October OAMC

As I mentioned before, this past weekend I did another round of freezer cooking.  Similar to what I did this summer, I wanted to do some complete meals frozen and also some healthier options (like from the Team Beachbody meals).

Breakfasts: We mostly have protein smoothies (recipe below if you are interested) but I also made some egg sandwiches to freeze as alternate options.

Ashley & Ryan’s Protein Smoothie
Makes enough for 2 people, cut this in half if there is only one person
16oz Unsweetened Original Almond Milk
2 scoops Whey Protein Powder (we use Jarrow unflavored, Designer Whey is good too)
2 tbsp Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
2 tbsp Peanut Butter (natural is best but we usually just use creamy Jif)
1 Banana (I freeze them in slices so I always have some on hand)
Ice
Nutrition Facts (per serving, makes 2 servings): 301 calories, 24g Protein, 25g Carbs, 13g Fat

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Lunches: For me, I’ll be mostly sticking with frozen lunches and Chipotle (like I mentioned in my post the other day – it’s healthy AND delicious!).  I need to look for a good lunch recipe that I could freeze but I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.  I wonder if any of my current soup recipes would meet my caloric and protein requirements?  I’ll have to check that out.  For Ryan, I made a batch of this buffalo chicken casserole he really likes (I detest buffalo flavoring and this isn’t all that healthy, but he loves it).  The pic on the left is the casserole I made, already pre-portioned in the Ziploc screw top soup containers and ready to freeze.  If you click on the pic on the right it will take you to the original recipe where I got this from.  Only thing I modified was that I used frozen hashbrown potatoes instead of grating my own.

For dinners, I did a few items that required very little prep work since I just seasoned them and froze them raw: Salmon with dill sauce (you have to make the dill sauce fresh, it doesn’t freeze), Steaks and pork chops.  I made two meals in the crockpot while I was cooking the rest of the meals: Chicken Salsa Verde and this recipe that I found for Rootbeer Pulled Pork which I can’t wait to try.  The meals I actually baked or cooked yesterday included Mini Turkey Meatloafs (and Ryan’s are stuffed with sour cream and cheese how he likes them), Parmesan Chicken, Chicken Broccoli Casserole, Baked Ziti, and Teriyaki Chicken.

I have seen a lot of people on blogs lately talking about freezing individual portions of rice and mashed potatoes so they can be more easily made (and without waste).  So this time, I made a batch of mashed potatoes (which taste so delicious I almost gobbled them up instead of freezing them), some white Jasmine rice and some couscous (just to see what happens).  I let it all cool completely and refrigerated it overnight.  Then I scooped some rice into a silicone muffin pan and for the potatoes I just scooped them onto a cookie sheet and froze them like that.

I’m not sure how they will reheat and taste but I decided to just try it out and see!  I’m really hoping it works out because Ryan wants rice or potatoes with pretty much every meal and when I’m trying to eat healthier, I really don’t need to add that carb to my dinner.  But if I make rice or couscous or potatoes for just him, he ends up not eating all the leftovers and we throw away a lot – which I hate!  So after we test them out I’ll let you know if you need to make any other adjustments or just make your potatoes like you usually do.


And that's it - another month's worth of meals made, wahoo!