Freezer Cooking Update....what's cooking today!

My good friend Cyndy sent me this link about cooking beans in the crockpot
http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/10/cooking-dried-beans-in-crockpot.html

I had forgotten how easy this is.....I threw two pounds of black beans in to soak yesterday morning, and put them in the crockpot and filled it up with water before I went to bed. After 8 hours on low, they were perfect. I ended up with enough to make one casserole that usually takes two cans, and two stuffed quart bags to freeze. I figured it made about the same amount as 10-12 cans, so I probably saved at least 10 dollars by doing this. My two pounds of dried beans were 2$ at Walmart.

So tonight, we are having Cinco Layer Bake, which I am putting together from three things from my freezer stash. Here are the recipes for you freezer friends!

First, make this Sweet Chicken Tostada Filling:
(makes about 14 1/2 cups)

2 Whole Chickens (8-10 pounds total weight)
3 packages cream cheese, softened
3 cups prepared mango salsa
5 one-quart freezer bags, labeled

1. Clean and cook both chickens however you want....either boil or roast them in the oven.
Cool and pull meat from bones. Discard skin and bones. Cut chicken into bite size pieces. (A whole chicken will yield about 1 cup of meat per pound.) Or if you don't want to go through all this brain damage, boil up about 6 lbs of chicken breasts, chop it up and go from there.

2. Beat together cream cheese and salsa in a large bowl with an electric mixer. Stir in chicken. Divide mixture evenly among freezer bags, about 3 scant cups of filling in each.

3. Seal and freeze.

Chipotle Roasted Tomato Sauce
7-9 pounds fresh roma tomatoes (from Costco)
6 chipotle peppers canned in adobo sauce, halved and seeded
1 1/2 pounds onions, sliced
1 1/2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoons salt
7 quart freezer bags, labeled

1. Preheat oven to 475F.
2. Rinse and slice tomatoes in half lengthwish. Arrange in a single layer on several baking dishes. Sprinkle salt over the tomatoes. Add chipotle peppers and onions to the baking dishes. Mix to combine. Drizzle oil over the vegetables. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until tomatoes are beginning to brown.
3. Cool tomatoes enough to handle. Slide skins off. Remove chipotle peppers and discard.
4. Using a food processor or blender, and working in batches, spoon tomatoes and onions into processors bowl with a slotted spoon so that the juices can drain back into the dish. Puree the tomatoes and onions until smooth. Add juices from the baking dish if sauce is too thick. Discard remaining juice.
5. Divide sauce among freezer bags.
6. Seal and freeze.

Note: This sauce is excellent on Cheese Ravioli and other pasta dishes. It is a good way to use up those end of the season tomatoes in the garden. Don't feel like you HAVE to have this to make the Cinco Layer Bake...you can use canned enchilada or tomato sauce if you like.

You can use your Sweet Chicken Tostada Filling in these two recipes, or in other creative ways.

Cinco Layer Bake
6 ten inch flour tortillas, cut in half
2 3/4 cups Sweet Chicken Tostada Filling, thawed
1 1/2 cups black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup Roasted Chipotle Tomato Sauce or other enchilada sauce
2 cups shredded Mexican Blend Cheese
2 medium tomatoes, chopped (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. Lightly coat the bottom of a 9-inch square baking dish with cooking spray. Cover the bottom entirely with 4 of the tortilla halves, overlapping as necessary. Spread 1 1/2 cups of the tostada filling over tortillas. Next, layer with 3/4 cup of the beans, 1/2 cup of the tomato sauce, and 1 cup of the cheese. Repeat with a layer of tortillas and the remaining filling, beans, and tomato sauce. Add the remaining 4 tortilla halves and top with one cup cheese.
3. Cover with foil and bake for 45-60 minutes, or until an instant read thermometer reads 165f.
4. Garnish with fresh tomatoes, guacamole, or salsa, if desired.

Happy cooking!

I am breaking my blogging fast with a big bloggy cook-a-long today! I'm just going to pretend you are in my kitchen.....I'll be cooking and filling you in on the last few months at the same time.

In honor of our study of Marco Polo and his trip through China, we will be eating chinese food tonight! We will be making a big batch of lettuce wraps from a copycat recipe! P.F. Changs, anyone? These really taste like the real thing without the budget hit! Please don't let all the prep work put you off this recipe...it makes a ton and is really worth the work. It is a great appetizer to have on hand in the freezer during the holidays, an awesome picnic lunch to take when you go on a fall leaf hunt, and a very easy weeknight dinner that children usually love.

You can find the single batch recipe here:

http://www.recipelink.com/mf/14/8937

I am making a really big batch, so that I can freeze it in dinner size portions. Here is my re-sized recipe.

Chicken Mixture:

3 cups dried Shitake mushrooms

4 teaspoons cornstarch

8 teaspoons dry sherry

4 teaspoons water

4 teaspoons soy sauce

salt and pepper

5 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts

1/4 cup oil

4 teaspoons fresh minced ginger

4 cloves garlic, minced

8 green onions, minced

4 8-oz cans bamboo shoots, minced

4 8-oz cans water chestnuts, minced

1 pk cellophone chinese rice noodles, prepared according to instructions (I've never used this...if you do, let me know how it goes!)

Cooking Sauce:

4 Tablespoons hoisin sauce
4 tablespoons soy sauce

4 tablespoons dry sherry

8 tablespoons oyster sauce

8 tablespoons water

4 teaspoons sesame oil

4 teaspoons sugar

8 teaspoons cornstarch

I will be making a few changes along the way to accomodate our tastes and what we have in the house. I will be preparing all ingredients first, then cooking it in several batches, because I don't have a big wok, only a meager 10 inch skillet.

The first thing I'm going to do is start soaking my mushrooms in boiling water. I buy a big bag of dried Shitake mushrooms at Costco. They last forever and are great for stir-frys and WONDERFUL for adding to your roasts in the crockpot. They add a rich smoky flavor to just about any dish. I filled my large saucepan 3/4 of the way with water and brought it to a boil. Then I added 4 cups of the dried mushrooms. I will let them sit for about 30 minutes while I post about the last bunch of photos I just downloaded.

Note: I can't figure out how to get my photos to download in the correct order....so you'll just have bear with me.

Take a look at the photo of the chicken chunks. Cut your chicken up about that size. Then, a few handfuls at a time, mince it by pulsing on and off in the food processor until it looks like the other photo. Put your chicken in a bowl. Mix together cornstarch, sherry (I'm using white wine, because it's what I have) water, soy sauce, and salt and pepper. Stir it into your minced chicken and let it marinate while we do the rest of our prep work.

Next, drain your mushrooms and mince them in your food processor. Set them on a plate, divided into 4 little piles, if you are making a big batch.

Drain your water chestnuts, and mince them in your food processor. Set them on a plate, divided into 4 little piles, if you are making a big batch.

Drain your bamboo shoots, and mince them in your food processor. Set them on a plate, divided into 4 piles, if you are making a big batch.

Mince your ginger. I don't do this in the food processor. It does not work as well.
http://www.cookthink.com/reference/594/How_to_mince_ginger Here is a great tutorial if you don't know how to do that. I added some extra ginger, because we love it. Set it on a plate, divided into 4 piles if you are making a big batch.

Slice up your green onions. Set them on a plate and divide them into 4 piles if you are making a big batch.

That completes our prep work! Your hard work should look like the photo at the top my next post. I'm going to finish this cook-off in several posts, in order to make the photos and instructions line up.