Hawaiian Pork

Slow Cooker Hawaiian Chicken or Pork for the Freezer

      NewLeafWellness.com

Ingredients

1lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts or pork chops, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 fresh pineapple, stalk, skin, and core removed and fruit cut into bite-sized pieces

2 tablespoons light brown sugar

2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce

Materials

1 gallon-sized plastic freezer bag

Prep

Label your freezer bag.

To your freezer bag, add pineapple, brown sugar, soy sauce, and chicken breasts or pork. (Add the chicken breasts or pork to the bag last, so they’re the first ingredient poured into your slow cooker.)

Remove as much air from the freezer bag as possible, seal, and lay flat in your freezer.

Cook

The night before cooking, move frozen bag to your refrigerator to thaw.

The morning of cooking, pour contents of freezer bag into your slow cooker and cook on “low” setting for 3-6 hours, or until chicken is cooked through and tender.

Serve with brown rice and broccoli, and enjoy!

Cajun Red Beans and Sausage

Note:  This is one of our favorite meals.  To make multiple batches, I suggest using multiple pans (don't make more than one batch combined in a pan).  It is easy to do in bulk though because I use my food processor to prepare the veggies all at once and divide into batches.

Ingredients
Table salt
1 pound small red beans (They are dried beans.  Not every grocery carries them, but I find them at my local Kroger.)
1/4 pound bacon, chopped fine (about 4 slices)
1 medium onion, chopped fine (about 1 cup)
1/2 large green bell pepper, seeded and chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1 celery rib, chopped fine (about 1/2 cup)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp sweet paprika (I have used regular paprika in the past too with good results)
2 bay leaves
scant 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (use more if you want more spice)
Ground black pepper
3 cups low sodium chicken broth
6 cups water
1 pkg smoked sausages (e.g., kielbasa.  I used smoked turkey sausage.  13 oz. package), halved lengthwise and cut into 1/4 inch slices
1 tsp red wine vinegar
Rice, with which to serve

Soak Beans
Dissolve 3 tablespoons salt in 4 quarts cold water and add beans. Soak at room temp overnight (8-24 hours).  Drain and rinse well.  I rarely remember to do this the night before, so I usually employ the quick soak method:  Combine salt, water, and beans in large pan and bring to a full boil.  Boil 2 minutes and then remove from heat and cover for one hour.  Drain and rinse well.

Directions

Cook bacon in a large Dutch oven over medium heat until browned and almost fully rendered, stirring occasionally (6-8 minutes).
















Add in onion, green pepper, and celery, cooking until vegetables are softened (another 6-8 minutes).  Stir frequently to prevent sticking/burning.













Add in garlic, thyme, paprika, bay leaves, cayenne pepper, and 1/4 tsp black pepper.  Cook about 30 seconds.  Add in beans, broth, and water.  Increase heat to high and bring to a boil.















Then reduce heat and simmer vigorously, stirring occasionally, until beans are just soft and liquid begins to thicken, about 1 hour.  Note:  be sure your simmer is relatively vigorous...this allows the starch to release from the beans and thicken the sauce.  The first time I made this, my simmer was too low and this step took much longer.

Stir in sausage and red wine vinegar.






















Cook until liquid is thick and beans are fully tender and creamy, about 30 minutes.  Season to taste with salt, pepper, and additional red wine vinegar.









Remove from heat and let cool.  Portion out into containers suitable for freezing.  One batch makes about 8 one-cup servings, so for our group, I split one batch for 2 families.  Label and freeze.

Serve
To serve, thaw and reheat.  Serve over rice (we like brown rice), and optional hot sauce.  

adapted from America's Test Kitchen

 

Spanish Flank Steak

1 1/4 lbs flank steak
1 1/2 tsp spicy brown mustard
3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 c canola oil
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp dried parsley
1 Tbsp paprika
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 Tbsp lime juice (optional)
(makes 4 servings)

Assembly:
Place flank steak into one gallon freezer bag.  In a mixing bowl, combine mustard, vinegar, sugar, oil, spices & lime juice.  Whisk until thoroughly combined.  Pour marinade over steak.  (One recipe will yield a little over 1/2 cup of marinade.)  Seal, label & freeze.

To Serve:
Thaw at least overnight in refrigerator. 

To cook on grill:  Coat grill rack with cooking spray.  Preheat grill to medium high (about 400 degrees).  Remove steak from marinade.  Discard marinade.  Grill steak 4 to 5 minutes on each side, or until an instant-read thermometer reads at least 145 degrees for a medium rare steak.  Remove from heat and allow to stand for 10 minutes.  Slice steak thinly across the grain.

To broil: Boil the marinade for 10 minutes in a small saucepan prior to using.  Move oven rack 3 to 4 inches from the broiler unit.  Set the oven to broil.  Pout the marinated meat on a sturdy broiling pan with drip pan underneath.  Baste meat with boiled marinade.  Place pan in the oven.  Crack the oven door.  Broil 5 to 7 minutes.  Use a fork to flip the meat.  Baste meat with marinade.  Broil other side 5 to 7 minutes.  Remove from heat and allow to stand for 10 minutes.  Slice steak thinly across the grain.

Nutritional Info:
(oil was not included in the nutritional analysis)
Per serving: 
267 calories
15 g fat (51.9% calories from fat)
28 g protein
4 g carbohydrates
1 g fiber
72 mg cholesterol
659mg sodium

Source:  Big Book of Freezer cooking, p 50

Rosemary Roasted Pork Loin

2 lb pork tenderloin
2 clvoes garlic
2 sprigs fresh rosemary, cut into 1 " pieces
2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 cup chicken broth

Cut each garlic clove into 4 slices.  Use a sharp knife to make 8 small slits in tenderloin.  Push one slice of garlic & one piece of rosemary into each slit.  Sprinkle tenderloin with salt & pepper.  Place tenderloin in a gallon-size freezer bag.  Pour 1 cup chicken broth into a quart-sized freezer bag.  Place both bags into a second gallon-sized bag.  Label & freeze. 

To serve: 
Defrost completely in refrigerator.  Preheat 2 Tbsp olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Brown tenderloin on all sides.  Transfer to a baking dish sprayed with cooking spray.  Pour broth into dish.  Bake, covered, for 30 to 45 minutes, or until desired doneness (145 to 155 degrees).  Let stand for 10 minutes before slicing.  If desired, drizzle with pan juices.

Cowboy Barbeque

This quick freezer meal is one most often requested by my 9 year old son.  (This is a kid who loves baked beans and quite often will volunteer to make beanie weenies for dinner. Hey, he's volunteering to cook... I'm not going to turn him down.)

Originally I used Grands buttermilk biscuits as the topper to this hearty meal but recently I found at my local Kroger that Grands has begun selling a Cornbread refrigerator biscuit.  What goes better with beans and BBQ than corn bread.  I was so excited to give it a try.

When prepping this dish for the freezer, start with browning the meat and onions.  Then add the remaining ingredients until well mixed.  Allow to cool completely and place in a Ziploc freezer bag or, if you like, pour in a round disposable pie plate.  Freeze until solid and cover with aluminum foil.  Slide into a Ziplock bag. (8"-9" round pie pans easily slip into a gallon size Ziploc giving the dish better protection in the freezer.)

To serve, defrost and, if not already in a pie plate, pour the thawed mixture into a round glass pan. Bake the mixture for at least 30 minutes to get it warmed through. Open the biscuits and cut each biscuit in half.

Create a ring around the dish, place the biscuit halves with the cut side down.  Over lap the halves so that they all fit into the pie plate. 

Bake until biscuits are golden brown. 

Top with cheese and return to the oven just long enough to melt the cheese.

Cowboy BBQ

(1 recipe equals 6 servings)

1 lb. ground beef
1 cup chopped onion
1 can (15 oz) baked beans
1 cup barbecue sauce
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 (7.5 oz) can refrigerated biscuit dough (corn bread or Grands buttermilk)
1 c shredded cheddar cheese

Brown ground beef with onion.  Remove from heat.  Drain grease if needed. Stir in beans, BBQ sauce and brown sugar.  (Do not add biscuits until baking).  Place in ziploc bag.  Label & freeze.

To serve:
Thaw.  Pour ingredients into a round, greased baking dish.  Bake uncovered for 30 minutes at 400 degrees.  Cut refrigerator biscuits in half.  Arrange upright (cut edge down) and slightly overlap around the edge of the baking dish.  Return to oven and bake 15 minutes.  Top with cheese and bake 5 additional minutes.

Adapted from Dinner is Ready.