4 More Freezer Meals...

Homestyle Mac N Cheese

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I like this recipe because it's fairly inexpensive and uses stuff we mostly have on hand at the house. A big bag of elbow macaroni costs about 99 cents, I always have butter / flour / a bag of milk and some cream on hand, and a block of cheese runs about 7 bucks. So if you have some of the ingredients, you're looking at spending $1 per serving - which is decent! Add some veggies on the side and you have a niiice home cooked meal. Maybe not the healthiest, but it's homestyle.

Makes 6 - 8 servings
You need...

1 900 gram bag of macaroni

1 cup of butter or margarine

1 cup of flour

6 cups of 1% milk (or 2%, whatever you normally use)

2 cups of cream

4 tsp salt

8 cups of cheddar cheese (about a block of cheese)

Whatever veggies you want (I like tomatoes, spinach & broccolli)

1. Boil the macaroni as you normally would & set it aside.
2. In a saucepan, melt the butter until it stops bubbling. Add flour and stir constantly until the mixture takes on a golden-brown colour. If your mixture is white, your roux will be too floury but if it's too dark, it'll taste burnt. Golden brown is where it's at.
3. Slowly add milk and cream and keep stirring. (If you want, you can do 4 cups milk / 4 cups cream for a creamier final product - it's just a little more fattening.)
4. Stir milk and cream constantly on medium, and lower to a simmer. Add salt.
5. Keep stirring and add cheese, mixing until the sauce becomes thicker.
6. Add macaroni and any veggies you'd like mixed in
7. To eat today: Butter a baking dish, throw in the mac 'n cheese, top with parmesan and bread crumbs, and bake at 350 for 20 - 25 minutes or until bubbly.
8. To freeze: Store in freezer safe ziploc bags or in cook-n-bake containers. When you're ready to thaw, let it sit out until it becomes room temperature, butter a baking dish, and top with parmesan and bread crumbs. Bake at 350 for 20 - 25 minutes or until bubbly.
9. I don't find the recipe cheesy enough, I think I never will, so if you want it to be cheesier, add more cheese right before baking. It'll get nice and bubbly on the top too!

Enchiladas & Homemade Sauce

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Sauce:

8 tbsp flour

4 tbsp chile powder

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 chopped onion

2 tsp garlic

2 cups tomato sauce

4 cups hot water
Fajita sauce mix (the powdered packets - optional, but it helps!)

1. Brown flour and chile powder over medium heat, stirring frequently. The idea with this is to get rid of the flavour of uncooked flour. Don't let it burn.
2. Add oil and mix into paste. Get rid of the flour clumps.
3. Add onion and garlic.
4. Add tomato sauce.
5. Add water slowly, until it gets to the consistency you want.
6. Add powdered fajita mix.
7. Set aside while you make the enchiladas

Stuffing:

1 onion, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped
1 can of black beans rinced & drained

1 can diced tomatoes, undrained

1 can corn
1 can refried beans
Corn tortillas - this recipe made about 18 to freeze
2 cups cheese

1. Saute onions and zucchini until semi-soft
2. In large bowl, mix together onion, zucchini, black beans, diced tomatoes, and corn.
3. Spread 1/2 enchilada sauce on the bottom of the container you plan to freeze or bake them in
4. Spread refried bean on 1 side of each tortilla
5. Stuff and wrap the tortillas, placing them face down in the pan / container you're baking / freezing them in
6. Spread remaining enchilada sauce on the tops of the tortillas
7. Sprinkle with cheese
8. Baking immediately: bake at 350 for 30 - 35 minutes or until the cheese & sauce is bubbly
9. Freezing: freeze in airtight container. Thaw before freezing and bake at 350 for 30 - 35 minutes.

Fridge-Food Quiche

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You need:
2 Tenderflake crusts (one pack usually comes with 2 crusts)
1.5 cups cheese, your choice (I used marble and parmesan), grated
1 broccolli floret, chopped
1/2 tomato, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
Handful of spinach, chopped
(Substitute any of the above veggies for whatever you have in your fridge)
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup cream
4 eggs
Salt and pepper, to taste

1. Chop and prepare veggies
2. Grate cheese
3. Fill the 2 crusts with veggies and cheese
4. Mix together milk, cream and eggs
5. Pour egg mixture into the 2 crusts, to fill
6. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes, reduce heat to 350 for 30 minutes - bake until the top is golden brown
7. To freeze: Cool in fridge, flash freeze for 30 minutes in the freezer, take out, wrap in freezer bag, pop back in the freezer.
8. Reheat at 350 degrees until warm

Hearty Cinnamon Buns

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Note: these are not healthy, although Emily at Our Nest in the City has maneuvered a way to make healthy cinnamon buns. You can find her recipe here. 

This recipe looks complicated, buutttt I messed it up pretty bad (I forgot eggs and added them at the last minute) and it still worked beautifully. It's adapted and made a little easier to follow from this original recipe,  and with a few suggestions from a friend.

Overall, you need...
1 tsp white sugar
1 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
4 cups flour
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 block cream cheese
1 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup cream

Part 1: Yeastiness.

1. Combine 1 tsp white sugar and 1 tsp active dry yeast in 1/2 cup warm water.
2. Let sit for 10 minutes.

Part 2: While that's sitting...

1. On stovetop, warm 1/2 cup milk in saucepan, and remove from heat.
2. Add 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 tsp salt. Stir until melted.
3. Set aside in med-large bowl.

Part 3: When your yeast is all done getting fluffy and 10 minutes has passed...

1. In a small bowl, beat 2 eggs.
2.  Add yeast mixture (from part 1) to milk mixture (from part 2) in the large bowl.
3. Add the 2 eggs you just beat, to the large bowl.
4. Add 4 cups of all-purpose flour, a half-cup at a time. Knead until it's no longer sticky.
5. Let dough sit covered with a cloth for an hour, until it doubles. If you want super huge cinnabons, let the dough sit even longer.

Part 4:  Making the cinna-mix...

1. Melt 3/4 cup butter in a sauce pan
2. Add 3/4 cup brown sugar
3. Add 1 tbsp cinnamon
4. Mix until melted
5. Set aside

Part 5: Making the icing...

1. With a hand mixer, combine 1 block of plain cream cheese (give or take) with 1 cup of icing sugar and 1 tsp vanilla. Add more icing sugar and vanilla to taste.
2. Set aside

Part 6: Ready to Bake...

1. Roll out the dough into a large rectangle
2. Coat with cinna-mix
3. Roll it all up
4. Cut into cinnabuns (my friend Abbie used string to do this - it made them go not-squishy!)
5. Place into buttered baking dish
6. Drizzle approximately 1/4 cup of half and half cream over (Abbie's addition, again!)
7. Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes, or until they're done in a way you like!

enjoy!