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!

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!

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!

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!

Happy Friday!

I made a discovery last week.  I was doing some research on new freezer recipes and I found some that I am guessing will become my favorites.  I found “dump” chicken recipes.  Now, I may have already told you that I love freezer recipes that you just assemble and freeze…super easy.  Now, “dump” chicken recipes are that easy.  You just place already frozen or raw chicken in a Ziploc freezer bag and add the other ingredients and stick it in the freezer.  (Don’t forget–never freeze, thaw, and then re-freeze chicken.)  So, I guess its called “dump” chicken because you just dump everything in.

I have actually used a few of these, but I’ve never called them “dump” chicken.  One that we really enjoy is the Teriyaki Chicken recipe I’ve mentioned before.  The Buttermilk Herbed Chicken is great, too.  I also like marinating chicken in Italian dressing and then grilling or using for Chicken Brushetta.  I guess I just have a limited imagination for this type of recipe.  I have found a few websites with lots of other options, though, and  I can’t wait to try some of these.

-Click here for 28 dump chicken recipes!

-How about Zesty Dump Chicken?

-Salsa Dump Chicken sounds delicious!

-Want to try Bourbon Dump Chicken?

Let me just say that researching all these recipes is making me hungry.  I will be trying them in the next few months and will post photos (if I can remember) and let you know the best ones. 

Don’t forget my giveaway!

Friday is finally here.  I am pumped!  I wanted to revisit one of the first Freezer Friday recipes that I posted.  The Country Style Steak recipe is so easy and yet I only know of one reader who has made it since I posted it.  So, I thought I’d take some photos and show you how easy it is. 

OK-I know this picture makes the meat look gross, bear with me.  I started with two packages of cube steak.

I then sprinkled on some Mrs. Dash and dredged the steaks in flour.

I then fried the steaks in a little olive oil.

I then placed 5 in a dish for our dinner (with friends) and 8 in Ziploc bags for freezing.

Then I mixed the brown gravy mix with water.  Covered it with foil and baked it.

The other 8 cubed steaks were placed in Ziplocs and frozen.

This is so easy, just try it!  For less than an hour of work, I have 3 or 4 meals in our freezer!

The recipe is from this post.  And these are delicious with mashed potatoes.

Happy Friday!

Don’t forget my giveaway!

Is it Friday again already?!  It is taking me a little while to get into this school routine.  My big giveaway will begin Monday and I’ll just say this, it has to do with being frugal and having friends.  Stay tuned!

Just as a disclaimer, I rarely buy prepackaged frozen foods.  However, I got this one last week for FREE after rebate, so we tried it.  It was pretty good.  And it was super easy.  It already had the tortillas.  All I did was warm the chicken/veggie mixture in a skillet, warm the tortillas in the microwave, and add cheese and sour cream.  Super simple!  Then it got me thinking…I bet I could turn fajitas into a freezer meal!!!  I am really excited about this because Hubby LOVES fajitas.  I haven’t done it yet, but here are some links to fajita recipes to try:

-Chicken Fajita Kits

-Freeze Ahead Steak Fajitas

-Steak Fajitas

-Three Pepper Fajita Chicken

-Baked Chicken Fajitas

I couldn’t believe there was so much out there and that I just discovered freezing fajitas!

Have you ever tried this, please tell us about it by leaving a comment below!

Welcome to another Friday!  School started here this week so yippee we survived the first week of school!  (Check out our family blog for photos of the cutie who started kindergarten.)  We have had a few hectic days here this week and I am really thinking about doing once-a-month cooking just so I don’t have to worry about meals every night after school.  In an effort to restock the freezer, I made a double batch of “Spaghetti Pie” last night.  We will eat one for dinner tonight and one goes in the freezer.  It was a super easy and simple recipe.  It contains ingredients that my family will eat.  I will just have to rename it because the kids don’t like anything called “spaghetti”.  :)  I hope you enjoy the recipe, too.  I’ll update you tonight to let you know how we liked it!

Spaghetti Pie

Get the recipe here.

Happy Friday!

Welcome to this week’s edition of Freezer Friday!  Some weeks we have fabulous recipes, some weeks we have freezing tips.  To check other Freezer Friday posts, click on the Categories tab on the right and then choose Freezer Friday from the menu that appears in the box below it.

I am still on vacation until next week.  So, for this week, I leave you with the freezer tips I have collected from two magazines.  I can’t wait to try some of these ideas!

From All You magazine:

-You can freeze brown rice!?  To do so, All You suggests to cook it and divid into 1 cup ortions.  Refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.  To reheat, put in a microwave safe dish with 1 Tbs. water.  Cover and heat until warm.  30-45 seconds for refrigerated, 90 seconds for frozen.

-To freeze pasta, cook 1 lb. of dry pasta, drain, and refrigerate for 3 days or freeze in 1 cup prtions for up to 3 months.  There are two ways to reheat.  One is to put 1 cup of pasta in a microwave safe dish with 1 Tbs. water.  Cover and heat until warm 30-45 seconds for refrigerated and 90 seconds for frozen.  The other way is to put the past in a meatl colander and dip into boilin water for 30-90 seconds or until warm.

From Cook’s Illustrated:

-To freeze bacon, roll up the bacon in tight coils, each with two to four slices.  Put the coils in a Zip-loc freezer bag and place the bag flat in the freezer.  Then just pull out and thaw what you need for each recipe.  (I LOVE THIS IDEA!)

-To freeze cookie dough, divide it into balls and arrand the balls on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or waxed paper.  Place the cookie sheet in the freeze.  When the dough balls are frozen, place them in a Ziploc freezer bag or small airtight container. Bake without defrosting.

-Other items to store in the freezer:  overripe bananas (great for banana bread, muffins, or smoothies-they suggest to peel before freezing), nuts (in a Ziploc freezer bag-no need to defrost), butter (store in freezer and transfer one stick at a time to fridge-lasts longer and doesn’t pick up other food odors in the fridge)

Pretty neat, huh?  If you have some great tips to add to this, please leave a comment, we’d love to hear them!

Just for the record…I am so mad at myself!  I know you all like photos…I do too when I read a blog.  So, I’m sorry but I forgot to take a photo of today’s recipe.  And too bad too because this is one of my favorites!  Today’s recipe is my mom’s spaghetti and meatballs.  When I smell this, I feel at home.  Now my husband and my college roommate would say that this is different, even sweeter that other spaghetti recipes.  My mother got the recipe from a genuine Italian, but she tweeked it a little.  I think it is fabulous.

Now, Mom and I both make the meatballs on a different day than the sauce.  What I do is make up several batches of meatballs when I get a bunch of ground beef.  I freeze them in Ziploc bags in individual meal portions.  For my family, that means maybe 10 per meal.  Then when I make a batch of sauce, the meatballs are already done, making it an easy meal.

I love that this sauce is made in the crock pot.  I love how the aroma fills the house all day long and makes you so excited for dinner time.  :)  This week, I made a double batch in my large crock pot.  We ate it for dinner and I froze the rest of the sauce in two seperate meal portions.  Like I’ve said before, I can’t think of a better way to save time and energy that to use the crock pot and the freezer together.  I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do!

Spaghetti & Meatballs
Meatballs
1 lb. ground beef
1/4 tsp garlic powder
2 Tbs Parmesan cheese
2 Tbs Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1 egg
-Combine all ingredients and form into meatballs. Place on foil covered baking pan. Bake in 400 F oven about 25-30 minutes until browned. Remove from pan to paper towel covered plate.

*If making 4-5 lbs of meat at one time: after cooking divide into zip-loc bags and freeze.

Spaghetti Sauce
1 large can tomato puree
2 small cans tomato paste
3 tomato paste cans of water
1 tsp garlic powder
1 onion chopped
4-5 dried bay leaves
-Put all ingredients in a crock-pot. Mix well. Add meatballs. Cook on low all day. Remove bay leaves before serving. If you cook this in a pot on the stove, cook for at least two hours on low.
-To Freeze:  Cool, spoon into Ziploc bags, and freeze.

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