December 16, 2011

Another Freezer Cooking Session

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem

I have been loving this new approach to cooking, alhamdulillah. It especially came in handy when some out-of-town guests stopped by for a while. I know I'm behind with posting my weekly submissions to my freezer, but here's what I did right before my guests arrived.

I actually split up the cooking over a couple days. I just couldn't dedicate the time I wanted to cooking all in one shot, so I did about an hour of cooking on each day and had several meals to put away in the freezer by the end. Freezer cooking is about convenience, so just do what works for you!


Day 1 Plan:
1. 2 batches of pizza dough
2. prepare veggies for fajitas and pizza



To get things going, I began by activating my yeast for the pizza dough. 



While that set and got all nice and bubbly, I chopped up and divided a whole bunch of veggies for fajitas and pizza for the upcoming week. Diced bell peppers freeze beautifully!


Done for the day. Simple, but will really pay off later in the week insha'Allah.



Day 2 Plan:
1. Breaksticks
2. whole wheat pasta
3. break fast burritos


I started off by getting a big ol' pot of water boiling for the pasta.I happened to make cinnamon rolls that morning, so while my water was boiling, I took a portion of that dough and rolled out some breaksticks.



My pasta was ready, I set it aside to cool down before dividing it up for the freezer. I started on cooking my scrambled eggs for breakfast burritos. 




This was the first time I ever attempted breakfast burritos and I wasn't sure my children would like them, so I went easy with the fillings and stuck to (canned) fire roasted tomatoes, scrambled eggs and cheese. But feel free to add beans, sausage and other veggies. 

Next up, I assembled the burritos and bagged and labeled all my food. 









So it took 2 days, but I ended up with a 2 batches of pizza dough, cooked pasta, bread sticks, a week's worth of breakfast burritos and prepped vegetables for two different dinners. Not too bad, alhamdulillah!

15 comments:

  1. ASsalamualaikum! Ahhh, so clever! I freeze plain pasta as well as my spaghetti sauces too. Can you freeze your pizza dough? I haven't tried freezing pizza dough!

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  2. Sweet Success, yes I almost always freeze pizza dough, its a huge time saver! Just take it out to thaw in the morning and it'll be all set by dinner time.

    Torview: thanks!

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  3. Asalaamualikum... just found your blog couple weeks ago-
    so far i tried out your pizza dough (awesome)- cinnamon rolls (cant get enough of em':) , oatmeal maple biscuits (nice for the morning), cheesecake brownies (rich!), egg in the bread thingy (def. better thn the usual scrambled eggs!), pasta pie (hubby loved it) n have started freezer cooking using what i had (like u did)..
    so as you can tell im really enjoying your blog... i have two questions tho..
    1) how did u get your hamburger buns to brown on the top- egg wash?? butter??
    2)Im new to the U.S- please advise what brands of extracts n food colours are halaal... i live in ny.. really missin those colours on my frostings:0 would really appreciate the help.. jazakAllah khair n keep up the great work you're doing.. UmmeMuhammad NY

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  4. Wow wish I was so organised! Karima

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  5. Karima, trust me, organization is not my strong point either. But it takes very little pre-planning to just freezer cook along the way. try it out!

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  6. UmmeMuhammad, walaikum salaam warahmatullah! I'm extremely flattered that you not only enjoy the MWK, but have had repeated success, alhamdulillah! Regarding the browned buns, yes, egg wash is the key! I try to use it for any baked breads for a beautiful golden brown color. Regarding extracts and food colors (and I'm planning on doing a more in depth post about halal ingredients in the future inshallah), my best suggestions are going super cheap or super expensive. I found imitation vanilla flavor (I told you its cheap!) in the dollar store has no alcohol, but still check the labels as items vary from store to store. Or another option is some organic brands.Check out Whole Foods or Trader Joes, but still read labels! Recently I found imitation vanila at Target for about $1.09 and it was alcohol free, so I've been using that. If you're not comfortable with the imitation flavor you can go the fancy route and use a scraped out vanilla bean - be warned, it can be pricey! Regarding food colors, I don't use them much but have found store brand packs with a Kosher symbol on it. You can also find powder food colorings in the halal stores that should be okay as well inshallah. Hope that helps you out sister! :)

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  7. Asalaamualikum, Jazakillah Khair for the help, will check those out inshaAllah..and yes PLEASE do a post on Halaal ingredients as so many sisters are unsure of what ingredients to look out for, especially in the US where alcohol based flavours, adfitives and colours are so common but disquised on labels (eg.propylene glycol is also an alcohol).. so you would really be doing a great service to us Muslimah cooks out there inshALlah:) and yes Alhamdulillah i do find your recipes flop-proof. As a matter of fact I check out your blog as a daily 'routine' to find new and exciting menus plus I have two little munckins to take care of, so freezer cooking, like you said- the best thing since homemade bread alhamdulillah!!I have been recommending your blog to family back home. May Allah Ta'ala increase you in blessings and favours>Ameen

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  8. Wonderful! I always had freezer cooking i mind but never got to actually do it. It would definitely work for me, since my hubby likes homecooked food. You've inspired me to do it more!

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  9. Just a note for the ladies. Wilton's food coloring are all Kosher, even the gel colors for using with fondant. you can check out their website for more information inshAllah.

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  10. Salaam, Im loving your site sis! Cant wait to try out some of your recipes inshallah!
    I hope to freezer cook in the future when I am have my baby to save time on some days, my hesitation regarding starting though has always been whether anything will go bad, or should not be frozen to begin with. Are there certain foods or ingredients that you should avoid freezing? Thank you! Please do keep blogging!

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  11. hello,i want to know about pizza dough.for how long can i store dough in freezer? and does it bake out to be just as good and fresh as it turns out when it is made fresh?

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Tell me what you think! As always, feedback and reviews are appreciated...happy cooking!