Freezer Cooking with Friends

Oh WOW!  I just discovered how long it has been since I have posted anything.  :(  So sorry. I hope you all haven't forgotten about us.  Summer ended...school started with our FIRST year of homeschooling...my hubby is in school full time...I work outside the home, too...CRAZY LIFE...there is one thing I can't imagine- cooking EVERY night. It seriously gives me anxiety thinking about it. 
Freezer Cooking is a blessing to me.

Since I cooked WITH Shellie this summer, we decided it was the FUNNEST (I know- that's not really a word...) way to freezer cook.  Take a chore that you don't really like (Cooking), add friends, and it becomes, well...ALMOST fun!
We since added another friend to the "group" and have had some fun, witnessed a few meltdowns, took on too much and had to cook ALL NIGHT, but at the end the cooking is DONE for a month at a time.  BIG SUCCESS.

That is 4 in the morning... ugh!  We didn't start until 7 in the evening, kids were up until LATE, and we planed way too many meals.  NOT GOOD!  But it makes for a good story!

 

This last menu, we made 16 recipes that made 30+ meals for each of our families. We started at 10 that morning and everyone was packed up by 7.  (We even cleaned up the kitchen and spent an hour just sitting and chatting.) We later commented to each other how relaxed the day felt...We all like it so much that we have January's day already on the calendar.

Coolers all packed up and ready to be taken home to be put away in freezers!  SUCCESS!

So, find a couple of friends and make a day of it. You will be surprised at how much it helps day to day. 

Now for the menu:  (Most of the recipes are linked here.)

Meatballs (We chose whether we wanted all meatballs or a meatloaf, also.)

Breaded Ranch Pork Chops

Slow Cooker Pot Roast

Crockpot Country BBQ Ribs

Cheese Manicotti

Lasagna

Brown Bag Burritos  These are now a must have item in the freezer for all of us.

Simply Great Chicken

Buttermilk Herb Chicken Breasts

Garlic Cheddar Chicken

Chicken Parmigiana

Chicken Ranch Tacos

BBQ Chicken Quesadillas

At the end of the day, 3 families...30ish meals each...$135 each...no cooking for a month...YES!!!

A NEW THING WE LEARNED!  If you run an onion under hot water, no more crying.  It works and we all just fell in love with Pinterest again!!!!

A few pictures from a couple different sessions...one of these days, we are going to video start to finish...

This was at the beginning of our all nighter...

I think this was at 2 in the morning...I think it was shortly before this, we realized that we weren't going to sleep that night...sigh...but once you start, you can not stop.

Shellie mxing up Chicken Ranch Tacos.

Breading Pork Chops

Cheese Manicotti Assembly Line

The "Shelles" Freezer Cook Together

My little helper in the kitchen...isn't she sweet?!?!?!

Shellie has been wanting to stock her freezer with meals for her family, but it seems life keeps getting in the way. She even bought ingredients for a freezer cooking session, but life kinda spun out of control with her oldest in the hospital with a staph infection- CRAZY! He is all better now- praise the Lord!

Here is what we decided to cook: (If it's underlined, click on it and the recipe is linked up for you!) 
I put the menu up here first in case  you just want recipes, and don't want all the chatter....  ;)

Waffles

Best Ever Chicken Marinade (at least so far)

Chicken Ranch Tacos- My family actually likes these on sandwich buns and sprinkled with a little mozzarella cheese.

Mexican Chicken Casserole- We are still deciding of this one needs to be assembled the day of cooking. Layer tortilla shells, chicken mixture, tortilla shells, chicken mixture, top with cheese. Shellie made it all layered and frozen and it seemed a little "mushy."

Sweet and Spicy Grilled Chicken- Summer on the grill!!!!

PB&J Sandwiches

No Boil Manicotti- Doesn't this picture of Shellie'e little guy say it all?!?!?

P.S. This is her "picky" eater...2 thumbs up means it is being added to the next menu ASAP!

Shredded BBQ Chicken- we just took the leftover shredded chicken and dumped in Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce and froze.

Crockpot BBQ Chicken- So simple and so delicious.

Garlic Parmesan Chicken- This is my family's absolute FAVE chicken. I make it in nuggets, too.

Grilled Cilantro Lime Chicken- Another great grilling recipe for the summer.

Jo Mama's Spaghetti Sauce- This sauce is CRAZY good! I didn't use the wine just added a grape juice and a little vinegar. We like our sauce sweet; Shellie prefers "tangy." So, when I heated it up in the crockpot the day of serving, I added brown sugar to taste!  YUMMY!



We were getting ready to spend a day scrapbooking for our birthdays (our birthdays are just a few days apart.)  We got this brilliant idea to start the evening before at my house and do a little freezer cooking.  Turns out...this idea was PURE GENIUS! We already have another day scheduled.  So, if you can, get a friend and plan an evening and FILL YOUR FREEZER.  We got started about 4:30 and wrapped up around 9:30. (Cleaned up, finished, packed up, ready to scrapbook!)

What I loved about cooking together:
Our family sizes are identical, so portions were the same.
We were at my house, so when I had to stop to take care of my girlies, she could keep on cooking.  I think THAT was the secret to getting things done so quickly.
MOST OF ALL, cooking with a friend just made it FUN!"

First up, we had to decide on a menu. This was probably the hardest part, because you have to find meals that BOTH families will agree on. We both have a picky eater, as I am sure almost every family does.


Here is how we did it.
I went shopping the day before, so that was done. The morning that we were cooking, I filled a crockpot full of chicken breast seasoned with garlic pepper, dried minced onion, and a little chicken broth. I cooked that on high all day until we were ready to shred it.  I also, put the ingredients for the sauce in the crockpot and cooked that on low all day. (We later decided, that wasn't really necessary, since we both like to cook it in the crockpot the day we serve it anyway.)

When you cook your chicken in the crockpot, it is soooooo easy to shred- ALMOST effortless.

While I was getting my girls their dinner (right before Shellie arrived), I made 2 loaves of bread into pb&j sandwiches.  (That gave us each 10 sandwiches to take home.)

When Shellie arrived, we started with the Garlic Parmesan Chicken since it needed to lay flat in the freezer before freezing in bags, and of all the meals, it was the most time consuming.
After that, we just went down the list according to meat type- shredded chicken or assemble frozen, I tried to keep ahead of Shellie trimming the chicken.  (I am a tad whack-o about ANY fat on my chicken, so I trim ALOT!)

Garlic Parmesan Chicken.  We froze it on cookie sheets lined with waxed paper, once frozen transferred to freezer bags.  What  you see here, is what went in the 'fridge because my kids ALWAYS want this meal first when I freezer cook.

While Shellie made waffles, I made the manicotti. Once that was all done, we put the sauce into containers. Cleaned up the kitchen and gave each other a high five!

2 waffle irons going at the same time.

The sauce in the containers.

When we were done, we had at least 13 meals made PLUS spaghetti sauce, waffles, and pb&j. We were all smiles and feeling NO GUILT as we left to scrapbook the next day away!

Here we are the next morning, ready to scrapbook the day away!!!

Here are some other pics we took of the process:

Before I start cooking, I hang up all the recipes on  my cabinets above where I will be making those recipes. Stove top recipes bu the stove, crockpot recipes on the counter where my crockpots are...you get the picture.

 Once we finished a recipe, we moved it to a cabinet so that we could see our process- it feels like checking off a To Do List.

DONE!

Still trimming chicken....

PB&J ready for the freezer!

Mixing up the sauce for the Crcokpot BBQ chicken.  This one is great on the grill, too...just a summer FYI. ;)

the No Boil Manicotti was so easy to fill using a ziploc bag (that I "mixed/squished" the ingredients in), cut a small hole in the tip and squeezed to fill. AWESOME!

This is how we freeze anything with a marinade...dump it all in a bag. I know, it isn't a cooked meal in the freezer, but the hard part is all done, you just have to throw it on the grill, crockpot, etc...

Did I mention that the night before I was up ALL NIGHT with 9 ten year olds for my daughters big birthday...I sent her in her room to read, because she was ummmm...tired... ;) a few minutes later, this is how I found her- ASLEEP with her Kindle!

That's it for us!  Fill your freezer and bless your families (and you, too!)

Freezer Strawberry Jam (Apple Juice Instead of Sugar)

I love homemade Strawberry Freezer Jam!  The girls and I made some last year, but it bothered me like crazy that there was soooooo much sugar in it (like the same amount of sugar as fruit- eeeek!) When was the last time you gave your kiddos a cup of strawberries and a cup of sugar as a side???? NEVER?  Me either.  But it was yummy and we loved it.  This year, I thought there HAS to be better options...so I began to look around online, and found this recipe.

We like it!  It is a little tart- ummmm...sugar...and the "set" is a little softer than normal. I will probably sprinkle a little sugar on toast when they use it and on pb&j. I think we are going to LOVE it as a topping for ice cream, pancakes, and waffles!

The only DOWNSIDE is it took up half a shelf in my freezer.  I am really thinking I need a second freezer- one for produce and one for freezer meals!

Here is the recipe:

First the Strawberry Patch...a friend and I took our girls plus a couple extras on a "field trip" to pick the berries.  We were at the end of a very early season and were feeling fortunate to be able to find any to pick.

Our 2 little ones wouldn't stay out of the berries- YUMMY!

Now the recipe:
8 cups strawberries- washed and stems removed
1 3/4 cup apple juice
4 1/2 Tbl. Pectin for No Sugar Recipes

• Mash the strawberries in a large bowl.
• In a small pan, bring the apple juice and pectin to a boil. Boil for one minute.
• Remove from heat and stir quickly into the strawberries.
• Stir quickly and continuously for 1 minute.
• Ladle into prepared containers. I used glass canning jars, because I had them and they are so pretty.
• Cool in refrigerator and then place in freezer.
• Can be kept in the freezer for a year or in the refrigerator for 3 weeks.

Here are pictures of the process, because I like to see it all in pictures.

We "mashed" them in a little chopper- pulse on and off for the right consistency. Then we used Pampered Chef's Mix and Chop to mash any that were still too chunky!  ;)

This is the pectin I found and used. I really wish I knew where to buy it in big bulk- have to research that!

The pectin and apple juice cooking to a boil.

The finished product- ready for lids and to the refrigerator.

We picked about 20 pounds of strawberries and this is all we have left.  I froze 3 quart bags for smoothies. So tonight for dessert, Strawberry Shortcake!!!!

Fill the Freezer for Summer

It always seems that when we run out of Garlic Parmesan Chicken it is time to cook for the freezer again. We love that chicken- if you haven't tried it yet, PUT IT ON YOUR LIST!

I had NO TIME to cook as seems to be the trend lately, but the thought of cooking every night, because there are no meals in the freezer, actually kind of makes me have anxiety...so...here's how it went... And there aren't a lot of pictures, because, well....I kinda just got on a roll. Maybe this summer one of my girls can be the photographer for me...

A LITTLE HINT:  This is how I store my meals that I place in freezer bags.  First lay them flat to freeze and then they stand up very nicely in a dollar store container.  There are 6-7 meals in each bin like this.

Saturday night I decided to make my menu and print my grocery list.  Sunday, we have 2 services at church and after that was a Leader Meeting, so I headed to the store around 4- my wonderful husband took the kiddos home for me while I went to the grocery store ALONE.  Truth be told, I thought about taking a REALLY LONG time, but them realized ummm...family must eat this week, so work through the list I did.

After unloading the van with all the groceries, I threw in 2 packages of chicken breast into 2 crockpots, and in the other crockpot, I put ground turkey in to brown all ON HIGH.  I headed outside to play with the kiddos.  EASY!  After the girls headed to bed, I shredded or cubed the cooked chicken. The ground meat I made into taco meat.  Then I put 3 recipes in the crockpot and let them cook while I slept.  YAY!

Over the next 4 nights, I made 45+ meals for my freezer- some recipes made more than one meal for my family.

Here's what I cooked, and the real reason you are reading this blog anyway...most of the recipes are linked, so click to find the yumminess!

• Garlic Parmesan Chicken  Yes, I linked the same recipe THREE times- it is that good!
• Almost Ravioli
• Chicken Taco Pizza
• Make Ahead Burritos
• Taco Meat  (Make  your own seasoning with this recipe)
• Grilled Cheeseburger Wrap
• OMG Chicken  (This one is a recipe I made last time and we all LOVE it.  I did swap out the mayo for fat free Greek yogurt, just because I love that stuff!!!!!)
• Taco Cups
• Crockpot Cheeseburgers
• Crockpot Pizza
• White Chicken Enchiladas
• Lasagna Casserole
• Crockpot Barbecue Chicken
• Crockpot Chicken Fajitas
• Brown Bag Burritos 
• (We just had these for lunch- sooooo good!  I unwrapped them from the foil and microwaved until heated.  These are going to be a go to lunch or quick meal!)
• Grilled Cilantro Lime Chicken
• Pork Chops with Pineapple Salsa
• Macaroni and Cheese
• Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti  (I lighten this one up using fat free and reduced fat free soups and cheeses)
• Italian Chicken Marinade (Ready for the Grill)  This is just chicken breast and Italian dressing in a freezer bag popped in the freezer.
• Sweet and Spicy Chicken Grill (Summer is coming!) I just rubbed this on the chicken breasts and put in a freezer bag.
• Best Ever Chicken Marinade (We'll see about that)
• This was AWESOME chicken.  Reminded me of chicken I used to love when I worked at Steak & Ale. Next time I am planning on topping with a pineapple slice, provolone cheese (melt), and some diced tomatoes.  Try it; I think you'll like it.
• Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti
• Cubed Chicken for Chicken Salad
• Chicken Philly Sandwiches
• Chicken Ranch Tacos

I still have the ingredients to do:

• Pepperoni Rolls- Sam's Club dough, pepperoni, and mozzarella cheese rolled up and baked- so PERFECT for really busy days where everyone needs to be somewhere.
• Pizza Pockets  (And I don't make my own dough- Sam's Club does that for me.)  ;)
• Ginger Ale Pot Roast

Plus the wonderful hubby and father-in-law have been fishing and have stocked the freezer with a ton of crappie, so there will be several fish fry nights in our future. Add to that it is open house season here and shouldn't have to cook for a good 6 weeks!  Yahhhhooooooooooo!

Fill your freezer and share your favorite recipes with us!

Teacher Appreciation

So this week is teacher appreciation week and I wanted to do something other than Apple themed, lotion or candles. So I headed to my favorite spot Pinterest to get some ideas. I find so many things there then just take them and modify them to my taste. I never know how they will turn out.

For this project I bought glass jars the large ones are for the main teachers and smaller ones for specials.
I bought candy to use match my message.

I'm EXTRA happy to have you for a teacher. Don't SNICKER, but I think your great! You are MOUNDS of fun and have brought me so much JOY. I think you ROCK. Thanks for always being so JOLLY and helping me become such a SMARTIE. Teachers like you are worth a MINT. You are MIGHTY MAGNIFICENT. Thanks for all you do, you deserve a big PAYDAY!

I filled the jars with the candy trying to line it up around the sides in the order it was mentioned used  in message. After that I filled the center with extra candy, trying to put at least two of each bar.










Once the jars were filled I printed out my labels and inked around the edges to ad just a little extra color. I attached them to the jar  using double sided tape. Next I choose large flowers for the top of jars, using  brads and buttons for the center of the flower. Then I used stickles (one of my fave things) to add a little bling around the lid. There you have it!

The smaller jars were really simple. I filled them with Starburst, used ribbon around the edge of the lid and used my message as the decoration for the top of the lid.

 

I'm BURSTING with

HAPPINESS that your

my teacher.

That's it :) Happy Crafting!

I Don't Have Time to Freezer Cook...Freezer Cooking

Time for some freezer cooking....life seems incredibly busy.  Just this past weekend, I had to have all 3 girls somewhere within an hour of each other only to have to start the pickup process 2 hours later.  I LITERALLY had an hour here, an hour there, to freezer cook.  But I managed to get several meals in the freezer in just 4 hours (all split up over the course of my day.)  I had three days of that craziness, and I am sure there are LOTS of you who can totally relate.

My Menu:
Main Dishes:

• Garlic Parmesan Chicken- Yummy Recipe Here!  I made 3 recipes of this one.  It is our family's FAVORITE chicken, even my "particular" eater eats this!





Baked Chicken Nuggets ready for the freezer

• Baked Chicken Nuggets- Nugget Recipe Here!  I love to have these for quick lunches or for dinners I know the girls won't eat. (Why waste good food if I can give them a healthy option???) 

• OMGoodness! Chicken - This  one is a new one for me that I found on Pinterest, but I made it slightly different...so here is the SIMPLE recipe...
• Just mix 1/2 cup sour cream or yogurt- I used fat free Greek Yogurt, and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese. Spread over chicken breast in a baking dish.  Cover with foil and freeze.  When ready to serve:  Thaw. Sprinkle Italian bread crumbs on top and bake for 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees. I plan on uncovering it the last few minutes of baking.  It is supposed to be amazing- I hope so, because I made 2 pans of it.
• (UPDATE: My family loved this and have requested it again when I freezer cook next!)

• Chicken and Cheese Weight Watchers Casserole- WW Chic and Cheese Casserole  This one is not a "freezer" recipe, but here is how I adapted it:  Cook macaroni TWO minutes less than package instructions. Combine all ingredients, mixing well.  Add to greased baking dish, freezer bag, whatever your preference to freeze in.  To serve:  Thaw, place in greased baking dish.  Bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes.  Uncover; bake 10-15 more minutes.
• (UPDATE: Yummy Eats!)

• Grilled Cilantro Lime Chicken- I can't wait to put this on the grill with a Chipotle's knock-off recipe for rice!!!!  (UPDATE- Yummy!)
• Teriyaki Honey chicken  (UPDATE: We liked this one, too.)
• Grilled Cheeseburger Wraps  (UPDATE: It's like having a cheeseburger in MINUTES. A fave for sure.)
• Sweet Baby Ray's Burgers (UPDATE: Sweet Baby Ray's makes everything taste good!)
• Pork Chops with Pineapple Salsa
• Chicken Taco Pizza
• Pecan Crusted Chicken  (UPDATE: Delicious)
• Walnut Chicken Salad

Lunches:

• Chicken Pockets  (UPDATE- perfect for a quick lunch or dinner!)
• Taco Cups- I used this recipe but put regular biscuits in muffin cups and added the taco meat to it.  Soooooo much easier!  (UPDATE- the new way tasted just as good and sooooo much easoer to make.)
• Peanut Butter and Jelly Pockets
• Grilled Cheese Pockets- essentially, the recipe above, just cheese instead of PB&J, ready to grill...then I added ham to a few.
• Pepperoni Puffs

Side Dishes:

• Lime Vegetables
• Lemon Pepper Vegetables
• Honey Mustard Peas
• Garlic Green Beans
• Garlic Rosemary Mashed Potatoes  (UPDATE:  noone really raved over these)
• Macaroni and Cheese
• Sweet Broccoli Pasta Salad (UPDATE- perfect for those summer picnics and cookouts and since all you do is throw the sauce on it, super easy to ALMOST grab and go!)

Breakfast:

•  Puffins- This is another new one for us... I made them in large muffin pans...next time, I will try small ones, because they took FOREVER to bake, but everyone loved them.  I made them with all different toppings!  
• (Pancake Muffins) Preheat oven to 350, mix 1 c pancake mix, 2/3 c water, 1/2 c syrup. Mix together, pour in greased muffin pan. Top with banana, blueberries, chocolate chips, pecans, sausage, bacon....etc. Bake for 12-14 minutes and serve.  These were just OK- my kids prefer the Oatmeal Pancakes!                
• Oatmeal Pancakes  I make these with blueberries or chocolate chips or plain.  My 2 older girls like the blueberries, but the "baby" loves chocolate!

After making the menu, putting new recipes I wanted to try into the 30 Meals In One Day program...off to the store.  I had 2 hours to grocery shop and get it home before the evening appointments began.  I did it!  That was Friday night...

If you aren't using the 30 Meals software, you REALLY should!

Saturday Morning:
I got up and before we headed out in all different directions, I threw a bunch of boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the crockpot, seasoned with garlic pepper and minced onions.  It could cook while I played Taxi Mom.

Back for an hour before picking up from softball....  So, I grabbed a few packs of chicken and trimmed them from any fat I could find- ICK!  Then put together these meals...

• OMGoodness Chicken
• Grilled Cilantro Lime Chicken
• Teriyaki Honey Chicken

Back home again before picking up another daughter from a birthday party.  I had 45 minutes. So, I assembled these meals...

• Pecan Crusted Chicken
• Walnut Chicken Salad

After an afternoon of errands, shopping, and an evening appointment, I came home and got the girlies ready and in bed. My chicken I had put in the crockpot was finished now. I cooked for 2 more hours and was able to get these meals done...

• Chicken and Cheese WW Casserole
• Chicken Taco Pizza
• Chicken Pockets
• Taco Cups
• Garlic Parmesan Chicken

So, for just 4 hours time....  10 MEALS IN THE FREEZER...On a day when I had no big chunk of time to cook...it seems like this is becoming more the norm for me.

Sunday- I put potatoes in the crockpot to cook so that I could make the Garlic Mashed Potatoes.  That is all I did today.  Our 2 church services followed by a meeting had me exhausted.  Plus when we got home, it was SUNSHINE and 80 degrees- playing in the back yard seemed like a much better use of our time.  :) 

Over the next 2 days amidst work, softball, school, ministry needs, and just LIFE, I fit in the rest of the cooking, but I wanted to share with you how you really CAN freezer cook when you think you have NO TIME to do it! 

Shaving Cream

I first saw the recipe and thought, "Will it really work?"  But I figured for around $1.00 what did I have to lose?  With 4 girls in the house, I figure we will be using lots of shaving cream for the next 20 years.  My oldest daughter and I have been using it for three months now, and I JUST had to make a second batch. (Disclaimer:  I do NOT shave my legs every day, so this may not last as long for you.  I will have to use more in the summer months; the trade off to warm weather.) 

We like it and have experienced NO razor burn at all. 

My husband just ran out of shaving cream and grabbed our bottle that sits in the shower.  I was skeptical that it would work for really coarse facial hair and so was he as it is a lot thinner than commercial shaving cream.  After using it, he asked me to make him some in a more "manly" scent.  WIN!


So, do I have you convinced to try it yet?!?!?!

Here's what you need:
1 cup shampoo
1 cup conditioner
1/3 cup lotion
1/3 cup baby oil












Combine all ingredients.  I mix everything in a large measuring cup with a mini whisk.

Pour into desired container. 

Here is what I keep them in- just bottles we have emptied from other product- someday, I will get pretty containers for all of my homemade goodies, but for now these are "FREE" and I kinda like FREE!
I keep the small bottle in the shower and the other is for refills.

Hope you like it!