How to make the most of frozen vegetables. Cooking healthy and tasty dishes in a hurry from frozen vegetables, a few simple recipes for your loved ones Frozen vegetables how to cook deliciously

You can freeze not only dumplings and cutlets, but also pies, stuffed pancakes and even broths for soups. Below you will find 10 original frozen dishes. But before moving on to the recipes, a little theory.

In the freezer -18 ºС. At this temperature, the action of microorganisms stops - frozen food for a long time without losing its taste. How much exactly? Considering that we constantly look into the freezer, that is, temperature drops occur, the food thaws slightly and freezes again, no more than two months.

Some foods are not suitable for freezing. For example, squash, cucumbers, and other watery vegetables. After defrosting, almost all the taste leaves them along with moisture. Lettuce leaves lose their texture, and raw potatoes takes on an unpleasant aftertaste.

You need to be able to freeze and thaw food. The colder the food is before it goes to the freezer, the better. If the food has been cooked, it is recommended to first cool it at room temperature, then keep it in the refrigerator and only then freeze it.

Defrosting should be done in reverse order: take the dish out of the freezer, put it on a pallet and send it to the refrigerator for 10-12 hours. Slow thawing allows food to absorb moisture lost during freezing. This way the taste is preserved as much as possible. But, if there is no time, you can use the defrosting function in the microwave.

To store food in the freezer, vacuum bags, plastic and glass trays are used. Zip-lock bags are handy when you don’t need to keep the dish in shape: they significantly save space in the freezer. Plastic containers can be taken with you to work, they are convenient for heating lunch in the microwave, and glass trays are ideal for cooking in the oven, since you do not need to transfer the dish from dish to dish.

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Muffins refer to sweet pastries, but if you use ham and cheese as a filling instead of chocolate and fruit, you can get hearty mini-rolls for breakfast. They take little time to cook, and once frozen and reheated, they are just as delicious as hot.

Ingredients:

• 3-4 slices of bread;
• 3-4 slices of ham;
• 100 g cheddar or other hard cheese;
• 8 eggs;
• 1 glass of milk;
• 2 teaspoons mustard powder
• 1 teaspoon ground pepper;
• dried parsley and other spices to taste.

Preparation

Cut the bread and ham into thin strips. Grate the cheese on a coarse grater. Fill the muffin molds about two-thirds full with this filling.

Whisk eggs, milk, mustard powder, and pepper in a separate bowl. Fill the mold with the resulting mixture. But not to the brim, otherwise the muffins will run away during baking. Sprinkle each cell of the mold on top with dried parsley and other seasonings to your liking.

Preheat oven to 200 ° C. Bake muffins for 15-20 minutes. Let them cool, then fold into a plastic container and place in the freezer.

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In the morning you can get the right amount of buns, heat them up in the microwave and get a quick, satisfying, and most importantly, tasty breakfast.

Cupcakesandkalechips.com

Ideal for breakfast, nutritious and healthy. It provides about 20% of your daily value for fiber and protein, contains tons of essential nutrients, and helps control appetite. If you are too lazy to mess around with cooking porridge in the morning, there is a solution - frozen oatmeal cups with various fillings (fruits, nuts, dried fruits, and others).

Ingredients:

• 2 cups oatmeal
• 3 glasses of milk or water (your choice);
• 1 tablespoon honey;
• 30 g butter;
• a pinch of salt;
• fruits, berries, chocolate, nuts, dried fruits and other fillers.

Preparation

In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a boil. Pour in oat flakes and mix thoroughly. Reduce heat to low and cook porridge for 5-7 minutes until thickened. Stir constantly. Remove the oatmeal from heat, add a lump of butter and a spoonful of honey, stir well. Let cool slightly.

Lubricate the muffin pan vegetable oil and put the porridge into the cells. Sprinkle some filler on top of each serving. It can be diced bananas, raspberries, raisins, coconut - whatever you like to eat oatmeal with.

Wrap the dish with cling film and freeze. When the cups set well, remove them from the mold and wrap them in foil individually. This will significantly save space in the freezer.

Remove just the right amount of cups from the freezer the night before for a healthy, delicious breakfast in the morning. Just heat the porridge in the microwave. Add milk if necessary.

Barbara Krawcowicz / Flickr.com

Frozen stuffed peppers help out in much the same way as dumplings or dumplings. If you know there is a busy day ahead and there will be no time to cook, remove the peppers from the freezer the day before. They will thaw out overnight in the refrigerator, you just have to put them in the oven.

Ingredients:

• 8 bell peppers;
• 700 g ground beef;
• 250 g of rice;
• 250 g tomato sauce;
• 1 onion;
• 2 cloves of garlic;
• hard cheddar cheese;
• salt and pepper to taste.

Preparation

Wash the peppers, cut off the tops to form the "cups", the inner cavity from the seeds. The cut caps can be crumbled and used in the filling.

Peel the onion and garlic and chop finely. Combine the minced meat (you can use minced turkey instead of beef), rice, peppers, onions, garlic and tomato sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stuff the peppers with this. Sprinkle with grated cheese on top.

In this form, the peppers can already be frozen. When you need to cook them, defrost and bake in the oven at 180 ° C for 30-40 minutes.

Budgetbytes.com

What to take for lunch or? For many, this is an everyday headache. This recipe will help you diversify the contents of your lunchbox. The ingredients are simple and the preparation is simple.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 kg of potatoes;
• 500 g salsa sauce;
• 500 g of hard cheese (such as cheddar);
• 50 g butter;
• 9 eggs;
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon paprika;
• ½ teaspoon of garlic powder;
• ½ teaspoon salt;
• ground black pepper to taste.

Preparation

Wash the potatoes and cut into cubes. If it's young, you don't even need to peel it. Pour paprika, garlic powder, salt and pepper into a bowl of potato cubes, add olive oil. Mix everything thoroughly. Place the potatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and place in the oven at 200 ° C for 45-60 minutes. At the same time, stir the potatoes about halfway through cooking.

While it's cooking, make an omelet. To do this, break the eggs into a bowl and whisk lightly. Melt the butter in a skillet and gently pour the eggs into it. Remove the omelet from the stove a couple of minutes before cooking; the eggs should remain slightly runny.

Divide the potatoes into containers. Add 2-3 tablespoons of salsa sauce or any sauce of your choice to each of them. Divide the omelet into portions and sprinkle with grated cheese.

Budgetbytes.com

From this amount of ingredients, you get six office lunches. Store them in the freezer, and when necessary, take a container with you, reheat them in the microwave and enjoy excellent country-style potatoes.

Scott / Flickr.com

Short pasta in the form of corrugated tubes with diagonally cut edges are called penne. From them and ground beef you can cook delicious casserole, which will help out if you are not in time with dinner. You can take it to work for lunch.

Ingredients:

• 1 kg of ground beef;
• 800 g of tomatoes in their own juice;
• 500 g of penne paste;
• 400 g marinara sauce;
• 400 g ricotta;
• 400 g mazzarella;
• 1 large onion
• 1 egg;
• 3 cloves of garlic;
• 2 teaspoons of Italian herb blend
• ½ teaspoon of coarsely ground red pepper (in flakes);
• salt and black pepper to taste.

Preparation

Peel and finely chop the onion and garlic. Fry them in olive oil. Then add ground beef to them. Fry it, stirring constantly, until excess moisture evaporates. When the minced meat is browned, pour the tomatoes in their own juice and the marinara sauce into the pan (if you don't have one on hand, you can use any other tomato sauce). Add spices: Italian mix, red and black pepper, salt. Simmer for half an hour. After 30 minutes, transfer a third of the sauce from the pan to a separate bowl. Cool it down.

Also, in a separate bowl, combine the ricotta, grated mozzarella (save some cheese for sprinkling) and eggs. Season with salt and pepper, whisk until smooth.

Boil the pasta. Rinse them under cold running water. Mix with minced meat and cheese. Place everything in a glass container. Fill with the rest tomato and meat sauce, sprinkle with grated cheese.

Thrivinghomeblog.com

A glass container must be used, so that, after taking out the casserole from the freezer, it can be immediately sent to the oven. Bake should be at a temperature of 190 ºС. Moreover, if you send the casserole straight from the freezer to the oven, the cooking time will be 2–2.5 hours. Therefore, it is better to first defrost the dish in the microwave or naturally, on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator.

Nikki G / Flickr.com

Takitos is a dish Mexican food which is stuffed corn tortillas. This recipe is a salvation in case everyone is hungry, and there is no time to cook and nothing from. In just 15 minutes you will have dinner on your table as good as a restaurant one.

Ingredients:

• 15 corn tortillas;
• 500 g chicken breast;
• 250 g cream cheese;
• 170 g salsa verde sauce;
• 4 tablespoons chopped cilantro
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• ¼ teaspoon of garlic powder;
• 1 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• ¾ teaspoon of cumin;
• vegetable oil for frying and greasing.

Preparation

Cut the chicken breast into strips and fry in vegetable oil until golden brown. Toss cream cheese with cilantro, lime juice and spices (cumin, onion, garlic and chili powder). Since the dish is Mexican, Pepper Jack cheese works well for takitos. It has a creamy taste with slightly tart notes. But you can use other semi-soft varieties.

You can cook tortillas yourself or buy ready-made ones. In the latter case, first send the cakes to the microwave for 1-2 minutes so that they are soft and do not break when rolled up.

Place the chicken and cheese mixture on top of the tortillas. Add some salsa verde sauce. Read how to cook it at home. Roll the tortillas into a roll.

Preheat oven to 220 ° C. Line a baking sheet with foil and sprinkle with vegetable oil. Spread the rolls on it so that the edges are at the bottom and they do not touch each other. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Happymoneysaver.com

When the takitos are baked and cool, fold them into a zip-lock freezer bag and place in the freezer. In the situation "everyone is hungry, but there is no time to cook and nothing to cook", put the rolls on a baking sheet again, sprinkle with vegetable oil and heat in the oven for 10-15 minutes.

Arnaud Dessein / Flickr.com

Nuggets are commonly associated with fast food, but they can be the basis for a second for lunch or dinner. When there is no time to fry the burgers, remove from the freezer and reheat the nuggets. As a side dish, you can boil pasta or make mashed potatoes.

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ kg chicken fillet;
• 200 g flour;
• 200 g corn flakes;
• 5 eggs;
• 1 tablespoon of paprika.

Preparation

Rinse the meat, dry and cut into small pieces about 3-5 cm long. Grind the corn flakes in a blender. Combine flour and paprika in a separate bowl. Also whisk the eggs separately.

Dip each piece of chicken first in flour, then in eggs and finally in flakes. Do this carefully if you want the nuggets to really crunch. Line a baking sheet with parchment and place the breaded chicken on top. Bake the nuggets in the oven at 180 ° C for 15-20 minutes.

When the nuggets are cool, place them in an airtight plastic bag and place in the freezer. It is useful to label bags of frozen food. Indicate the name of the dish and the date of preparation.

Julia Frost / Flickr.com

Meatballs are an Italian dish made from minced meat balls. They look like meatballs and meatballs, but neither. It is customary to stew meatballs, boil meatballs in broth, and meatballs are baked in the oven (Italian version) or deep-fried (American version). Meatballs are a great solution for those who do not have the time and desire to stand at the stove. It's delicious and satisfying. Meatballs can be eaten on their own or served with a side dish.

Ingredients:

• 1 kg of ground beef;
• 200 g bread crumbs;
• 200 g ricotta;
• 2 eggs;
• 5 tablespoons olive oil
• parsley, salt, pepper and other spices to taste.

Preparation

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Ricotta can be replaced with thick sour cream, but it is better to use minced beef: pork is too fat for this dish.

Julie Magro / Flickr.com

Form balls about 5 cm in diameter from the resulting minced meat. Put them in a container, wrap it in foil and freeze. Meatballs should be baked at 180 ° C for 20-30 minutes.

Stew with chicken and vegetables - preparation for a multicooker

Thehumbledhomemaker.com

Significantly simplifies everyday life: put food in, pressed a button and go about your business. And if, in addition, you freeze the blanks, where all the ingredients have already been washed and cut, then the time saving becomes even more noticeable.

Ingredients:

• 1 kg of chicken fillet;
• 2 bell peppers;
• 1 onion;
• 2 cloves of garlic;
• 1 tablespoon honey;
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 2 teaspoons of cumin;
• 1 teaspoon paprika.

Preparation

Rinse the chicken and cut into strips. Wash the pepper, peel and chop. Peel and chop the onion and garlic.

Take a zip-lock bag and fill it with all the ingredients, including honey and apple cider vinegar. Deflate the bag as much as possible. Freeze. When needed, defrost the bag, pour its contents into a multicooker and simmer the stew for 3-6 hours. You can do all the manipulations in the morning so that in the evening, when you come home from work, enjoy a delicious dinner.

N i c o l a / Flickr.com

Guests on the doorstep, and in the fridge rolling a ball? In such a case, it is a good idea to have a pizza blank. They removed the foil and cling film, and after 15 minutes a delicious treat is on your table. The pizza dough can of course be bought at the store. But homemade tastes better.

Ingredients

For the test:

• 200 ml hot water;
• 2-3 glasses of flour;
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon honey;
• 1 ½ teaspoon dry yeast
• ½ teaspoon salt;
• 1 teaspoon each of a mixture of Italian herbs and garlic powder (optional).

Filling option:

• chicken fillet;
• salami;
• olives.

Preparation

Dissolve a spoonful of honey in hot water, then add yeast there and let stand for 5-7 minutes. Pour in olive oil, add salt and seasonings if you decide to use them. Mix well. Gently add flour gradually and knead the dough. Cover the bowl of dough with a towel and let sit for half an hour. The dough should rise, doubling in volume.

Roll out the dough. You can make small portioned pizzas (it's easier to store this way), or you can make one big circle. Bake the dough without (!) Filling at a temperature of 220 ºС for 7–8 minutes.

Remove the future pizza from the oven, let it cool slightly and brush with sauce. It can be anything like alfredo, barbecue or just ketchup with mayonnaise. Place the filling on top. It also depends on your imagination and the products at hand. Don't forget to sprinkle with grated cheese!

Wrap semi-finished pizza with cling film, and then foil and send to freeze. When guests arrive, put the pizza in the oven for 15 minutes. You just need to bake the filling and melt the cheese.

Bon Appetit!

Write in the comments what foods and dishes you freeze.

A wide variety of first and second courses are prepared from such mixtures. They are stewed, baked in the oven, cooked in the microwave, boiled, fried, used as a filling for pies, and at the same time the food turns out to be as tasty as that made from fresh vegetables. Sets can consist of various components: green peas, young potatoes, eggplants, broccoli, aromatic bell pepper, tomatoes, herbs, onions, etc. Therefore, there are all kinds of recipes for dishes with frozen vegetables, which even lazy or very busy people can cook.

Frozen vegetables are most commonly found in recipes with these five foods:

A healthy meal of prepared vegetables will be ready in a few minutes, since they do not need to be washed, peeled or cut. All you need is a grocery bag and the desire to pamper your family with a hearty lunch or light dinner. Products are frozen using a special technology called "deep freezing" - the ingredients are instantly cooled to the temperature at which all the moisture in them turns into microscopic ice crystals. The method is unique - all vitamins, taste, color and aroma are preserved for a long period of time. So that the crystallized juices do not break the cell membranes and have an attractive appearance, the vegetables are cut into pieces. And what to cook from them - an appetizing soup, a fragrant roast or a colorful side dish, you decide!

So what is the reason? After all, our brother, a summer resident, in the freezer almost always has vegetables, fruits or berries stored in the summer. In extreme cases, you can buy a bag or two.

Cauliflower julienne

Photo: From personal archive / Natalia Mologina

Compound: frozen cauliflower - 200 g; frozen mushrooms (slices) - 150 g, onion - 1 pc., flour - 1.5 tbsp. l., milk or cream - 1 cup, grated cheese - 0.5 cups (optional), salt, pepper - to taste, oil for frying and greasing the mold, bread crumbs for sprinkling.

Preparation: Boil cabbage until tender, cut into medium-sized pieces. Chop the onion, fry until transparent, add unfrozen mushrooms and heat until all the liquid has evaporated. Add flour and cook a little more to distribute it evenly. Heat the milk slightly and, stirring strongly, pour into the pan with mushrooms. Cook, stirring all the time, until thickened. You can add half the cheese. Combine the cabbage with the sauce, place in a baking dish or small tins, oiled and sprinkled with breadcrumbs. Sprinkle with grated cheese and bake in the oven at 180 ° C until golden brown.

Dumplings with berries

Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Compound: flour - 500 g, warm water - 150 g, egg - 1 pc., salt - ¼ tsp, vinegar - 1 tsp, frozen berries - 300 g, sugar - to taste.

Preparation: knead everything except sugar and berries. Let it stand for half an hour in a warm place, roll it out and cut out the circles. In each dumpling, put a few unfrozen berries, a little sugar and pinch. Dip them in salted boiling water. Cook until the dumplings float, and 5 minutes after that. Serve with sour cream.

How good it is in summer. And all because summer is the time for berries. Probably there is no such person in the world who would not like to feast on a berry. But summer does not last forever, and berries do not grow or ripen all year round, and greenhouse ones are not at all rich in vitamins. To provide yourself with a piece of summer in the form of berries for a cold winter, you can simply freeze them. And then make various snacks out of them, and just defrost them to eat.

Is it possible to freeze berries

There is an opinion that frozen berries are not only tasty, but also not healthy at all. But no, we tell you. Scientists have found that when sending berries to deep freezing, only ten percent of the beneficial qualities are lost. For comparison, when boiling berries, vitamins are completely lost, and when drying, only half remains. It's not hard to draw a conclusion. Deep freezing is the best way to store berries all year round.

In addition, frozen berries will not only provide irreplaceable help during colds and viral diseases, but will also help make the dishes on your table more delicious, colorful and varied.

Another nuance for those who are losing weight or just keeping track of their weight, frozen berries are low in calories. In terms of calorie content, they are on a par with fresh ones.

It is best to freeze the berries yourself, observing all the rules. Then you have a wonderful supply for winter times. You can, of course, buy berries in the supermarket, but who knows if all the rules for storage and transportation have been followed. And if the package is closed, then it is not known at all what kind of surprise awaits you. Therefore, do not be lazy, but independently carry out the freezing process, if possible.

Kissel from frozen berries

Before preparing jelly from frozen berries, any housewife needs to know a few basic rules:

• If the recipe does not require it, then the berries do not need to be defrosted first.
• Start cooking by making a decoction.
• The thickener should be starch. It is he who determines how thick the jelly will be.
• Before adding starch to the broth, it must be diluted with liquid.
• And the last stage is the introduction of starch into the broth, gradually.

Berries under the snow

For cooking, you need the following products:

• 400 g of frozen berries, different, of your choice;
• starch 90 g;
• sugar 120 g;
• water - a liter for broth and a glass of water for starch.

Preparation:

1. Mix the berries, pour a liter of water and place on fire. Let them boil for five minutes. Then you can strain and squeeze them out, or leave them in the broth.
2. Add sugar to the hot broth and let it dissolve for a few minutes. You can speed up the process by stirring with a spoon.
3. Dissolve the starch in a glass of water and gently, stirring constantly with a spoon, add to the broth.
4. Then bring the resulting jelly to a boil. Refrigerate.

According to this recipe, you will get a thin, but very tasty and healthy jelly.

For those who like to eat jelly exclusively with a spoon, cutting the thickness, there is the following recipe:

• take your favorite frozen berries in the amount of 400 g;
• 150 g starch;
• water - a liter for broth and a glass of water for starch;
• sugar 170 g

Preparation:

1. The berries must first be defrosted and ground with a blender.
2. Pour a liter of water into the resulting mixture, add sugar and place everything on fire.
3. As soon as the water starts to boil, start kneading the starch in a glass of water.
4. Let the broth simmer for a couple of minutes and pour in the starch.
5. Now stir constantly and cook the jelly until it thickens completely. But don't boil!

Frozen berry compote

Frozen berry compote is healthy, tasty, and very simple! And it doesn't take much to cook it:

• frozen strawberries 150 g;
• frozen raspberries 150 g;
• frozen currants (black) 150 g;
• water 3 l;
• sugar 600 g

Preparation:

1. Put a pot of water on fire.
2. Process the berries in a blender into gruel.
3. Once the water has boiled, add sugar to it. Then berries.
4. Wait until the water boils and immediately remove from heat.
5. Let the compote cool down. Then you can drink it.

Frozen berry fruit drink

Fruit drink is very tasty, healthy and refreshing. It will fit any table, you can give it to children. And it prepares very simply. For fruit drink, it is best to use juicy, medium-sized berries:

• frozen blueberries 200 g;
• frozen cranberries 200 g;
• frozen raspberries 200 g;
• frozen pitted cherries 200 g;
• sugar 500 g, if such an amount of sugar seems small to someone, then you can pour in more, according to your taste;
• water 3.5 l.

Preparation:

1. Take a saucepan so that you can conveniently place a colander on top of it.
2. Fill the pan with water, make sure that the liquid does not reach the colander and does not get into it when boiling.
3. Put the resulting structure on fire, wait until the water boils and pour the berries into a colander.
4. Gradually, the berries will begin to thaw and release juice. You just have to add sugar to them and stir. This is done so that the juice flows into a pot of water, and does not evaporate. It is worth doing these simple manipulations until all the juice comes out of the berry. This will turn the water bright red.
5. Then remove the remaining berry from the colander.
6. Taste the fruit drink. If it seems too viscous and sweet to you, dilute it with boiled water and boil it.
7. Strain the fruit drink, let it cool completely.

The remaining berry mixture can be thrown away or used for baking.

Frozen berry pie

Option 1

For cooking you need:

• 100 g frozen strawberries;
• 100 g frozen cherries (pitted);
• 150 ml yogurt;
• half a banana;
• those with a sweet tooth can add honey or sugar.

Preparation:

Option 2

You will need:

• frozen gooseberries, cranberries, 200 g each;
• 200 ml orange juice;
• honey tsp;
• mint taste;
• 50 g of flakes.

Preparation:

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend. Do not defrost berries. The smoothie is ready.

In frozen form, berries in cooking can only be used in some cases. For example, if you cook compote, jelly, porridge from them. For smoothies and cocktails, semi-thawed ones will do. But if you are going to take up baking or desserts, then the snow beauties must be brought back to life. How to do it right?

Frozen berries are most commonly found in recipes with these five foods:

First. When defrosting, the berries release a lot of liquid and juice. For dishes in which strict proportions of dry and wet foods are observed, everything superfluous is like death (not literally, of course)). Therefore, the berries should not only be brought to room temperature, but also the excess moisture should be drained from them after. It is not necessary to pour it into the sink - you can use it for cooking compote.

Second. Chances are that the drained berry juice is exactly what your pie is missing. That is, together with the excess liquid, we will remove the juiciness. How can you avoid this? Take risks, namely: roll frozen berries in starch and add to the filling in this form. The starch will absorb all that is unnecessary, and the cake will not flow. Bad part: It will add calories to the dish.

Any frozen food is best defrosting gradually. In this case, less fluid will be released, more vitamins will be stored. For berries you can use:

• a stream of cold water from the tap (the berries must be in polyethylene at the same time)
• paper towels and room temperature
• the lowest compartment of the refrigerator (it is better to put them there in advance, for example, overnight, to cook the next day)
• microwave (get ready to release a lot of juice)