Cooking for the Freezer..

meritaten

Prawns - a very retro dish that my grandkids love! Prawns in Pink Sauce aka Prawn Cocktail!
defrost your prawns.
mix together one third each of mayo, salad cream, tomato ketchup and add a little pepper, salt and a couple of drops of worcester sauce. mix well.
combine prawns and sauce and serve in little cups of lettuce leaves - or however you want!
This is what the granddaughters request EVERY sleepover - and they can make it themselves - even the four year old!

they sometimes chop up some seafood sticks to go in it if they think I havent provided enough prawns!

booter

How about a sweet lasagne instead of savoury - perfect winter comfort food! Substitute mince with partially cooked fruit of some sort (apples & sultanas works), replace the white sauce with custard (home made or tinned/packet) & sprinkle the top with nuts/oats/brown sugar mix. I used to have a recipe somewhere, but it's so easy, I now just chuck it all together (adding twists now and again e.g. cinnamon, honey, mixed spice - whatever takes my fancy) and it always goes down a treat I've never tried freezing it - it never lasts that long but I don't see any reason why it can't be frozen!

Oh, and as for the cannellini beans, why not add them to stews to bulk them out a bit? Very MSE! Add some tomatoes, a bit of oregano and you've got an "Italian style stew" (it's all in the description )

trulymadlydeeply_indebt!

nuatha wrote: »

The cocoa can also be used in baking.

I guess using the cannelini beans to help stretch a stew is out if hubby is not keen on them? Processed down they make a fairly good base for vegetable pates.
HTH

I was thinking along the same lines as you Nuatha - grab a recipe book and make a basic sponge mix and add the cocoa for a chocolate-style cake - never done this before, but I guess there must be chocolate cake recipes out there!

If I wanted to "hide" beans from other half in a stew/soup, I would perhaps make up a litre of stock from hot water and stock cube and add a tin of the beans and then use a hand blender to blitz it, and then add it to the pan of veggies - no idea if this would work but I'm game if you are!:rotfl:

TMD xx

trulymadlydeeply_indebt!

booter wrote: »

How about a sweet lasagne instead of savoury - perfect winter comfort food! Substitute mince with partially cooked fruit of some sort (apples & sultanas works), replace the white sauce with custard (home made or tinned/packet) & sprinkle the top with nuts/oats/brown sugar mix. I used to have a recipe somewhere, but it's so easy, I now just chuck it all together (adding twists now and again e.g. cinnamon, honey, mixed spice - whatever takes my fancy) and it always goes down a treat I've never tried freezing it - it never lasts that long but I don't see any reason why it can't be frozen!

Cor, never thought about sweet ones - nom nom nom - now I'm looking at the sad pears and bruised bananas in the fruit basket in a whole new light - thanks booter

zcrat41

Some great ideas here. Thank you. Love the cannelini beans as homous - I adore homous. And the idea of lasange sheets as either sweet lasange (sounds delicious) or to make that rolled up pasta italian thing I cant remember the name of!

Also like the idea of a few chocolate sponge cakes frozen into portions.

Might have me a baking day tomorrow!

BAGGY

You can snap up the lasagne sheets and use them as noodles in a soup witht the beans. I would make choc muffins rather than a cake to freeze and use individually. The prawns would be lovely if you had rice for a cheats paella. My kids love them. If you are pregnant though aren't supposed to avoid prawns of is that another 'rule' that has changed in the past 5 yrs (like they always do)

notanewuser

BAGGY wrote: »

You can snap up the lasagne sheets and use them as noodles in a soup witht the beans. I would make choc muffins rather than a cake to freeze and use individually. The prawns would be lovely if you had rice for a cheats paella. My kids love them. If you are pregnant though aren't supposed to avoid prawns of is that another 'rule' that has changed in the past 5 yrs (like they always do)

Prawns are fine provided you're sure of the source and that they've been kept properly. I ate them throughout my pregnancy at home and in curries etc, but OH caregorically banned me from having them from a van on the seafront!!!

notanewuser

PS - I made a spreadsheet listing the main course, accompaniments ns pudding plus the cooking instructions and left it on the fridge. It was OH's job to choose a meal for the evening in the morning and get it out of the freezer in the early days of LO being around. That way I could focus on her.

troll35

Love Booter's idea for a dessert lasagne....mmmm think I will use that one:T
With the beans I would make a version of a meatless loaf. I do one with lentils which is delicious so would swap 1/2 the lentils for a can (or 2) of beans.
Here's the recipe:
1cup red lentils in a pan with 2 cups of water and 1/2 tsp salt and cook for approx 20 mins and drain off any unabsorbed water. (I use a childs's drinks beaker for my cup)
In a bowl mix together -
1 chopped onion,
1 cup porridge oats,
1 grated carrot,
1 grated courgette,
2 chopped/minced cloves of garlic,
1 cup grated cheese,
1 tbsp parsley,
1 tsp basil.
Add the cooked lentils, 5 fl.oz/140ml passatta and 1 or 2 beaten eggs (depending on how mushy the mix is). I sometimes add a bit of tabasco.
The original recipe didn't have the carrot or courgette in it and said to put into a greased loaf tin and cook for 45 mins at 180C but I find my quantities will do 2 loaf tins (8 portions). If substituting in some canellini beans I would mash them lightly so they mix in better.
We love it served cold with salad or hot with veggies.

Lexxi

If you're making a cake with the cocoa then use a basic sponge recipe and take out 1 spoon of flour and put in one spoon of cocoa instead, you can also make biscuits with them then freeze the dough in a log, then you can slice off pieces and bake when you need one, or have guests. There's a blog which is vegan, I think, that uses only cocoa. Actually she has a cookie pie that uses beans, if you're feeling brave! http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2011/05/31/deep-dish-cookie-pie/
If not, bbc goodfood has a white bean stew, fry up onions, leeks and chicken add stock and beans.
With all the variations of lasagna you already have I make my white sauce with some wholegrain mustard instead of cheese, makes a nice change sometimes