A little planning goes a long way!

Have you heard of the concept of group freezer meals?

I hadn't till about 8 or 9 years ago.

Once I heard, it sounded like the greatest invention ever!

I shared it with my women friends in Sunday School, and it became a project we did every 1 or 1 1/2 years.

First, you get a group of your friends (I guess they don't have to be your friends...) together, and decide on a recipe that you each want to do.  Then make sure no one is making duplicates.

Then, you can either do all the preparation together, or separately, and come together as a group.

So, for example...say there are 10 of us in my group.

I would make a recipe 9 times (unless I also want one for myself.)

I would totally prepare the recipe, except for cooking it, put it in a foil pan, or other container, and package it in freezer bags.

This is what I mean....

One year, I decided to make Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole.

If you have never had it, you must...if you have never made it...it's the easiest thing to make....

{Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole}

2 lb. chicken, cooked and shredded

1 can cream chicken soup

1 c sour cream

1 roll Ritz crackers, crushed

1 stick butter

1 1/2 T poppy seeds

 1/2 t salt

Shred chicken and place in greased 8x8 pan.  Mix sour cream and cream chicken soup, and spread over chicken.  Melt one stick butter in the skillet, add crushed crackers, poppy seeds, and salt.  Stir till coated.  Put on top of casserole and bake at 375 degrees for 30-35 min.

There were 10 of us in my group, so I made 9 casseroles, packaged them in 8x8 foil pans, slid them in large freezer bags, and froze them until we all met.

When we met, we each brought a cooler, and we each took one one of everything from every person except ourselves.

I had 10 meals that I didn't make, to take home and put in my freezer.  

There were things like beef and noodles, soup, casseroles, chicken enchiladas, cooked spaghetti and meatballs, sweet and sour meatballs, etc.  

All I had to do on busy nights, was pull it out of the freezer in the morning so it could thaw, and then bake it when I got home and add a side dish to it.

Easy, and great.

I think we're doing it again this year with my Sunday School class.  We haven't done it since our kids were small, and that totally doesn't make since, cause when our kids were small...when did we find the time?

Anyway, here are some tried and true recipes I've used to freeze that are easy with only a few ingredients.

{Easy Chicken Enchiladas}

2 lbs chicken, cooked and shredded

1 4 oz. can chopped green chilies

1 1/2 c shredded cheddar

1 10 oz. can enchilada sauce

8 corn tortillas  (or more)

Combine chicken, 1 c cheese and chilies.  In bottom of 9x13 pan, spread 1/2 can enchilada sauce.  Fill enchiladas and roll up, and put in pan seam side down.  Pour rest of enchilada sauce over enchiladas and sprinkle with cheese.  Bake at 350 for 25 min.

{Stuffed Shells}

20 jumbo shells (cook accord. to pkg.)

9 oz. cream cheese, soft

8 oz. sour cream

8 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 lb. hamburger, browned

1 jar spaghetti sauce

Combine the above ingredients, except the shells.  Stuff into cooked shells, and put in 8x8 pan. Mix spaghetti sauce and browned hamburger and pour over shells.  Bake at 375 for 30 min.

Any recipe for Chili would work, or...

{Taco Soup}

1 can kidney beans

1 can black beans

28 oz. stewed or crushed tomatoes

1 can corn (or 2 cups frozen sweet corn)

1 taco seasoning packet

1 packet hidden valley ranch.

Cook in crockpot on low 4-6 hours

**for freezer meal, just mix everything and have your recipient cook it.

Even things like green bean casserole would work.  Pretty much anything you can adapt to freeze would work, just don't cook it before you freeze it.

I'm sure this idea is as old as time, but it seems revolutionary!

Try it.  Get a group of women together and make a night of it.

It'll be a blast!

Swimming in Sweetness

I use each and every summer to grow a garden that helps me have enough food to eat fresh and preserve for the coming winter.

Since I don't have any fruit trees of my own, however, I have to buy some of it elsewhere.

When I made my yearly call in April to the small orchard where I get my extra produce (Lodi apples for applesauce and peaches) I was told with the crazy spring we had, and all the freezes we had late in the season there would be NO apples, pears, OR peaches for me this year.

It's a matter of fact.

I heard the same thing about the concord grapes I make grape juice with.  I have my own vines, but we're just getting started, and I buy elsewhere to supplement all that I make.

What a blow.  What a shock.  Poor farmers who rely on this income yearly.

I felt slighted, and I had no reason to.

Each and everytime we heard the weatherman say there could be frost, Brent and I religiously went outside with the old sheets I keep for this very reason, and covered the strawberries and grapes.  It was a pain in the butt!

We covered every night but one.  Then we got a frost late in the morning, and it took all the grapes that I had started to get.  Everything was gone, shriveled up, brown.

I was heartbroken.  I was mad.  Just one time we didn't cover...

Fortunately, my grapes came back...but the apples, peaches, and pears are not in abundance for anyone this year.

I did find some the other day at one of the farmer's stands that I have frequented in the past.

They are from South Carolina and they are called Big Smile.  I tried them last year for the first time, and they were pretty much the same quality and taste as the Red Haven peaches I typically get in August.

Since I knew about the bad luck the farmers had this spring, I bought 1 bushel.  I knew I had to put something in my freezer for the winter.

Aren't they beautiful!

The smell when you walk in the kitchen is intoxicating!  And the peaches keep coming up missing.  I think I have peach thieves in my house!

So, for the last couple of days (that's right...peaches can't all be ripe at the same time unfortunately!)  I've been covered up to my elbows in peach juice, slicing and putting them in containers to freeze.

I have a secret recipe (that won't be secret any longer...) from one of my good friends.  She gave it to me a couple years ago, and I swear by it.  It's delicious, and when you pull the peaches out of the freezer in the middle of January, they taste completely fresh!

To get started, you'll need:

6 c water
4 c sugar
1 3oz. box peach jello (can be sugar free)

Warm this all together in a saucepot on the stove.  You don't have to get it boiling, but everything needs to be dissolved.  Then, you must let it cool completely!

Slice up your peaches and put them in whatever container your heart desires as long as it can be used in the freezer.  Leave at least 1/2" headroom at the top.  Pour your "peach juice" (above recipe) over the peaches,  leaving 1/2" headroom.  Put the lid on and pop in your freezer.  They taste amazing.  My son likes to eat them partially frozen, but I like mine thawed all the way.

We've been eating fresh lettuce, peas, zucchini (I also shred and freeze this) and soon cabbage, but the next I have to preserve is probably tomatoes and corn.

What are you enjoying eating right now?

P.P.S.  Somehow I totally screwed up my old format of my blog, and now it looks like this with a wonky header not in the middle.  If anyone knows how to help me fix this....PLEASE let me know!

-----signed,
           Desperate!

Why not?

This gorgeously cool weather we've been having has made me want to bake.

All the time.

My freezer is getting full of goodies.

Maybe I'll be ahead for Christmas this year instead of behind like I always am.

I've kinda made it a goal over summer break to  unofficially "fill my freezer" with meals.  I'm also filling it with produce/fruit that's in season, but I wanted to do some meals as well.

I don't know why, but sometimes it's a lot easier to pull a meal out of the freezer than to plan a menu during the work week with sports, meetings, etc.

Today, the kids told me the cookies in the cookie jar were getting hard.  I made them last week, but I guess fresh cookies don't last as long as the processed ones we buy in the store.

I remembered that I recently "pinned" a recipe for cheesecake cookies on Pinterest.

The kids requested that I try that one.

It was the easiest recipe ever!  You can find it here.

It literally took me less than 5 minutes to whip together.

It was like a mini chocolate cheesecake in your mouth!

I didn't have cream cheese in a stick on hand, so I used the whipped cream cheese I had.  It worked just as well...I'm assuming.  I also used mini chocolate chips instead of regular sized ones.

The cookies were a hit.

I'm keeping the recipe.

Nothing a little chocolate can't cure...

I'm in the run-around again. 

So I'm linking you up to one of my spring projects...from LAST SPRING.  Lame, I know, but it's gotta be done.

Currently this beauty resides on my front door, as it did last Spring when I first made it.  It's a staple.  A keeper.  A great project put to use for a couple seasons each year. 

My flower/burlap/ribbon wreath.  First displayed here .

I love it. 

I'm linking up an old craft, cause, let's be honest, with the job change I made a month ago, the sports schedules we keep, as well as 4-H, and just plain 'ol cleaning, grocery shopping, meal making on a regular basis...my creative juices haven't been flowing. 

You don't know how SAD this makes me.  I so want to be creative, but I SO LACK the time. 

Instead, tonight, I made some of this...

turn into these for the teacher I work with, whose birthday is TOMORROW!

During snack time we'll get these out and all the kindergartners will sing Happy Birthday to her.  There is NOTHING a kindergartner loves more than recess and birthday parties!

So, forgive me for a recycled project...I will come up with an original one again soon.  I promise.

Freezer meals

The other day I posted a list of all the things I hope to get finished over Spring Break.  One of them was making some frozen meals.

One of my followers posted asking for some recipes/ideas for frozen meals.  First, I LOVE when people ask me questions...ask away...anything...I think...so, here goes.

I started this frozen meal thing years ago when my kids were much smaller, when it felt like I had less time...but then again, I wasn't working full time.

The ladies in my Sunday School class would get together and decide one recipe they would make.  Then we would count up how many ladies were in on this, and make our recipe, that many times.

We would bring our dishes, already put together, (but not cooked), and trade them.  There were times I made 10-15 of the same recipe, but I brought home that many DIFFERENT meals for my family and my freezer.  We only made the main dish in an 8x8 or 9x13 container (we all agreed on the size before we made the recipes.)

Today, I don't do recipes in that volume, I only one in awhile double my recipe, and freeze half.  So, no matter which way you do this frozen meal things...for yourself, or in quantity, you'll need these things...

disposable foil pans

foil

2 gallon size freezer bags

Here are also some of the recipes I use that don't require too many ingredients or at least ingredients that aren't too costly.  Since I also freeze my own garden produce, I use some of that to help with the cost...

Recipe #1  Sweet and Sour Meatballs

***Make this in whatever quantity you want...

1 egg

3/4 c milk

1 c shredded cheese

1/2 c crushed Ritz crackers

1 t salt

1 1/2 lb. hamburger

1/2 c flour

4 T olive oil

Sauce:

2/3 c ketchup

1/2 c brown sugar

1 1/2 t mustard

Stir all ingredients (except flour, olive oil, and sauce) together in a bowl.  Roll into whatever size balls you like, and put on a cookie sheet in the freezer for 1/2 hour to firm up.  Take out and roll in flour and brown with the oil in a skillet until golden brown.  As they brown, put into whatever size disposable foil container you have.  Stir together sauce and drizzle over meatballs. Cover with foil, put in a freezer bag, and freeze.  When ready to eat, defrost, and bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Recipe #2   Poppy Seed Chicken

2 lb. chicken, cooked, and cut up

1 can cream chicken soup

1 c sour cream

1 roll Ritz crackers, crushed

1 stick butter

1 1/2 T poppy seeds

1/2 t salt

Dice up chicken and place in greased 8x8 disposable foil pan.  Mix sour cream and soup and spread over chicken.  Melt one stick butter in the skillet.  Add crackers, poppy seeds, and salt.  Stir to coat with melted butter.  Put over top of soup/sour cream mixture.  Cover with foil, put in freezer bag.  When ready to eat, defrost and bake at 375 for 30-35 minutes, until bubbly.

Recipe #3   Lasagna

1 jar Prego (your favorite)

1 15 oz. container cottage cheese

1/4 c grated Parmesan

6 uncooked lasagna noodles

2 c shredded mozzarella cheese

1 9x13 disposable foil pan

In 9x13 pan, spread 1 c sauce.  Next, layer 3 lasagna noodles (uncooked), cottage cheese, then 1 c mozzarella, 1/4 c Parmesan, and 1 c sauce.  Repeat with 3 more noodles, remaining sauce, and remaining shredded cheese.  Cover with foil and freezer bag.  Freeze.  To eat, defrost and bake at 375 for 1 hour.

Recipe #4   Taco meat

Brown hamburger in 1 lb. quantities, mix with taco seasoning packet, and freeze in container for later.  Makes eating tacos so much easier because it's already made!

Recipe #5  Tuna Patties

2 small cans tuna

1/2 t Lawry's seasoned salt

1/4 c milk

2 eggs, beaten

3/4 c crushed Ritz crackers

3 inch wedge Velveeta, cut in cubes

Mix all ingredients together and form into patties.  Place patties on greased cookie sheet in freezer for 30 minutes to firm up.  Take out and place in disposable foil pan with parchment paper layers in between patties.  Freeze.  To eat, defrost and fry up in skillet without oil.

Recipe #6  Easy Chicken Enchiladas

2-5 oz. cans shredded chicken, (or 2 lb. cooked, shredded chicken)

1 4oz. can chopped green chilies

8 (or more) corn tortillas (warmed in microwave, and cooled)

1 1/2 c shredded cheddar

1 10oz. can enchilada sauce

9x13 disposable foil pan

Combine chicken , chilies, and 1 c cheese in a bowl.  In bottom of 9x13 pan, spread 1/2 can enchilada sauce.  Fill shells with 1/8c chicken mixture, roll up, and place in pan seam side down, until packed tightly together.  Pour rest of enchilada sauce over the enchiladas, and sprinkle with remaining cheese.  Cover with foil and freezer bag and freeze.  To eat, defrost and bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

Now you have a good base to start with.  Pretty much any casserole that is your favorite, or usually any soup too, can be frozen.  Just don't bake it first.

Have fun!

                                          

Cooking...with a side of manure

Yep, the title says it all, and so would Ree.  Ree Drummond that is.  AKA The Pioneer Woman.

That's right...we're like this (fingers crossed) but not really.  I've never met this woman in my life...but kinda want her life.

City girl, met a stud of a man when she was least expecting it, fell in love, got married, moved to a sprawling ranch his family owns, started a blog, gained notoriety, wrote 2 cookbooks, wrote a children's book, wrote her own love story, and then started a food network show...I mean, come on.  She's the girl next door!

I want to be her.

So, I bought her first cookbook a year ago.  Or maybe a year and a half ago.

LOVE IT!  Her meatballs are to die for, and many other things as well.  It's a MAN'S kinda food as Brent would say.  Meat and potatoes!

So, I bought the newest one tonight.  Like 5 minutes ago.

I'm pretty pumped.  I like new recipes.  I feel I'm in a rut too often.  I mean, how many times a week can we have tacos?  (no, you don't feel this way...)

So, while my husband is glued to the TV for March Madness, I'll be perusing my new cookbook...written by my idol.

YES YOU ARE PIONEER WOMAN...YES YOU ARE!

Food can be a struggle

If you're like me, finding a menu that isn't repetative each week is a struggle sometimes. 

With practices/games/church/PTO meetings/4H meetings/etc. to work around, sometimes finding a healthy meal and a QUICK preparation is difficult.  I'm also trying hard to work in fruits and vegetables that are in season, or from my freezer.

So, I just wanted to let you know...I hear you moms!  I feel your pain!

Here are some tried and true things I've made that are pretty good.  Some take a little longer to prepare, so sometimes I mix them up and put them in the fridge the night before to bake the next day.

Tator Tot Casserole (recipe found here)

When I whipped this one up, my kids told me it looked a little like dog food, but they both had seconds.  It's good.  It's comfort food.  What more could you ask for?

Chicken Alfredo Bake (recipe here)  If this link doesn't work, click on my Pinterest button on the sidebar and go to my Yumminess board.

This is good.  Although it has ALOT of ingredients.  It's pretty much a glorified homemade white macaroni and cheese with chicken.  It is good, though.

Baked Zucchini (recipe here)

These are simple, and delicious.  I was pleasantly surprised at how good they were.  Especially when dipped in a little ranch dressing.  I'm always looking for recipes for the zucchini I have that seems to multiply in my garden.

Indoor Smores (recipe here)

This is just one recipe for these.  Another is on the side of the Golden Grahams box.  My kids love these as a special treat.  They ROCK!

These are some things I haven't had the time to try, but would like to.

Buffalo Chicken Roll-ups (recipe here)  If you can't connect here, click on my Pinterest button on the sidebar and go to my yumminess board.

Baked Asparagus (no recipe...season with olive oil, salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese.  Bake at 350 for 10-15 min.)

AND...
Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate (recipe here)

I love strawberries, (already have them in the garden...), dig lemonade, so why not mix it.  You could freeze this and have the yumminess all winter. 

Hope this gives you all a little inspiration.  Goodness knows I need some each week. 
Send me some of yours if you have some good ones.

I was gonna talk about...

So, I started out this morning wanting to talk about Valentine crafts...since, well, you know THAT season is coming up (thankfully that whole stressful high school time with finding who your valentine will be for that ONE day is OVER) and I got sidetracked by this little picture.

source

I have NO idea how this came into my search criteria.  Maybe because it's pink.  I don't know, but then the looking for Valentine crafts thing just kinda went through the window, and it was all about searching for the perfect menu planning board.

I saw this...


source

 which is cute and all, but maybe a little plain for me.  Don't get me wrong...I LOVE the gold.  That's my new favorite color, mustardy gold...but we're getting off the subject again.

I saw the pair of these...


source

 which were more my speed.  I liked the pocket for favorite meals, which by the way are laminated.  LOVE THAT!  I also liked the pop bottle top days of the week, and the header.  This might be a possibility, and then I saw this...


source

I loved the fav's, fast, and new meal choices.  Because sometimes that's how life is.  When I'm planning out my meals for the week (cause I honestly do every week...don't understand some people who don't...) I need some "fast" meals for the times the kids have a late practice, or church, or games.  It's not easy to work all day, and then come home and immediately start a meal.  I have to be prepared!

You see, I might boarder on the side of obsessive in many things in my life.  I don't like that word though...I like PREPARED, or ORGANIZED, or EXTREMELY FUNCTIONAL.  Those sound so much better.

Whenever I get my grocery store sale flyer in the paper (usually Sunday) I sit down and prepare, based on the sales for the week, my coupons on hand, what's in my freezer, and sometimes what's in my pantry...my menu for the week, and all in one breath, my grocery list, which, I might add is in order of how the store is laid out.  (Ok, THAT might be OVER THE TOP, but who wants to run back and forth from aisle to aisle to find things on your list.  I personally don't have that kinda time.) 

My menu plan is currently a sheet of lined paper on the fridge, and my frequent list of meals/side dishes is in my recipe binder.  Not really cute to look at.  BUT, it is effective.  My kids always know what's for supper, and I am NOT A MEAL NATZI where I never change a meal...sometimes I don't feel like fixing what is stated for the night, so I might switch with another.

Either way, it does take a lot of preparation, and planning ahead if I need to defrost something. 

I just would like it to look a little cuter in my kitchen.  So, it's going on my to-do list, which miraculously gets bigger every time I check out pinterest.com.  Hmmm...

So tell me, based on the above...which is YOUR favorite, and if you feel so inclined, tell me how you plan your week's meals.

This is what I vow...

I've been reading alot already this new year.
Now, this is no surprise, I read everyday...I can't get enough reading, but I've been reading some, I guess you'd say, interesting subjects lately.
I already told you that I read this over Christmas because my sister got it for me.

It was great, it was awesome, it was radical.
Then, while I was at the library the next week, I got this book.  Just by accident, just because the subject sounded interesting.

It was even more radical.  The story was all about a couple who reside in British Columbia and who decided to start at 100-mile diet.  They ate no food out of season, or what they couldn't get from 100 miles away.  They ate, and this is totally my opinion, some very disgusting things.  They lost alot of weight, and craved food like mad, and hardly every shopped in a grocery store, and paid extravagant amounts of money for things they had to travel 100 miles to get, but it was a good book.  I took away SOME things from it.

Then, every spring, and it's about that time for me...I read this book, which I own.  A friend recommended it to me a couple years ago, and I read it, and loved it from the first moment.

It too, is about a family who decided to eat just what was in season, for one year.  They also ate at restaurants that supported local farmers by preparing food in season, and grown locally.  It's a good read, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in this sort of thing.

You're wondering where I'm going with all this right?

Since I loved a part of each book, and each book talked about how important it was for us to eat things grown in season...I decided I wanted to do something for my family in 2012.
I decided I wanted to be more conscious of what we eat.  We need to eat healthier.  I want  need to lose weight, and I want the food we're eating to not cost us a fortune every time I get it from the grocery store.

This means, I will grow more in my garden this year even though that means more work, more weeding, and more planning in the beginning stages.
I will also do more canning.  (I can't believe I just said that.  I do alot as it is...) But I want to be able to know the ingredients in MY canned products are real things, and not some fake fillers.

I will buy products from the new local bulk store in town because I know they buy from a man locally who grows lettuce and other vegetables in a greenhouse over the winter.
I want to be more conscientious about this.

Now, I'm not gonna get as radical as the people in all the books I read.  I'm not gonna suggest to Brent that we buy a cow and milk it ourselves, and make our own butter and cheese (although that sounds pretty cool, just alot of work!)  I want to start slowly, and work myself up to maybe some things more out of my comfort zone.

So, today, I started small.  It was our last day home for Christmas Break, and I told the kids I would make them bacon cheeseburger pizza.  In the past, we've just bought frozen versions of this.

I got out the Boboli whole wheat crust that I bought at Meijer.  (Yes, I should've made my own, but I am terrified of yeast.  We don't have a good relationship, and I can never get it to work.)

On the crust, I put some of my Pizza Hut copycat pizza sauce that I canned this fall.  (By the way...it is GOOD!)

Then I browned 2 lbs of hamburger that came from one of my uncle's cows.  My grandparents traded it for 2 dozen eggs last week.  (A great deal in my opinion.  Can't get more local than that considering I can see the cows from my backyard.)

To the hamburger in the skillet, I added a little garlic and some Italian pizza seasoning.
I used Cheese from the store, and bacon too since we are already out of the bacon from the pig we butchered this fall.

Into the oven at 450 for 10 minutes.

It was pretty good.  I'm making it again on Friday when Brent is gone.  The kids must've thought it was good too, cause it was mostly gone by the end of lunch.

So, hold me accountable if you must.  I will try to do the same for myself.  I want this experiment to work.  I want to stay in my grocery budget, however, so I will not pay exorbitant amounts for my food.  I will use what is currently in my freezer that I spent all of last summer and early fall putting away.  I will used my canned grape juice and pizza sauce, jelly, and tomatoes, and I will plan to can some other things as well this summer.

Hopefully soon, I will be healthier.  I will be more in shape, and I will be happier about what I'm filling my family's bodies with.

So, welcome 2012!  Here we go!

Feeling "Homey"

Except for the unseasonably warm weather we've been having in October...(try 80 degrees and above for the last week!) I've been feeling like it finally is Fall.
And every time Fall hits, like it or not, I feel the urge to start cooking.
It's not like I don't usually cook quite a bit, but the urge to fill the freezer with Christmas cookies or pumpkin bread or just anything overtakes me.
Last night I was in the kitchen till late.  I was cleaning up from supper, and then made our supper for tonight last night knowing after school today the kids and I were going to my grandparent's to rake their leaves for them.
It's the least we can do.
And they gave us frozen fresh hamburger as payment.  (I'll take that as payment anytime!)
So, while I was in the kitchen, I decided I'd make some granola as well.  It's good as cereal in the morning, or on top of yogurt.

(Doesn't everyone take pictures of things in the oven?...)

It's the easiest recipe I've ever used, and it is really good.

Granola
6 c rolled oats (old fashioned oats)
1c wheat germ
1/2 c flaxseed
1 c coconut, shredded (optional)
1c vegetable oil
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c honey
1 t vanilla
1/2 t salt


Combine oil, sugar, honey, vanilla, and salt and microwave about 50 seconds till slightly warm.  Add all dry ingredients and mix well.  Bake on parchment paper on jelly roll pan at 275 degrees for 30 minutes.  Let cool, and break up, and store in airtight container.


I've also added things like almonds, etc.  You can add whatever you like to this.

It makes the kitchen smell "homey" and makes me feel like I made something good for my family.
I store mine in this old pickle jar I found at a garage sale, and then painted the lid my favorite aqua color.

I can't wait to eat more tomorrow.
Just try it, you'll like it.  (Hey, wasn't that an old Life cereal slogan?)