Cook and freeze for whole food dinners all winter long – Fresh Foodie

Perhaps it’s because I’m a busy mom and winter, with its lack of grill meals, is quickly creeping up, but I’m becoming intrigued with the idea of freezer meals.I love making pesto and freezing it all summer long so I can enjoy it even when the snow is piled high, but that’s all about enjoyment. It really only saves me about 5 minutes and washing the food processor; I still have to cook the rest of the meal.

Since I’ve got to live up to my Fresh Foodie reputation, I certainly can’t buy convenience or frozen meals, but I’m craving a simpler evening these days. So why not try cooking whole meals when I’ve got all of this fresh, whole food at my disposal, and save them until winter? It will be such a treat to have a meal everyone loves ready to go and to have a night off of cooking.

Baked ziti is one I’m going to try first. I’m strangely obsessed with baked ziti, because I’ve never made it and I don’t even know where to start. To me, you boil your pasta and put your goodies with it. It mystifies me that pasta can be baked. I’m adding some spinach to this recipe, and probably some zucchini and eggplant as well.

I really don’t know what the heck butter chicken is, but apparently it is an Indian dish that can be frozen and sounds fantastic! Cook chicken in butter, add lots of fragrant, distinctive spices, yogurt and… yum. I’ll probably also add veggies to this dish — carrots, zucchini, maybe even some chunks of potato.

I love me a good crock pot meal, and it took me a very long time to find a good crock pot chili. Here’s a vegetarian crock pot chili that has promise — three kinds of beans, lots of other veggies and tons of herbs and spices. I won’t need to add any veggies to this one!

Since we don’t eat wheat, these bulgur and beef stuffed peppers aren’t quite perfect, but a quick substitution of quinoa for the bulgur should do the trick. With feta, spinach and lots of garlic, these aren’t your typical stuffed pepper.

I love this recipe for Italian polenta casserole. The measurements make two casseroles, so you can eat one and pop the other it he freezer — nice! Did I mention it’s got eggplant and spicy sausage?

Butternut squash and sage go so well together, and that’s actually a combo we use on one of our favorite pizzas (with some prosciutto too). I’m looking forward to trying this healthy vegetarian lasagna with butternut squash, sage, spinach and cheese.

There are so many more, this post might just end up with a part two!