Category: Freezer Friendly

Sweet Potato and Chickpea Curry

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Hey peoples! I hope you’re having a great weekend;) To help you prepare for the coming week, this recipe falls under the “freezable” category, and I’m so excited about it because it is absolutely delicious! I would eat this curry for lunch every day if I could, but I force myself to ration it for days when I don’t have time to make anything else. That’s another great thing about this recipe; if you mix in about a cup of grains such as quinoa or barley (my personal favourite), you can freeze it and have a full meal that heats up real easy in the microwave, no cooking required. Also, this recipe is super easy, despite the long cook time. If you’re in a rush, you can cut the sweet potato into smaller chunks so that they cook faster. Finally, when the curry is finished cooking I use a potato masher to mash it up a little bit. This creates a thicker texture. Scroll down for the recipe.

Sweet Potato and Chickpea Curry

Serves: 4-6

Total Time: 70 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 tbs avocado or olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 1 large sweet potato, cubed into 1 inch pieces
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tbs curry powder
  • 1/2 tsp chile powder
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne (or more, if you like your curry nice and spicy)
  • 1 can crushed or diced tomatoes
  • 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 1 cup water (optional)
  • juice of 1/2 a lime
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 cup cooked grains, for serving/freezing

Directions:

  1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add in the onions and cook until translucent, 5-7 minutes.
  2. Add in the garlic, cumin, curry powder, chile powder and cayenne and cook, stirring frequently, for about 2 minutes, or until the mixture is very aromatic.
  3. Pour in the tomatoes and chickpeas and sir. If the sweet potatoes are all covered by the tomato mixture, then you do not need to add water. If they aren’t, I suggest adding the water so that they cook faster. You can also add the water if you want to thin out your curry.
  4. Let the curry simmer for about 40-60 minutes. You want the sweet potatoes to be soft, but not mushy.
  5. Once the curry is done simmering, squeeze in the lime juice and season to taste with salt and pepper. Then mash it a little with a potato masher until desired thickness is reached. This step is optional.
  6. Add in the cooked grains, then cool completely before scooping into sealable plastic bags and freezing. It should keep for about 3-5 months in the freezer.
  7. Microwave and enjoy!

 

I hope that you enjoy this recipe! It’s not going to be the last curry recipe that I post- I absolutely love curry! Have a great week;)))))

 

Yours Truly, MyDayIsBooked

Super Simple Tomato Sauce

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Hello there! I see that you’ve all survived the first week of school-congratulations! Today I’m sharing another freezer friendly lunch recipe: Super Simple Tomato Sauce. One batch of this makes seven or eight servings of sauce, which freezes really well and can be heated up on hectic mornings. I usually eat this over lentil pasta, which takes about six minutes to cook (making it great to make in the morning), but any other pasta works fine too. Here’s the recipe:

Super Simple Tomato Sauce

Makes 7-8 Servings

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 tbs olive or avocado oil
  • 1 medium onion, finely diced
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 3 cups spinach, optional
  • 1 small can of mushroom stems and pieces (optional)
  • 2 794ml cans of diced tomatoes
  • 1 6oz can of tomato paste
  • 5-6 fresh basil leaves or 1 1/2 tbs dry basil)
  • 2 tbs fresh oregano leaves (or 1 tbs dry oregano)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper

Directions:

  1. Cook onions and garlic in the oil over medium heat, until the onions are translucent, about 5-6 minutes.
  2. Add in the tomatoes, tomato paste, basil, oregano, and spinach and mushrooms if using. Stir and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 45 minutes-1 hour.
  3. Once done simmering, season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve over lentil or whole wheat pasta.
  4. To freeze, wait until the sauce has cooled completely and spoon individual servings into ziplock bags. I recommend putting the frozen sauce in the fridge to defrost the night before you want to heat it up.

 

And there you have it! I apologize for the lack of pictures; as I was making this I didn’t think that I would post about it. If you have any questions, though, leave a comment down below and I’ll be happy to answer them. The spinach and mushrooms are listed as “optional”, but I really think that they enhance the sauce. Anyways, thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time!

 

Yours Truly, MyDayIsBooked;))

Black Bean Quinoa Burgers

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‘Sup everyone? School has started, and making lunches is a struggle once more. Fun times! In keeping with this theme, my next few posts will be simple lunch recipes that can easily be made and frozen so that you can defrost them during busy mornings. Today we’re making Black Bean Quinoa Burgers, which are delicious, easy, and freezable; important qualities for our purposes. You can whip up a big batch and have burgers for days while your friends glare at you enviously. Sounds great, right? Well, you have to make them first. Let’s do this.

Black Bean Quinoa Burgers

Makes 5-6 burgers

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1/2 cup cooked quinoa
  • About 3 cups fresh spinach that has been wilted (not 3 cup of wilted spinach), or 1/4 cup frozen corn, or both, or none
  • 2 tsp cumin
  • 1 1/2 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp chile powder
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne powder (add more or less to taste)
  • 1/2 tsp oregano
  • 1 tsp salt
  • Couple cracks o’ pepper;))

Directions:

  1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F
  2. Pat the black beans dry and dump them into a medium sized bowl. Mash them with a fork (or with your hands) until you can form a bit of a ball with them, but there’s still some whole beans in there.img_9397
  3. Add all the spices, quinoa, wilted spinach or corn if using and mix with your hands until combined.img_9398
  4. Scoop 1/3 cup of the mixture at a time and form it into patties; they should look something like this:img_9400
  5. Bake for 10 minutes, then flip and bake for about another 25 minutes.
  6. Cool completely before eating or freezing. Freeze the burgers laying flat in a sealed freezer bag.

I love eating these between two pieces of sprouted grain bread with some sliced pickles, tomatoes, spinach, and a little bit of pesto, bet heck, they’d be great in a bun or a wrap with veggies and tzatziki. MMMMMMM! Hopefully these burgers help you out in a pinch, or just give you something great to munch on. Stay tuned for more freezable school lunch recipes coming soon!

Yours truly, MyDayIsBooked;))

PB Banana Creamsicles

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Hi! I seriously can’t wait to share this recipe with you; I know I say this in every post, but these creamsicles are actually my favourite recipe of all time! They’re delicious, and made with some of my favourite things; you guessed it, bananas and peanut butter! I actually found this recipe on Pinterest, and would like to give a little shout-out to feedingyourbeauty.com for making my tastebuds super happy! These measurements make approximately 6-8 creamsicles, depending on how big your molds are. If you don’t have any molds, it’s all good! Freeze the creamsicle batter (do you call it batter?) as directed in my Very Berry Frozen Yogurt post. Without further ado, here’s the recipe for this creamy summer treat:

Ingredients:

  • 3 medium bananas, chopped and frozen
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 1/3 cup all natural peanut butter (salted and unsalted both work) plus more for swirling
  • 2 tbs milk of your choice
  • A big pinch of salt! (You won’t need extra salt if your peanut butter is salted)

Directions:

  1. Blend bananas, milk, vanilla, 1/3 cup peanut butter and salt (if using) in a high speed blender until smooth.
  2. Scoop the mixture out of the blender and fill each mold about halfway.
  3. Swirl in about 1tsp of peanut butter, and a little bit more salt if it isn’t salted for that delicious sweet and salty element.
  4. Fill the molds with the remaining banana mixture.
  5. Pop in the popsicle sticks and freeze for about 2-3 hours. MAKE SURE THEY ARE COMPLETELY FROZEN BEFORE YOU TRY AND REMOVE THEM FROM THD MOLDS. 😉
  6. Run warm water over the molds to release the creamsicles.
  7. Enjoy!

Have fun making and eating these scrumptious creamsicles! They’re the perfect cold treat on a hot day;)

Yours Truly, MyDayIsBooked😄

Chocolate PB Banana Energy Balls

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Hi peoples! If you love chocolate, peanut butter, and bananas as much as I do, then these energy balls are going to be your new favourite snack!! They’re healthy, chewy, and most importantly, delicious! This recipe is super simple and easy to double or even triple if you love them as much as I do;) Take a peek down below for the ingredients and instructions!

Ingredients (makes 8 balls)

  • 2 bananas
  • 1/3 cup all natural peanut butter
  • 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder
  • 1/2 cup oats
  • 1/2 cup oat flour (made from grinding oats in a dry blender)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Mash the bananas in a large bowl. Add in the cocoa powder and peanut butter and mix until combined.
  3. Stir in the oats and oat flour. Oat flour is super easy to make- just throw some oats in a blender and grind them up! I like it because it’s more nutritious than regular flour. Once all of your ingredients are combined, the “dough” should look something like this:
  4. Roll the mixture into balls by the tablespoon full and put them on a pan lined with parchment paper.
  5. Bake for about 15 minutes, then remove and let cool before storing them in an airtight container in the fridge.

And thee you have it! Eat a few of these after school, for breakfast, or in between sports. You won’t believe that there’s no added sugar!

Yours Truly, MyDayIsBooked