Friday Favorite Finds: A Bit Late

Ok, I know it is no longer Friday, but I thought I would participate anyway.  This week has been really busy at school and at home.  I stuck with my early morning wake up time and it was terrible, but very very needed.  In fact, I might switch to 6:05 next week (6 just sounds so early) that way I have a bit more time in the morning to get things done.

I rode my bike every day, but one because of weather.  I have to say I really look forward to riding it!  It kind of wakes me up in the morning and gets me outside, since I'm not a natural outdoorsy person.  It is really funny how many random comments I get from students.  They are really curious about it, and I hope maybe at a later point in their life they will think about riding as well.  I have found that it is a nice way to sneak in a bit more exercise into my life without it feeling too, excersy (yes I just made up that word).

Well, I am definitely looking forward to the summer just as much as my students.  I am really trying not to get to hyped up about it, because I really really need to make a list of my goals for the summer.  I have a tendency to go great guns for the first week or two and then fizzle out and get really really lazy.  This summer I want to be more purposeful and have weekly goals.  We have a lot of house projects, and I want to completely revamp my Discrete Math curriculum and tweak my Algebra II curriculum (make it more common core friendly).  There's no way I'll get it all done without some kind of plan though.

My first find comes from my desire for summer.  I am really looking forward to free zucchini.  I feel like everyone around here has that friend that some how grew 5 zucchini plants and has zucchini coming out their ears.  I am always a grateful recipient of their surplus (and an understanding one, because we had one zucchini plant and it was too much for me, since my husband will eat, but is not in love with zucchini).

Fried Zucchini Spaghetti from the A & B Stories.  I will definitely add some more veggies to this and maybe pair it with a the Heroin Chicken Strips from Low Carb Crock.











When I was in college there was this delicious Greek/Mediterranean tiny restaurant that was cheap.  It had the best wraps.  Anyway, I found a wrap that looks just as good.

Chicken and Spinach Wrap with Greek Yogurt Sauce from Magda- What's for Dinner.




Avocados have been really cheap here lately and I've been reading all of the amazing ways you can substitute it in recipes.  The main problem is that I am only one person.  By that I mean, my hubbie is not as much a fan of the green stuff which means if it is in guac or something similar, I end up eating the entire avocado (that's a lot of avocado).  I found a way that I can freeze it though, that might help me from having guac overload.  I'll be able to just use as much as I need.

How to Freeze Avocado from My Gutsy.





My Friday Favorite Finds would not be complete without a yummy chocolate recipe.  This week's deviant delight is Warm Chocolate Pudding Cake with Caramel Sauce.




Enjoy more finds at Finding Joy in My Kitchen!

February Freezer Cooking

Here is the starting point of my fun February freezer cooking: a huge pile of groceries.  It was sooooooo exciting to go couponing again! 

I was able to make four different freezer casseroles, and by I, I mean we!  Yep, my wonderful husband helped me out and we actually had a blast!

This is a picture of the beginnings of my pie crust.  Can you believe it?  I made a pie crust.  This happened because I forgot to buy extra pie crusts.  I called my mom and asked for the absolute easiest pie crust recipe that she knew of and she sent me this.

Note:  This is only strong enough to be used as the "bottom" crust.

Pat-in-pan pie crust

1 1/2 cups plus 3 T flour
1 1/2 t sugar
1/2 t salt (I probably don't put this in)
1/2 cup veg. oil, canola etc.
3 T cold milk

Mix dry ingredients in the pie pan with your fingers until blended.
Mix oil and milk in a cup with a fork til creamy
Pour at once over flour mixture
Mix with fork til completely moistened
Pat dough with your fingers up the sides of the pie pan and across the bottom
Flute the edges.

Ta da!  There it is!  I'm not up to Julia's standards, but it came out wonderful as my first pie crust!

My husband helped make the filling for the chicken pot pies.  Go here for the recipe.  He did such a great job with the little direction I gave him.

 

I am definitely not a food photographer, but the filling was absolutely delicious.  Here's a picture of one of the final products (we already had one of the two pies for dinner!).

We also made a breakfast casserole (that we'll eat for dinner), and a sausage and mixed veggies casserole and even had some leftover chopped chicken that we used in sandwiches and wraps over the weekend.

There's the fruits of our 2 or so hours of work!

Freezer Cooking: The results!

Well, after just a couple of hours work this morning I had eight meals made and four and half dozen oatmeal chocolate chip cookies baked and bagged.  I'm planning on using the meals in January when school starts up again (especially during parent teacher conference week).  The cookies are going to be brought to two family Christmases.  I am very happy with the results.

My husband will be very glad that I used the mixer that we got as a wedding gift (it sits on the counter most of the time-but I tell him that in the future when I am cooking for more than just two and when I learn more about baking I'll use it).

I bought one large green pepper which was much more than I needed for the chicken tetrazinni recipe.  I learned on Money Saving Mom's blog that you can freeze green pepper when it is chopped up.  So, I chopped up the whole pepper, used part of it, and froze the rest.  Evidentally, you can freeze a lot of leftover things (today I froze the extra chicken broth).  This is great news for people cooking for two!

The final results: large pan of Easy Chicken Bake, large bag of Chicken Tetrazinni, large pan of Chicken, Broccoli, and Rice Casserole, and 4.5 dozen cookies!

Oops! Another recipe change!

Well, I have to make a confession.  I am awful at reading details.  I was just finishing up making the cookies and chopping up the green pepper, when I saw that the chicken still needed to thaw a bit.  So, I decided that I would make up the stuffing to go on top of the Farmhouse chicken recipe.  I went back to look at the recipe and saw that it called for 12 oz. of stuffing.  I only have a 6 oz box.  Oops!

I have been saved by a recipe on the back of the box.  Go here to see it.  I hope it is as tasty as the Farmhouse Chicken bake!

Freezer Cooking Day: Part 1

This morning I have scurried around getting my husband off to work, laundry started, and dishwasher going (oops we forgot to run it last night!).  I was looking through the recipes one last time this morning to make sure that I had everything and decided to change the Cheesy Broccoli Chicken Rice recipe to this easier variation.  I had not noticed that on the first recipe there was a fairly difficult sauce to make.

Freezer cooking is not only nice because you have less clean up and cooking time on weeknights, it can also save you time cooking altogether.  By combining the times it would have taken me to cook up the chicken for three nights and doing it in one shot, I've bought myself some time.  This only works if you plan ahead when you freezer cook (i.e. don't make each recipe separately).  Try to use recipes that use many of the same ingredients.

Here's the plan for the day:
-thaw chicken (oops I forgot to do that last night!)
-make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies
-chop up green pepper
-cook chicken
-cook noodles
-cook veggies (frozen broccoli, frozen mixed veggies)
-cube chicken
-make stuffing
-make rest of Farmhouse Chicken recipe
-make rest of Chicken Tetrazinni recipe
-make rest of Chicken, Broccoli, and Rice Casserole
-freeze everything
-clean up!

Menu Plan Monday: Freezer Cooking

Since school's out, this week I am a wonderfully free stay at home wife!  I have high hopes of getting through all of my three lists (home, school, and blog to-do lists).  I am hoping to even fit in some freezer cooking tomorrow.  For all of you newlyweds and new to freezer cooking people, do not be afraid.  I have tried freezer cooking only one time, and I am just diving in for more.  I'll let you know how it goes.  If it turns out to be a frugal flop, I figure I'll have learned something and that is worth a lot (to see things I learned about freezer cooking the first time go here and here).  Here is my menu plan for the week:

Monday:  Penne pasta with leftover spaghetti sauce, peas, strawberry banana jello

Tuesday: Freezer cooking: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies,
                                              Farmhouse Chicken + adding mixed veggies
                                              Chicken Tetrazinni
                                              Broccoli and Cheese Casserole
                 Dinner: Chicken Kievs, green beans, oranges

Wednesday: Chip and Dip Chicken (this is a new recipe for me) I will probably modify and use crackers instead of chips; broccoli, apples
Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Eating with family!

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For many more menu plans, visit organizing junkie.

Money Saving Mom: Freezer Cooking Day

Money Saving Mom and Life as Mom hosted a freezer cooking day today.  I have only had one freezer cooking day, but I am really enjoying the benefits.  These online freezer cooking days inspired me to try it.  This week we've already enjoyed another freezer lasagna!  I have to say that there is nothing like having a home cooked meal without a huge mess on a weeknight.  Go here for more tips from Money Saving Mom.

Freezer Meatloaf Tip

Tonight we had my very first meatloaf from the freezer.  Everything came out perfect except that I left it in the aluminum foil and just put the aluminum foil wrapped meatloaf in a pan.  When it came out it was stuck to the aluminum foil really bad.  It could be for a variety of reasons: I didn't use nonstick aluminum foil, I used very low fat meat and very little oil.  So in summary:

Tip:  When using meatloaf that you have frozen, grease the pan that you plan on putting it in, let the meatloaf thaw just enough so that you are able to remove the aluminum foil, be careful when removing the aluminum foil to make sure no small bits are left, and then put the meatloaf in the greased pan.

Despite my small set back, I am still after just two meals, a huge freezer cooking fan! 

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Do you have any freezer cooking tips?  Please leave them and a link to your blog in the comments section!

Freezer Meals Update

This week we actually baked one of the lasagnas I froze last week (Go here to see details of my baking day).  It actually turned out to be delicious!  I was so proud that it wasn't a catastrophe (let's just say that I have a lot to learn about in the kitchen).  I must say that I have learned more from this trial run than I ever would had I just continued to read articles on freezer cooking and not actually tried it.

Just a few of the things I have learned:

• Make sure to let the lasagna completely thaw out unless you want it to take two hours to bake (and our lasagna was a little lasagna).
• Be careful with the foil... a small tear can equal a large mess.
• If you line your pan in foil and put the lasagna in it, it will not taste at all like metal when you bake it (one of the websites online said to be wary of using foil because it will make your food taste like metal, but I used foil anyway).
• It is as great as they say to be able to come home (or in my case, phone home to dh) and put in the freezer meal and be able to enjoy your evening without having all of the mess and work involved with cooking (plus you get a delicious meal!).

Right now our freezer is still fairly full, but I cannot wait to try some other freezer recipes.

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Have you tried freezer cooking before?  What tips and tricks do you have?  Share your ideas in the comments section.

Baking Night Adventure

A last minute change of plans meant that I would be gone all of today, which was my planned baking day.  Yesterday I was determined to not give up on my baking day experiment, so I decided to do half of the baking on Wednesday night and the other half on Friday.  On Wednesday, I didn't get home until late.  Then, I quickly educated myself on the art of freezing dinners before partaking on my first ever baking night.  First I made sure to empty the dishwasher.

 

 Before unloading...a dishwasher full of clean dishes.

After:  A wonderful dishwasher ready for action!

Next, I laid out all of my recipes...

It was very exciting because I had a deadline.  I started baking at 6:30 and my husband was going to come home at 8:30.  My goal was to have completed three small lasagnas, one meatloaf, and a pan of rice crispy bars and have the kitchen cleaned up by the time he would come home.

After reading this article, I decided that it would be easiest for me to make up the lasagna and meatloaf in pans covered in aluminum foil.  I chose to not bake the lasagna before I froze it.  We'll see how they turn out when we bake them later.

By the end of the night I my freezer held three small lasagnas and one meatloaf.  I even was able to make the bars and put them in the refridgerator to harden.  When my husband came home the kitchen was clean and I was happy knowing that I already had at least four dinners ready in my freezer.  Friday I am hoping to make up the pizza dough and get the rest of the house cleaned.

Here is a picture of the fruits of my labor.

Hopefully this will turn out to be one of the best timesaving ways to make healthy meals for busy weeknights!  I hope that this inspires any of you out there who have never tried cooking freezer meals.  It was really just as easy as cooking the meal itself, so if you can normally make the recipe you should have no problems freezing it and enjoying it later.

Meal Planning Weekend Edition

Meal planning is one of the most important items on my weekend to-do lists. Due to the hectic schedule on weekdays, I have found weekends to be the best time for me to do meal planning. Meal planning keeps me from ordering out on weeknights just so I don't have to think about what to cook up.

Many moms out there plan all meals, snacks, lunches, and dinners for very large families. I believe that I will be able to do that someday. Since there is only two of us at this point, meal planning is fairly simple and consists of mainly planning dinners. We are both pretty content with just cereal and Carnation Instant Breakfast for breakfasts, and for lunch we eat leftovers and my husband eats out due to his jobsite.

This week is a strange week as I will be gone on Monday night, dh will be gone on Wednesday, and my school is on Fall Break both Thursday and Friday. I hope that either Thursday or Friday I can have my first ever baking day! My hectic schedule at the school keeps me late many nights, so I am going to try for the first time, to make some freezer meals.

Monday night:
-I will be traveling to a baby shower that is a two hour drive away, so my husband will be on his own.
Frozen Pizza (my husband's guilty pleasure)

Tuesday night:
Sausage and Mixed Vegetable Casserole

Wednesday night:
-My husband will be traveling home from a convention for his work, so I'll be home alone.
Leftovers

Thursday:
-Fall Break! I hope to make this a baking day!
Lasagna
Salad

Baking Day Items:
2 Freezer Lasagna
3 Freezer Pizza Doughs
1 Freezer Meatloaf
1 Pan Rice Krispy Treats

Friday:
Leftovers