Our little one is growing up FAST and that means he is eating more and
more! He is still allergic to cow’s
milk so I have to pre-plan all of his meals regardless of if we will be eating
home, eating out, traveling ect… because I have learned I cannot count on a
restaurant knowing what ingredients are in their food! Doing “freezer prep” for toddler food makes
it super easy to thaw & serve!
My little one seems to get “tired” of the same old stuff (and lately we have
become all to familiar of him throwing his food on the floor!!) so each time I
freezer cook for him, I try to mix it up a bit with a different flavor or
concept, but still giving him important nutrients.
As I mentioned above-- my LO has an allergy to cow's milk- so I use vegan
cheese, coconut milk, non-stick cooking spray etc... in my recipes-- you can
use regular cow's milk products in the same quantities I have listed. I
also try to buy as much organic for him as possible—but I don’t always—so even
if it says organic or doesn’t say at all—you can use your own discretion.
Something I will also mention is that you will definitely need a mini muffin
pan (or TWO) to make this freezer cooking easier-- I still only have one and
probably could have saved myself a lot of time if I borrowed my neighbors! If
you don’t have a mini muffin pan you can improvise with most of the recipes and
just roll everything into a ball or patty. For the muffin recipes you can
utilize a regular sized muffin tin and cut them in half.
What's on the menu for your Little One?
- Southwest Style Mini Meatloaf
(24-32) Recipe inspiration from
SavvyMom
- Mini Barbeque Apple Chicken
Muffins (24) Recipe inspiration from SavvyMom
- Spinach Cakes (14)
- Zucchini Cups (24) Recipe Adapted from SkinnyTaste
- Chicken Apple Sausage &
Sweet Potato Egg Muffins (24 regular sized)
Here is my grocery list: (don’t be alarmed! The list looks a bit long but
most of the ingredients were already in my cabinet and are probably in yours!
Everything in italics was already in my cabinet. Compare this list to your
cabinets and cross out the items you won’t need to buy at the store. =) )
Fresh Produce:
·
Large Sweet Onion (1)
·
(1) Large Sweet Potato
·
Cloves of Garlic (4)
· Large Apple (1)
·
(2) Zucchini Squash
Meat:
·
1 Ib. Ground Organic Chicken (I
bought breasts and ground myself)
·
1 Ib. Ground Organic Beef
·
12 oz package Chicken Apple
Sausage (I used Al Fresco Brand)
Grocery:
·
Breadcrumbs (I use Panko b/c they
don’t have milk- use whatever kind you wish)
·
Wheat Bran
·
Mild Salsa
·
Barbeque Sauce (I used Sweet Baby
Ray’s)
·
Ketchup (Organic)
·
Dijon Mustard
·
Garlic Powder, Pepper, Onion
Powder, Dried Sage
·
Olive Oil
·
Brown Sugar
·
Baby food Puree (1 container) – I
use these since I have them leftover, you can use any other sort of vegetable
grated or applesauce for this.
·
Gallon Sized Freezer Bags
·
Quart Sized Freezer Bags
Refrigerated:
·
Eggs (2 dozen)
·
Daiya Mozzarella Style Cheese Shreds
·
Daiya Cheddar Style Cheese Shreds
·
Vegan Mayonnaise (or you can use sour cream)
Frozen:
·
Frozen Chopped Spinach (16 oz bag) -- you can opt to use fresh also if
you would like!
I label everything with name and date BEFORE I start:
- Southwest Style Mini
Meatloaf (quart)
- Mini Barbeque Apple Chicken
Muffins (quart)
- Spinach Cakes (quart)
- Zucchini Cups (quart)
- Chicken Apple Sausage &
Sweet Potato Egg Muffins (gallon)
Now it’s time to get started!
I did this freezer cooking a little
different than my others—and did 1 item at a time instead of multi-tasking. Recipes listed below in the order I did
them:
Zucchini Muffins
(makes 24 mini muffins)
Ingredients:
·
(2) Zucchini Squash
·
(2) Eggs
·
¼ cup
finely diced onion (you can go ahead and
finely dice an entire onion and reserve for the rest of the recipes in this
series)
·
½ cup Daiya Cheddar Style Shreds
·
½ cup Panko Breadcrumbs
·
Black Pepper (a couple shakes)
Method:
1.
Preheat Oven to 350 Degrees. Spray mini muffin tin with non-stick cooking
spray.
2.
Grate Zucchini into clean dish towel or layered paper
towels. Ring out as much water as you
can.
3.
In a medium sized mixing bowl beat (2) eggs. Add zucchini, onion, cheddar, panko and black
pepper. Mix well.
4.
Distribute mixture evenly between the 24 muffin tin
cups.
5.
Bake 18-22 minutes or until browned/done.
6.
Remove from oven and cool slightly. Transfer muffins to wire cooling rack. *you
will need to lightly wash the muffin pan for recipes coming up.
While the Zucchini
Muffins were cooking I started on the Sweet Potato Apple Chicken Egg Muffins:
Sweet Potato Apple
Chicken Egg Muffins
(makes 24 regular sized muffins)
Ingredients:
·
(1) Large Sweet Potato
·
Chicken Apple Sausage (12oz)
·
20 eggs
·
Black Pepper
*I had some leftover diced red pepper in the
fridge I threw in also!
Method:
1.
Preheat Oven to 350 degrees. Spray muffin tins with non-stick cooking
spray. (24)
2.
Remove casings from Chicken Sausage (I used a knife and
cut a seam the length of the sausage and then removed casing.) In a skillet, brown & chop sausage well
over medium heat until done.
3.
While sausage is browning peel & grate sweet potato. Add grated sweet potato to pan with sausage
and cook approx 5 additional minutes or until somewhat tender. (this is when I
also threw in the diced red pepper from the fridge so if you have something you
want to use up throw it in!)
4.
While sweet potato is cooking – start cracking the 20
eggs into a large mixing bowl. Add ½ cup
coconut milk (I only had vanilla flavored so that’s what I used!) and ground
pepper (to taste). Beat eggs well.
5.
Once sausage/sweet potato mixture is done- evenly
distribute amongst the 24 muffin cups.
Now evenly distribute egg mixture into the muffin cups.
6.
Bake approximately 18-22 minutes, or until done (when
you touch top of egg it should feel bouncy).
7.
Slightly cool and then transfer to wire-cooling rack.
While The Sweet Potato Apple Chicken Sausage Muffins were
cooking I started working on the Southwest Mini Meatloafs:
Southwest Mini
Meatloaf Muffins
(makes 24-32 mini muffins/meatballs)
Ingredients:
·
1 Ib Organic Ground Beef
·
(2) Garlic Cloves Minced
·
1 Container Baby Food Puree (I used carrot) *If
you don’t have any purees you are trying to get rid of grate up a carrot or
some other sort of veg and add!)
·
¾ Cup Wheat Bran
·
¼ Cup Panko Breadcrumbs
·
¼ cup finely diced onion
·
½ Cup Daiya Mozzarella or Cheddar Style Shreds
·
Black Pepper
·
¾ Cup Mild Salsa
·
¼ Cup Organic Ketchup
·
2 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
·
3 Tbsp Brown Sugar
·
1 tsp Onion Powder
Method:
1.
Preheat Oven to 350 Degrees (should already be heated
since you are already cooking!). Spray
mini muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray OR if you don’t have one- spray a
baking sheet (with sides).
2.
Combine all of the above ingredients in medium sized
mixing bowl. Using a cookie scoop-
distribute mixture amongst the 24 muffin cups or roll into small
meatballs. (I had some extra meat
mixture left so I did 24 mini muffins + 6 small meatballs)
3.
Bake approximately 18-22 Minutes.
4.
Remove from oven and let cool slightly. Transfer to wire cooling rack.
While Southwest Mini
Meatloaf Muffins were baking I started the Spinach Cakes:
Spinach Cakes
(makes 14 spinach patties)
Ingredients:
·
16 oz bag Frozen Chopped Spinach
·
½ cup Daiya Cheddar Style Shreds
·
(2) Eggs
·
1 tsp Garlic Powder
·
½ Cup Panko Breadcrumbs
·
Black Pepper (a couple shakes!)
Method:
1.
Oven should be at 350 degrees. Lightly spray baking sheet with non stick
cooking spray.
2.
Place frozen spinach in a microwave-safe dish with lid
and ¼ cup water. Microwave on high 4
minutes. Ring out spinach in clean dish
towel or paper towels to drain excess water.
3.
In a medium sized mixing bowl beat 2 eggs. Add spinach, cheddar, garlic powder, panko
and pepper. Mix well.
4.
Using a cookie scoop, scoop mixture onto baking sheet-
flatten and form into the shape of a patty.
5.
Bake 350 for 10 minutes. Flip Spinach Cakes over with a spatula. Bake an additional 10 minutes.
6.
Remove from oven.
Cool slightly and transfer to a wire cooling rack.
While the Spinach
Cakes were cooking I started the last recipe for Mini Barbeque Apple Chicken
Muffins:
Mini Barbeque Apple
Chicken Muffins:
(makes 24 mini muffins)
Ingredients:
·
1 Ib Ground Chicken (I used 2 breasts and ground
myself in food processor- you could also use Ground Turkey)
·
½ cup Panko Breadcrumbs
·
½ cup Wheat Bran
·
1 Apple Finely diced
·
½ cup Finely diced Onion
·
2 Cloves Garlic Minced
·
1 Tbsp Vegan Mayonnaise
·
½ Tbsp Dried Sage
·
Black Pepper (a couple of shakes)
·
¾ Cup BBQ Sauce
·
Olive Oil
Method:
1.
Oven should be at 350 degrees. Spray mini muffin pan with non-stick cooking
spray.
2.
In a small skillet heat a drizzle of olive oil. Saute the onion, garlic and apple
approximately 5 minutes or until apple is soft.
3.
In a medium mixing bowl combine the ground chicken,
panko, wheat bran, mayo, sage, bbq sauce and onion/apple mixture. Mix well.
4.
Distribute mixture evenly amongst the 24 muffin tin
cups.
5.
Bake 18-22 minutes or until done.
6.
Remove from oven and cool slightly. Transfer muffins to wire cooling rack.
*As your items are
cooling on the wire rack, you can transfer them onto a baking sheet or cutting
board that fits in your freezer to “flash freeze” them. Make sure they are not touching each
other. Once items are frozen- you can
transfer them to your labeled Ziploc bags.
*To defrost- I usually put in microwave on defrost for 1 ½
minutes.
Hope your little ones enjoy these recipes as much as mine
does! (and hopefully they help make
mommies life simpler!)
~Melissa
