Here are a couple of photos from yesterday:
The first is the set up for distributing the chicken and dumplings to the freezer bowls. If you look closely, you can see that the freezer bowls have ice cubes in them. It is important to cool the food down as quickly as possible to prevent bacterial growth. So I put ice cubes in the containers of anything like soup, broth, etc. Then I pour the soup in, cover tightly, and shake (or you can stir) the contents so the ice gets through the whole thing.
This is both pots of chicken and dumplings ready to be put in the freezer. Again, we need these things to cool as quickly as possible, so when I put things in the freezer, I turn up the freezer (if I can), and spread the containers out (instead of stacking them) and put previously frozen food around the containers (frozen hard pans of lasagne do very well for helping the process along :) ).
I also put the chicken and dumplings into various sizes of containers. That way I have sizes for a snack, a lunch, a supper, or a supper for Wonderbee :)
I should have gotten photos of my chicken wings! I made up two large batches, one spicy, one not. I emptied two bags of frozen wings into two pots and boiled them til they were cooked through. Then I used two boxes of ready made batter mix as a breading and fried them in my little electric pan thing (which I LOVE).
Remember the arm roast I was afraid was going to end up tough? I had started it frozen in the oven and cooked it at between 350 and 375 all day. It came out wonderfully! I had checked the meat about 3 hours in and it was done but VERY tough. I was a bit disappointed, but figured I would just let it keep cooking--I had nothing to lose.
WHAT A CHANGE by the time Wonderbee came home! Thank the Lord! The beef was fall apart tender! I found some of the refrigerator biscuits that I was going to use for muffin tin meals (those would not have worked by the way, they are entirely too rubbery to spread up the sides of a muffin tin). So he made himself a few steak and biscuits, and the rest of the meat I placed in gallon baggies, and squished flat. That way I can just break off what I might need for a soup, stew, breakfast, or more biscuits :)
I also saved the drippings from the pan and some of the fat and bone....I cannot WAIT to make some Tex Mex soup with that!
Keep sending recipes and ideas and stories in! I love posting them :).
