Lemongrass Coconut Chicken over Grains

Now that I am getting ready for baby in a few weeks, I am all about making meals to freeze. I will share some of my favorites as I make them this month, because finding new meal ideas to freeze ahead are one of the biggest requests I get.

As I started to think about what to make, I looked to the meals that I have bought and liked in the freezer aisle.  At the top of my list was this entree from Kashi:

 

I always feel great after I eat this, and knew it froze well, so I thought, what if I recreated it at home? Turns out it is super easy:

I was also excited to get to use this ingredient that friends and healthy food writers have been raving about:

This is supposed to be the healthiest fat we can eat, though I used it as a flavor booster, with the healthiness factor as a bonus (always my priority levels).

You start with these grains, and while they cook according to their packages:

You make the yummy sauce for the top with these ingredients:

Note the jalepeno – I decided to leave it out since my kids don’t love spicy, but if you do, leave it in!  I was so happy to discover how easy this dish is.  First you melt the 2 T. of the coconut oil on med-high heat, then saute the aromatics in it:

I can’t believe how much the pureed Lemongrass and Ginger speed up this dish, and you don’t even notice the difference.  If you can’t find these ingredients in these tubes, try to get the original and just use about the same amount (1 T.) of minced ginger, and about six 1-inch pieces of lemongrass stalks (about 2-3 stalks, tops trimmed) removing them after the sauce has simmered.  Then you add the chicken:

Then after the chicken has turned mostly white, add the cocount milk and lime juice, simmering on med-low for 10 min. to infuse the flavors:

After 10 min, mash this mixture of flour and coconut oil together and add to sauce thicken it (it does a beautiful job! It is just like thickening a french sauce with butter and flour):

When it is all cooked, add the veggies (I love how the frozen bag of stir fry veggies felt like I was eating the Kashi meal since they are perfectly cut, also super speedy):

Cook until veggies are cooked through, then serve over combined grains.  If you are freezing them like I did, just lay out 3 medium sized containers, letting sauce cool before assembly:

 

Ready to freeze! I did layer grains with sauce on top, so each container is like the entree, even though this picture looks like I froze them separately. It was so good I made a second batch the next day and we ate if for dinner – the kids were licking their plates.

 

Please let me know what your favorite make ahead freezer meals are!!