My father in law can no longer cook for himself, so I bought 20 of these meal prep containers from Target to make healthy individual-sized freezer meals that he can just defrost and heat up for lunches or dinners. Yes, homemade "TV dinners"! The containers are freezer- and dishwasher- friendly and hold 2 cups of food in the main compartment, and 1 cup in the side compartment. (Note: It's also microwave-friendly too, but we are adverse to microwaving in plastic, so we won't be doing that in our household...)
So the next few weeks will be postings of freezer friendly meals. If you have some good ones, especially ones with veggies, leave me a comment!
Finding vegetables that will still taste good after being frozen are difficult. This thai basil pork with eggplant served on top of a bed of rice is a nice well balanced meal with protein and veggies that will also hold up well after being in the freezer.
Yields 4 servings
Ingredients:
- 2 japanese eggplants cut into pieces (about 1 lb)
- ½ lb ground pork
- leaves from 4 sprigs of thai basil, rough chopped (about 1 cup)
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
Corn starch slurry Ingredients:
- 2 t corn starch
- 2 t soy sauce
- 1 t sugar
- ½ t pepper
- ½ t salt
- 2/3 c water
Procedures:
- Cut eggplant diagonally while rotating it a quarter between cuts to make bite size chunks. Set aside.
- Chop basil roughly and set aside. Chop garlic and set aside.
- In a small bowl, make a slurry with the cornstarch, soy sauce, sugar, pepper, salt, and water. Set aside.
- Brown pork with garlic in a nonstick pan.
- Add eggplant and a splash of water (about 1/3 c) and cover the pan to cook for 5 min.
- Take the lid off the pan, and add the cornstarch slurry and cook on high heat until bubbly.
- Turn off the heat and stir in the basil. Taste and add a pinch more salt and pepper if necessary. Serve over hot rice.