. Roll out each piece into a 4- to 5-inch circle.
Mix egg yolk, oil, oregano, and cheese, then spread on dough. Place toppings on half of each dough circle, then fold over other half of circle and seal. Brush top with egg whites or butter and sprinkle with shredded Parmesan cheese.
Bake at 350ºF for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Individually wrap leftover calzones in plastic and freeze.
To Serve
Take calzones out of the freezer as needed. Remove plastic and heat calzones, one at a time, in the microwave for 2 minutes, turning over after 1 minute. Top with warm pizza sauce.
