Orange-Beef Stew, Chicken n' Cherries, French Beef Dip Slow Cooker Freezer Meals

My new recipes are finally here!  It has been such a joy having an increase in readership these last couple of weeks and meeting all you wonderful new readers that found me because of my original post on slow cooker freezer meals.  I love that you all have stuck around and started to read my posts on other topics.

Last week, I put together three new recipes and I think you will really like them.   Before I give you the recipes I wanted to take a moment to address some of the questions that you had about the other recipes.

• Several people had concerns about mixing raw meat and the veggies in one bag.  I am no expert, but I think because you are putting the ingredients in the bag and immediately putting it in the freezer and then the day you cook it, straight from freezer to slow cooker, that it is not a problem.  I prep all my veggies the night before and make labels.  Then the day of, I assemble all my dry ingredients into sections, then put all veggies, sauces, dry ingredients into the bags. The very last thing I do is put the meat in.  So there is very little time that the meat is out, before I put it in the freezer. 

• Texture.  Several people said the texture was soupy.  Pretty much all my recipes are a form of a stew.  I always serve my recipes with rice or cous-cous, or make a sandwich with it (usually for lunch).  I like it that way, but I realize that is not for everyone.

• Adding in last minute ingredients.  If a recipe calls for broth, I add it the day of and do not put it in the bag with the other ingredients.  I will do a better job of describing which items go in the bag to freeze and what items you toss in the day of cooking.

• Doubling. The recipes below have already been doubled, but if you have a large family, you might want to double them again.  Each recipe below, yields me two bags of food.  So if it says 2 cans of pitted cherries, that would be one can per bag.  Each bag, usually yields us two dinners and a lunch.  We are a small family of two adults and one toddler.  

• I use gallon size bags.  I hand write a label with name of recipe, date I freeze it and any thing I need to add the day of like, broth.  Then I double bag it.  I am working on getting some super cute labels made so you can print out your own labels (my gift to you!) to go along with each recipe, so stay tuned for those!

After I assemble the ingredients, I lay the bags flat and get all the air out.  As I am getting the air out, I mix everything up in the bag, so all the veggies and meat are coated in the sauce/spice mix.  Then I place them in my freezer flat, so they freeze like bricks, just like I do with breast milk storage bags.

So, without further adieu, the  September Mama and Baby Love Slow Cooker Freezer Recipes!!  And remember, if you sign up for my newsletter, you will get a sneak peak of recipes before anyone else does.  

Chicken n' Cherries

5 pounds of chicken breast ( I used chicken strips, it saved me time on cutting up the breasts)
2 cans of pitted cherries (glass jars are better, even organic cans have BPA in them)
Chili Sauce ( I used a couple of tablespoons in each bag, because the sauce I bought was super spicy, so add as much or as little as you want in accordance with your families taste)
1/4 cup brown sugar

Assemble all ingredients into freezer bags.  Place in freezer.   Day of cooking, place in slow cooker.  Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4.  You can shred chicken if you want, or leave in chunks.  Serve with rice or cous-cous or make sandwiches.

French Beef Dip

5 pounds of rump roast or bottom round beef (cut into smaller sections, not tiny, just enough to fit into the bag, you can cut them up more after they are cooked)
4 packages of portobello mushrooms, leave them whole.
2 14 ounces of beef broth (add day of)
2 onions chopped

Assemble all ingredients(except broth) into freezer bags.  Place in freezer.   Day of cooking, place in slow cooker and add broth.  Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4.  You can shred chicken if you want, or leave in chunks.  Serve with rice or cous-cous or make sandwiches.  This recipe makes extra liquid, for dipping if you make sandwiches.


Orange-Beef Stew

4-5 pounds of flank steak (cut into smaller sections, not tiny, just enough to fit into the bag, you can cut them up more after they are cooked)
2 cups orange juice
2 tablespoons of cornstarch
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of sugar
2 tablespoons of minced garlic
8 green onions chopped

Add day of cooking:
2 packages of frozen spinach
1 8 ounce can of water chesnuts
2 teaspoons of beef bouillion 

Assemble all ingredients (except spinach, water chesnuts and beef bouillion) into freezer bags.  Place in freezer.   Day of cooking, place in slow cooker and add spinach, water chesnuts and beef bouillion.  Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4. Serve with rice or cous-cous or make sandwiches.

So there you have it.  I love all the feedback from the other recipes, so please tell me if you have any ideas and how you like the flavor when you make it.

By Best Kids Health Blog