Holly Clegg's Trim & Terrific Freezer Friendly Meals

by Holly Clegg

Book Overview

Planning delicious, healthy meals for every day of the week can be time-consuming and frustrating. But with Holly Clegg's Trim & Terrific Freezer Friendly Meals , the next installment in the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Spiral-bound
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0762425970
• ISBN13: 9780762425976
• Release Date: November 2006
• Publisher: Running Press Adult
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 2.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 8.0" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

My New Favorite Cookbook

I LOVE this cookbook! I bought this one and two others; "Super Suppers" and "Don't Panic...", but this one meets my needs FAR better than the other two. Nearly every recipe looks and sounds appealing. Nearly everything is uncomplicated and the ingredients are "normal" and readily available. Many are interesting without being far-out (for instance, Ham and Sweet Potatoe Pot Pie, which was delicious!). The other cookbooks had a lot of recipes I already make and so I appreciated new ideas that were not weird. My kids (10,8 and 3) loved what I've tried and the 10yo picked out others she wants me to make. Also, I couldn't tell I was using low fat ingredients; a plus for mothers who need to hide the skim milk behind the salad dressings to prevent mutiny! The format of the book is a big plus; I love the lay-flat binding, the photos and the nutritional information. The only caveat I'll mention here is that I haven't freezer-prepared anything yet. I prefer things freshly cooked and don't rely heavily on freeze-ahead or OAMC. So I don't know yet how well the meals turn out if you follow the freezing directions. Also, if you are turned off by short-cut ingredients, like canned soup and cake mix, be warned that she uses helper ingredients a lot to make it easier/faster.

Love this book!

I have already cooked over 20 recipes in this book since purchasing it in August of 07--it's October now. All recipes are very easy and fairly quick to prepare with a few exceptions. There are many recipes that are perfect for company. I have only cooked one recipe that wasn't worth the trouble but all the others I have made will be made over and over again. I have about 10 tags on recipes I plan to make in the upcoming weeks. As it gets cold, I am looking forward to the soup recipes. As a working professional it is so nice to pull out several meals from the freezer on Sunday to defrost in fridge for the week. And they taste better than frozen diet meals and you can make the portions as large as you want. Many recipes already have veggies in them so you have minimal cook times for a complete meal. There is a pretty good variety of foods and they all use diet friendly ingredients with great tasting results. There are tons of recipes in this book. Many have already become repeaters with me. The banana muffins are excellent and so convenient for a quick breakfast by defrosting in the microwave. The macaroni and cheese is sooo good as well as the hashbrown casserole. I have been looking for good healthy recipes for these 2 items for a long time. The Chicken spinach florentine is excellent... I could go on and on. Another wonderful detail is that Holly provides immediate cooking instructions as well as "from the freezer" and "already defrosted" heating instructions. This gives one a lot of flexibility should you forget to defrost your dinner. And I have had great success by placing individual servings into freezer bags for single servings for this single gal. She also gives you freezer dates for each recipe so you can write the expiration date on your freezer bag. And for you moms and dads out there, most of the recipes are kid friendly. Only drawbacks are that there are several enchilada/mexican casserole recipes that seem very similar to each other but I have yet to cook them so I really can't confirm that they taste the same. I wish there were more red meat recipes and more desserts with chocolate--but that may be wishful thinking? Most of the ground beef (ground turkey) recipes seem to be the same thing as well-- several versions of tomato based meat sauce and plain spaghetti sauces. I also wish there were some marinated meat recipes. There is nothing easier in OAMC cooking than adding herbs and sauces to raw meats, freezing and then while they defrost, they marinate. Holly, I think you need to write another one of these freezer cookbooks, please!!!! All in all, this book has definitely changed my eating habits, made my meals tastier, made my life easier, and saved me money! When chicken goes on sale, I make several chicken dinners that last for weeks. Great purchase and I will be on the lookout for a second book like this one, Holly! Thanks!

Learn the basics of "freezer cooking"

I just realized how much time I spend on cooking and washing up every night, and since there are things I am trying to find time to do, I decided to learn about "freezer cooking". The idea is to cook once a month (seriously), fill the freezer with cooked meals, wash up all the pots and pans, and enjoy a lot more time doing stuff you've been wanting to do. I wanted time for writing and quilting and reading, and this method really works. Holly Clegg's recipes are stylish, delicious, economical, and full of great, practical tips. She takes you quickly through the basics of what freezes well and what doesn't. Her recipes are varied and include lots of vegetable dishes. Dinners at my house now take about 15 minutes from freezer to table, and there are NO pots and pans to clean. We are sitting down to eat together as a family 50% more than before, and I estimate I have gained at least an hour a day for use on projects I much prefer to cleaning up the kitchen. And economical? I think my grocery budget is stretching to cover about 20% more. . .which might be a source of more money for me to play with!

cooking up a storm

After purchasing this book I marked several recipes that I wanted to try immedialty. (20 in all) Needless to say I a have been cooking up a storm. I keep calling my neighbor for tips on OAMC and I already know some different things to do next time for organization. I have been sampling what I have made before freezing and so far everything has been great!! My daughter really likes the Empanadas(we are going to make some carmel apple ones like Taco Bell) and for someone who doesn't like eggs she likes the mini muffing rancheros (I made hers w/o salsa) I was making the mixture for the italian pizza rolls and my son says "wow that really looks good) Some of the recipes I have divided into two meals. The soups I have divided into one large bag for a meal for four and then broke the rest down for lunch size portions. I was able to get two pizzas out of the bbq chicken pizza. I like this book so much I purchase two more to give to my two neighbors who already do OAMC. We have been talking about each of us making 5-6 meals each X 3 and swapping meals. If you are doing weight watchers this is a great book I got my points calculator out and started writing the points on the recipes, these meals are low in points!!

Another winner from Holly Clegg!

I recently purchased Holly Clegg's New Trim and Terrific Cookbook. After trying a few of the recipes my husband told me I could throw all my other cookbooks away! So, I purchased her new Freezer Friendly Meals! Oh my goodness! The recipes are good tasting, easy to prepare, use everyday ingredients and are economical! I made the Chicken Lentil Chili the other night, and it was killer good! Don't hesitate to try this book. You won't be disappointed!