The proof is in the plate...

If you are not yet convinced that power cooking/freezing is worth your time and effort then please allow me to introduce Exhibit A...

Y'all.

That plate of scrumptiousness was ready in 20 minutes. 

We have meals like this 2-3 times/week because of power cooking/freezing.

Seriously. This was my Wednesday:

6am: Wake up excited about dinner because I know that I'm making baked creamy chicken taquitos from this session.

7am - 2pm: Do stuff like take kids to school and work

2pm - 3pm: Carpool line. Daydream of dinner.

3pm - 5pm: Do stuff like work out, read books, and nap with Radley

5:25pm: Pick up girls

6:00pm: Get home

6:03pm: Start dinner

6:23pm: Eat dinner

If you don't believe me, here's the run down of prep time...

I placed everything on the counter I would need for dinner when we got home from grabbing Radley. Skillets were already set out, cans, bowls, etc.

I pre-heated the oven, changed clothes, and then got started. 

Rice was up first since it takes the longest. 

(My kids don't love a tomato in their rice, so I substitute a can of corn instead and they love it!)

As rice was browning, I put the taquitos in the oven.

Got out all the plates and utensils. 

Warmed beans.

Made guacamole. 

And as rice was finishing, so were the taquitos. 

And done.

It took far less than 20 minutes to eat!!!

Seriously, if you are hesitant about power freezing, let this show you how worth the time it is!

Go here for my power cooking sessions and here for power freezing!

Enjoy!

Quick Power Freezing...

I've blogged lots about Power Cooking and the benefits of prepping meals in advance but it does take time to organize and plan those sessions. I found a great solution to be Power Freezing.  All the convenience - half of the work. 

Our freezer had gotten to the point of just sad. (It's really because I wasn't used to having the extra space since for a year it had been filled with Landry's "frozen meals", if you know what I mean). Since I head back to work in two weeks (I may die. I know, I know "poor Katy" but y'all - I have gotten used to the SAHM life where in this world my children also go to school 8 hours a day) I thought it may be a good idea to start stocking up our freezer. Ryan and I hardly ever get to really cook together anymore so we spent Thursday shopping, slicing, dicing, and freezing.


For this PF session I stuck with quick assembly - meaning minimal chopping and really wanted some that I could literally just throw in a bag. This only took us 3 hours to complete, so don't have high expectations of some gourmet choices. ;)

We bought ingredients for 10 meals and only spent $70 - win. Two meals are fully cooked and need to just be thawed and reheated either in the crockpot on warm all day or just popped into the microwave to serve. The remaining meals just need to be thawed and placed in a crock pot all day to cook.


Recipes:
1. Healthy BBQ Chicken - We have made this one before and it is awesome. Seriously yummy. I don't normally like a meat on a bone, but these come out so tender that the meat just falls off. The kids gobbled them up and even ate all the veggies that are in here since I served it over corn bread. Trust me - make this one.
2. Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos - We try to keep these stocked most of the time. Super easy. Super yummy and way more healthy than any kind you can get in the frozen food section. We leave out the cilantro for the kids' and have tried just about every brand of green salsa you can imagine. Serve with sliced avocado, black beans and some rice.
3. Honey Sesame Chicken - One of Radley's favorite meals is "honey chicken" from Pei Wei. He will seriously eat an entire entree by himself.  So when I found this recipe I knew we had to try it. I did not include the sesame oil because well, it's like $8/bottle and I didn't think it was necessary. We are going to try this one soon, so I will keep you posted on how it turns out. (I also really like this blog - seems to have lots of yummy recipes!)
4. Taco Casserole - this is just our own made up recipe. And I'm an awful blogger and didn't take any pictures. Just brown some meat (we used 90/10) then mix with 2 cans of your choice of beans (we used pinto and kidney) (drained), 1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes (undrained), and 1 15 oz can of whole kernel corn. Then layer meat, tortillas and shredded cheese. Fancy, huh?
5. Chicken Broccoli Alfredo - I have to admit - I found this recipe in the car as we were pulling into HEB. I felt really guilty about buying some store bought alfredo sauce for two reasons: my Italian roots and the fact that Ryan makes the best homemade alfredo sauce ever. But we bought it. And then I thought that it was silly to put all of this in a bag, so we just have the ingredients to use for a meal soon. (So I realize this isn't technically a freezer meal, but whatever).

If you are looking for some inspiration on meal prep then here are a few of my favorite places:
1. My friend, Stephanie, is a PRO at this. Check her out at Nothing Special... but it sure is GOOD!
2. Baked in the South
3. Six Sisters Stuff
4. My friend, Kelly (ha!), did a link up last week for freezer meals so check her out, too!

And just for fun - when looking around for quick recipes, I found this. Scroll to the bottom. Y'all. Now that is some POWER cooking.

Go forth and freeze! And - if you have any great recipes, please leave them in the comments! :)

Power Freezing...

So I've blogged lots about Power Cooking and the benefits of prepping meals in advance. I will continue to support this as a way for working moms (or anyone really) to save time, money and EFFORT in prepping home made meals that are (somewhat) nutritional for your family. However, it's important to note that you should have the following:

1. A group of trusted cooks to share PC duties with
2. Time to prep and cook all these meals pre-freeze
3. Time to cook meals post-freeze

What I've learned is that many of our PC recipes require the meals to be cooked/heated for up to an hour the day it is being served. By the time I pick up the kids, drive home, get everyone out the car, listen to stories, take a potty break, change clothes, and take a deep breath, the clock is already at 6pm and dinner still has to cook.... those are not fun nights in the King household.

So the solution...

POWER FREEZING  (I'm working on getting it trademarked ;))


What is power freezing you ask? Well, it's essentially the same thing as Power Cooking, except you don't actually have to cook anything. If you do, it's crockpot goods that you freeze just to throw into the crockpot to reheat.

Step 1: Gather ingredients (yes, all good recipes involve ranch and cream cheese)

Step 2: Chop any needed vegetables

Step 3a: Pour ingredients in respective crockpots

Step 3b: Or combine ingredients, place in ziplock bags and freeze

Step 4: Enjoy the fruits of your labor now and for weeks to come

The day I did this my mom and I made 10 meals for $60. Four meals are fully cooked and need to just be thawed and reheated either in the crockpot on warm all day or just popped into the microwave to serve. The remaining meals just need to be thawed and placed in a crock pot all day to cook.

It has been awesome to have this as I returned to work. I still want to power cook with my friends, but since we all seem to have crazy schedules, this is something easy that you can do alone and still reap all the glorious benefits!!

Recipes:
1. Parmesan Honey Pork - This is DELICIOUS. I cooked it first and then froze it, but I think next time I will just combine the ingredients and freeze and then cook. We served it on sliders with mashed potatoes and brocolli. The kids even ate it up!
2. Teriyaki Chicken - I wanted this to be sweeter than it was. I think I cooked it too long, but we just served over rice. Ryan loved it lots, the kids have liked stuff better.
3. Healthy BBQ Chicken - This was SOOOOO good. I was skeptical about chicken on a bone, but after being in the slow cooker all day they just pulled right out. We did drumsticks. The kids gobbled this up. We served with cornbread and all those veggies just snuck right in there!
4. Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos - We are keeping these stocked in our fridge. Easy prep and can just be microwaved like the taquitos you buy in the freezer section but much tastier and healthier. We eliminated the cilantro for the kids version. A big hit with the Kings.

I did one more recipe but I can't find it (which makes me sad bc it was also yummy).

So, friends ... go forth and freeze. And then enjoy the time you save with your kids, spouse, friends, or self! :)