Freezer Cooking for April (part 2)

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Today my freezer cooking session was hamburger. It was a little more time consuming than yesterdays chicken session but well worth my efforts.

Yesterday I purchased 12lbs of hamburger from Costco. Here is what I did with it..

I started out using 10lbs of it to make crockpot meatloaf and meatballs. I do these items regularly as they both seem to be staples in my home. I have posted on this before so I won’t go into a lot of detail. I made two crockpot meatloaves. You can find my post that I describe how I shape them and how I cook them in the crockpot here: http://homesteadinghomemaker.blogspot.com/2012/03/more-food-for-freezer.html 

I began by mixing up my meatloaf recipe. You can find my recipe here: http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/beefveggiemeatloaf.htm  I use this same recipe for meatloaf and meatballs. I tripled the recipe (tripling the recipe would be 9lbs of hamburger but I used 10lbs and tossed in a few extra veggies). 




I used 2 ½ lbs for each of my 2 meatloaves and put them in freezer bags..



The rest of the mixture was used to make meatballs. I put the cooked meatballs on trays and put them in the freezer to flash freeze. Tomorrow I will transfer them to gallon size zip lock bags. This allows me to pull out only as many as I need for a meal. My family’s favorite meatball meal is crockpot bbq  meatballs. I use the sauce recipe and follow the directions for cooking from this recipe: http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/bbqcrockpotmeatballs.htm 


With the remaining 2lbs of hamburger I made enchiladas. I am not freezing these with the sauce on them as not only does it take it a lot of freezer space to have pans of enchiladas in the freezer but the tortillas can get soggy after they are cooked and that is not real appealing. Here is how I did this..


Enchilada Filling
2lbs hamburger
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cups cooked beans (you can use pintos, red or black beans. I used 1 quart jar of my home canned pinto beans: http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/canningdriedbeans.htm )
1T chili powder
1t cumin
1t salt
½ t pepper

Cook the hamburger and onion until the onion is soft and the meat is no longer pink. Add the beans and spices and stir to combine.


After the filling was done I softened my tortillas in a little coconut oil. I also grated 1lb of cheddar cheese. Once all these ingredients were ready it was time to make enchiladas..




I put a spoonful of filling and a little cheese on each tortilla


I rolled it up and carefully laid it, seam side down, on a tray..


I continued to do this until the tray was full…


When all was done this mixture filled 60 (5 dozen) tortillas..


I put the trays in the freezer to flash freeze. Tomorrow I will put them in freezer bags and can pull out as many as needed for a meal.

When I make enchiladas I put the filled tortillas (frozen) in a 9x13 pan and then cover them with enchilada sauce. You can find my enchilada sauce recipe here: http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/enchiladasauce1.htm  I sprinkle grated cheddar cheese over the top and bake at 350 until everything is hot and bubbly. This may take 45 minutes or so using frozen enchiladas.
 

Comments

  1. allisamazingApril 14, 2012 at 8:58 PM

    Some more great recipes! Thanks for sharing :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Honeysuckle Haven CottageApril 15, 2012 at 4:36 AM

    Looks great! Thanks for sharing :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousApril 15, 2012 at 8:01 AM

    My family doesn't care for enchilada sauce. Do you think these could be reheated with salsa on top if I pureed the salsa?

    Thanks for sharing. So far we've liked everything we've tried. We will make one substitution on the Island Pork in the future -- we'll use chunks of pineapple instead of crushed because we weren't crazy about the texture.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. CrystalApril 15, 2012 at 10:25 AM

      Hi Shara, one thought that came to my mind was making cream cheese enchiladas.. I have a recipe for cream cheese chicken enchiladas.. I would follow the recipe basically, but don't add the chicken.. just make the sauce and pour it over the tortillas and top with cheese. I may give that one a try too.. :) http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/creamcheesechicenchiladas.htm

      I will say that I have never been a fan of the canned enchilada sauce and my version of homemade sauce tastes much better (at least in my opinion :) ..

      The salsa idea is not bad, but I just wonder if the salsa would be thin enough to cover well without the tortillas drying out as they cook (or you may have to use quite a bit of salsa and that could overpower the taste?? not sure). So I'm not sure about it.. if you do try it, please let me know what you did and what you thought of it.

      I appreciate the reviews you give the recipes.. subbing the chunks of pineapple sounds like a great alternative!

      Crystal :)

      Delete
  4. Amy @ Heritage HomemakerApril 15, 2012 at 5:27 PM

    Great recipes! I cannot wait until we get into our new house. Not only will I finally have tons of pantry/food storage space; I will have a place for a brand new deep freeze!!!! YAY!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. StefApril 16, 2012 at 11:06 AM

    Crystal,
    What % if ground beef do you use ? Ground beef has really gone up here in Ohio. I use to buy all Ground Round for health reasons but find myself buying CHuck and draining and rinsing well. Thanks, Stefanie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. CrystalApril 16, 2012 at 5:41 PM

      Hi Stefanie, I buy the lean ground beef from Costco.. not sure what the % is .. it does not have much fat at all. I don't even bother draining it when I cook it because there is so little fat. Crystal :)

      Delete
  6. villarosaOctober 15, 2012 at 8:07 PM

    I'm assuming you used corn tortillas? They appear larger than corn tortillas in the pics, like maybe flour tortillas for burritos? This is such a wonderful idea! Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. CrystalOctober 15, 2012 at 9:09 PM

      Villarosa... they are regular corn tortillas.. Crystal :)

      Delete

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