Freezer Cooking Friday

WOW! Today was a biggie for my freezer cooking! It is actually my mom's doing. We were talking earlier and she was saying how she just got finished dicing veggies to put in the freezer. Once the boys went down for their nap I grabbed the veggies I bought Monday and then somehow ended up making 5 meals. And a french vanilla bundt cake - YUM! Funny how that works out. We've been sick around here and so the freezer cooking has not happened. Not one bit.  Until today :)

Here's what I made today:
Chicken, Sweet Potato & Butternut Squash Recipe (for the slow cooker)
Chilled Broccoli Salad
Pork Stir Fry
Veggie Pasta (just add chicken) x2

And what started it all:
Diced green peppers
Diced sweet onions

Yum, Chilled Broccoli Salad

 Do you know what to do with the broccoli stalks?? I used them for the next recipe! I remembered watching something on Food Network and the chef was making Broccoli Stalk Soup, I think. Anyway, I figured I could sautee them in butter. Everything tastes better with butter. ;)

 So, I sauteed them with 2 chopped zucchinis and 1 diced red pepper. Added a box mini shell pasta - voile! 2 more meals!

Do you freezer cook? You should! All next week we will be having freezer meals! :D 

**Linking up with**

TT&J Weekend Wrap-Up

Freezer Cooking Friday Menu

Time to bring back the goodness of Freezer Cooking Fridays!! Here's what I will be doing during Friday's naptime :)

 

I will share all links Friday evening :) 

So, what are y'all cookin' up?

Paula Deen Week at the House!

Now, y'all remember when Rachel and I met the fabulous Paula Deen and her hubby, Michael, right? Well, I had to finish up October's menu plans before I could start eating my way through Paula's new cookbook.

The time has finally come! WOOT! Have you read/watched "Julie and Julia?" Well, Paula is my Julia. I still can't believe I met the woman though! Anyhoo! Are you ready for the menu this week? I included the page numbers, if you want to join me in the kitchen.

Doesn't that menu just wanna make you grab a glass of sweet tea and gossip with your friends while enjoying some good old-fashioned Southern cooking? Well, grab your ingredients and get to cooking!

But wait! You didn't think I forgot about Freezer Cooking Fridays, did you? Nope. I've got that covered, too. I am making Paula's Biscuit Doughnuts (page 293) on Friday. Also, I'm cheating a bit, but I am making  double batch of the Chicken Rice Soup on Tuesday and a double batch of the Baked Egg Crisps on Saturday.


Do you have a favorite chef? Have you eaten your way through their cookbook(s)?

Freezer Cooking Fridays

Yes, this is Sunday... I know this. And, I baked a little tiny bit on Friday. I also cheated and did some freezer cooking during the week.

But, see, once you get the hang of the whole freezer cooking thing, it suddenly happens when it isn't the scheduled day.

Anyhoo! A wonderful friend of mine, Kendra, had beautiful Baby B at the end of September, but was not able to come home with her in the very beginning. But, due to a numerous about of loving friends and family keeping Mama and Baby B in their prayers everyday until she was able to come home. So, about 3 weeks later B was home!! YAY! So, while they are getting used to routines and whatnot, friends and family have been cooking and/or whatever else to help. This week was mainly for you, girl!

This is what I made for the new mama the past few days:

Chicken Taco Chili
Tortellini Soup
Cream Cheese Pumpkin Bread
**All of the sides and things I will have for her, too. :) YUM! What was awesome was that these recipes were so large that ended up with 3 meals of the dinner. So, we had ours the night I made it, I have hers and another night in the freezer. Sweet. Thank you, OAMM!

The other reason for my freezer cooking this week is for my Church's Bake Sale! So, I have a loaf of the cream cheese pumpkin bread and a batch of chocolate chip muffins for that. If you are a local and are interested in the bake sale, please head over to our Facebook page. I will have more about information about it later this week.

I will be making a lot more yummy items this week. The holidays are coming up and I plan on bringing the goodies. So, stay tuned!

Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti

This was such an awesome dinner. It was super delicious and good for you, too.

I follow Once A Month Mom for her freezer cooking tip, meals, menu plans, etc. She is fabulous. And, every night this week (minus the leftover night and going out night) we had a new and yummy dinner. One friday, for Freezer Cooking Fridays, I made some delicious lunches for us. If you have not been to her site, go see!

Anyhoo! I made the Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti (go here for the recipe) she shared from The Girl Who Ate Everything - which is now another blog I've added to my long list of good reads!

Well, as I was making my grocery list with all of these fabulous meals in front of me, I thought, "Ok, I have pasta." HA. I should learn to READ.

The day to make the Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti comes (monday) and while the squash is roasting away, I'm thinking, when do I start making the pasta?

Do you know WHY the spaghetti squash is called a Spaghetti Squash? Well, because when it is done roasting and it is time to scoop it out this is what happens:

Before

After.

Ok, how cool is that? Now I know why pasta was not listed... Amazing. Why was I not aware of this? Genius.

And after it is all put together, you get this!

YUM! Go make this!

Freezer Cooking Fridays

I made some fun new things for today's freezer cooking extravaganza :) I have been saving up recipes here and there and finally got around to them.

I sort of cheated though. I started last night. I had gone grocery shopping and bought huge packages of chicken and ground beef. And, since I was making spaghetti anyway, I figured I just make all the beef and the whole bag of pasta. So, I have 2 bags of ground beef for dinners and a bag of pasta salad (1/2 the bag of pasta and some frozen mixed veggies I found in my freezer). YUM! The chicken dinners were made today. Tonight we are having BBQ Chicken and Sweet Potato Fries. Again, since I bought that huge thing of chicken, the other 1/2 was made into Greek Chicken for another night.

While the chicken was boiling away, I started on my fun freezer goody just for mommy! YAY! I found an amazing recipe called "Just Like McDonald's Caramel Frappe" YUM! Of course I made it! I am so excited to have one! I used 6 Doughnut Shop K-Cup to make 12 servings. And, I mixed all the ingredients together (except the toppings) to freeze. I sneaked a taste before putting them away - oh, yummy!

All mixed and ready to be packed up in snack size containers :)

After that, I started making little balls of heaven. For real. These No-Bake Energy Bites are delicious!! Maybe we will take some with us on our family outing tomorrow. For what we are going to to do, energy may be needed! More on that later :)

I actually made a double batch of these. 

Finally, I 1/2 made these Cinnamon Breakfast Bites - I will finish them in the morning for us to eat up before heading out on our adventure!

The rest is to dip, roll, and bake! Oh, and EAT!

What have you been up to today?

Freezer Cooking Fridays

Another Friday has come and (almost) gone! I made some yummy things today and "fall cleaned" my kitchen. It took all of naptime and then some, but oh well. Now the kitchen is ready for birthday party decorations and whatnot (once I get all of it organized). YAY!

Today's freezer cooking:

Whole Wheat Sugar Cookies - YUM!
Cinnamon Raisin Muffin Bites
Honey-Apple Cheerio Cereal Bars
Ground Beef Base - for recipes that need just the basic browned ground beef.

So, yay! 1 yummy dessert/treat. 2 delicious breakfast items for my little preschooler. And 1 step that I get to skip the next time I make spaghetti or whatever. NICE :)

I didn't take many pics of the goods, but here's the goodies! LOL

Freezer Cooking Fridays

Well, I meant to post this last night, but I was tired and ended up going to bed after the little men did. Anyhoo! I wanted to start a new thing on here: Freezer Cooking Fridays! I thought it would be fun. I've been doing it for a while now and figured I'd share.

So, I made my batch of whole wheat waffles for Jason again. He loved them when I made them a while back, so I have kept on with this.

Then, I made some whole wheat bagels. Which, only four out of 6 worked out... I had no idea that you boiled them before baking them... Weird. They are good, but I need a better recipe I think. Or maybe I made them way to big. I have no idea.

While I had those going, I had a Chicken Corn Taco (minus the black beans - I didn't have any. Lame.) dinner in the slow cooker. We ended up having that for dinner tonight. It was just one of those days where none of us wanted to do anything. So, I am super happy that I had a freezer cooking day. I made so much of it that we have some for another night later on.

There you have it! Next week, I'm going to get some bread going, desserts, and lunches.

What do you think of making this a link-up type of thing?