Workamping at the sugar beet harvest has its rewards. Financially, it’s a lot of money earned in a short period of time. It has its challenges too though. You’re on your feet 12 to 13 hours a day, seven days a week once harvest begins, unless you have a work stoppage due to weather. You’re tired. You’re working out in the elements, and sugar beets like being harvested in colder weather. The last thing you want to do after a long day’s work is to have to cook when you get home.
We always arrive a few days early, and we use that time to prepare ourselves for the start of the harvest the best we can. The RV gets a good cleaning. The bedding gets thoroughly washed. We go to Walmart and make a big haul of groceries and supplies. (The nearest Walmart from our harvest location is 45 minutes away. Definitely NOT something we want to drive often). And I cook, for three or four solid days.
I make a variety of meals and seal them in quart-sized Ziploc bags, then freeze them for future use. Once the harvest begins, I’ll take out whichever meal we want for dinner and toss it in the sink before we leave for work. By the time we get home the food is thawed. We just pop in onto a plate or into a bowl, nuke it for two or three minutes, and voila – a hot meal! No cooking, and very few dishes to clean up.
Over the course of several seasons, I have learned that pasta dishes and rice dishes just don’t freeze and reheat well. They tend to come out really dry. This year I stuck with meals that have proven themselves in the past – loaded baked potato soup, chicken tortilla soup and tater tot casserole. Here, I’ll share the recipes for two of these.
Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup
Ingredients:
This recipe can come out a bit spicy. If you don’t like spicy food, omit the chili powder and cayenne pepper. Substitute bell pepper or diced mild chili peppers in place of the jalapeno.
Two to three boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
32 oz. chicken broth
28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
15 oz. can whole kernel corn, drained
15 oz. can diced tomatoes with green chilis
15 oz. can black beans x2 (or one 32 oz. can)
one medium brown onion, diced
one jalapeno pepper, diced
1 tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
Place all ingredients into a crock pot, stir well, and simmer on high for four to six hours. Allow to cool well if you’re going to be storing in plastic bags.
Since this recipe starts with cooked chicken, you probably could simmer the ingredients on the stove in a large pot for half an hour to an hour, but I like using the crock pot because it really allows the flavors to blend well.
Tater Tot Casserole
This one is super easy! It comes out kind of like a shepherd’s pie, and could probably be made with mashed potatoes instead of tater tots.
Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
1 medium brown onion, diced
1 bag of frozen tater tots
2 standard cans of cream of mushroom soup
1 cup shredded cheese of your choice (optional)
1 tbsp. garlic powder
In a large pan, combine ground beef and garlic powder. Brown the ground beef, breaking it apart as it cooks. Drain well. When beef is done, stir in diced onion and cream of mushroom soup. (If you like your onion softer, saute the onion in butter in the pan before adding your beef to brown).
In a 9 x 13 pan, use about 2/3 of the bag of tater tots and line the bottom of the pan. Pour beef mixture on top of tater tots and spread evenly. Add remainder of the tater tots on top of the beef mixture. They won’t completely cover the beef, so spread them around evenly. Cover with shredded cheese, if desired.
Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for half an hour or until tater tots are done. To make this recipe more quickly, cook your tater tots before assembling the casserole, then bake for 10 to 15 minutes (or long enough to melt cheese).
That’s it!! Two easy, tasty, hearty recipes that freeze and reheat well.
Bon apetit!
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