Freezer Chick...

I am frequently asked how I make so many freezer meals so quickly. Here is the big secret. Sit down, it may be too much AWESOMENESS at once... It's called Dove tailing. You see it a lot in restaurants. One kind of meat 12 different sauces. This is basically how a lot of them do it. I think it's quite remarkable. I'm only using 2 sauces here today, but you will get the main idea. Don't worry, I will add a lot of sauce recipes along the way. This is the start.

First...I season and bake 5 lb of Chicken. Salt, Pepper, Garlic...you can use any "all purpose seasoning" out there. 5 lbs of legs and thighs is about $4 at my local Wal-mart. Gotta love that. It will make us 4 dinners. My kids eat a leg each, I eat a thigh, and my husband has all the side dishes because he thinks any cooked meat is just nasty. Ace is out of town this week. I am cooking FISH and CHICKEN and all kinds of animal stuff. Hint: side dishes .

Chicken Legs and Thighs4-5 lbs leg and thigh meat (about 12 thighs)
2 T all purpose seasoning blend
Place legs and thighs on a large cookie sheet and season generously with seasoning blend. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes (until juices run clear when pricked with a fork or temperature reads 170 degrees when inserted with a meat thermometer). Divide meat between three plates, 4 thighs each and season with three different sauces...today I did two.

Mustard Glaze: 2T whole grain mustard

2T molasses. Mix and wipe all over the chicken....

Put in a freezer bag clearly labeled. Put in the fridge immediately. Once cooled transfer to the freezer. (I do this cool, then freeze thing so that I don't have a lot of medium temperature meat sitting in my freezer making germs grow...the quicker the meat gets cold, the less chance my family has of getting a food born illness...which is good.)

Pesto sauce: 3T prepared Pesto sauce. I also added 2T chopped Italian flat leaf parsley

and 1T fresh rosemary leaves....

Put Pesto Chicken in a freezer bag and label clearly. Transfer to the fridge immediately and then once cool, to the freezer.

Now I have 2 of each of these dinners in my freezer. I will be doing a lot more of these so don't feel like you are being left out of any secrets.

Oh. To reheat the chicken, DEFROST and then heat in the microwave 5-7 minutes on a microwave safe dish, or heat in the oven (covered casserole) 350 degrees 20-25 minutes until internal temperature is over 150. Simple stuff.