Recipes --freezer meals

A friend asked me to share some freezer recipes, and since i had them typed up I decided to share them for all.  These were from a friend who had a book full of freezer meal recipes...sorry don't know what it was called.  Here are the recipes I have that are good. We would sometimes get together and make a bunch in one night.  It can be crazy to make a lot on the same day, but easier in some ways. For example we would put a lot of chicken in the oven to bake then it would be available to either shred or cut into cubes as each dish requires. So you could try to make all the recipes with chicken on the same day). It might take a few hours--but then you have meals for almost 6 days (3 meals --two of each). The crock pot stuff we didn't make that night, since they have to cook all day, but it works to make those one day and then eat half and then freeze the other half, the same you could do with the lasagna and manicotti--just make 2 9x9 pans instead of a large pan so you can eat one and freeze the other so you don't have to eat lasagna or stew the whole week, or have the leftovers go bad in the fridge. (maybe since you have more mouths to feed this doesn't happen to you anymore--but you could use the same idea--just make twice as much as you need and freeze half).

Tomato Swiss Steak (crockpot)
2 lbs beef road steak/cube steak (to make it easy I just buy steak already chopped into cubes for stew)
2 onions, sliced
1 2lb bag baby carrots
1 can beefy mushroom soup (I usually can't find this--and just use mushroom)
1 T sugar
1/2 t salt
1/8 t pepper
serve with rice, noodles or potatoes (I like it over noodles for a change, if I want to serve with potatoes I just toss them in the crock pot and add a little more liquid)

directions: cut steak into serving size pieces, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place steak in crock pot and cover with onions, then carrots on top. Mix soup with tomato sauce, stir in sugar. Pour mix over carrots. Cover and cook on high 4 hours or low 6-8 hours. Cool and place in freezer bag.

To cook: thaw, heat till steaks are hot through out and gravy is hot and bubbly.

honey BBQ ribs (crock pot)
3 lbs country style pork ribs
1/2 t garlic salt
1/2 t pepper
1 C ketchup
1/2 C brown sugar
1/2 C Honey
1/4 C Spicy brown mustard
2 T Worchestershire
1 1/2 t liquid smoke (never found this so I never inclued it)
directions: Place ribs in crock pot, cover, cook on high 3 hours. Drain. Reduce heat to low. Combine remaining ingredients in bowl, then pour over ribs in pot. Cover and book 3 hours on low. remove from pot to cool. Freeze in gallon bag.  Thaw--heat throughout.


Mexican casserole (cook chicken and assemble)
3 C cooked chicken
1 15oz can refried beans
1/4 C water
2 C chicken broth
1/3 C flour
1/2 C butter
1 4oz can chopped green chiles
1 10oz can diced tomatoes (you can also use diced tomatoes w/chiles)
1 package flour tortillas
2 C Shredded Cheddar cheese
makes 1 9x13 or 2 9x9 (perfect to make 2 pans and eat one fresh and freeze the 2nd pan.)
directions: Shred chicken, heat beans and mix with the water. In saucepan combine chicken broth and flour. Add butter, green chiles, and tomates. heat until butter is melted and sauceis thick and bubbly. In greased foil pan layer tortillas, beans, cheese, chicken and sauce. Layer twice. To eat that day, bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes.    Freeze: place foil pan in a freezer bag. To eat, thaw and bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Broccoli, chicken & rice (cook chicken & assemble)
3 cups cooked chicken
2 C cooked rice
1 10oz bag frozen chopped broccoli
1 onion chopped
1 can cr of chicken soup
1/2 C sour cream
1/2 C chicken broth
1/2 C mayonaise
1.5 C shredded Jack cheese
bread crumbs or french fried onions (if desired)
directions: Combine all ingredients and place in gallon bags to freeze. Thaw, place in greased baking dish and bake 1 hour at 350. Top with french fried onions if desired, then bake 10 additional minutes.


Chicken cordon bleu (oven)
6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
Dijon mustard
6 slices of ham (thin sliced, so sandwhich meat is fine)
6 slices swiss cheese
salt, pepper
1/2 c evaporated milk
1 C fine bread crumbs
toothpics
Gravy
I can cr of Chicken & 1/2 C Sour cream (you could also substitute any sort of chicken gravy)
Directions: Place chicken between plastic wrap and pound until thin (or you can buy thinly sliced check breasts). Spread on mustard, wrap cheese in ham and place on chicken. Roll chicken around cheese and hamm. Secure with toothpic. Dip first in milk then in bread crumbs. Sprinkle with salt and pepepr. Bake on ungreased sheet 10 minutes at 400. Reduce heat to 325 for 25 minutes. Cool. Cover chicken on the sheet with plastic wrap and freeze at least 3 hours or overnight. Place in freezer bags. To thaw heat in microwave or in oven. Serve with chicken gravy.

Lasagna (assemble)
12 lasagna noodles (uncooked)
1 lb ground beef
1 onion chopped
1/3 C shopped bell pepper
1 26oz jar spaghetti sauce
2 C shredded mozarella cheese
ricotta cheese (use as desired--I buy the small container--8oz?)
directions: brown ground beef with onion and bell pepper. Spray foil pan with non stick spray. Add some sauce to the bottom of the pan, then layer: noodles, ricotta cheese, meat, sauce, Mozarella cheese, noodles...when finished top with a nice layer of spaghetti sauce. freeze--then thaw and bake at 250 for at least 1 hour. (if cooked right away it will only need 45 minutes)

Manicotti (assemble)
1 lb spaghetti sauce
14 count manicotti noodles (uncooked)
1 lb ricotta cheese
1 c mozarella cheese
1 egg
directions: Greese pan. Combine cheeses and egg. Stuff uncooked noodles with cheese mixture. Pour sauce all over. To eat, thaw, bake covered for 45 minutes at 350, uncover and top with more mozarella cheese and bake till cheese melts. To eat the same day and not freeze, cook the noodles. (instead of stuffing cooked noodles it is easier to cut noodles with scissors down one side, fill with mixture then roll it back up and place in the pan.)