Freezer Cooking Day Part 2

Welcome to Freezer Cooking Day 2! As I mentioned in the previous post, I really enjoyed splitting up the cooking over 2 days. It helped me not feel rushed or stressed out and I knew what my stopping points were for each day. You don't have to do it this way by any means, it's just what helped me the most this time around.

Since I had the most time on Saturday, I decided to use Sunday as the "no cook" recipe day. We went to church, I came home and took a nap, made these recipes, and STILL had time that night to relax and hang out with my husband. Here's a list of the recipes (with links) that I made on day 2:

- Oven Baked Chicken Fajitas (Follow freezer directions in post)

- Crockpot Italian Chicken (Follow freezer directions in post)

- Honey Garlic Chicken (I made this twice because its so easy and a favorite!)

- Cinnamon Rolls (I made 2 batches. Follow freezer directions in post)

Here was my game plan:

Step 1: Assemble and prepare all ingredients for Fajitas and place in gallon freezer bag.

Step 2: Place ingredients for Italian Chicken in gallon freezer bag

A 3 ingredient meal! Love it!

Step 3: Assemble and prepare ingredients for Honey Garlic Chicken and place in gallon freezer bags

I made this recipe twice because we love it so much!

Step 5: Clean counters and prepare cinnamon rolls. This was the longest recipe because it required some mixing. But the others were literally 10 minutes at the MOST to prepare.

Step 6: Clean up and RELAX! All done!

This gave us about 17 meals (including lunch leftovers for myself and Jon) plus the granola to snack on and cinnamon rolls for 2 mornings. I'd say it was definitely worth all the hard work! I mapped out when to serve each meal but obviously things change and happen (like um...finding out you're pregnant!) and meal plans get thwarted. All that to say I will definitely be doing this again before the baby comes so that we have have meals ready to go! 

I hope this inspires you all to take some time (even if it's just a few hours) and get some meals prepared! I promise it will be worth it!

Cinnamon Rolls

The holiday season is the perfect time for cinnamon rolls! Actually I think any season is perfect for cinnamon rolls but that's just me. I've been wanting to make these for a while so finally I hunkered down, cast aside my fear and made two batches of these babies. I made these during my Freezer Cooking Day (which I will be sharing soon!) so I didn't bake them. I simply shaped them, put them in aluminum pans, wrapped them well and stuck them in the freezer until we needed them. They were DELICIOUS!! I still haven't mastered the perfect frosting for them yet, but the actual roll itself was so good. Even the husband was impressed! I hope you enjoy them too!

What you need (recipe from The Gluten Free Homemaker - makes 8 rolls)

Dough
- 2 T butter
- 1/4 C sugar
- 2/3 C warm milk (I used almond)
- 1 egg
- 1/4 C oil (I used coconut)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 T instant yeast
- 1/2 C sorghum flour
- 1 C corn starch
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 2 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt

Filling

- 2/3 C brown sugar

- 1 1/4 tsp cinnamon

- 1/3 C chopped nuts (optional) *I did one batch without and one batch with*

Directions

- Using a mixer, combine the butter and sugar and mix well

- Add the milk, egg, oil and vanilla. Beat well

- In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients and add to the wet mixture

- Beat on high until well mixed. The dough will be soft but should not have any lumps

*OK, this part can be a little tricky but it works! And makes clean up super easy!*

- Tape a piece of plastic wrap to your counter and sprinkle it lightly with sugar

- Place the dough on top and cover it with another piece of plastic wrap, sprayed with cooking spray

- Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough until it is a 13 1/2 inch square (or closely resembles one) 

- Take off the top piece of plastic wrap 

- Mix together your filling ingredients

- Sprinkle the filling over the dough, leaving a margin on one side (so you don't lose any filling when it's rolled up)

- Lift the bottom piece of plastic wrap off the counter and encourage the dough to roll. It should roll by itself after you get it started.

- Once completely rolled, cut the dough into 8 equal pieces

- Place in pan and either cover and freeze or bake immediately at 375 degrees for 20 minutes

- Make a simple glaze using powdered sugar, milk and vanilla while they bake

- Enjoy!