Frozen somewhat beautifully

I mentioned a few posts back about looking for freezer-friendly meals--I think Missy was the only contributor, but she gave me a good one. So I wanted to share it, along with 2 other recipes I've had success with freezing before and prepared this past weekend.

First, Missy sent me a link to Turkey and Artichoke Stuffed Shells, courtesy of Giada and foodnetwork.com. I made the recipe to try it out several weeks ago. I actually got THREE 8x8 pans worth out of this one recipe, so we ate one that night and I froze two. They both cooked from frozen quite well. I put a little over 15 shells per pan (which is plenty for John, Will, and I, if I add another side and rolls)--Publix packages about 1.3 pounds of ground turkey per package, which is probably where I ended up with the extra stuffing. When I remade it this weekend, I also cooked up about 7 cups of sauce (the amount in the recipe was not quite enough for all 3 pans, and the sauce is GOOD).

Next, I made a batch of Italian Wedding Soup, a Barefoot Contessa recipe on foodnetwork.com. The meatballs are sort of healthy (made from ground chicken and baked). To freeze it, I made the meatballs, then made the soup, minus the spinach and pasta; I poured the soup into containers, added the meatballs, and froze. I'll add the spinach and pasta when I cook it after thawing.

Finally, I made Pineapple-Stuffed Jerk Chicken Breasts, a recipe I got from Everyday Food (I love that magazine). This recipe involves doing something I hate--extensively handling chicken (I'm scared of Salmonella and feel like I have to clean the entire kitchen after working with chicken--but I still eat raw cookie dough, which is definitely not rational). This recipe is so good, though, that it is worth the mess. I've made it with both fresh pineapple and canned, both work fine (I chop them more finely than the chunks called for in the recipe for easier stuffing). The texture of the chicken near the stuffing is a little different after freezing, maybe because the acidity of the lime juice cooks the chicken a bit in the freezer? But it's still good. And this is another recipe that requires no thawing--just throw the frozen breasts under the broiler.

I also have a frozen pan of Swiss Chicken in waiting. I got that recipe years ago from Mama, and John likes it a lot. I got the idea of freezing it from Kelly's Korner (I prepared with raw chicken, cheese, and sauce, froze it, then added the stuffing mix and butter after thawing and before cooking). I thawed one pan and cooked it last week for John and Will while I went to a work meeting, so I didn't get to taste it. John said it was "okay." I said "just okay," and he said it was "fine." Which I suspect means not good (he rarely complains about my cooking experiments gone wrong). I'll see how it tastes when we cook the other one. It is definitely yummy when made and cooked right away.

So that's what is packing our freezer at the moment.

PS...As Missy guessed last time, the "freezes beautifully" quote is from Annelle (Daryl Hannah) in Steel Magnolias. I love that movie. :-)