Super Saturday: Freezer Dinners

My workplace is moving farther away from my house in a few weeks, so I will be getting home from work later. This means I will probably be unable to help make dinner, leaving my wife to do it all herself. Making dinner whilst taking care of 4 boys is a real challenge, so we decided to make a bunch of freezer dinners, making it easier to get dinner on the table when the kids are a challenge!

Notes:

• I like to make beans in a crock pot, but I only have one crock, so I do some of them on the stovetop. If you have two crock pots, you can do the black beans the same way as the red/white beans.
• Brown rice has more fiber and nutrients, but you could use white rice if you prefer.
• Make sure your kitchen, stove, sink, and dishwasher are clean/empty before starting, and clean up messes as soon as you get a chance!

Master Schedule

Preparation (the night before):

Prepare 1 pound of black beans for cooking

• Pick through the beans, looking for bad/broken beans, rocks, etc.
• Rinse the beans
• Soak in salted water overnight

Prep your aromatic vegetables:

• Chop 6 onions and 6 bell peppers
• Mix together and divide in two (large bowls or plastic bags)
• Mince 12 cloves of garlic and divide in two (keep separate from the other veggies)
• Peel an additional 9 cloves of garlic, but do not mince them. Put them in a plastic bag
• Refrigerate everything until needed in the morning

Showtime!

Step 1: Crock Pot Beans

• Prep one pound of dried red beans and one pound of dried white beans as described above, omitting the soak
• Quarter a large onion like you would an apple. Smash 6 of the cloves of garlic (but do not pulverize)
• Put the beans, onion, garlic, 2 teaspoons salt, and 12 cups water in a crock pot on high.Cover and cook for 4-6 hours or until the beans are creamy.

Step 2: Black Beans

• Drain and rinse the brine from the black beans
• Quarter a small onion like you would an apple (or use 2 or 3 quarters of a big one). Smash 3 of the cloves of garlic (but do not pulverize)
• Put the beans, onion, garlic, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 bay leaf, and 6 cups of water in a cooking pot. Bring to a boil, reduce to low, cover, and cook for 60-90 minutes, until the beans are creamy.

Step 3: Brown Rice

• Cook 3 cups of brown rice (enough to make 9 cups cooked) according to the package directions
• Do this whilst the beans are cooking.

Step 4: Spicy Meat Sauce

• Keep an eye on the beans and rice cooking on the stove whilst doing this step. Both the rice and beans benefit from cooking slowly, so keep the burners low to prevent burns.
• Make a triple batch (3x) of this blog's Spicy Mexican Meat Sauce.
• You will use one of the batches of onions/peppers and one of the batches of minced garlic that you prepped last night.
• I did this over two stovetop burners in my turkey roasting pan.
• Instead of using the canned tomatoes and paste as described in the recipe, I bought a Costco-sized can of crushed tomatoes in puree (106 ounces)
• I also used 3 ounces of lime juice from the green squeeze bottle instead of fresh limes
• After cooking, let cool and portion into freezer bags. Freeze!
• This meat sauce is great for sloppy joes, taco salads, tostadas, topping baked potatoes, and baked in the oven with cornbread mix on top!

Step 5: Lime Refried Beans and Rice

• By now, the black beans and the rice should both be be cooked. Drain them.
• Pull the onion and garlic chunks from your beans when draining them!
• Make a triple batch (3x) of Lime Refried Beans and Rice
• We used the reserved tomato juice from the canned tomatoes instead of broth as described in the recipe
• The recipe says to sprinkle half of the beans with cheese. This is because half of my kids can't eat cheese. I didn't notice this until after posting the recipe card on the blog. You can just put cheese over all of it.
• We bought 6 5-inch by 7-inch disposable aluminum baking pans and portioned the recipe into them. Don't bake them today, just freeze them. (Bake them when you want to eat them).
• You can use this whenever you would eat beans and rice: in burritos, with grilled chicken or fajitas, or with the meat sauce above!

You're almost done!

Step 6: Ham and Barbecue Bean Skillet

• By now your crock pot beans should be complete. Drain them.
• Make a triple batch (3x) of Ham and Barbecue Bean Skillet.
• You will use the remaining onions/peppers and garlic from last night.
• I used the widest cooking pot I had for this.
• Be gentle when mixing in the beans so you don't mash them up too much.
• After cooking, let cool and portion into freezer bags. Freeze!

All done :) Congratulations!

BBQ Shepherd's Pie

Yesterday, I showed how to make a lovely meatloaf that easily serves a crowd of people. However, if your family is smaller, they may not want the same meatloaf two days in a row. Fear not, bored diners! Through the magic of "casserole," we can turn the boring leftover meatloaf into a brand-new, original "Shepherd's Pie!" Not only is it easy, but you probably have all the ingredients in your pantry or freezer.

Ingredients

• reserved BBQ meatloaf
• 4 russet potatoes, cleaned, peeled, and cut in half crosswise (optionally, make 4 cups of instant mashed potatoes)
• 16 oz white button mushrooms, sliced (fresh, frozen and thawed, or canned)
• 2 cups sweet corn (fresh or frozen)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

Put the potatoes into a large pot and cover with 2-4 inches of cold water. Add 1 tablespoon of kosher salt per 2 quarts of water in the pot. Bring to a gentle boil and cook for 15-25 minutes, or until a paring knife slides through without much resistance (do not overcook so they start to fall apart). Drain and mash. Or skip all of this and just make some instant mashed potatoes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a skillet, over medium heat saute mushrooms in olive oil until they are golden brown.

Crumble and spread meat loaf into a casserole dish. Spread mashed potatoes evenly over the meatloaf. Sprinkle mushrooms and corn on the potato, then top with shredded cheddar cheese. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the cheese is thoroughly melted. Rest for 5 minutes before serving.

BBQ Meatloaf

Meatloaf too often becomes a tough, overcooked mess of hamburger and ketchup. I have learned a few tricks to making it better from the scientists and cooks on PBS's America's Test Kitchen. One big improvement is to skip the dried-out canned bread crumbs in favor of freshly ground bread. The starch and moisture in the fresh bread gets in between the protein strands and keeps the texture tender, but not mushy. Another improvement that I really like is to skip the ketchup and use barbecue sauce instead for more tang and less syrupy-sweetness. Finally, I find it best to cook the meatloaf on a rack instead of a pan, allowing the grease to drain away as it cooks.

Ingredients

• 1 to 2 slices rye bread, torn into pieces (french bread, white sandwich bread, or sourdoughs also work well)
• 1 large onion, cut into chunks
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 pound ground chuck
• 1 pound bulk pork sausage
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup smokey BBQ sauce, divided
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place a wire cooling rack onto a sheet pan. Fold a piece of aluminum foil so it makes a double-layer the same size as the rack. Starting about a half inch from the sides, cut 2-inch slits in the foil about 1/2 inch apart. Put the foil on the rack.Make fresh bread crumbs by processing bread in food processor. Transfer 3/4 cup bread crumbs to large bowl; set aside (any remaining bread crumbs may be frozen up to 3 months). Add onion and garlic to food processor; process until finely chopped (do not puree). Melt butter in large skillet over medium heat. Add chopped onion and garlic with a pinch of kosher salt; sweat 6 minutes or until softened, stirring occasionally (if it starts to brown, reduce heat to medium-low). Let cool 5 minutes. Add beef, sausage, eggs, 1/4 cup BBQ sauce, salt and pepper to reserved bread crumbs. Add onion mixture; mix well. Form the meat into a 9" x 6" loaf shape and transfer to prepared rack. Trim foil so it is only directly under the loaf (you want grease to run straight off the sides). Bake 30 minutes. Spread remaining 1/2 cup BBQ sauce over meat loaf; bake 30 minutes more or until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. Let stand 5 minutes before slicing. Reserve half of the meat loaf for BBQ Shepherd's Pie (tomorrow's recipe!)