The concept of cooking and freezing as a means of preserving food has been around since at least the 1800’s. It’s a smart idea that can be a busy mom’s best friend. I wanted to spend a little time this week focusing on what I am calling the “individual serving” cooking and freezing concept. The process of freezing individual servings which gives built-in portion control and a really convenient way of storing and reheating small portions at a time.
Today I am going to share a few recipes I tried in my kitchen using this concept and then a short compilation of other recipes that would work well with this way of cooking. I hope you find one or two recipe that you love. Each serving size is based on the idea that you are dividing the ingredients for the recipe into a 12 cup muffin or brownie pan. I used a Pampered Chef brownie pan and a muffin pan and a large scoop. The Pampered Chef large scoop was used to put 3 tablespoons of the mixture into each well, creating uniformity and even cooking.
eeek! I seriously need to replace that cupcake pan!
With each of these recipes I cooked them, let them cool, froze them, and then bagged them. I let mine freeze overnight before I put them in freezer ziploc bags. This way I knew they were frozen enough that they wouldn’t stick together in the bag. When you are ready to eat one (or two…or three) you can pop them out and microwave them. 30 second if they are thawed and up to 2 minutes if they are frozen. Check them every 30 seconds when you are reheating them because each recipe will reheat differently.
The Weight Watcher smart points given for each recipe is the number of points for one cup. This is assuming you are evenly dividing the food between twelve servings by using a 12 cup muffin or brownie pan. For instance, one barbecue mini meatloaf square is worth 3 Weight Watcher Smart Points. If you eat two squares you would count that as 6 Smart Points.
Here are some of the recipes I made…
BARBECUE MEATLOAF
3 WW SP
One brownie pan (no muffin liners are necessary for this one)
1 pound 90-93% lean ground beef
1/2 c. barbecue sauce, divided
1/4 c. chopped onion
1/4 c. Italian-seasoned dry breadcrumbs
2 egg whites
1/4 tsp. pepper
Here is what you do:
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Finely chop your onion.
Combine meat, 1/4 c. barbecue sauce, onion, breadcrumbs, egg whites, and pepper in a large bowl. Mix well with damp hands.
Divide meat mixture evenly between 12 muffin cups.
Glaze top with remaining 1/4 c. barbecue sauce.
Bake for about 20 minutes or until desired degree of doneness.
Allow to cool and freeze.
Crescent Topped Chicken Bake
3 WW SP
Here is what you need:
- 1 package (16 ounces) frozen vegetable combination (such as broccoli, carrots and cauliflower)
- 2 cups chopped cooked chicken
- 1 can (14 3/4 ounces) fat-free chicken gravy
- 1 cup (4 ounces) fat-free shredded cheddar cheese
- 1/4 cup onion, chopped
- 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 package (8 ounces) reduced-fat refrigerated crescent rolls
Here is what you do:
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Cook frozen vegetables according to package directions; drain. Stir in all remaining ingredients except crescent rolls.
Cook and stir over medium heat until heated through. Divide mixture into 12 muffin cup lined with aluminum liners.
Unroll crescent dough; separate into 2 rectangles. Press perforations and seams together to seal. I used a mug to make perfect little circles out of the dough and covered each muffin cup with it, and then I got lazy and just ripped off pieces of the dough instead and covered each cup that way. It’s pretty either way and tastes good either way, so you decide.
Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
MEXICAN CHICKEN TORTILLA CASSEROLE
3 WW SP
Crockpot/Oven/Microwave/Freezer recipe
The next one I made is the Mexican Chicken Tortilla Casserole. I chose to cook this casserole with a crock pot so the chicken would shred nicely, but you could cook the chicken any way you like. I did not make this recipe in the brownie pan like I had originally intended to do because I ended up making this recipe for our Bible study/Life Group instead so it made sense to cook it in a regular round baker. Everyone loved it. It’s delish! This tortilla casserole does reheat well, I would suggest leaving out the cheese and tortilla chips if you are freezing this and add those two ingredients when you are ready to reheat it. This would prevent limp (is that the word I am looking for?) chips. Honestly, though, I put the chips and cheese in and then reheated it later and it still tasted delicious! If you divide this recipe into twelve cups each cup would be worth 3 Weight Watcher Smart Points. This recipe was inspired by the Pampered Chef recipe here, (pictured below) but if you go by that recipe you are looking at 5 WW SP per cup. Scroll down for this skinnyfied (3 WW SP) version of this recipe.
What you need:
- 1 poblano pepper
- 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 2 tbsp taco seasoning mix
- 1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 1/2 cups thick and chunky salsa
- 20 broken Baked Low-Fat tortilla chips
- 1 cup (4 oz) shredded Reduced-Fat cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese blend
- Snipped fresh cilantro (optional)
What you do:
Remove stem and seeds from poblano pepper and chop into small pieces. Thinly slice chicken using Utility Knife. Combine chicken (no need to cut the chicken), seasoning mix, poblano pepper, salsa and beans in crockpot. Cook in crockpot on LOW 6-8 hours or on HIGH for 4 hours (or until chicken is cooked all the way through).
Once cooked, shred the chicken with a fork or salad chopper. (I love my salad chopper for shredding chicken!)
Gently stir in crushed tortilla chips.
Spoon mixture into the wells of a cupcake or brownie pan. (Do as I say, not as I do)
Sprinkle a little cheese on top. Pop in a 350°F oven for approximately 10-15 minutes, or until cheese is melted. 
If desired, snip cilantro and sprinkle over casserole. (My husband has a strange aversion to cilantro so I left it out, but it would taste yummy if you are into cilantro)
MINI SPINACH “LASAGNA” SQUARES
4 WW SP
The next recipe I did was the Mini Spinach “Lasagna” Squares. This recipe is awesome! We loved it, but it did not work as well for this style of cooking because it doesn’t reheat very evenly, leaving the inside cold and the edges over cooked. I am still posting it though, because I love the idea of this recipe. My advice: DO cook it. DON’T freeze it. I still wanted to share this on this post because I showed the picture on Facebook when I was making it and I said I would share the recipe. Trust me when I say you, and your family, will love these. This is a Pampered Chef recipe. You can view the original recipe here. These are 4 Weight Watcher Smart Points per cup.
Other recipes that would work well with this individual serving cooking method.
Enchilada Casserole
Simple Nourished Living
Spiralized Mexican Sweet Potato
and Chicken Casserole
Skinny Taste
Skinny Pizza Meatloaves
Skinny Kitchen
Chicken Sausage and Peppers
Macaroni Casserole
Skinny Taste
Sicilian Rice Ball Casserole
Skinny Taste
Bubble Up Chicken Pot Pie Casserole
Emily Bites
Bacon Topped Petite Turkey
Meatloaf with BBQ Sauce
Skinny Taste
Here are a couple of
SNACKS YOU CAN MAKE
WITH A MINI MUFFIN PAN
Skinny Mini Corn Dog Muffins
2 WW SP per muffin
Simple Nourished Living
Great ideas!