American mix of vegetables recipes. Frozen Vegetable Blend - Calories and Recipes
In modern society with its frantic pace, we get used to doing everything on the go. Cooking methods also adapt to the rhythm of life. Housewives prefer to freeze vegetables for the preparation of fries and soups for the future, as this saves time. How to freeze vegetable mixes for the winter so that you can enjoy varied and delicious first courses later?
Each housewife has her own recipe perfect soup or borscht: some people can't imagine a hot meal without broccoli, others like to add cauliflower and beans. Any major store will offer a variety of vegetable mixes to choose from, but why buy factory-made, fixed-mix products when you can make your own homemade mix?
How to Freeze Vegetable Soup Mix?
All ingredients are individually selected, so you can play with the recipe however you like. The main rule is to use only fresh vegetables without signs of rotting, otherwise one product can ruin the entire workpiece.
Important: it is undesirable to add greens to the mixture of vegetables, since the products in the composition are solid and they need time to boil. It is better to freeze parsley or dill separately to add it to the soup last.
Ingredients
Servings: - + 10
- cabbage 500 g
- onion 300 g
- carrot 400 g
- tomatoes 300 g
- beans 200 g
- Sweet pepper 200 g
- zucchini 300 g
Per serving
Calories: 30 kcal
Proteins: 1.3 g
Fats: 0.1 g
Carbohydrates: 5.9 g
40 minutes Video Recipe Print
- calories - 33.9 kcal;
- proteins - 1.2 g;
- fats - 0.1 g;
- carbohydrates - 7.1 g.
- onions - 300 g;
- carrots - 400 g;
- tomatoes - 300 g;
- beets - 300 g;
- sweet pepper - 200 g;
- zucchini - 300 g.
- We thoroughly clean the vegetables and rinse them with running water: peel the onions and beets, clean off the dirt from the carrots, remove the stalk with seeds from the sweet pepper.
- With the help of a curly knife, we turn vegetables into a work of art, as in the photo. Agree, it is much more interesting to see wavy beets and carrot stars in borscht than just cubes. A curly knife can turn a meal into a holiday, especially if borscht is prepared for children.
- We send the chopped vegetables to a bowl and mix, evenly distributing all the color contrasts.
- We lay out the resulting mass in bags with fasteners. It is advisable to pack the mixture in 100 grams in order to defrost the required amount at the right time without any problems.
- We hide the packages in the freezer. The stock of vegetables for the winter is ready!
Cooking vegetables. Thoroughly rinse the vegetables, peel the carrots from the top peel, remove the stalk and seeds from the pepper.
To make the mixture look beautiful and effective, use a curly knife. Cut the vegetables into small cubes, chop the cabbage or three on a coarse grater, leave the beans intact. Using a spoon, remove the juice and seeds from the tomatoes and cut them into cubes.
Put all the vegetables in a bowl or tight bag and shake thoroughly to mix the whole mass evenly.
If the mixture is not intended for soup, then vegetables, on the advice of cooks, are pre-blanched. We spread the mixture into bags with fasteners, squeeze out excess air and hide it in freezer.
When the vegetables are frozen, remove the bags and shake them to prevent the ingredients from sticking to each other.
The resulting mixture can be either added to boiling water immediately, or used as a frying. If we calculate the price of vegetables used in the season, it turns out that it is much cheaper to buy a fresh set and spend half an hour freezing than buying a ready-made store mix.
Freeze the vegetable mixture for a delicious borscht
If time does not allow you to spend 2 hours a week to provide the whole family with a healthy first course, but you need to get out, then feel free to freeze vegetables!
This recipe will be to your taste. busy people and students. The resulting mixture can be used for making soups, main courses and salads, providing yourself with vitamins all year round.
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Servings: 20
Energy value
For 100 g of finished product:
Ingredients
Advice: you can skip the beetroot mix if you plan on making a versatile mix for delicious pickle stewing meat or potatoes.
Step by step cooking
Advice: you can add spices or herbs to the mixture. But if you plan to cook a universal mix, then limit yourself to the vegetables indicated in the recipe.
Secrets of proper freezing
Use only fresh vegetables that are not rotting for the preparation of the mixtures. It is better to process products that have already begun to deteriorate immediately or put them on frying for the first course, and not leave them in the freezer for the winter.
Do not neglect the magic of a curly knife, as it is able to diversify even a boring dish. When using frozen vegetables, it is important to observe one condition: they should not be subjected to additional defrosting. Add mixture immediately to boiling broth or hot skillet.
How long do vegetable mixes last?
The mixtures are stored in the freezer for 12 months. But do not make huge batches that will take up the entire freezer, since you will soon get bored with just such a set of vegetables. It's best to freeze different mixes, alternating foods, to enjoy a unique chowder or side dish each week.
How to store vegetable mixes?
For freezing, it is convenient to use small bags with fasteners, which are intended for portioned blanks. But they can be replaced with small plastic containers or regular bags.
Advice: the secret of the supermarket loose mixes is simple. 2-3 hours after freezing, you need to wrinkle the bag with your hands or shake the container with vegetable slices so that the cubes do not stick to each other. Such actions are repeated several times until completely frozen, and then you can pick vegetables from the freezer with a spoon, independently adjusting the portion.
The recipe for such mixes is simple. You don't have to puzzle over what to cook for lunch. Just take the finished bag out of the refrigerator, add it to borscht, pickle or other soup and enjoy your new dish. Such a portion of vitamins and nutrients in the daily winter diet will raise the overall tone and relieve you of the blues.
Ready-made vegetable mixes, which today are sold not only in reputable supermarkets, but also in simple grocery stores, can greatly facilitate the life of any housewife. They help to save time spent on cooking.
In this article, we will look at some of the most popular mixes, talk about preparing side dishes, soups, salads and many other dishes for which frozen vegetables are used. And a few suggested ideas, easy to implement at home, will help you replenish your home cookbook with recipes for blanks.
Lecho
Sunny Bulgaria presented this dish to the world. It mixed colors and ripe autumn aromas. Today there are many recipes for making lecho, but using a frozen blank is the simplest and most reliable. In addition, thanks to ready-made mixtures, even residents of northern latitudes can enjoy this dish.
In any Lecho mix, two ingredients dominate - these are bell pepper and tomatoes. Optionally, it can contain onions, garlic, carrots, and sometimes also zucchini.
It will take very little time to prepare the vegetable mixture. Just heat the fat in a wok or cauldron, unload and simmer under the lid for about 20 minutes, remembering to stir occasionally.
Hawaiian mix
Today, Hawaiian is a very popular side dish in many countries. But this dish appeared for reasons of banal economy: a poor people simply mixed and stewed what was presented to them by the fertile land and the generous southern sun. In the pack you will find not only half-cooked rice, but also corn kernels, peas and paprika.
Mixed rice can be cooked in ordinary saucepan or a frying pan. Add a little water and place over medium heat. Within a quarter of an hour you will feel a magical aroma.
Without additives, this dish is perfect for lean menu... And if you stew meat along with vegetables and rice, you get a wonderful treat for festive table(not always serve mashed potatoes).
Hawaiian vegetables and shrimp, fried or boiled, are good.
Mexican vegetables
I wonder why this mix got this name? After all, there is nothing Mexican in it, no excessive pungency, so beloved by the inhabitants of this country, no special Latin American ingredients like cacti ...
Perhaps the only Mexican that is present in this mixture is red beans. The mix may vary slightly from manufacturer to manufacturer, but this product is a must. In addition, you will find green beans, peppers, corn, eggplants, green peas and onions in the pack, and sometimes also carrots with celery.
Vegetable is suitable not only for cooking healthy and delicious side dishes, chimichangi and burritos, but also for salads. Add to chopped chicken eggs, croutons from white bread and boiled fillet. Season with mayonnaise or a mixture of mustard and lemon juice.
Mixture "Village"
The origin of the name of this mix is also, most likely, commercial, not historical. It is used by different manufacturers, but any combination can be hidden under the packaging. Surely every technologist has his own ideas about the village. However, one component is unchanged - potatoes.
In a pack, carrots and onions can coexist with it, green beans, corn, peas, peppers, zucchini, squash, eggplant. The composition is necessarily indicated on the pack, you can choose the most suitable combination.
Be careful, because in some Western cuisines it is not customary to peel potatoes before cooking. If this bothers you, perhaps Village Mix is not your option?
Many are frightened by the fact that the potatoes were frozen. However, this mix has many fans, whose reviews unanimously confirm that the mixture is great option a quick and interesting side dish with a rich taste.
Like other frozen vegetable mixes, this one can be easily stewed in a skillet. For an even more rustic flavor, add fresh herbs and young garlic before serving. The mixture is also suitable for making rich mashed soups.
Spring vegetables
"Spring" is an even more flexible concept than "village". All the mixes on the market are united only by the predominance of green.
In the pack you will find broccoli and cauliflower, asparagus beans and green peas, Green pepper and kohlrabi, celery root, parsnips, young onions, and herbs. This mixture is better not for cooking. independent dish, and to add to the stew, vegetable casseroles, pizza, lasagne. You can simmer until tender and use a blender to blend a small amount to create a flavorful sauce. Spring mix is also suitable for making hot salads.
Stew
There are many stew recipes, so it is not surprising that the composition of the mixtures varies. As a rule, the package contains onions, carrots and zucchini. Some manufacturers add flavorful roots and beans.
Ready-made vegetable mixes will help you quickly prepare a rich meal. Boil potatoes until half cooked, fry the beef cut into cubes over high heat. Combine in a saucepan, add frozen mixture and simmer until tender.
Ratatouille
A dish with an unusual name that is served in restaurants today French cuisine all over the world, once also invented by peasants. They stewed zucchini, tomatoes, peppers and onions in the same bowl. Later, eggplant was added to the list of ingredients. Vegetable mixes "Ratatouille" from different manufacturers are similar in composition, only the proportions can vary.
Based on the mix, you can easily prepare a side dish for meat or fish. Ratatouille is also served as an independent dish. And if you add a little broth during the stewing, you get a fragrant thick soup.
Gyuvech
The history of this dish also began in Bulgaria. In their historical homeland, the word "gyuvech" is used not only for the food as such, but also for the dishes in which it is prepared - an earthen pot with a lid. And it is desirable to cook it in such pots, in the oven.
Divide the mixture into containers, fill halfway with vegetable or meat broth... Cover and bake for about 30 minutes.
The main flavor of the dish comes from okra, which at the same time resembles eggplant and white asparagus. In addition to her, you will find peppers, tomatoes, eggplants and onions in the package.
But the mixture from the bag is not all that is needed for original recipe... While the vegetables are stewing, loosen a couple of eggs in a bowl, add about the same amount (by volume) of milk. Add to the pots 5 minutes before cooking.
Chinese vegetables
This mixture attracts lovers of Asian magical cuisine. In the pack you will find mung bean sprouts and young bamboo shoots, black mushroom, small ears of corn, peppers, carrots and white cabbage... Roots (celery), leeks, green beans can be added as an option.
Chinese vegetable mixes are an excellent base for oriental dishes... Fry the mixture in oil (sesame is best), add a couple of tablespoons of soy sauce instead of salt, and sprinkle with sesame seeds before serving. Together with vegetables, you can fry seafood, pieces of chicken, pork or duck. If you like something spicy, add chili peppers to the dish. And to emphasize the Chinese origin, pour a teaspoon of honey into the pan when frying. The combination of spicy, salty and sweet is one of the main features of the national cuisine of the Middle Kingdom.
Paprikash
How do you usually prepare goulash? Surely you also use carrots, onions and tomatoes (pasta) with meat. And in some national cuisines Eastern European beef, poultry and pork are stewed with bell pepper. The combination is simply superb! Paprikash - created just for such dishes Vegetable mix.
The recipes for this dish are simple. Fry pieces of meat, add bright frozen vegetables, simmer.
The mixture also includes beans, zucchini, tomatoes, but the bulk is Bell pepper.
Frying for borscht and soups
Some frozen vegetable mixes are versatile. They are suitable for any dish, be it roast, soup, meat sauce. An example of such a mix is a mixture of onions, carrots and herbs. Just add it to your dish halfway through cooking.
A mixture for red borscht is prepared according to the same principle. It contains beets, carrots, onions, peppers and tomatoes. Borscht cooked on such a roast will smell of ripe September aromas at any time of the year.
You can also make a mix for green borscht. For him you will need sorrel, spinach, dill, parsley. You can add some leeks. Young nettles and May nettles are used less often, but thanks to them, borscht turns out to be even more aromatic and healthier.
How to freeze vegetables yourself
As you can see, many classic mixes can be easily made at home. it great option blanks for future use. Before preparing the vegetable mixture, rinse and peel the ingredients, chop or grate, and put in dry bags or lunch boxes. You can also use disposable tableware.
These blanks are stored in the freezer, and before cooking they do not need defrosting and any preparation.
In winter, frozen vegetables are a godsend for every housewife who monitors the family's diet.
In order for them to retain all their nutritional properties, it is necessary to take into account the peculiarities of their freezing.
Some vegetables are doused with boiling water for blanching, and dipped in cold water.
V cookbooks there are a huge number of cooking recipes that delight with their nutritional and valuable properties.
Important to remember! The main rule of deliciously cooked frozen vegetables is the duration of their heat treatment.
If you use a ready-made mixture from the store in bags, then the package contains detailed description with instructions.
Below are the better ways cooking frozen vegetables that can be served:
| Cooking method | Recipe |
| Pan | The pan is placed on the stove. No oil is poured, vegetables do not need to be defrosted first. The gas must be exposed to intensive combustion for better moisture evaporation. After the water has evaporated, the gas is reduced and the pan is covered with a lid. They must be thoroughly simmered until fully cooked. Serve with a side dish |
| Multicooker | Vegetables must be carefully laid out on a grid, which is intended for steaming dishes. Water is poured into the multicooker bowl. It is necessary to salt, add spices to your liking. Next, the multicooker turns on and the steam cooking mode is set. The duration of heat treatment does not exceed 25 minutes. With this method of preparation, the product will retain its nutrients and taste. |
| Oven | Before baking frozen vegetables in the oven, you must first fry them in a hot pan. Moisture will evaporate from them, the dish will keep its shape better. Then they are placed in a special mold that needs to be greased with oil. Better to use vegetable or olive. Salt and seasoning is added at the end to prevent all moisture from evaporating prematurely. The duration of baking is 25 minutes at a temperature of 190 degrees. 5 minutes before they are fully cooked, take out the baked vegetables, add salt and seasonings to taste. On top, you can sprinkle the dish with grated cheese - regular or processed. They will taste better if served with sour cream. Rice or potatoes are suitable as a side dish. |
| Microwave | You need to cook in a special cookware made of heat-resistant glass. A lid is required because the steam must be involved in the cooking of vegetables. Vegetables are poured into a plastic or ceramic plate and leveled. You need to set the power mode to 600 W for 3-4 minutes. The cooking process must be monitored regularly. The vegetables are mixed once. At the end, add salt, pepper and other seasonings. |
As a side dish great are pasta, chicken with rice or mushrooms, risotto, bulgur, salads.
Vegetables perfectly retain their nutritional properties even when frozen for a long time. Spring meals will delight all family members.
Casserole with meat and vegetables even the little gourmets will like it. For babies, they can be steamed in a double boiler.
How to freeze vegetables for the winter with your own hands?
To properly freeze vegetables for the winter with your own hands, you need to take into account a few simple rules:
- Take away you need products that are free of dents (they must be ripe).
- Before freezing need to be washed and dried thoroughly.
- Some species amenable to blanching (stopping the oxidative process inside the product to improve taste).
- Dry vegetables crushed and placed in a dish for freezing (cubes, half rings, circles).
Cauliflower and broccoli they are pre-washed in a colander, cut into inflorescences and poured over with boiling water. Then they are placed in cold water, dried and put into the freezer.
The bell peppers are washed and dried. Can be chopped into strips or cubes. This preparation is added to soup, salads, stews and other dishes.
Green peas are frozen in bags. Before freezing, you must clean them from the pod. You do not need to defrost it before cooking. It is immediately added to soup, pilaf, vegetable stew.
Eggplants are harvested clean, dried. So that they retain all their taste, they can be fried before freezing.
Tomatoes are stacked whole and stored in the freezer until added to the dish. Large tomatoes are pre-cut into two or more pieces.
This is an excellent semi-finished product that is used in winter for cooking delicious sauces, pastes, vegetable stew and pizza.
Hearty meals made from frozen meat mix
Meat is a valuable food product known for its nutritional value... It helps a person to restore all their strength, as well as increase efficiency.
Housewives will be able to cook meat casseroles with vegetables, which are considered a healthy and satisfying dish.
Important to remember! Meat is a heavy food for the stomach, so it is necessary to cook it along with vegetables.
Fiber provides tremendous benefits to the body. Many nutritionists recommend including in the diet stews without oil for weight loss.
With meat (pork, beef, chicken fillet) red and green vegetables, which contain a minimum amount of starch.
They are helping better to digest animal protein.
All important substances contained in vegetables contribute to the rapid elimination of toxins and cholesterol.
Before cooking, you need to prepare the dishes. In order for the products to retain all their nutrients, it is necessary to use dishes made of cast iron, heat-resistant glass.
Roast beef with vegetables
Composition:
- Beef pulp.
- Champignon.
- Red pepper (sweet).
- Green pea.
- Green beans.
- Onion.
- Celery.
- Ginger.
- Vegetable oil.
- Salt.
- Spices to taste.
Recipe:
- Chop the meat into medium-sized pieces. To make it fragrant and soft, it is recommended to marinate in spices for several hours.
- Prepared vegetables are peeled and cut into strips. Fry for about three minutes in a preheated skillet.
- After the meat is marinated, it must be fried in hot oil and stirred constantly until tender.
- Spread on great dish cooked vegetables are placed in the middle of the plate.
- The culinary masterpiece is ready to be served.
The dream of any housewife is to feed the family deliciously. Today we are used to besides fresh vegetables use frozen products. This allows you to significantly reduce the time for preparing vegetable crops and free it up for creating delicious dishes. However, not everyone knows how to properly cook frozen vegetables, and therefore we suggest that you familiarize yourself with the main nuances by reading this article.
Nuances of choice
It's good if the hostess herself is able to make preparations and freeze vegetables for the winter. However, if you want to buy the right products in the store, it is important to understand the nuances of their choice. The foundation delicious food is not only about making it right. It is important to initially choose the right ingredients. For example, if this is a packaged version, it is important to pay attention to the integrity of the packaging. If the tightness of the package is broken, such products are considered spoiled.
It is not difficult to understand whether vegetables from bags were frozen once or several times: you can shake the pack slightly. If at the same time lumps are felt, in addition to a homogeneous mass, the product is familiar with repeated freezing.
For a dish to be tasty, it must have the correct proportions of vegetables. Do not ignore the bloating of the bag, which speaks eloquently about the presence and progression of microorganisms.
Cooking secrets
Moving on to the cooking process itself, it should be borne in mind that frozen vegetables are usually cooked 2 times less in comparison with fresh counterparts. For this reason, they are added last in some dishes (for example, soups). At the expense the latest technologies frozen vegetables do not lose useful properties. Therefore, they are not only minimally damaged during the freezing process, but also retain most of the vitamins.
You can cook various dishes from frozen vegetables; this process is practically no different from cooking fresh products. Sometimes store-bought vegetables have certain recipes on them that can make cooking easier. In addition, frozen vegetables do not need to be exposed to heat treatment: They can also be eaten raw. You do not need to open the bag to defrost. It is enough to put it in some container.
In order to properly defrost vegetables, it is enough to place them on the lower shelf of the refrigerator, because the optimal condition for defrosting is not heat, but coolness. These vegetables should be garnished before serving. Some mixtures are not thawed at all, but dipped into boiling water. However, in view of the fact that all vegetables are different, it is worth considering and different time their preparation.
It is also important to consider the amount of cooking liquid. For example, for a pack of mixture weighing 400 g, you will need no more than one and a half liters of water. As soon as the water boils, additional ingredients (including salt and spices) are added to it, and boiled for no more than 10 minutes. To prevent the finished mixture from being watery, a colander is used at the end of cooking.
How to bake?
To make the cooked vegetables especially tasty, before baking them in the oven, you should first fry them in a saucepan or frying pan. This will eliminate excess moisture, and therefore the dish, placed in a special mold, will not spread. If you do not plan to fry vegetables, but you need to get rid of moisture, you can completely defrost them.
So that the created dish does not burn on a baking sheet or other form, the forms themselves are greased with vegetable oil. Suitable for both olive and sunflower, and even rapeseed. Salting thawed ingredients immediately is undesirable, since salt is a provocateur of additional juice production. It will evaporate faster than necessary, which will dry out the dish.
Seasonings are also used almost at the end of cooking. The average baking temperature range can vary from 180 to 190 degrees. It is advisable to bake it for no more than 30 minutes, and about 10 minutes before the end of the process, you need to salt and pepper the dish, and also season it with the necessary seasonings. It's great if there is cheese in the house: you can rub it and sprinkle the future delicacy on top.
After putting the dish back into the oven, it is baked for the remaining minutes. Then they take it out and serve it to the table. At the same time, you can eat it not only hot, but also cold. Baked vegetables are delicious not only with cheese, but also with an egg.
How to stew properly?
Stewing differs from frying in that it is more gentle on the vegetables. In fact, they are stewed more than fried. The method involves the use of a frying pan, only the fire, unlike frying, will be less here. These vegetables will not need more oil. A low fire prevents food from burning and sticking to the bottom.
Place vegetables in a heated pan and start cooking. The oil is not added immediately, as the moisture must be removed first. The vegetables are stewed and oil is added as soon as the moisture evaporates. You will need very little of it, so the dish will not be greasy. It can be served with potatoes, fish, or meat.
How to cook in a pan?
Frying in a pan is considered the most fast way cooking vegetable crops. It is less troublesome than baking in the oven, although it has its drawbacks. The pan is heated, then oil is poured onto the bottom. Having laid out the vegetables, they begin to fry.
Fry them over medium heat, as they can burn on high. After the water has evaporated and the vegetables are fried, the fire is reduced and stewed for a few more minutes. Pan frying recipes can be very diverse. For example, often at the end of frying, chopped fruits and herbs are added, grinding them in a blender, mixing with starch. Such "additives" are tormented along with fried vegetables.
How to cook in a multicooker?
The steaming method is remarkable in that it is the only one that contributes to the preservation of the maximum amount of healing substances and vitamins during processing. It is better to carry out stewing in a multicooker, which has a special mode for cooking such dishes.
Water is poured into the main bowl, a container with vegetables that need to be steamed is installed above it. The device is closed, a timer is set (as a rule, the processing time will take no more than 8-15 minutes). At the end of the steam treatment, the vegetables are removed, transferred to another dish, and seasoned with the necessary spices. After mixing, they are served to the table.
You can cook in this way not only vegetables. Recipes can be varied by adding cereals or even meat. Some vegetables prepared by this method are considered diet food. It is important to take into account the nuance that the multicooker has its own dishes, and therefore you do not need to try to use in it what is absolutely not suitable for the device.
How to cook vegetables?
In order not to boil vegetables, you need to take into account the process of freezing them. As a rule, before freezing cultures, they are doused with boiling water and immediately placed in cold water. This eliminates the complete cooking or boiling of food. The very process of boiling will be as follows.
Water is poured into a saucepan, brought to a boil, and then frozen vegetables are dipped into it. In this case, there is no need for preliminary defrosting. As soon as the water boils, add the necessary spices and salt and simmer for about 10 minutes. You do not need to overexpose vegetables, because from this they will not only be saturated with moisture, but will also lose their useful qualities at all.
After the vegetables are removed from the pan and thrown into a colander, they are placed in another container, if necessary, add some dressing. As a rule, this allows you to improve the taste of the dish. Now it can be served.
Oven recipes
With bacon
There are many baking recipes, thanks to which you can cook vegetables deliciously and simply.
For example, you can pair them with bacon. For this you will need:
- spices and herbs (to taste);
- bacon (300-350 g);
- package of frozen vegetables (0.9 kg).
Cooking starts by cutting the bacon into small pieces. They are put on a baking sheet and placed in the oven, simmering bacon in it for no more than 6 minutes at a temperature of 190 degrees.
After removing the bacon from the oven, sprinkle it on top, first with vegetables, and then with spices. After that, they are again placed in the oven for baking, but this time they simmer for no more than five minutes. After the dish is taken out, it can be served. You can improve this recipe with grated cheese by sprinkling it on top of the dish while it is still hot.
With egg and milk
This casserole can be prepared if you have:
- vegetable mixture - at least 900g;
- hard cheese - 150 g;
- milk - 150 ml;
- eggs - 3 pcs.;
- vegetable oil - 30-35 g;
- salt to taste.
This recipe differs from the previous one in that it requires preliminary cooking of vegetables.
The process of creating a delicious dish will consist of several successive stages:
- the vegetable mixture is placed in boiling water, boiled for no more than 5-6 minutes;
- after cooking, it is thrown into a colander and waiting for the liquid to drain completely;
- the vegetable mixture is spread on a greased form;
- beat the eggs separately, add milk to them and grated cheese, salt;
- vegetables are poured in a mass and the future dish is placed in the oven, which is already preheated to about 180 degrees;
- after about 10-12 minutes, the dish is removed from the oven, seasoned with fresh herbs and served.
With chicken fillet
To feed your family deliciously, you can prepare a dish of vegetables in bags and chicken meat.To do this, you need to prepare the following ingredients:
- purified water - 60-65 ml;
- chicken fillet - 400-450 g;
- sour cream - at least 80 g;
- vegetables - 1000-1200 g;
- salt, herbs, spices to taste;
- sesame seeds - no more than 15 g;
- pepper - 5-6 pcs.
While the oven is warming up, take out the vegetable mixture, place it on a metal sheet and pour water on top. Take chicken fillet, cut it into pieces, roll in spices. Sprinkle the mixture with salt, put meat slices on top of it. Sesame seeds are added to sour cream and the resulting "pie" is poured over it.
After that, you can bake vegetables in an oven at 190 degrees for 20 minutes. If it seems that there is not enough time for the meat to cook, you can increase it by 5-7 minutes. After the allotted time is over, the dish is taken out of the oven, laid out on plates and decorated with fresh herbs. You can diversify the recipe by adding to sour cream sauce some mushrooms with sesame seeds.
Home freezing
It is impossible not to mention how to cook freezing yourself, because it will be no worse than the store one. In addition, it is not difficult to do this, and it can always be used as a side dish in the future. This vegetable mixture can also be fried, boiled, baked, and steamed. You can also freeze spring greens.
In order to freeze, they are initially determined with specific types of products. They are selected by carefully examining them for damage and rot. Further, vegetable crops are washed, dried and everything inedible is removed from them. After that, the selected vegetables are cut into pieces, choosing the size at your discretion.
It is also important to consider the fact that some vegetables will have to be doused with boiling water. For example, if you plan to freeze bell peppers, carrots, beets or greens, this process is required. However, immediately after placing and removing from the boiling water, everything should be placed in cold water. After that, the drying phase follows again, otherwise the vegetables will turn into an ice ball in the freezer.
You need to dry the cut pieces well, prepare plastic bags for them. It is advisable that they have zip fasteners - this will save you from the tedious tying, and it will also allow you to get rid of excess air inside. Packages must be selected more tightly so that they do not break during operation.
Placing vegetables in the bag, they try to remove as much air as possible from it. You can pre-freeze by placing the pieces on a mold and placing it in the freezer. After freezing, the pieces are packed in bags and stored again. You can also use oil to freeze greens, creating a kind of ice cubes with it. To do this, you can use the forms for cubes; then they are also packaged and stored in the freezer. The taste of such greens will always be extraordinary, as if they had just been plucked from the garden.
In order for the frozen mixture to be of high quality, to be stored in the freezer well and for a long time, it is necessary to monitor the temperature regime. For her, the optimal indicator is a reading of -20 degrees. In addition, you need to consider important point: no need to freeze vegetables in huge bags if the family is small.
Freezing and thawing harms the quality of the product, and therefore it is better to use the entire small bag than to take a large amount out of the freezer and defrost it.
For information on how to cook frozen vegetables, see the video below.
How to choose the right frozen vegetables, how healthy they are and recipes, how to cook delicious with them dietary meals for a healthy lifestyle.
The content of the article:
You don't have time to cut vegetables and cook complex dishes? Freeze vegetables for future use, which will significantly save your precious hour in the kitchen.
The history of freezing vegetables
Freezing food is a modern invention. However, this oldest way of storing food was first patented by the British 200 years ago. The inventor G.S. Baker, who lives in the United States at the beginning of the 20th century, began to freeze vegetables and fruits with commercial gain - he freezed unusable crops in order to sell them later. Simultaneously with it, experiments in Germany showed that it is possible to freeze food in a quick way, in just a few hours. And just a year later, Clarence Birds developed a way to freeze food for sale in small packages. Food storage today different ways freezers are widely used all over the world.
However, it is unfortunate that all the vegetables that are on store shelves all year round have practically no useful properties in comparison with those grown in season. But there is a way out: prepare meals from self-frozen vegetables. Most of the nutrients and vitamins are retained in them. In addition, frozen vegetables are a real find for modern housewives, because they do not need to be cleaned, washed, sliced or otherwise processed. And the package can contain any set that is necessary for a healthy and tasty dish.
How to choose frozen vegetables in stores?
If you prefer to buy frozen vegetable mixes, then it will be useful to know the following information. Make sure that the factory packaging has the words "flash (shock) freezing". Shock freezing is a technology that allows you to maximally preserve the taste, color, structure of vegetables, as well as up to 90% of vitamins and 100% of microelements. Nutritionists say that such vegetables are useful and nutritional properties no worse than fresh.
The packaging itself must be free from damage, swelling and icing. Inside, the vegetables should mix freely, and not be frozen in lumps - this means that they have been defrosted several times. The presence of frost on the package indicates a lower storage temperature for vegetables. Do not buy vegetables if the above conditions are not met and if the production date is more than 6 months. And be sure to pay attention to the temperature inside the refrigerator counter - the optimal indicator is usually 18 ° C.
After purchasing frozen food, wrap it tightly in foil to bring it home, especially if you do not plan to cook right away. This will prevent them from thawing.
How do I cook frozen vegetables?
Naturally, frozen vegetable mixes are available at the supermarket. But it is better to prepare them yourself. Then you will be sure of the quality of the product, the freezing time, and freeze those products that you need.
Having decided to cook a frozen vegetable mixture, it does not need to be thawed, because vegetables will partially lose their taste, and most importantly all vitamins. Drop them directly into hot water, or put in a hot skillet. Then an excellent result is guaranteed. You can defrost vegetables only for salads.
Before you start cooking, keep in mind that the semi-finished products are frozen and will take longer to cook, because they need to melt first. Also be aware that these mixtures have a watery texture, which will cause liquid to escape during cooking. But on the other hand, you can use less oils, because products are stewed in own juice, and accordingly the dish will turn out to be dietary.
How to cook frozen vegetables: a classic recipe
Is your family hungry and you don't know what to cook quickly? Use frozen vegetables for a delicious and healthy side dish in just 15 minutes.
- Caloric content per 100 g - 40 kcal.
- Servings - 4
- Cooking time - 20 minutes
Ingredients:
- Mix of frozen vegetables - 1 kg
- Sour cream - 1 tablespoon
- Mayonnaise - 1 tablespoon
- Soy sauce - 3 tablespoons
- Salt and spices to taste
Cooking frozen vegetables:
- Put the frozen mixture on hot skillet... Wait for the vegetables to thaw, release water, and soften.
Other recipes for frozen vegetables
If you want to see your favorite summer vegetables on your table, stock up on them at the height of the season. And how to properly prepare them, while maintaining a fresh taste, read below.
1. Greens - dill, parsley, basil, green onions, sorrel, spinach
- Place the herbs in a bowl and rinse. Then transfer to a colander and rinse again. Dry after the last rinse: leave them in a colander to drain the water.
- Spread a waffle or cotton towel on the table and lay out the herbs to dry completely. Turn it over and shake it several times.
- Put dry herbs in a vacuum bag, releasing all the air from it, and send to the freezer.
2. Mexican vegetable mix - courgettes, bell peppers, broccoli, chili peppers, peas, carrots, corn
- Divide broccoli into inflorescences, rinse and dry.
- and bell pepper, wash, peel from the stalks and seeds, dry and cut into strips.
- Wash the courgettes, dry, cut into cubes and blanch for 2 minutes using a colander. Then dry them well.
- Peel the carrots, wash, cut, put them in boiling water and boil for 2–5 minutes. Then rinse and dry.
- Hull the corn and green peas and boil for 3–6 minutes. Throw in a colander, rinse and dry.
- Combine the prepared vegetables in a large bowl, mix, pack in bags and send to freeze in the freezer. You can use a similar mixture to make stews, soups, or salads.
Rice with frozen vegetables
Rice is a great side dish for a good meat steak.
Ingredients:
- Rice - 1 glass
- Frozen carrots - 1 pc.
- Frozen bell peppers - 1 pc.
- Frozen green peas - 100 g
- Onions - 1 pc.
- Olive oil - 3 tablespoons
- Salt and spices to taste
- Heat in a frying pan olive oil and fry for 3 minutes, chopped onion... Then add the frozen carrots and continue to fry for another 5 minutes.
- Add frozen green peas and cook for 5 minutes.
- Season with salt, pepper, spices and cover with well-washed rice, spreading it evenly over the entire surface. Do not stir the mass.
- Pour boiling water over the food in the ratio of water and - 2: 1. Cover the skillet with a lid, heat low and simmer for 15 minutes, until the rice has absorbed all the liquid.
- Then ready meal let it brew for 10 minutes and you can serve it to the table. Stir all products carefully before serving so as not to disturb the structure of the rice.
Frozen vegetable soup
The summer season is far away, but you want light soup? Use a frozen vegetable mixture, which can be varied. For example, zucchini, tomatoes, cauliflower, green beans, etc.
Recipe Ingredients:
- Any frozen vegetable mixture - 400 g
- Potatoes - 2 pcs.
- Onions - 1 pc.
- Meat broth - 2.5 l.
- Vegetable oil - 2 tablespoons
- Salt, pepper, bay leaf - to taste
- Send the meat broth to the stove to heat up.
- Peel the potatoes, wash, chop and cook in the broth.
- Peel the onions, wash, cut into cubes, sauté in vegetable oil and send to the pan.
- Do not process the frozen mixture, but simply dip it into the broth.
- Add bay leaf, season with salt and pepper and cook until cooked. Serve the soup with sour cream and fresh herbs.
Frozen vegetables with chicken
The main advantage of this dish is not quick cooking, but in the fact that it refers to the menu " proper nutrition». Chicken breasts supplemented with vegetables, maybe even frozen, - an excellent dietary protein product.
Ingredients:
- Frozen vegetables - 500 g
- Chicken fillet - 300 g
- Onions - 1 pc.
- Vegetable oil - 2 tablespoons
- Eggs - 2 pcs.
- Sour cream - 100 g
- Mustard - 2 tablespoons
- Salt and spices to taste
- In a skillet in hot vegetable oil, fry the washed and chopped onions until golden brown.
- Wash the chicken fillet, cut into strips and add fry to the onion.
- Cook the chicken for about 5 minutes and lay in the frozen vegetables without thawing.
- Beat eggs with a mixer with sour cream. Add mustard, salt and spices.
- Pour the sauce over the meat and vegetables and simmer for half an hour.
Useful properties of these vegetables:
