Keep cool in the kitchen with 7 freezable recipes
Freezing is a great make-ahead strategy and certain recipes freeze better than others. Find our picks for healthy freezable recipes.
Preparing double or even triple recipes and freezing portions for later means you don't have to cook every night to have a delicious and nutritious meal on the table. And some food is better suited to freezing and reheating than others. For example, casseroles, soups, chilis, and meat loaf all stand up to the freezer well and most cooked dishes will keep for two to three months in the freezer. Here, find our picks for the best freezer-friendly recipes.
1. Pork and Herbed White Beans
Although this dish takes a while to cook, the majority is hands off. You can easily prepare it over the weekend and reheat during the week. Plus at only $2.37 per serving, it's easy on your budget.
View Recipe: Pork and Herbed White Beans
See More: Superfast Comfort Food
2. Sweet Potato and Black Bean Empanadas
Mild sweet potatoes and black beans take on smoky, spicy tastes from cumin and chiles. These pies are great served hot out of the oven at a party; leftovers also make a tasty room-temperature snack.
View Recipe: Sweet Potato and Black Bean Empanadas
3. Sausage-Stuffed Manicotti
One of our Ultimate Reader Recipe Contest finalists, this recipe for Sausage-Stuffed Manicotti was one of our top picks in the Family Dinners category. Says Beverly O'Ferrall, of Linkwood, Maryland, "I developed this recipe many years ago. Since then, I've lightened it with turkey sausage, and I use smaller amounts of flavorful cheeses, where a little goes a long way. Like most baked pastas, this dish requires some time, but it's well worth the effort."
View Recipe: Sausage-Stuffed Manicotti
See More: Best (and Worst) Italian Appetizers
4. Bananas Foster Bread
This adult interpretation switches all of the sugar to brown sugar and cooks the mashed bananas with butter and cognac or dark rum. And it's topped with a slightly boozy glaze. Test Kitchen Director, Vanessa Pruett praises, "I love the buttery banana-cognac flavor in this moist treat. It feels decadent enough to be a dessert."
Like most banana breads, this recipe freezes well. Just be sure to slather on the glaze after you've thawed the loaf.
View Recipe: Bananas Foster Bread
5. Ancho Pork and Hominy Stew
This weeknight-friendly stew featuring lean pork tenderloin, chopped bell peppers, and hominy comes together in just 40 minutes. Double the batch and freeze for up to two months to save for busy nights.
View Recipe: Ancho Pork and Hominy Stew
See More: 100 Healthy Soup Recipes
6. Roasted Chicken Stock
Beyond soups, stocks are indispensable in the kitchen for a variety of recipes. Here, roasting the chicken and vegetables browns the chicken and caramelizes the vegetables, lending a deeper, richer flavor-and color-to the stock. Freeze extra stock for up to six months.
View Recipe: Roasted Chicken Stock
See More: Dinner Tonight: Soups and Stews
7. Grilled Pepper, Onion, and Sausage Calzones
Use sweet turkey Italian sausage for sensitive palates.
Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 1/2 calzone and 5 1/2 teaspoons sauce)
Ingredients
1 portion Homemade Pizza Dough
1 Vidalia or other sweet onion, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices (about 14 ounces)
1 red bell pepper, quartered
1 yellow bell pepper, quartered
Cooking spray
1 pound hot Italian turkey sausage links
1 3/4 cups plus 3 tablespoons New York-Style Pizza Sauce, divided
113/ cup (about 5 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
Preparation
1. Remove Homemade Pizza Dough from refrigerator; let stand at room temperature 1 hour.
2. Prepare grill to medium-high heat.
3. Coat onion slices and bell pepper pieces with cooking spray. Place vegetables and sausages on a grill rack coated with cooking spray. Grill vegetables 4 minutes on each side or until browned; grill sausages 8 minutes or until done, turning occasionally to brown on all sides. Remove vegetables and sausages from grill; cool slightly. Cut onion slices in half; cut bell pepper pieces into 1/2-inch strips. Cut sausages diagonally into thin slices.
4. Preheat oven to 500°
5. Place dough on a lightly floured surface; divide dough into 4 equal portions. Roll each portion into a 9 x 5-inch rectangle. Spread 1/4 cup New York-Style Pizza Sauce evenly over each rectangle, leaving a 1/4-inch border. Arrange sausage evenly over half of each rectangle; top evenly with onion and bell peppers. Sprinkle each calzone with 1/3 cup cheese. Fold other half of dough over filling; press edges together with a fork to seal.
6. Place calzones on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Coat calzones with cooking spray. Bake at 500° for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven; let stand 5 minutes. Cut each calzone in half; serve with remaining New York-Style Pizza Sauce.
Continue Reading: 10 More Best Freezable Recipes
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