I told you yesterday about my Ham Freezer Cooking Session, and I want to share the recipes I used to make these awesome casseroles with all the ham I got. This particular recipe is for a Creamy Ham Noodle Casserole. I make this several ways when I am preparing it. I will give you the full recipe and then show you the modifications I make to it so that they don’t all taste the same. Also, this recipe is for 2-3 casseroles. I say 2-3 because I found that my glass casserole dishes seems to hold more than my stainless steel pans I bought with lids for freezing.

Creamy Ham Noodle Casserole

• 10 c. uncooked tri color spiral pasta
• 4 celery ribs, chopped
• 1 med. green pepper, chopped
• 1/2 c. chopped onion
• 1/4 c. butter, cubed
• 3 cans of cream of cheddar cheese soup, undiluted
• 3 cups milk
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 4 c. cooked ham, cubed
• 2 cans mushroom stems and pieces, drained
• 1 c. crushed butter-flavored crackers

Creamy Ham Noodle Casserole originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on August 21, 2011.

School is in full session in our neck of the woods. Today is the 2nd day for all of them and it means busy mornings and busy afternoons, with very little time left in between to plan meals, etc. I usually do my meal planning on Saturday or Sunday, and I spend at least 1-2 weekends a month doing batch freezer cooking.

This past Sunday was ham. This upcoming weekend is Chicken & Fish.

When I went shopping for a ham, I did a quick price check on already cubed ham. It was around $3.00/pack and each pack contained about a cup. I bought a pretty nice sized ham for $13. It was already cooked, so I had nothing to do but cut it up.

This is the ham after I had already cut up about 5 cups of cubed ham. Look how much I have left to cut!

This bowl probably doesn’t look that big in the picture but it’s huge. It has just over 5 cups in it, and you can see the ham in the background – still so much to cut.

I wound up with about 14-15 cups of ham. If I had purchased those one cup cubed ham packets, I would have spent about $42.00 and instead I only paid $13.o0 and it took me about 25 minutes to cut it all up. It would have probably taken less time had I have used an electric knife, but I didn’t. LOL

I was able to get 10 casseroles out of one ham – three recipes. Here’s a sneak peek to two of the three recipes I will be posting this week that were made during my Ham Freezer Cooking Session.

 

Ham Freezer Cooking Session originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on August 9, 2011.

Hungry? So were we last night when we made this delicious casserole. I have been wanting to post this for awhile, but I make it from scratch with no measuring, so tonight I took the time to measure it out for you, so you could enjoy the recipe too. Also, this makes THREE casseroles. I love that because I can freeze two of them right away and bake the other one. If you’re looking for a good freezer cooking recipe, this one is awesome. If you only want to make one, you will probably need to adjust the recipe, but I highly recommend making all three, even if you’re not a freezer cooker, because in a week or two when you’re stressing about dinner and you can pull one out of the freezer

Easy Lasagna Penne Pasta Casserole Recipe

What you need:

3 boxes of penne style pasta
1.5 lbs. ground beef
1/4 c. – 1/2 c. chopped onion (to your taste)
3 c. cottage cheese
3 jars (15 1/2 oz.) spaghetti sauce (honestly, we use tomato sauce, it’s cheaper & I season it with my own herbs & spices)
3 c. shredded Mozzarella cheese
1 c. water
1 c. Parmesan cheese
seasonings, to taste (see recipe)

Cook pasta al dente (almost done but not super soft); drain. Using a large skillet, brown the ground beef and the onion. Season with garlic powder, Italian seasonings, salt & pepper to taste.

Either in a separate pot, or if your skillet is big/deep enough, stir the spaghetti sauce in with the ground beef. Add the  cottage cheese and the the almost cooked pasta.

Using three 9×13 baking dishes, divide the mixture into the three dishes.  Add 1/3 c. water to each casserole. Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese over each casserole.  Top two of the casseroles with 1 cup of Mozzarella cheese each. Cover these two casseroles with a freezer proof lid (they make baking dishes for this). Pop into the freezer.

Take your last casserole with no cheese on top and bake at 350 degrees for 1/2 hour. Remove from the oven, top with the Mozzarella cheese and return it to the oven for 10-15 minutes to melt and brown the cheese. Yum!

Freezer Cooked Casserole: Remove from the freezer and remove the lid while you wait for the oven to preheat.  When you’re ready to cook it, cover the dish with tin foil, and place the casserole in your preheated 375 degree oven for about 45-55 minutes. Pull it out and check it. Remove tinfoil and continue cooking about 10-15 minutes or until cooked through. Enjoy!

Serve with a salad, garlic bread, Italian style veggies, etc.

Freezer Cooking – Lasagna Penne Pasta Casserole Recipe originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on July 14, 2011.

I know I am giving you loads of Freezer Cooking or OAMC (Once a Month Cooking) recipes. These meals are terrific served immediately, and still do well frozen and reheated. Hope you are enjoying them.

Cheesy Hamburger Casserole

Serves: 8

2 pounds hamburger
3 cups shredded,frozen hash browns
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 small onion
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
salt and pepper — to taste

Brown hamburger and onion. Drain. Add soup to meat mixture. Place hash browns in 13 x 9″ greased pan. Sprinkle cheese over potatoes. Top with meat mixture. Bake at 375* for 1 hour. To FREEZE: Assemble as usual (before baking). Wrap/bag and freeze. To SERVE: Thaw in fridge overnight. Bake as usual, adding 10 min. or so to total baking time. You can also add some water (1/8 cup) to edges before baking, if it looks a little dry.

Cheeseburger Casserole Recipe originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on October 14, 2010.

As is pretty normal for me, I found this recipe in a special edition of a Taste of Home magazine. I modified it a bit, to add to the flavor and it is amazing. This is one of my favorite meals to make a double batch of (sometimes even more) and freeze. It thaws easily, and can just be placed in the refrigerator the night before to thaw.

Freezer Cooking Meals
Cheesy Rigatoni Bake Recipe

1 pkg. (16 oz.) rigatoni noodles or any other large tube pasta
2 Tbs. butter
1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 c. milk
1/4 c. water
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 (16oz.) can of spaghetti sauce (use garlic or 4 cheese spaghetti sauce for more flavor)
2 c. (8 oz.) mozzarella cheese
1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese

Cook the pasta according to the package directions. In a small saucepan, melt the butter. Slowly stir in the flour and salt until smooth. Gradually add the milk and the water. Bring it to a boil, cook and stir for 2 minutes until it gets thicker.

Drain the pasta and place it in a large bowl. Add the eggs to the pasta and stir.

Pour the pasta into a 9×13 pan. Layer the top of the noodles with the spaghetti sauce. Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese over the top. Next spoon the white sauce over the cheese. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the entire thing.

Bake uncovered for 30-35 minutes at 375 degrees or until a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees.

If you have doubled the recipe, or just want to save this one – it needs to be covered and can be frozen for up to 3 months. When ready to serve, thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Then cover and bake at 375 for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake 7-10 minutes longer or until meat thermometer reads 160 degrees.

Freezer Cooking Recipes: Cheesy Rigatoni Bake Recipe originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on August 26, 2010.

No matter how you do your Freezer Cooking session, you are bound to wind up with a few days where you aren’t sure what to make. Why not create some sauces to freeze, and you can then just add them to some noodles, or rice, or even over some meat, and you have a meal in minutes.
Here are a bunch of my favorite sauce recipes.

Lemon Garlic Sauce

• 1 tbsp margarine or butter
• 1/4 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp parsley or other herbs
• salt + pepper to taste

Melt margarine with garlic, remove from heat. Add flour and combine. Slowly add the milk a little at a time, working out lumps as you go. Add lemon juice and bring to just under the boil, or until the sauce thickens. Add herbs and season to taste.

White Sauce

• 3/4 cup butter/ margarine or Canola oil
• 3/4 cup flour (up to 1/2 whole wheat is fine)
• 6 cups milk
• 2 tablespoons chicken or beef bouillon granules or 6 bouillon cubes

Use a large heavy bottomed saucepan or stock pot, melt the butter or margarine over low heat. Add the flour and stir until the mixture is smooth then cook until it begins to bubble. Do not let it brown! Gradually add the milk.

When the sauce is thickened (be patient a double batch will take 30 minutes) stir in the bouillon granules or cubes. Don’t make any more than 2 batches at once or the granules or cubes will not combine. Freezes well!

Spaghetti Sauce

makes 36 Cups

• 6 pounds ground beef — browned and drained
• 1 pound ground Italian Sausage — browned and drained
• 4 onions — chopped
• 6 cans mushrooms (or 2 pounds fresh, Saute) — drained
• Italian seasoning
• 7 jars spaghetti sauce (Approx. 180 ounces)
• 3 cans tomato — diced
• 1 cup chopped peppers
• 1 can tomato paste — large can

Brown beef, onions, peppers, sausage and Italian seasoning (2 pounds at a time). Drain well. Put in stock pot, add mushrooms, sauce, tomatoes, tomato paste, and remaining seasoning, simmer.

Meat Sauce

• 5 pounds lean ground beef
• 3/4 cup instant minced onion
• 1/2 cup sweet pepper flakes
• 1 1/2 quarts tomato paste
• 1 3/4 quarts water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper — optional
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Line four 8×8×2-inch baking pans with heat-resistant freezer wrap. Allow enough extra wrap to fold over top. Use one pan for each six servings or one-fourth of the recipe. Baking pans are not needed for food to be served without freezing.

Crumble beef; cook until lightly browned. Stir in onion and pepper flakes. Drain off excess fat. Stir remaining ingredients into meat mixture. Cook slowly, stirring occasionally for 1 hour or until flavors are blended.

Pour each part to be frozen into a baking pan. Pack food tightly to avoid air pockets. Cool for 30 minutes at room temperature. Complete wrapping by pulling paper up over top of food. Put edges of wrap together and fold several times so paper lies directly on top of food. Fold ends of freezer wrap over the top and seal with freezer tape. Label with name of food, date of freezing, and last date the food should be used for best eating quality (about 4 months). Freeze immediately for 10 to 12 hours before removing packages from the pans.

To heat frozen sauce, Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove freezer wrap. Place food in baking pan. Bake 1 1/4 hours or until mixture is bubbly at edges and center is hot.

Mushroom Sauce

• 3 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 1/2 cup canned mushrooms — sliced
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups milk

Melt butter. Brown mushrooms lightly in melted butter. Stir in flour and salt. Add milk slowly. Cook until thickened, stirring constantly. Freezes great!

Vegetable Sauce

• 3 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 3/4 cup mixed vegetables — cooked

Melt butter. Stir in flour and salt. Add milk slowly. Cook until thickened, stirring constantly. Stir in vegetables. Heat to serving temperature. Freezes well!

Freezer Cooking: Made From Scratch Sauce Recipes originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on July 27, 2010.

Oh, the pure agony. Most of us have been there if we practice freezer cooking. You are standing in the kitchen, you have sweat pouring down your face, you forget which towel you have used to wipe the sweat away, your stove top and oven are working overdrive, you have food, ingredients and a huge mess all over the counters and you aren’t even half through with your freezer cooking session. How do you possibly beat the heat of freezer cooking in Summer months?

It’s too late for me to tell you what I usually do, but for planning for next summer, I have some advice. Plan ahead.

And while I plan to give you some advice on planning ahead, I have some relief for those of you who didn’t realize how bad it would be, and what you can do for the rest of the summer to help aleviate the heat and the long sessions in the kitchen.

Planning Ahead – If you can, plan ahead. During the late Winter months, and all through the Spring – I am usually found making a bit more than I need each time. Rather than doubling or tripling a recipe, sometimes I go further than that. If you have a large spare freezer, this will work for you and don’t hesitate to fill it up. Of course I also recognize that not all of you have a spare freezer, so I have some tips for you and those of you who didn’t plan ahead.

No Storage Room – No Planning Ahead – All hope is not lost for you. There are several options. When you are preparing a nightly meal for your family, double the ingredients or if you are daring – triple them. Then store the second and third meal in the freezer for the following week. Use zip top baggies to store, because they allow for more room and can be stacked easily.

You might also consider meals made up of cold ingredients – cold pasta salads, cold sandwiches, raw veggies and my favorite tip in the summertime – make your meals in the crockpot. That little kitchen appliance doesn’t produce much heat which allows for the use of even multiple crockpots at the same time with no change of temperature.

We use three different crockpots during any one freezer cooking session. It allows me to prepare more meals at one time, and keeps the heat down. Check out garage sales, freecycle and other resources for used crockpots. Clean well and add to your collection. You can use as many crockpots as you have spare outlets in your kitchen. Just be careful not to blow a fuse. Also remember that if you own a toaster oven, it doesn’t produce as much heat as the conventional oven does. Depending on size, you might be able to use it to prepare a meal or two during a freezer cooking session without using up a lot of heat.

If you do decide to use your kitchen oven, try to find a couple of dishes that need to cook at the same temperature, for the same length of time. Put them all in together and add about 15-30 minutes of cook time, checking frequently after its standard cooking time to be sure you don’t overcook. If you precook these meals, they can be reheated in the microwave, even from a frozen state.

One last tip that helps me everytime – if you have extra fans in your house, no matter how small or how large, consider placing them in the kitchen while you are cooking. They will help tremendously and if placed correctly, might help push some of the hot air out of the kitchen.

If you have any tips to share on ways to beat the heat in the kitchen when you are doing a freezer cooking session in the summer, be sure to share.

Combating the Heat of Freezer Cooking in the Summer originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on July 9, 2010.

If you have been checking my site out for any  length of time, you already know I am a major “cook from scratch” kinda mom. It saves money big time, but I will admit, isn’t always quick on time. I don’t usually make anything from scratch that takes more than about an hour total to prepare (unless its a little prep time the night before). This is a super easy to make, quick on time and low cost casserole that my kids ask for time and time again. It tastes exactly like lasagna, without all the fuss.

Cheesy Ravioli Casserole

1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 pkg. frozen cheese ravioli, cooked and drained
2 c. small curd cottage cheese
4 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese

In a 9×13 casserole dish, spread about a half cup of spaghetti sauce on the bottom. On top of the sauce, layer about half of the cheese ravioli, then top with about 1 to 1 1/4 c. sauce, 1 c. cottage cheese and 2 c. mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers again starting with the ravioli. Sprinkle the top with parmesan cheese and bake, uncovered at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until bubbly. Allow the dish to stand for about 5-10 minutes before serving.

Cheesy Ravioli Casserole Recipe originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on February 14, 2010.