Fill the Freezer

Today I began another round of freezer meals (though I didn't finish!). With work looming in the next two weeks, along with the soon reality of having a Pre-Schooler and a 1st grader, along with dance, gymnastics, Daisies, and PTO activities.... freezer meals are must (so we can actually eat!)

I have added in some breakfast options that will hopefully help out with my darling girls and their typical avoidance of breakfast!

I have made many of these recipes before (**) and they can be found by clicking HERE

New recipes will be linked and you can click on their names. 

Yummy!

Crockpot Chicken and Dumplings**
Crockpot Beef Barley Stew**
Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken**
Crockpot Creamy Italian Chicken**
Cheeseburger Meatloaf - 2 pans**
Sloppy Joes - 2 batches**
Unstuffed Shells - 2 pans**
Chicken Tetrazzini (used Turkey in the past)**
Garlic Lemon Chicken**
Crockpot Honey Parmesean Pork Roast
Spaghetti Pie
Herb Marinated Chicken
BBQ Beef Teryaki Skewers
Poor Boy Steak
Crockpot Broccoli Cheese Soup
Crockpot Pulled Pork
Turkey Meatballs
Homemade Crockpot Spaghetti Sauce
Homemade Pizza Dough
Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos**

Egg McMuffin Sandwiches
Mini Banana Bread
Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
Egg Muffins
Homemade Waffles
Homemade Pancakes

Fill the Freezer

This past weekend I ventured into another freezer meal cooking quest. I prepared 22 meals for the freezer.... We are hoping to continue eat out less and survive some busy weeks that are in our foreseeable future! Most of these are crockpot meals, making them even easier to prepare dinner!!

Here is what I made:

Crockpot Chicken and Dumplings

Crockpot Beef Barley Stew 
Crockpot Chicken and Black Bean Salsa Rice Bowls

Crockpot Chicken Gyros

Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken
Crockpot Creamy Italian Chicken

Chicken and Potato Gnocchi Soup

Cheeseburger Meatloaf

Sloppy Joes - Good old fashioned Ground Turkey with Manwich Sauce (we aren't too fancy)

Unstuffed Shells

Mini Chicken Pot Pies

French Dip Sandwiches

Root Beer Pulled Pork

Turkey Tetrazzini

Garlic Lemon Chicken

Creamy Chicken Taquitos

Crockpot Beef Carnitas

Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches
(I can't find my original recipe. This is super close, but I added dry Onion Soup mix

Guacamole Stuffed Chicken

Slow Cooker Marinara Sauce

Slow Cooker Marinara Sauce

INGREDIENTS

 
2TBSP Olive oil

1/2c. minced onion

2 cloves garlic.  

28oz. can of crushed tomatoes

12oz. tomato paste

13oz. tomato sauce

1 cup water

2TBSP white sugar

2tsp dried Basil

1/2tsp Fennell Seed

1tsp Italian Seasoning

 1tsp salt and 1tsp pepper
 

In a saute pan, combine 2TBSP Olive oil, 1/2c. minced onion and 2 cloves garlic. 

Saute until onion is soft. 

Meanwhile, in slow cooker, combine 28oz. can of crushed tomatoes, 12oz. tomato paste, 13oz. tomato sauce, 1 cup water. 

Mix well. 

Add in onion and garlic mixture. 

Add 2TBSP white sugar, 2tsp dried Basil, 1/2tsp Fennell Seed, 1tsp Italian Seasoning, 1tsp salt and 1tsp pepper. 

Mix well to combine.  

Cook in slow cooker on LOW for 2-3 hours.

Freezer Meals - More New Recipes

This week while on spring break i was able to put together another round of freezer meals. I had been looking around for a few weeks for recipes and had stumbled upon this site: 

www.savingyoudinero.com

They had some great recipes.... I used this document below to come up with some of my choices! All of those starred below came from the link below. 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HLtg09U2heLYUIQ2QBwF3jY6SNB-qv3pRrHZ0gqkmBE/edit

Here are the recipes I made:

Sloppy Joes (cooked and then freeze in ziploc)

Meatloaf - regular and cheeseburger (prepared, pressed into foil pan and freeze before cooking)

Crockpot Chicken Fajitas**

Crockpot Southwest Chicken**
Crockpot Chicken Philly Sandwiches

Honey garlic chicken**

Lemon yogurt marinated chicken

Crockpot BBQ chicken**

Crockpot chicken and dumplings

Honey lime chicken marinade**

Enchilada casserole

Baked ziti

Chicken cordon bleu casserole


Here is a link to a few of the other recipes: http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2013/08/50-easy-freezer-meals.html

Visit my other posts on freezer meals to grab some other recipes!! Enjoy!

Spring Break: Day 2

We made it through Day 2 of Spring Break! 

We had a fun adventure to the Kids Works Children's Museum in Frankfort with our friend Kylie! 

Mckenna's favorite thing about this place is the pin cushion wall.
Remember those hand held ones you could buy in Spencers?!

Yes, she also likes the baby area. Seriously?

Norah had fun in the baby area, though!

We also love the craft section of this museum!

They had a new music exhibit too!

Kylie arrived! Dress up time!

She was very happy to get some attention for looking so pretty!

Norah loved this sensory table! LOVED! It was loud!

These sweet girls got up on stage and sang "Let It Go"!

They also sang "Do You Want to Build A Snowman" after a costume change!!

More sweet girl!

We had a fun morning playing at the museum.
Love when they are so sweet together!

Lunch and Naptime!
Roofie her dog! She named him herself!

Norah napping means more crafts for Mckenna. 

Snow White's wishing mirror craft was on the agenda!

Making freezer meals too!
Links for recipes coming in another post!

Dress-up time! Yes, Norah chose a duck towel for her dress up!

We met Daddy for dinner at Red Robin while my van got an oil change. YUM!

Our day was lots of fun! Can't wait to continue the fun!

Freezer Meals Recipe Reviews

Before I get ready to embark on my new round of freezer meal cooking, I thought it was fitting to review some of the recipes I made in my first round of freezer meal cooking last month. You can view the link to these recipes HERE!

I am going to list the meals and links of recipes that I would make again. 

Feel free to click on the link and find the recipe for yourself!

Enjoy!!!

Crockpot Parmesean Honey Pork Roast

Black Bean Corn Salsa Chicken

Hearty Beef Stew

Spaghetti Sauce

Creamy Italian Chicken

Slow Cooker BBQ Spareribs

Cilantro Lime Chicken with Corn and Black Beans

Crustless Spinach Quiche

Crockpot Pulled Pork

Crockpot Chicken and Dumplings

 

Freezer Meals: Round 2

I am prepping for my next round of freezer meals.... here is what I am looking to cook up!

They are all new recipes from my first round of freezer meals 

(visit those posts HERE and HERE and HERE). 

I will also add some of our quick and easy foods... Sloppy Joe's, Spaghetti Sauce, and Meatloaf.

I am feeling a bit more prepared this time around and am preparing a week or two in advance this time. Last night I prepped my recipe spreadsheet. I listed each recipe and its ingredients. Now tonight I will compile all the ingredients into a master shopping list. I don't think I will be cooking for 2 weeks or so... still need to finish up our freezer stash from round 1. I will be posting some recipe reviews on those recipes soon!

Crockpot Hawaiian Chicken
BBQ Cranberry Chicken
Swiss Stuffing Chicken Casserole
Crockpot Chicken Stroganoff
Buffalo Chicken Sliders
Rice Krispy Chicken Strips
Lemon and Yogurt Marinated Chicken 
Wild Rice Chicken Casserole
Baked Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken
Best Ever Beef French Dip Sandwiches
Lemon Oregano Roast Chicken
Pesto Chicken Stuffed Shells
Easy Sausage Breakfast Strata
White Chicken Enchiladas
Spaghetti Pie
Cheeseburger Meatloaf

Freezer meals part 3

So today was the main day of my freezer cookies adventure. I did break it into a 2 part venture, though, since I was making so many things. 

Yesterday I made a double batch of homemade spaghetti sauce ( I adjust the recipe and make it in the crockpot), a double batch of sloppy joes and a dozen turkey meatballs.

 I cooked up 2 1/2lbs of ground turkey for the sloppy joes and spaghetti sauce and then made the meatballs with ground turkey too. 

Sloppy joes are such an easy meal for us because both of my kids love them (and my big kid too!) with ground turkey and whole wheat buns they are also reasonably healthy! 

For the freezer cook-off, I froze all of my meals in ziploc freezer bags. 

Here is my line up from today... 

1. I labeled all bags first with recipe name and any directions to follow or ingredients to add. 

2. I then grouped like recipes... Chicken, pork, Mexican, etc to make things move faster.

3. I put the freezer bags in a tall bowl to assist with them not tipping.

 

Besides the fact that I tackled this while Jim worked out and my children destroyed the house, it went really well! 

I have gotten a few new recipes in the last day and am going to prep those too (need to use the zucchini and basil from the garden). 

Clicks HERE for the recipes I made.

Click HERE for my shopping list spreadsheet. 

Happy cooking!!

My island getting ready to cook! 

The Ipad was super handy for keeping my recipes all pulled up to follow along with assembly!

Yum! Some of the ingredients!

Freezer Meal Prep: Part 2

So I posted earlier (HERE) about my venture into preparing freezer meals. 

Here are the steps I am taking

1. Choose recipes to make

View mine HERE

2. Compile list of ingredients needed per recipe

Click HERE

3. Create Master Shopping list of all ingredients needed

 Click HERE

4. Shop! 

5. Chop/Prep/Cook - Freeze Recipes

** Please note that my ingredient/shopping list was prepared for the recipes I chose and does not include spices or "pantry items" I know I always have in my house... spices, ketchup, garlic, etc. 

Please click on the direct links available in the first post in order to see directions, specific quantities and additional spices or ingredients needed.

Freezer Meals: Take 1

As I prepare to go back to work, I have been trying to think ahead with meal planning, cooking and recipes. Freezer cooking is a pretty popular thing, but one of the new things I have discovered is freezing/prepping crockpot meals. I am going to give this a whirl! You basically prep all your ingredients, package in freezer bags and then defrost the night before and add to the crockpot in the morning.
Here are some fellow bloggers who have shared their freezer meal plans:

Natalie
Jaima
Six Sisters
Stephanie

I am currently in the planning stages with making a master shopping list of the ingredients to shop for in the next week or two. Here is what I am planning to make. All the recipes have links to their original sources. A few of them are recipes I have made (and reviewed) before, while others are new to us! 

As soon as I am ready with my list and plan, I will share!!

Leave a comment if you are interested in following along and joining me on this meal planning/cooking trip!

Crockpot Parmesean Honey Pork Roast
Black Bean Corn Salsa Chicken
Healthy Mama BBQ Chicken 
Crockpot Chicken Tortilla Soup
Hearty Beef Stew
Spaghetti Sauce
Creamy Italian Chicken
Chicken Broccoli Alfredo
Slow Cooker BBQ Spareribs
Maple Dijon Glazed Chicken
Cilantro Lime Chicken with Corn and Black Beans
Crustless Spinach Quiche
Crockpot Pulled Pork
Crockpot Chicken and Dumplings