The Big Cook-Part 2 (finally!)

Today I finally got around to finishing my mega cooking session for fall.  My main concentration was on foods for the kids to heat up for lunches and snacks, and portable foods for vacation and on the go type days.

Hannah cooking french toast

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is what we accomplished today:

40 servings Maple Spiced French Toast

15 servings Muddy Buddies

30 servings Pumpkin Bars w/ cream cheese frosting

 

Pumpkin Bars packaged and ready for the freezer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10 lbs. of Twice-Baked Potatoes

15 small pizzas

4 dozen “Instant” Freezer biscuits

 

A tray of freezer biscuits

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2 dozen No-Bake Cookies

4 Logs Chocolate Chip Cookies (slice and bake style)

24 Breakfast Mc Sandwiches

36 chicken “hot” pockets

4 chicken pot pies (family size)

4 Mac and Cheese (family size)

36 servings Snackin’ Mix (chex style)

1 loaf orange stuffed french toast

8 dozen granola bars (chocolate chip and s’more flavored)

1 Freezer cheesecake

3 batches chicken noodle soup

4 quarts chicken broth

6 lbs. chicken nuggets (about 4 meals worth)

 

A table full of freezer ready food

 

I have pretty much run out of room for now in the freezer, so I am going to have to wait until we eat some stuff up before I do any more cooking.   Plus I have had my cookie sheets in and out of the freezer so many times trying to get stuff frozen that I have run out empty cookie sheets for now.

A lot of the lunch stuff is done in individual servings so I can accomodate children with different food sensitivities and allergies.  The beauty of freezer cooking is it allows me to be in control of what is the meals we eat and it saves me tons of money!  This session of freezer cooking (both days) cost me about $350 plus ingredients I already had on hand.  I have enough food to last for about 3 months (we don’t eat freezer meals every night) so that is approx. $120 a month, plus I will spend about another $125 a month on extra food, milk, fresh fruit etc…. Meaning that I can feed my family of five on about $250 a month, while accomodating food allergies! 

Well, I am off to put up my feet, have a cup of tea and maybe watch a movie with the kids and relax for a while!

5 Min. Bread, Lotion and an Apron Swap

Today I made some 5 Minute Artisan Bread.  It was really simple and very tasty!  Basically you make up a wet dough and store it in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.  When you take it out of the fridge it looks something like surface of the moon, full of nooks and crannies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You take out a hunk of dough and shape it into a ball.  This took me two minutes to get it shaped and on the pizza peel ready to rise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You let it rise, then put it into a hot oven on a pizza stone with some hot water in a tray underneath and bake.  What you get is a yummy, crusty loaf of bread like you would get at the fanciest of bakeries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Needless to say, this loaf did not even make it until dinner time.  Guess I will have to wait until later in the day if I want a loaf for dinner.

 

I also made some homemade lotion today.  I noticed that my feet were looking a little dry and rough so I decided to whip up some of my favorite lotion for extra dry skin. 

The Recipe:

1 cup olive oil

2-3 ounces beeswax (depends on how thick you like it)

1 tsp. vitamin E

40 drops essential oil ( I use 20 drops peppermint, 10 drops lavender and 10 drops eucalyptus oil)

Melt beeswax over low heat, add olive oil and heat until completely melted.  Stir in vitamin E and essentail oils.  Pour into jar and cool.  The more beeswax you use the thicker the lotion will be.  I like my lotion on the thick side for slathering on my rough feet and then covering them with socks overnight.

 

I also finished up my apron for the sassy apron swap. It turned out pretty well.  We also had to make a pot holder and include a pie recipe. Here is my finished project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both of my pie recipes are also freezer friendly, so you can make them ahead, and serve whenever you need them.  Gotta love freezer cooking!

Pecan Tarts

 

1/2 C. butter

3 oz. cream cheese

1 C. flour

 

1 egg

3/4 C. brown sugar, packed

1 T. butter, melted

1 tsp. vanilla

1 C. chopped pecans

 

Combine butter, cream cheese and flour.  Chill for a slightly easier to work with dough (opt.).  Make walnut sized balls and press into mini muffin pan, forming tart shells.  Mix egg, brown sugar, melted butter and vanilla and pecans.  Fill tart shells with pecan mixture.  Bake at 375 degrees for 15 to 18 min. or until filling is set and crust is lightly browned.

Notes: These freeze well, so  you can make ahead and pull out as needed.  Reheat in oven for warm tarts or serve at room temperature.

 

Ice Cream Shop Pie w/ variations

 

1 1/2 C. milk

4 oz. box instant pudding

3 C. cool whip

1 graham cracker crust

*Ice cream shop toppings

 

Combine milk and pudding mix in large bowl.  Beat with whisk until well blended.  Let stand 5 min. until slightly thick.  Fold in cool whip and ice cream shop toppings.  Spoon into crust.  Cover and freeze 6 hours.

To serve: remove from freeezer.  Let stand 10 min.  Store leftovers in freezer.

 

Toffee Bar Crunch:  use french vanilla pudding, Spread 1/3 C. butterscotch sauce in bottom of crust.  Add 1 C. chopped toffee bars to filling.  Drizzle with chocolate and butterscotch sauce.

 

Strawberry Banana Split:  Use french vanilla pudding.  Line crust w. sliced bananas.  Add 1 C. sliced strawberries to filling.  Drizzle w/ chocolate sauce.  Top w/ maraschino cherries and chopped nuts.

 

Rocky Road: Use chocolate pudding and chocolate crumb crust.  Fold in 1/2 C each of chocolate chips, mini marshmallows and chopped nuts.  Drizzle w/ chocolate sauce

The Big Cook–part 1

Now that we are back in the swing of things with homeschooling, I decided the next thing I needed to tackle was filling my freezer with some freezer meals.  I have been doing freezer cooking in some form or another for almost 17 years-and have taught classes and seminars about Once A Month Cooking (OAMC) for about 7 years.

This is my first OAMC cooking session since early in the year; with the move, it just hasn’t been practical.

Today I was able to do all the shopping and I have put the following meals in my freezer so far:

3 Italian Sausage

2 Meatloaf

4 Roast Beef and Gravy

3 Taco Meat

4 Spaghetti Sauce

3 Fajitas

2 Baked Salmon

4 Batter Baked Pork Chops

2 Crispy Cheese Potatoes

and

5 Garlic Bread

I also still have working in the crockpots 3 Beef Cube Mix and 4 Crockpot Beef.

I had to quit early because I have a Homeschool Moms meeting to attend tonight.

Tomorrow I will be finishing up the big cook, including all the chicken dishes, more sides, breads and breakfasts and even some snacks and desserts.  I would post some pictures, but my computer is dead and I  borrowed my sons and I can’t load any pictures on it, so maybe tomorrow you will get double pics.

For anyone looking for a great cookbook on Freezer Cooking check out the 30 Day Gourmet book.