Make ahead meals
I have been cooking/baking for my sister for about 3 weeks now, and I just wanted to share some of the recipes I've used. They are all loosely based on recipes from famous food network stars, but I altered them over the years to what we like and they are now staples. (Note: I vowed a few years ago to never again use vile cream of whatever soup in a can because it was full of chemicals and all things bad for you, but I found healthy versions of everything and use them only when making casseroles like this. We rarely eat them otherwise.)
I made double or triple of almost everything over the last few weeks so we both would have some for our freezers.
Here is a list of what I've made so far, with the recipes below:
Lasagna rolls
Meatballs
Chicken Spaghetti
Beef Pastitsio
Shepherd's Pie
Cornbread
Banana Bread
Mexican Lasagna
Chicken Bacon Pasta
Crock Pot Chicken
Beef Tips with Gravy
Mongolian Beef
Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole
Lasagna Rolls
The lasagna rolls are loosely based on Giada's Lasagna rolls. I altered it a bit over the years, and now it looks less and less like hers. My family goes crazy for these. They take as much time to make a few as they do to make many, so make many!
While the lasagna noodles are boiling, I make the cheese filling: ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, parm cheese, (whatever cheese you have - I usually have asiago on hand and it's so yummy), salt, pepper, 2 eggs.
Then I cook the spinach. Over the years, the frozen stuff seemed yuckier and yuckier, so I buy fresh baby spinach, cook it in a frying pan with some olive oil until it wilts way down (you're going to need a ton of this stuff), adding salt, pepper, garlic, and a pinch of nutmeg. Then add the spinach to the cheese mixture.
Lasagna noodles take a while to boil, so while that is finishing, I make a meat sauce. Which consists of jarred marinara (I never can get the homemade stuff to taste as good - and I've been trying for 11 years), and a pkg of ground beef (about a pound of beef per jar of sauce).
Then I assemble the rolls. Put some sauce in the bottom of your baking dish so the noodles won't stick. Then lay a lasagna noodle out flat on the counter, top with cheese mixture, and roll up. Place your lasagna roll in the baking dish and continue until the noodles run out and/or the cheese mixture runs out. Top with sauce, then mozzarella cheese (like a lasagna).
These freeze really well, or you can refrigerate, or you can bake now for 30 mins at 350. Everything is fully cooked, you just want them piping hot.
A woman eats about 2 for dinner and a man eats about 3, so they will feed a lot of people. Since they're so labor intensive, I usually make loads at once and freeze them.
Meatballs
The meatballs are loosely based on Rachel Ray's gorgonzola stuffed meatballs. I used her recipe for the meatballs, but stuffed them with a cube of mozzarella cheese for the superbowl party. For my sister with pancreas issues, I left the cheese out and I still had a fabulous meatball recipe.
combine 1 pkg ground beef (about a pound) with salt, pepper, 2 cloves minced garlic, 2 eggs, parmesean cheese, italian bread crumbs, 1 tbsp dried sage. That's all! Gently mix these with your hands until just combined. (The secret to good meatballs are not overly mixing or overly packing.) Loosely roll them into whatever sized meatball you like, then put them on a cookie sheet. Bake them now on 350 until they are cooked on the outside (about 20 mins, depending on size), they'll make your house smell amazing, and you'll know they're done. Don't overcook!
Lay them in a pan, crockpot, whatever, and cover them with a whole jar of marinara sauce. Freeze, refrigerate, or dig in.
That was an easy one.
This would be great with pasta, but it also makes a great meatball sub. (Again, add mozzarella cheese later for my sister with the pancreas problems.)
Chicken Spaghetti
The chicken spaghetti is based on Ree Drummond's chicken spaghetti. I didn't have all the ingredients on hand, and I went light on the cheese, but this was a pretty easy one.
Combine cooked pasta (I've used spaghetti, penne, elbows, whatever), cooked chicken, cream of whatever soup, season salt, and cheddar cheese to a bowl until it tastes yummy. I found cream of chicken soup and cream of mushroom soup in the healthy aisle with much less fat, so that's what I used for my sister. And I only sprinkled a bit of cheese on top instead of mixed a lot in.
Refrigerate or freeze now. And when you're ready to eat it, bake it on 350 for 30 minutes until it's all warm through.
Beef Pastitsio
Pastitsio is supposed to be a greek dish with lots of lamb and greek flavorings, but I love the recipe I use. I do exactly what this link says to do. I have made this for people having health problems, when I need to feed a crowd cheaply, when friends have babies, etc. It's always a hit. Simple ingredients, all at a low cost, all I always have on hand, and so delicious every single time.
Again, refrigerate or freeze before you bake it in the oven. When you're ready to eat it, then bake it on 350 for about 30 minutes until it's all warm through.
Shepherd's Pie
My shepherd's pie isn't like the irish make it with lamb, and it's not even really what Rachel Ray's recipe for shepherd's pie is. It's evolved over the years too.
Cut up potatoes, leaving the skin on, and put them in a pot to boil.
In a skillet, brown 1 pkg ground beef (about a pound) with onions, carrots, mushrooms, cut up bacon. (I've used any combination of these ingredients and it's always good.) Add garlic, italian seasoning, bay leaves, thyme, whatever you have. Make a hole in the center of the pan, add 3 tbsp butter, sprinkle 3 tbsp flour on top, and make a rue. Once that's good and paste-y, add beef stock, chicken stock, whatever and mix it all up to make it a stew/gravy concoction. Adjust the seasonings according to what you like - I like LOTS of flavor, garlic, and bay leaves.
Smash the potatoes with milk and butter like mashed potatoes.
Put meat/gravy mixture in the bottom of the baking dish, and cover with mashed potatoes.
Refrigerate or freeze now. And when you're ready to eat it, bake it on 350 for 30 minutes until it's all warm through.
Cornbread
I am a huge fan of cornbread. I love everything that has corn in it from corn tortillas to popcorn to creamed corn to corn on the cob. This is the BEST cornbread recipe I have ever made, and it's all thanks to Ina Garten's cheddar cornbread recipe. I am not a fan of dill, so I just leave it out.
Follow her recipe to a tee, including letting it rest for 20 minutes before you bake it.
It's obvious why it's so good when you see all the cheddar cheese and butter that's in it. Delightful!
Refrigerate or freeze after baking on this one. It's always good reheated, and even better with an extra pat of butter!
Banana Bread
My brother in law, who has been in our lives almost 20 years now and is one of my best friends so I call him my brother, is not a big fan of sweets. This confuses me because most men I know are HUGELY into sweets and I can show them I love them by baking for them. Well, it turns out Tony loves banana bread (I guess because it's not too sweet) and he loves it with walnuts. No matter what recipe I use, he loves it, but this is what I use most often. (I add a cup of walnuts to this recipe.) Side note: even with my convection oven, I can't get it to bake at 325 for an hour. I usually bake it at 350 and it's still awesome.
This is great to make extra and freeze after baking. Twice the bang for your buck.
Mexican Lasagna
Confession: this was a first time meal for me. Michael doesn't like homemade mexican food, so I rarely get to experiment. I used this basic recipe and left out the ingredients I didn't have. I hope it's yummy! All the ingredients separately, without assembling them, were delicious. Especially the mexican rice.
Again, refrigerate or freeze before you bake it in the oven. When you're ready to eat it, then bake it on 350 for about 30 minutes until it's all warm through.
Chicken Bacon Pasta
This was something I made up. My sister said she wanted something with chicken, bacon, and pasta, so this is what I came up with.
Brown cut up bacon in a pan, remove bacon. Cook cut up chicken in bacon grease. Add whatever seasonings float your boat - I love salt, pepper, garlic, and italian seasoning. Add cooked pasta to the pan and adjust seasonings. The only fat needed came from the bacon, which isn't the best for you, but it went a long way in this meal.
I'm not sure this one would freeze well, but it would go well in the fridge for a few days.
(Side note: This recipe is much better when you add ranch dressing and cheese to it! Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta with cheese is DELICIOUS.)
Crock Pot Chicken
This baby needs a new name. I made it up, so I don't have a name for it.
Mix together in a bowl: ketchup, teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, garlic, worchestershire sauce, brown sugar, (and onion if you have it, but it's good without the onion too).
Place boneless, skinless chicken thighs in a crock pot (still frozen) and pour sauce over it. Cook on low for 8-12 hours, and it will be the lowest maintenance most delicious meal you've ever had. No stirring required, no basting, nada. Serve over rice or pasta.
Beef Tips with Gravy
I have never eaten this meal, only made it for other people. I use this recipe. This is cool because you can keep the marinade in a bowl in the fridge until crock pot day, or you can put it in a bag with the meat in the freezer until you want to cook this. I've heard it's good!
Mongolian Beef
I have never eaten this meal, only made it for other people. I use this recipe. Again, this is cool because you can keep the marinade in a bowl in the fridge until crock pot day, or you can put it in a bag with the meat in the freezer until you want to cook this. (Side note: I don't use ginger because I think there is nothing more disgusting on this earth than ginger. I double the garlic instead.)
Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole
This is a recipe from my friend Stephanie. While I don't like broccoli and Michael doesn't like rice, this is a great recipe for Christina and Tony because they like all 3 of these things!
Cook chicken, cook rice, leave broccoli frozen. Set aside.
In a bowl, mix 2 cans cream of whatever soup, 1 cup mayo, 8oz sour cream, 1.5 cups cheddar cheese.
I'm not sure how to assemble this casserole, but I lay the frozen broccoli on the bottom, then top with rice, then put the sauce mixture (that I've stirred the cut up chicken into) on the top. You can experiment with what your family likes best. (Personally, I think this recipe would be better with corn instead of broccoli and noodles instead of rice.)
Refrigerate or freeze now. And when you're ready to eat it, bake it on 350 for 30 minutes until it's all warm through.
Whew! As I said, I made loads of everything, spreading it over 3 weeks, so it's been feeding all of us pretty well. I need to go grocery shopping now, though!
I made double or triple of almost everything over the last few weeks so we both would have some for our freezers.
Here is a list of what I've made so far, with the recipes below:
Lasagna rolls
Meatballs
Chicken Spaghetti
Beef Pastitsio
Shepherd's Pie
Cornbread
Banana Bread
Mexican Lasagna
Chicken Bacon Pasta
Crock Pot Chicken
Beef Tips with Gravy
Mongolian Beef
Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole
Lasagna Rolls
The lasagna rolls are loosely based on Giada's Lasagna rolls. I altered it a bit over the years, and now it looks less and less like hers. My family goes crazy for these. They take as much time to make a few as they do to make many, so make many!
While the lasagna noodles are boiling, I make the cheese filling: ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, parm cheese, (whatever cheese you have - I usually have asiago on hand and it's so yummy), salt, pepper, 2 eggs.
Then I cook the spinach. Over the years, the frozen stuff seemed yuckier and yuckier, so I buy fresh baby spinach, cook it in a frying pan with some olive oil until it wilts way down (you're going to need a ton of this stuff), adding salt, pepper, garlic, and a pinch of nutmeg. Then add the spinach to the cheese mixture.
Lasagna noodles take a while to boil, so while that is finishing, I make a meat sauce. Which consists of jarred marinara (I never can get the homemade stuff to taste as good - and I've been trying for 11 years), and a pkg of ground beef (about a pound of beef per jar of sauce).
Then I assemble the rolls. Put some sauce in the bottom of your baking dish so the noodles won't stick. Then lay a lasagna noodle out flat on the counter, top with cheese mixture, and roll up. Place your lasagna roll in the baking dish and continue until the noodles run out and/or the cheese mixture runs out. Top with sauce, then mozzarella cheese (like a lasagna).
These freeze really well, or you can refrigerate, or you can bake now for 30 mins at 350. Everything is fully cooked, you just want them piping hot.
A woman eats about 2 for dinner and a man eats about 3, so they will feed a lot of people. Since they're so labor intensive, I usually make loads at once and freeze them.
Meatballs
The meatballs are loosely based on Rachel Ray's gorgonzola stuffed meatballs. I used her recipe for the meatballs, but stuffed them with a cube of mozzarella cheese for the superbowl party. For my sister with pancreas issues, I left the cheese out and I still had a fabulous meatball recipe.
combine 1 pkg ground beef (about a pound) with salt, pepper, 2 cloves minced garlic, 2 eggs, parmesean cheese, italian bread crumbs, 1 tbsp dried sage. That's all! Gently mix these with your hands until just combined. (The secret to good meatballs are not overly mixing or overly packing.) Loosely roll them into whatever sized meatball you like, then put them on a cookie sheet. Bake them now on 350 until they are cooked on the outside (about 20 mins, depending on size), they'll make your house smell amazing, and you'll know they're done. Don't overcook!
Lay them in a pan, crockpot, whatever, and cover them with a whole jar of marinara sauce. Freeze, refrigerate, or dig in.
That was an easy one.
This would be great with pasta, but it also makes a great meatball sub. (Again, add mozzarella cheese later for my sister with the pancreas problems.)
Chicken Spaghetti
The chicken spaghetti is based on Ree Drummond's chicken spaghetti. I didn't have all the ingredients on hand, and I went light on the cheese, but this was a pretty easy one.
Combine cooked pasta (I've used spaghetti, penne, elbows, whatever), cooked chicken, cream of whatever soup, season salt, and cheddar cheese to a bowl until it tastes yummy. I found cream of chicken soup and cream of mushroom soup in the healthy aisle with much less fat, so that's what I used for my sister. And I only sprinkled a bit of cheese on top instead of mixed a lot in.
Refrigerate or freeze now. And when you're ready to eat it, bake it on 350 for 30 minutes until it's all warm through.
Beef Pastitsio
Pastitsio is supposed to be a greek dish with lots of lamb and greek flavorings, but I love the recipe I use. I do exactly what this link says to do. I have made this for people having health problems, when I need to feed a crowd cheaply, when friends have babies, etc. It's always a hit. Simple ingredients, all at a low cost, all I always have on hand, and so delicious every single time.
Again, refrigerate or freeze before you bake it in the oven. When you're ready to eat it, then bake it on 350 for about 30 minutes until it's all warm through.
Shepherd's Pie
My shepherd's pie isn't like the irish make it with lamb, and it's not even really what Rachel Ray's recipe for shepherd's pie is. It's evolved over the years too.
Cut up potatoes, leaving the skin on, and put them in a pot to boil.
In a skillet, brown 1 pkg ground beef (about a pound) with onions, carrots, mushrooms, cut up bacon. (I've used any combination of these ingredients and it's always good.) Add garlic, italian seasoning, bay leaves, thyme, whatever you have. Make a hole in the center of the pan, add 3 tbsp butter, sprinkle 3 tbsp flour on top, and make a rue. Once that's good and paste-y, add beef stock, chicken stock, whatever and mix it all up to make it a stew/gravy concoction. Adjust the seasonings according to what you like - I like LOTS of flavor, garlic, and bay leaves.
Smash the potatoes with milk and butter like mashed potatoes.
Put meat/gravy mixture in the bottom of the baking dish, and cover with mashed potatoes.
Refrigerate or freeze now. And when you're ready to eat it, bake it on 350 for 30 minutes until it's all warm through.
Cornbread
I am a huge fan of cornbread. I love everything that has corn in it from corn tortillas to popcorn to creamed corn to corn on the cob. This is the BEST cornbread recipe I have ever made, and it's all thanks to Ina Garten's cheddar cornbread recipe. I am not a fan of dill, so I just leave it out.
Follow her recipe to a tee, including letting it rest for 20 minutes before you bake it.
It's obvious why it's so good when you see all the cheddar cheese and butter that's in it. Delightful!
Refrigerate or freeze after baking on this one. It's always good reheated, and even better with an extra pat of butter!
Banana Bread
My brother in law, who has been in our lives almost 20 years now and is one of my best friends so I call him my brother, is not a big fan of sweets. This confuses me because most men I know are HUGELY into sweets and I can show them I love them by baking for them. Well, it turns out Tony loves banana bread (I guess because it's not too sweet) and he loves it with walnuts. No matter what recipe I use, he loves it, but this is what I use most often. (I add a cup of walnuts to this recipe.) Side note: even with my convection oven, I can't get it to bake at 325 for an hour. I usually bake it at 350 and it's still awesome.
This is great to make extra and freeze after baking. Twice the bang for your buck.
Mexican Lasagna
Confession: this was a first time meal for me. Michael doesn't like homemade mexican food, so I rarely get to experiment. I used this basic recipe and left out the ingredients I didn't have. I hope it's yummy! All the ingredients separately, without assembling them, were delicious. Especially the mexican rice.
Again, refrigerate or freeze before you bake it in the oven. When you're ready to eat it, then bake it on 350 for about 30 minutes until it's all warm through.
Chicken Bacon Pasta
This was something I made up. My sister said she wanted something with chicken, bacon, and pasta, so this is what I came up with.
Brown cut up bacon in a pan, remove bacon. Cook cut up chicken in bacon grease. Add whatever seasonings float your boat - I love salt, pepper, garlic, and italian seasoning. Add cooked pasta to the pan and adjust seasonings. The only fat needed came from the bacon, which isn't the best for you, but it went a long way in this meal.
I'm not sure this one would freeze well, but it would go well in the fridge for a few days.
(Side note: This recipe is much better when you add ranch dressing and cheese to it! Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta with cheese is DELICIOUS.)
Crock Pot Chicken
This baby needs a new name. I made it up, so I don't have a name for it.
Mix together in a bowl: ketchup, teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, garlic, worchestershire sauce, brown sugar, (and onion if you have it, but it's good without the onion too).
Place boneless, skinless chicken thighs in a crock pot (still frozen) and pour sauce over it. Cook on low for 8-12 hours, and it will be the lowest maintenance most delicious meal you've ever had. No stirring required, no basting, nada. Serve over rice or pasta.
Beef Tips with Gravy
I have never eaten this meal, only made it for other people. I use this recipe. This is cool because you can keep the marinade in a bowl in the fridge until crock pot day, or you can put it in a bag with the meat in the freezer until you want to cook this. I've heard it's good!
Mongolian Beef
I have never eaten this meal, only made it for other people. I use this recipe. Again, this is cool because you can keep the marinade in a bowl in the fridge until crock pot day, or you can put it in a bag with the meat in the freezer until you want to cook this. (Side note: I don't use ginger because I think there is nothing more disgusting on this earth than ginger. I double the garlic instead.)
Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole
This is a recipe from my friend Stephanie. While I don't like broccoli and Michael doesn't like rice, this is a great recipe for Christina and Tony because they like all 3 of these things!
Cook chicken, cook rice, leave broccoli frozen. Set aside.
In a bowl, mix 2 cans cream of whatever soup, 1 cup mayo, 8oz sour cream, 1.5 cups cheddar cheese.
I'm not sure how to assemble this casserole, but I lay the frozen broccoli on the bottom, then top with rice, then put the sauce mixture (that I've stirred the cut up chicken into) on the top. You can experiment with what your family likes best. (Personally, I think this recipe would be better with corn instead of broccoli and noodles instead of rice.)
Refrigerate or freeze now. And when you're ready to eat it, bake it on 350 for 30 minutes until it's all warm through.
Whew! As I said, I made loads of everything, spreading it over 3 weeks, so it's been feeding all of us pretty well. I need to go grocery shopping now, though!
Comments