Freezer Meals: Big Cook Summer 2014

This summer I'm going to try not to use my stove or oven to make dinner. Lets see if that works, I'm planning to just use my slow cooker and grill, so I guess that means I need to do another big cook.

Today Lady & Bug were spending the day with Nana & Papa Ladybug, so I had some time to get a Big Cook done. A little leisurely grocery shop with a coffee and then it was getting down to work!

I seem to be going with themes lately, and this Big Cook is all about food from hot countries just in time for the hot weather of summer. As many of you know, Daddy Ladybug and I love to travel and my favourite part of travel is the food (of course!). I try all the local specialties I can find (except the bugs - that's Daddy Ladybug's thing) and I'll try to take a cooking class if it's available. One of my favourite activities is to go to the local market and check out what kind of food they sell - looks so different from our supermarkets! Once I'm home I try to recreate the dishes - sometimes successfully, and sometimes I have to go hunt down a neighbour to find out what's really in those dishes! 

At home I check out the local market too. On my shopping trip this morning I discovered another great way to make Big Cooks easier, a jar of peeled garlic! Perfect for this big cook day - I almost used the whole jar.

Mmmm....Garlic!

I started with my beef dishes: Simba Stew (Inspired by South/East Africa), Salsa Verde Beef (Inspired by Mexico), Vietnamese Beef (recipe from a Cooking School in Hoi An), and Grilled Pineapple Ginger Beef (Inspired by China). 

Then it was onto the chicken dishes: Chicken Shawarma (Inspired by a delicious sandwich I had in Cairo), Thai Red Curry (recipe from cooking school in Bangkok), Greek Chicken (Inspired by Greece), Lime Chicken (Inspired by Costa Rica) and Butter Chicken (Inspired by India). 

Meals made in this Big Cook:

• Simba Stew
• Slow Cooker Salsa Verde Beef Tacos
• Vietnamese Beef
• Grilled Pineapple Ginger Beef
• Slow Cooker Chicken Shawarma & Garlic Sauce
• Slow Cooker Red Thai Curry
• Greek Chicken
• Limey Chicken
• Slow Cooker Butter Chicken

I tripled each of the recipes so if you're counting that's 9 different recipes and 27 meals in about 3 hours. So satisfying! The freezer is full and I have about 2 months of summer oven/stove free meals ready to go. 

Bring on the heat!

~Adel~

If you're looking for more freezer meal ideas, try my Freezer Meals page for Big Cooks and freezer friendly meal ideas.

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