Freezer Meals

Here is my cure for waiting-for-baby boredom- clean things you normally wouldn't clean, rearrange cupboards, and cook lots of food to freeze for when you're too tired to cook after baby arrives. The first two are both cathartic and problematic. Problematic in that cleaning really dirty things- like the grates on your gas stove- takes elbow grease and now my back is sore(-er), and rearranging cupboards leads to daily conversations like this:

Tyler: Where is the {insert object here}?
Me: It's in the cupboard to the right of the stove
Tyler: Didn't it used to be in the cupboard to the left of the stove?
Me: Yes, but I moved it. It's better where it is now.
Tyler: Oh my God you're making me crazy.

As for the freezer situation, I had a whole list of things to make for the freezer but I had to stop short because we've run out of room. In both the deep freeze in the garage (it's just a small one!) and the regular freezer in the kitchen. If you want some back up meals- once in a while I'll spend a few hours on the weekend making something to freeze for later in the week- or you want to go on a cooking binge like me, below is what I've made. So far. I think if I eat the half carton of ice cream that's in there I'll have room for one more dish.

• Chicken and White Bean Chili from Blonde Designs
• Chicken Tetrazzini from Good Life Eats
• Slow Cooker Bolognese from America's Test Kitchen (I'll post the recipe another day- it's amazing)
• Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Shells 
• Shepard's Pie (I didn't use a recipe, I just browned some beef, threw in a bunch of veggies and some gravy I found in the back of the freezer, and topped with mashed potatoes and shredded cheese)
• Beef and Vegetable Empanadas

BEEF AND VEGETABLE EMPANADAS

Adapted from Food and Drink Magazine

Makes 8 to 10 empanadas, a dinner serving being 2 or 3 per person

- Empanadas are a hand pie from the Caribbean and South America. They can be eaten as a snack or a main with a salad on the side. The filling can be pretty much anything- I've included at the bottom a variation with black bean and sweet potato that I've made before and didn't fulfill my promise to share the recipe.

- Although the pastry below is delicious and pretty easy, I've seen recipes that call for store-bought pie dough (like Pilsbury) instead, if you prefer.

Pastry:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup cake and pastry flour (or just use another 1/4 cup of regular flour)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup cold butter, cut into pieces
• 1 cold egg
• 1/3 cup ice cold water
• 1 tbsp white vinegar

Filling:

• 1 pound simmering steak, such as outside round
• 2 tbsp olive oil, divided
• 1 cup beef broth
• 3/4 cup salsa (use mild or medium unless you're brave as hot salsa will cook down and be suicide hot)
• 1 medium leek, sliced in half, washed well, then sliced into half moons
• 1 large jalapeno, finely chopped
• 3/4 cup frozen peas, thawed or still frozen
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup Monterey Jack or white Cheddar cheese

Pastry:
Place flour, butter, butter, salt in a food processor and pulse a few times until butter is the size of peas. Mix egg, water, vinegar together in a small bowl, add all at once to flour mixture with motor running, process until dough just starts to come together. Turn dough out onto counter and gather into a ball. Divide in half and flatten each into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 1 day.

Filling:
Sear steak in 1 tbsp of oil in a pan over medium-high heat 3 minutes per side. Add broth and salsa, reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer 1 hour partially covered, or until meat is tender and can be shredded with a fork. If, like me, you couldn't get the heat right and ended up boiling your steak or bought the wrong type of meat and therefore it won't shred, just chop it up really small and mix into sauce again.

Remove sauce and meat from pan into a bowl. Heat remaining tablespoon of oil over medium heat, add leeks and jalapeno. Cook until softened but not browned. Add peas, cook until peas are heated through. Mix vegetables into meat and sauce. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or up to 1 day.

Assembly:
Working with one piece of dough at a time, roll out to 1/4 inch thick. Cut 6 to 7 inch circles (I used a dessert plate as a guide)*. Whisk egg lightly in a small bowl. Working with one circle at a time, brush 1-inch of edge with egg wash. Place 2 heaping tablespoons filling on one half.

Fold dough over to make a half moon. Press edges to seal, then starting at one corner fold bottom edge of dough over top to ensure a good seal. Place on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper (or with plastic wrap if you're going to freeze these). Repeat filling dough, roll the second half, and fill as well.

Brush tops of pastries with remaining egg wash. Top each with cheese. Using a paring knife, cut two steam vents in the top of each. Freeze in a single layer on a baking sheet until solid and then store in a freezer bag, or bake right away at 425 degrees F for 20 minutes or until golden. To cook frozen empanadas, bake from frozen but add about 10 minutes to cooking time.


*You're not really supposed to re-roll the scraps of dough after cutting the first time as it supposedly makes the dough tough and not as flaky, but I do reuse the scraps. I can't tell much of a difference and let's face it, you're not making these every day so you may as well make as many as you can, right?

FILLING FOR BLACK BEAN AND SWEET POTATO EMPANADAS

• 1 cooked sweet potato, peeled
• 1 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 clove garlic, finely minced
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp hot sauce
• salt and pepper 
• 1/2 cup cottage cheese, whizzed briefly in food processor

Crush beans with a potato masher, ensuring they still have some texture. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add jalapeno and garlic, saute 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add cumin and coriander, saute 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add sweet potato, lime juice, and hot sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and stir in cheese.

Stuffed Shells

These stuffed shells are super duper easy to make. They are another recipe that I improvised with great results. So maybe I'm better at this than I thought. I never really plan to make stuffed shells, but sometimes I just happen to have the pasta and ricotta that are the main components at the same time, and it comes to mind when I have no other ideas of what to cook for dinner but I spot the ricotta in the fridge. I always think after dinner, "Why don't I make this more often?". My husband concurs.

You can put pretty much anything in the filling. Fresh herbs are even better than the dried herbs I have included in the below recipe- use a big handful of any fresh herbs you have on hand and chop finely. Some other variations that come to mind would be to use pesto instead of dried herbs, or omit the spinach and use other finely chopped veggies (some chopped roasted tomatoes would be really good I bet). I like to use spinach, however, because I don't really like it so I never use it in anything else. Somehow spinach is delicious and perfect in the stuffed shells. If I have mozzarella cheese, I'll also grate some into the filling. So, without further ado, here is the recipe. Buon appetito!

P.S. Tyler got home from work late on Thursday when we had this for dinner so we ended up eating dinner while watching CSI. Is that weird?

SPINACH AND RICOTTA STUFFED SHELLS

Serves 3-4

To double this recipe to serve a crowd,  cook the same amount of pasta but double the filling and sauce.

• 350 g box dried jumbo shells
• 475 g tub ricotta cheese
• 300 g box chopped frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
• 1/2 grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 large egg
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 to 3/4 tsp dried basil
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• dash of nutmeg (I would probably omit if not using spinach)
• drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cups tomato sauce

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F with rack in middle. Cook pasta in boiling, well salted water for 10 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. Mix all other ingredients except for tomato sauce. Cover bottom of a baking dish (I use a 10.5" x 7" dish) with 1 cup of tomato sauce.

Stuff pasta with about 1 heaping tbsp of filling* and place in baking dish. Continue stuffing shells until all filling is used up**. The filling will do about 25 shells. Any stuffed shells that don't fit in your baking dish can be frozen- line a baking sheet with plastic wrap, freeze shells until solid, store in a Ziploc bag. To cook follow same method as follows, but bake for longer.

Cover shells with remaining tomato sauce, making sure that everything is well covered or else the pasta will dry out in the oven and be crunchy (not what we're going for here). Cover dish with foil, bake 25 minutes. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese.

*I find it easiest to use my (well washed) hands to stuff the shells.
**There will be leftover cooked pasta. I have these for lunch the next day with tomato sauce.