The Great Freezer Swap (Ladies Night With A Twist)

Last night some girlfriends and I did something really fun and different. I mean we still made a dinner of Spanish cheese and salami and popped bubbly, BUT we combined all of that goodness with a freezer swap!

The night started out with us looking into doing one of those spice-company parties where you come with prepped ingredients, gather around a kitchen, and put together your meals together. We all liked this idea, but it was starting to seem a little expensive and complicated, and we didn't want to spend the entire evening more concerned about measuring out ingredients than chatting. 

So we simplified it to the Nth degree and decided that each of us would prepare a meal of our choosing at home, multiply it by five (there were 6 of us there last night), and bring it to Margot's house. We all chatted and had great girl time, then at the end of the night we talked about how to prepare what we brought and took one of each of the dishes. So we all left with 5 different freezer meals!

I know you've been dying for a photo of me holding raw chicken thighs, so here you go.

I did a sheet pan dinner in the picture above. Chicken thighs, carrots, brussel sprouts, onion, green beans, sweet potatoes. All marinated in a garlic/herb/citrus marinade (to be honest -- the kind from the packet where you just add the citrus juice) to which I added olive oil and stone ground mustard. 

I froze it before the evening, and to prepare, my friends just have to thaw the bag in the fridge, dump it out on a sheet pan, and cook at 400 degrees flipping halfway through!

And in my freezer now I have chicken enchiladas, a crockpot chicken stew, BBQ chicken chili and cornbread, meatballs and pasta, and shrimp creole with rice. 

Now THAT is a productive girls night ... am I right?!