return of the tator tot casserole

2003-06-20
New Page 1

I really want to try 30 day freezer cooking.  Supposedly, you go grocery shopping once a month, spend one eight hour day cooking and then microwave meals as you need them.  I can't imagine that I would really only go grocery shopping once a month, I mean, I'd have to buy milk more often than that.  Plus, I take a salad to work nearly every day, so I'd have to buy fresh greens.  But I would also really like to have some "backup" weekday meals for school days or if I'm just too tired to cook.

 

I currently eat a lot of frozen food for just this reason.  But the expense and the notion of food processing additives really bother me.  Unfortunately, all  of the resources for 30 day cooking have really trashy recipes such as:

Bacon Roll-Ups -- an appetizer
6 oz. cream cheese, with chives (softened)
1 T. milk
25 slices wheat or mixed grain bread (crusts removed)
25 slices of bacon, sliced in half
toothpicks

Combine cream cheese and milk. Stirring until smooth.
Spread thin layer of cream cheese onto bread slice. Roll tightly from the smallest end. Cut in half, and wrap with raw bacon. Secure with toothpick.
Flash freeze and store in container that can not be penetrated by toothpicks.
To serve - thaw roll-ups in refrigerator overnight. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Makes approx. 48 roll-ups (as you don't use the bread 'heels')

 

Chicken Tater Tot Casserole
1 1/2 pounds chicken, cooked and diced
1 can mixed vegetables, drained
1 small can french fried onions
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup milk
Swiss cheese slices
1 pkg (16 oz) frozen tater tots

In a greased 13 x 9 pan, layer chicken, vegetables and onions. Dot with butter or margarine. In a bowl, combine soups and milk; spread over vegetables. Layer Swiss cheese slices to cover pan. Top with tater tots. Arrange to cover. Cover and freeze.

To bake,
Thaw completely and bake, uncovered at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until golden brown.

The first recipe sounds about as healthy as lard popovers.  The second one has canned fried onions, 2 kinds of canned cream soup, pre-sliced swiss cheese, and then frozen tator tots.  Could any single "homemade" dish be more heavily processed or unhealthy?  And you just know that this is being served to kids, so that the partially hydrogenised food legacy of the parents is passed on.

 

So, I need to come up with some sophisticated and healthy freezable recipes.  How hard could that be?

I'm involved in writing a new project management system, which I am pushing to be called the Project Management System (PMS).  This gives me much delight and makes me sad all at the same time because its probably something that my dad would do.

Its too nice to work.  Can I go home?

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