Is Your Freezer a Hidden Gem for Quick Meals? It Appears So!

Call me crazy but I am constantly in a conversation with myself. The subject being my desire to keep my freezer full of items to work with on any given day and my desire to empty my freezer to make room for new items. If you have been following some of my ideas and tips, a big one being do not trash leftovers no matter what the amount and freezing, you will be all set for my idea for today's post. There really is no specific recipe, however, just some ideas of exactly what I did today. I am going to give you what I did, and why, and what you could do yourself. And the best part of all was getting rid of 4 containers of items and making room for four more....

Everything except the spices and cheese was taken from my freezer and defrosted, although you can freeze cheese too. I made this today on a whim, just because. Everything I used was precooked from scratch, for a specific meal and then the leftovers frozen. There are no specific amounts, just whatever you have at the time. Today I ate this with/on nacho chips. Another time I might eat as is, or in a tortilla wrap, or even stuff a pepper, zucchini or portobello mushroom.

Here is what I had on hand today to work with:

Brown rice (you can used precooked storebought any kind here)

Pinto beans (any bean would work here or any scrambled or shredded meat, or both)

Diced poblano peppers I froze this summer (or any diced slightly sauteed pepper of choice)

Freeze dried scallions, (my fav winter spice) amount of choice, (or lightly sauteed onion done with the peppers)

Corn (fresh/frozen this summer) canned rinsed well or store bought frozen, defrosted.

Cumin to taste, any spices of choice

Shredded Colby Jack cheese, the one I had on hand, amount of choice, or any flavorful cheese of choice.

Dollops of cream cheese (optional) or sour cream at serving

I mixed all except the cream cheese together in my lightly sprayed casserole dish. Next, I dolloped some cream cheese on the top, and baked in a 375-degree oven for 35-40 minutes, could also do at 400 for less time if in a rush. Halfway through the baking I removed from oven and swirled in the warm cream cheese and finished baking off.

Any combination of ingredients work, imagination counts once again. Of course, you can just buy all the items without bothering to use leftovers if preferred. I prefer to know I have made something delicious, most often on a whim and saved a little money in the process. You could also just do this in a skillet on top of your stove. I liked the oven method to warm up my house and I love the crunchy edges that happens when baking, entirely up to you.

Be Healthy, Be Safe, Be Happy!!