Back To Work - Freezer Meals

I headed back to work this week after a blissful (and busy) year off on maternity leave. In anticipation, I spent some time filling the freezer with ready made meals. It was quite funny, because a year earlier I had been doing the same thing in preparation for baby's arrival. How quickly the time does pass!

Life is busy, and when things start spinning out of control, making healthy choices can seem difficult. For me, taking the time to eat well and try and get at least a bit of exercise every day is a great way to manage stress. With that in mind, we froze some mini lasagna's, pasta sauce, chicken burritos, perogies and I picked up a few containers of soup from The Soup Meister in the Lonsdale Quay. Even though I've only been back for 3 days and there's still one day of the week left, so far so good. I seem to have enough time to get home, pick up the little bean from daycare, play for a bit and get dinner ready so that we can all sit down and eat together. Brent had a great idea for us to set aside one night a week to make something for the freezer, so we can keep this up. We'll be starting that next week and I hope that this will help get us through the next couple of months of learning how to juggle work, school, baby and all the other parts of our life.

One of my favourite items we had made last year that we did again were Chicken and Black Bean Burritos. These are individually frozen, and while they can be cooked from frozen, I try and pull them out of the freezer the morning of just to give them some time to thaw a little in the fridge.

Chicken and Black Bean Burritos
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- salt and pepper
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
- 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
- 1 sweet red pepper, chopped
- 1 19oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup salsa
- 8 large whole wheat tortillas
- 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese (plus additional for baking)
- Sour cream to serve

In skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat and fry onion, garlic, salt and pepper until onion is softened, about 3-5 minutes. Add chicken, jalapeno and red pepper, beans and salsa. Cook, stirring, until chicken is no longer pink inside, about 10 minutes. Let cool.

Spoon about 3/4 cup of the filling down centre of each tortilla; sprinkle each with 1/4 cup of the cheese. Fold in bottom edge, then sides; roll up. Place seam side down on baking sheet and let cool for 30 minutes, refrigerating until cold. Wrap each burrito in heavy duty foil, and place in large freezer bag - write following instructions on bag.

Sprinkle with cheddar cheese and loosely cover with foil. Bake in 400F oven for 25-35 minutes, until golden and hot and cheese is melted. Serve with sour cream.