Freezing Diced Chicken

I use a lot of diced chicken in recipes and it is a pain to cook up one or two chicken breasts at a time, so I wanted to show you how I freeze it, already diced and seasoned. I buy frozen chicken breasts in bulk at Sam's Club, so I actually put them frozen on a foil-lined baking pan. I bake them at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, then pull them out and sprinkle with salt and pepper (or seasonings of your liking). Put back in oven for about another 20 minutes, or until cooked through. I label sandwich-sized ziploc bags with how much chicken I'm putting in them--I always freeze by the cup. Once chicken is cooked, pull out, dice, cool, then put in bags. I use chicken pretty frequently, so it doesn't sit in my freezer very long, but if you're wanting to freeze it longer (more than a month), pour in a little bit of chicken broth in the bags, to prevent freezer burn. This is such an easy way to plan ahead for your meals and save yourself a lot of time! It is also perfect to grab a bag, along with salad stuff or even rice to pack in your lunch--that way you know just how much chicken you're eating and it tastes great!

Cooking Tip: Filling Manicotti Shells

Tip of the day!! If you are making manicotti, the worst part is filling the shells....Fear no more! Just put your filling into a ziploc bag, clip off the corner (like you're using frosting), and squirt into the shells. Voila! Took me about 2 minutes to fill all 14 of my shells today for lunch. Yay!

COOKING TIP: Butter Substitute

If you're like me and want your bread to be moist but don't want the added fat, drizzle some OLIVE OIL instead of using spreadable butter on your toast or bagel. It's a much healthier substitute and tastes EXACTLY the same, I kid you not.

COOKING TIP: Frosting

I really dislike making my own frosting...I don't really feel it's necessary either because the stuff you buy in the store tastes just as good, and often has a better texture. BUT when you do buy frosting at the store, always always always whip it in your blender before using it. You'll see, you're frosting will go so much further and has a much fluffier consistency. Happy baking!

Cooking Tip: SALSA TOO HOT?

Salsa too hot? Just add a little bit of honey!

Cooking Tip: BOILING PASTA & SERVING PASTA LEFTOVERS

When you are boiling pasta, add a little bit of olive/vegetable oil to the water and it WON'T BOIL OVER! Also, when you are serving pasta leftovers, add a little bit of oil and massage in with your hands to separate the huge clump of noodles.

Cooking Tip: SOUR CREAM SUBSTITUTE

Want a fat free, healthier substitute for sour cream? Or just don't have any sour cream in the fridge? No worries! Just add a little bit of chili powder to some nonfat, plain yogurt. Much better for you and better tasting if you ask me!

Cooking Tip: BABY FOOD (Cranberries)

I've made my daughter's food since she started eating solids, only using jars of baby food for times when I can't keep it cold or when her dad's babysitting. It's been more work, but WAY cheaper and I feel better knowing EXACTLY what goes in to her tiny tummy. (If you need any tips/advice about that, just email me!)
Anyway, for breakfast I always make her easy-to-digest fruits; bananas, blueberries, etc. Lately I've been experimenting with cranberries and she loves them! What you do is boil them until the "pop" and the skin breaks. Then drain the water and throw them into your baby food/regular blender. Add another, more mellow fruit to sort of balance out the sweetness; bananas or pears are great. I've also added soft, boiled chicken pieces and green peas and it turned out great! It's not only delicious, but beautiful with that dark red. I love creating meals that look pretty. (The picture is a pear and cranberries).

Cooking Tip: APPLESAUCE

Applesauce is awesome! Another tip is that you can substitute applesauce for oil in your recipes to cut down on fat. I add applesauce to my pancakes too, instead of oil or eggs; it thickens it up and adds lots of flavor! (Add cinnamon too and you have apple-cinnamon pancakes). Just experiment!

Cooking Tip: PICKY EATERS

I've discovered a great trick to get my 10-month-old to eat just about anything--mix it with applesauce! I had some cauliflower, chicken, and zucchini that I needed her to eat up and she was not in the mood that day. I put them all in her baby food blender (a regular blender would work too) and added applesauce. VOILA! Worked like a charm! I've also read that most kids like cottage cheese, so that works the same way. One last tidbit that I always use on the 3-year-old I babysit is that I have her pretend she's a scary shark and the food is a tiny fish that's swimming around....she obviously MUNCHES (gotta make the sound) the tiny fish, and then I pretend I can hear it swimming in her tummy. (This also works with monkeys and bananas, bears and fish, etc). Good luck!

Cooking Tip: CHICKEN STORAGE

If you're like us, we eat chicken a few times a week, and for a lot of recipes it needs to be chopped. Instead of defrosting, cutting up, and cooking the pieces each time you make a recipe with chicken, just cook a bunch up at a time, chop, and freeze it. A good idea is to freeze it in cups, in small Ziploc baggies.

If you buy the chicken that is already defrosted (you know how you can also buy the frozen chicken breasts? Not those), separate them into individual breasts and freeze them. Then you don't have to deal with them all clumping and freezing together, and they'll defrost easier.

Cooking Tip: BANANAS

Bananas can be pretty expensive, but most grocery stores have one day out of the month that they put the almost-expired bananas out for like $0.39/pound. When that day comes, I stock up and get a ton (they're my daughter's favorite food, so we always have to have them around). I'll put a few out in our fruit dish and the rest in the freezer. If you want bananas to stay fresh for just a few days, put them in your refrigerator--the outside will still turn brown, but the inside will stay fresh. If you want to store them for longer amounts of time, stick them in the freezer. When you're ready to eat them microwave them for 30 seconds and they'll be thawed out. This is GREAT for teething babies--don't microwave them quite as long and it's like a banana "popsicle"; soothes their gums.