OK-I have some great links for you today!  If you liked the “Ground Beef Fiasco” then you will LOVE these links.  They are mostly about doing bulk cooking or once a month cooking with one type of meat at a time.  This is what Mom, Swister, and I did over Labor Day with ground beef.  This is also something you could do with all the dump chicken recipes.  The key is to do it when the meat is on sale, you will save SO much money.  And of course freezer cooking will save you time in the long run.  So, enjoy!

**If you are trying to figure out what to do with leftover ham or want to take advantage of sales on ham around Christmas, then check out THE HAM PLAN!

**Here is THE HAMBURGER PLAN which is similar to the “Ground Beef Fiasco”.

**This one I will probably never try.  That is because I really don’t like deal with raw whole chickens and 2 at a time is almost more than I can handle.  :)  But if you are very brave, you may want to try THE CHICKEN PLAN.  Personally, I’ll stick to dump chicken.

Hope you have a fantastic weekend.  I am thrilled that started this afternoon, this cutie will be home from school for two weeks!

Well, Freezer Friday has rolled around again and I did not try any new freezer recipes this week.  So, no new wisdom on my part to share.  I decided to do some research for you!  To make your life easier, I’ve collected some neat post, articles, and ideas about freezer cooking for you this week.

-As I have told you before, I have yet to actually try a once a month cooking day.  If I had a friend who wanted to do it or my sister lived nearer, I would be all for it. But doing it myself is intimidating!  However, this does not stop me from enjoying the ideas and recipes on Once A Month Mom.  This week she posted a list of freezer recipes that you make in your crock pot…could dinner time get any easier?

-The original freezer cooking cookbook I got was the Once a Month Cooking cookbook.  Well, there is a new one out by the same authors and on their site you can download a free week plan.  The lime chicken sounds easy and yummy!

-Here are some once a month cooking or freezer starter recipes.

-Here is a plethora of info on freezer cooking, from recipes to containers.

-Confessions of a Once a Month Cooking Dropout is a great article on freezer cooking and I do many of the ideas she suggests (you probably already know that about me.)

-And last, here are some easy and frugal recipes I am looking forward to trying.  The chicken and biscuits and french toast sticks especially caught my eye.

Well, have a great weekend!

This has nothing to do with Freezer Friday, but I was shocked that my two wonderful but picky children decided they like salad this week!  They even ate it one night with NO dressing!  I am thrilled and hope to now incorporate more salads into our meal plans!

OK-on to Freezer Friday….

This week I am making Sweet & Sour Pork to “feed” my freezer.  Not a new recipe on here, but it is a good one, so check it out!

I also got Grands Biscuits super cheap this week, so I may make some more Ham & Cheese Pockets to go in the freezer this weekend.

And I need to stock my freezer with  some muffins or quick breads, too.  I am thinking of trying some new recipes in those departments, so more recipes to come soon!

A few of the blogs I read had mini-OAMC days this week and live blogged about it.  So, I thought you might enjoy this post:

What Can You Freeze?

Have a great weekend!

Do you remember when I talked about “dump” chicken recipes?  Well, since then we’ve been trying a few.  I must say that our favorite so far has been the Lemon Garlic Chicken.  It was one of the last packages of dump chicken I had left in the freezer.  I pulled it out this week and plopped it in the opened.  Oh, it was tasty!  The kids even loved it, which is HUGE at our house!  Now, it really didn’t have any “goop” to put over rice, so next time I will not plan plain white rice with it.  Anyway, I thought I should feature it today because it is so delicious.  This recipe is from Soopermom’s Dump Chicken pages.

By the way, I wish I had a photo of this lovely and delicious chicken, but we ate it too fast.  Sorry!

Lemon & Garlic “DUMP” Chicken
2 Cloves Garlic — chopped (I used pressed garlic)
4 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Chopped Parsley (I used dried parsley)
3 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
1/8 Teaspoon Pepper
1 1/2 Pounds Chicken Pieces

For immediate cooking: Pre-heat oven to 350 F. Place all ingredients into a
large baking dish, turn chicken to coat. Bake until chicken juices run
clear (45-60 minutes for chicken pieces, or 20-30 minutes for chicken
breasts).

For freezing: Place all ingredients into a 1 Gallon freezer bag. Lay flat
in freezer.

To thaw and cook: Take the bag out of the freezer the night before, make
sure the baggie is completely closed. Place the Bag on a shelf furthest
from the freezer (It works best if the bag is laying flat, although this
may not be the best option with a side-by-side fridge/freezer). Preheat the
oven to 350 F. Empty the contents of the bag into a large baking dish and
bake until the juices run clear (45-60 minutes for chicken pieces, or 20-30
minutes for chicken breasts).

Enjoy!

Have a great weekend!

Okay-have any of you ever made old-fashioned chicken and dumplings?  I don’t really remember my mom making it when I was a kid (Did you Mom?).  Last winter, my friend Rhonda made it for our freezer cooking co-op and I really enjoyed them.  So I asked her to send me the recipe.  I got it a few weeks ago (Thanks Rhonda!) and I made a double batch last weekend (sorry, no photo).  It was delicious and I can honestly say, I LOVE chicken & dumplings!  It does include two of my favorite foods:  chicken and “bread”.  It is almost a soup type recipe.  It does freeze well, but I have a few thoughts….

#1-Boiling two whole chickens is a tight fit in my largest pot.

#2-This is probably fairly frugal with the few ingredients in it.

#3-My pinched off drop dumplings crumbled a little, I’m wondering if rolled dumplings would hold together better.

#4-This was not easy to make for me this first time through, but now I know what to expect  and can plan better next time.

After all that, here is the delicious recipe:

OLD-FASHIONED CHICKEN & DUMPLINGS

1 (2 1/2 to 3 lb.) broiler-fryer

1 tsp. salt

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup buttermilk

2 quarts water

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/2 tsp. baking soda

3 Tbs. shortening

-Place chicken in a Dutch oven; add water and 1 tsp. salt.  Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour, or until tender.  Remove chicken and let it cool slightly.  Bone chicken, cutte meat into bite-size pieces (it was easier for me just to tear it); set aside.  Bring broth to a boil; add pepper.

-Combine flour, baking soda, and 1/2 tsp. salt; cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse meal.  Add buttermilk, stirring with a fork until dry ingredients are moistened.  Turn dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead lightly 4 or 5 times.

-For drop dumplings, pat dough to 1/4 inch thickness.  Pinch off dough in 1 1/2 inche pieces and drop into boiling broth.  Reduce heat to medium-low and cook 8 to 10 minutes, or to desired consistency, stirring occasionally.  Stir in chicken.

-For rolled dumplings, roll dough to 1/4 inch thickness.  Cut dough into 4 x 1/2 inch pieces.  Drop dough, one piece at a time, into boiling broth, gently stirring after each addition.

Have a great weekend!

Welcome to Freezer Friday!  Have I got some great ideas for you today!  First the recipes, then the articles and other posts…

With Pillsbury deals being so great lately, I cannot resist buying crescent rolls and biscuits.  I know they aren’t that good for you, but I love them!  I try to buy the reduced fat whenever possible.  

So, I decided to try this recipe for Chicken Crescents with my crescent rolls.  They were pretty good.  I used onion powder instead of the chopped onion.  I guess I was too conservative because I think they needed a little more flavor.  Anyway, they froze well and we ate them this week (I know–NOT on my menu plan, that’s another topic for another day).  They were pretty easy to make and it gave me some ideas:

-you could make these with leftover chopped chicken from a whole chicken or leftover turkey from a whole turkey (Thanksgiving leftovers would be perfect!)

-I wonder if you could do this with some of the Pampered Chef ring/braid recipes.  (Go to the website and look for any recipes ending in ring or braid.  I used to be a PC consultant.  I enjoyed the ring/braid recipes, but you can’t freeze a whole ring or braid…but you could do it the way these are packaged.)

-I should try this with one of our favorite recipes…ham and cheese pockets.

So, my son and I made 21 pockets today and we will freeze them once they cool.  I think it will work great.  And how nice to have a convenience food like that in the freezer.  I am hoping we can just pop out 5 or 6 as needed, not the whole bunch.  Its like homemade Hot Pockets!

All that to say, when you are looking for freezer recipes…they don’t have to be just recipes that are indicated as such.  Experiment with favorites of your family!  Money Saving Mom did a freezer cooking day this week and she posted about doing the best you can today.

So, here are few posts I read recently that are about freezer cooking and are worth reading if you freezer cook:

-Freezer Tips

-Maximize Your Freezer’s Potential and Minimize Freezer Burn

-Freezer Cooking Day (MSM)

-Freezer Cooking Day (life as a mom)

-Freezer Cooking on the Cheap

Remember, I don’t typically freezer cook all in one day like the ladies I linked to above.  It still intimidates me a little bit.  But I do make double batches of a few recipes each week and freeze the extra.  I do have days where I make one or two things just for the freezer when I have spare time.  And my freezer is so stocked that I can eat one or two freezer meals every week this month.  I am trying to make sure I put into the freezer almost as much as I take out each week.  :)  So far, I’m doing great!  :)  But if you want to try one big freezer day, check out Once a Month Mom.  She puts out a plan every month and breaks it down…she makes it look easy! 

Have a great weekend!

Well, I wanted to post a delicious apple cake recipe from my grandmother today.  Everyone loves this recipe and it freezes well, too.  But I ran out of apples before I could make it…I know, I can’t believe it either.  :)  We decided to use the last of the apples to make caramel apples with the kids, so no cake.  But apples are on sale lately, so I may still make it.  :)  However, I will put the recipe up here with no photo for you anyway.

APPLE CAKE (350 degrees)

Mix by hand; NOT mixer……….

Mix together: 1 cup oil

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

Then add: 3 cups peeled raw apples (dice small)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup chopped pecans

2 ½ cups self rising flour

Pour into greased & floured long baking dish and bake for 55 min. (or longer if it is not done in the middle when tested with toothpick). Remove from oven and pour on glaze while hot.

GLAZE

1 stick oleo or butter

1 cup brown sugar

¼ cup milk

Mix all together and boil for 2 min.

Pour over top of hot cake.

(Freezes well too-For Freezing, bake in 1 disposable 9 x 13 or 2 disposable 8 x8 pans.)

Plus, my fabulous grandmother (who had a birthday this month–Happy Birthday Gam-ma!) made up these instructions for me and you on how to freeze apples for later use.  I can’t wait to get another bushel of apples next season to try this!  Thanks Gam-ma for all the apple help!

Have a great weekend!

Happy Freezer Friday!

Some easy fall/winter recipes that freeze well are soups and chilis.  I love to make double and triple batches and freeze them.  I do not, however, like to wait for them to cool before freezing.  A big stockpot full takes forever!  My fantastic friends, David and Kerry, in West Virginia thought of a great solution to that problem and I’m featuring it today on Freezer Friday.  I asked them to take a few photos, but David one upped me…he made a great video for you!  Enjoy!

Oh and Happy Triathlon Weekend to my wonderful husband…I am soooooo excited! 

I hope you are having a good week.  Mine is going great, but so busy.  I will try to get things back to normal around here next week.

Here is a resource to check out today for some freezer cooking and once a month cooking tips, recipes, and ideas.

30 day cafe

Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Freezer Friday is here!  Sorry it took me so long, I was working on my freezer stuff to show you!

Remember my post about “dump” chicken a few weeks ago?  Well, boneless, skinless chicken breasts were on sale this week.  So, I did a mini-”dump” chicken freezer cooking session.  (I did prep the chicken like I suggested here first.)  I made 4 different kinds made into 7 different meals going into the freezer.  I made two sets of the chicken in Italian dressing for chicken brushetta.  The other three recipes were from this “dump” chicken site that I mention a few weeks ago.  I made one set of “sticky chicky” and two sets each of lemon  and garlic chicken and honey glazed chicken.  I chose these recipes because I happen to have all the ingredients on hand.  Let me tell you, it was super easy! It took me less than an hour and I have 7 meals ready to go in the freezer.  I’ll let you know how they taste after we try them.

You seriously need to do this!  Chicken is on sale until tomorrow at our local Kroger and until Tuesday at the local Publix.  Go buy 10 lbs worth and make up some meals.  It will save you time and money.

I’ll announce the winner of my giveaway (video camera) tomorrow!