FREEZER COOKING DAY

I'm a big fan of napping. I come home from work and I want a nap. I do not want to come home from work and cook. That's about the last thing I want to do. Don't get me wrong, I love to cook in general. Just not when I get home from work. In order to solve this dilemma I have occasionally been known to do some of what I call freezer cooking. There are all kinds of names for it, some call it make ahead meals and I've also heard it called once a month cooking. The premise is simple, just make up enough meals at once so that your freezer is full of easy meals or components of meals that you can get on the table very quickly and with no fuss. You can do it all at once, like I did this afternoon, or you can just double up recipes and serve one and freeze one. I like to do a bunch of meals at once and then be done for a while. It really makes a difference and frees up a lot of evenings when I need to be at Girl Scout meetings, band concerts or baptism classes instead of cooking dinner. It saves tons of $$ because I don't have to run through the drive through on busy nights, or nights when I came home from work and ....napped.

 Off from work for the holidays this week, I decided to get serious and get some meals in the freezer. Here's what I finished the night with:

3 Baked Ziti Casseroles

3 Ham Quiches

2 Meals of Hawaiian Chicken

3 Meals of Parsley Parmesan Chicken 

3 Bags of Taco Meat

3 Bags of Meatballs

A few years ago I bought a book called The Freezer Cooking Manual by Nancy Slagle. I learned how to freezer cook from her manual. Most of my recipes come from this manual. You can buy it at www.30daygourmet.com. Here's what I did, starting with a ziti casserole.  I under cooked the noodles so they will be just perfect after I bake the casserole.

 The Baked Ziti Casserole recipe comes from the  Freezer Cooking Manual. Next I put 3 ham quiches in the freezer. I just tripled my own recipe for quiche and froze it in three ziploc bags. I put each of the bags inside a premade deep dish pie crust so on prep day I just thaw, pour into the pan and bake. Add a bagged salad and we are in business!

After that I worked on a master meat mixture that can be made into meatballs or meatloaf. I made 70 meatballs and baked them.  I used my roaster pan to mix the meat in because I couldn't find a big enough bowl.  The meatballs turned out beautiful and I will use them for meatball subs, spaghetti and meatballs and meatball stroganoff. YUM!

 After the meatballs cooled  I packaged them up in bags, pumped the air out and froze. To pump the air out, I used this vacuum device, but this may be the last time because I can't seem to find the bags for it anymore. :(  I bought it about 4 or 5 years ago.

 I made three pounds of hamburger meat into taco meat by cooking meat, taco seasoning, crushed tomatoes and onions. These packages will be made into tacos, taco salad and nachos during the next few weeks.

The Hawaiian Chicken is my own recipe. 

Put 4 chicken breasts in a ziploc bag.  Add 3 TB soy sauce, 3 TB brown sugar, 2 TB Karo syrup, 1/2 cup pineapple juice and 4 pineapple rings.  Moosh it all up. Freeze. When you are ready to serve just thaw in fridge, and either grill or bake on 350 for 25 minutes. I serve with rice.

Parsley Parmesan chicken is the last meal, recipe comes from my Freezer Cooking Manual.

That's it, 18 meals or the main part of the meal anyway. These really make my evenings much easier. I can concentrate on making a salad, side dish or even some biscuits. If you want to try it, start simple. Take your favorite meatball recipe, triple it, cook them up and then freeze them. Use good freezer zip type bags. Just thaw and reheat on serving night. You can throw them in spaghetti sauce or make meatball subs. I LOVE to make a stroganoff type sauce out of 1 can cream of mushroom soup, 1 TB worcestershire sauce cause and some sour cream. Add the meatballs and serve over rice. Try it, you may find time for a late afternoon nap, too. YUM YUM! 

Things I hope I taught my daughter...........

Yesterday I realized it's been months and months since I posted on my blog. :(   My only excuse is that  A's senior year was like a full time job all in itself!  I had such good intentions of posting my way through A's senior year, I was doing well with my homecoming, Grease and then Halloween posts, but then the holidays hit. After that, I sort of abandoned all hope of doing anything but just holding on from day to day. Well now that she's off to college and little C is back in school, which I took her in kicking and screaming by the way, I can now focus a little more on things I want to do. So I thought I would post a short recap of the big events. First there was Prom.

Then, there was GRADUATION.

Then it was time to get ready for college!

 We had such fun  decorating her dorm.

I didn't think leaving her would be as hard as it was.  After all, she has chosen a Catholic school in our city. Across town, maybe, but only 20 miles away. We can see her whenever we like. I can call, text or skype her every night if I want. Still, that day and this past week has still been tough. It isn't the idea that she moved to the dorm that bothers me. She didn't really leave, she comes back on the weekends to work. Soon there will be breaks and holidays that she will be home.So, no, it isn't that she is gone very far at all. It is that she grew up. I can remember her first day of kindergarten like it was yesterday. She was so small, so confident, so blonde! I feel like it really wasn't very long at all. It doesn't feel like it's been 13 years. Actually what worries me the most is that she will forget about me and the things I really wanted to teach her. When they are young you think you have so much time and then one day you are leaving them behind in a dorm room! So what to do? I ran across a blog on Pinterest about a mom who had 100 things she wanted to teach her daughter. While reading them over I realized how many of them were the exact same things I wanted to say. Borrowing a few of hers, tweaking some of hers and writing my own I began a long list of the 75 most important things I hope I taught A while she was at home. I typed them up and that was it. Peace at last. Now at least I had a concrete list of what I wanted her to know. Sort of like a Sparks notes to life.  I put them in a program format on publisher, added a few pictures and done.  Gave it to her last night when I dropped her off at the dorm after work. Haven't gotten a response from her yet but oh well.... Maybe it's all sinking in.  Here is the note on the front and my list of  the 75 things I wanted to pass on to my daughters.
     

Last week we sent you off to college. Wow. While you were growing up  I tried to do my best, I think I did ok, you turned out so wonderful! Lately I have been wondering if all the things I taught you while you were home, the things that I felt were important for me to pass on to you, really made it through the day to day mundane haze of life.  So I decided to make a list of the things I felt were the very most important things I wanted you to    remember throughout your life.

Think of me often!

Love,

Mom 

                                                    August 28, 2012                                                       

Beauty is a state of mind, not a state of body.

There will always be mean girls – that doesn’t mean we find a tower and Rapunzel ourselves away from the world.

The world needs your point of view.

Food is a joy.

Ice cream is a language.

Cook, decorate, clean, organize because you love to, not because someone tells you you’re meant to.

Music makes everything better.

Dance – especially when you’re cleaning the kitchen.

Nothing you tell me will ever make me want to stop hearing from you.

Washing your face every night is the best kind of beauty routine.

Sunscreen – you got your dad’s genes.

Disney and popcorn make for a perfect evening.

An oyster is the perfect food, it’s delicious and may have jewelry in it!

A good movie can change how you understand someone else.

Words can build bridges and walls between people.

Home is not where we live but who we love.

Staying up late to read a good book is never time wasted.

A great lip gloss is always worth the investment.

Everyone should have a nap at 4pm.

There is no place better than a seashore.

Saying sorry first is a sign of strength not a weakness.

I’m on your side; especially on the days when it doesn’t feel like it.

Marriage is an act of courage, commitment and sacrifice. It’s also the most fun you’ll ever have with your best friend.

Patience is never wasted.  

Love Waits.    

Learn at least one other language. 

Always fight fair. But don’t be afraid to fight.

Long hair requires a really good conditioner.                                                         

God says He has made all things beautiful – that includes you– no matter what!

Fashion is not my forte; but you can’t go wrong with The Classics!!

A good cry is great therapy.                      

Homesickness never gets easier.

There is no substitute for FAITH.

Bad hair days are inevitable.

A strong man is never threatened by a strong woman.

Go big even if it means failing big. Especially then.

Be the friend you wish you had.

Travel.

You can’t control what others think about you. Let it go.

I will be your best friend. But I will be your mother more.

Your dad will teach you about music.

Stop for sunsets.

Prince Charming isn’t a fairytale, he’s a myth

Daughters teach us about our mothers. You gave me back my mom.

Celebrate everything with Cupcakes!

Husbands need a wife. Not another mom.

Don’t just Instagram your life. Live it. But take plenty of pics along the way.

Don’t be afraid of a broken heart.

The only thing holding you back from making a difference in the world will be yourself.

Girlfriends are the best kind of free therapy there is.

I’m never tired of being your mother.

American Pie can teach you everything about politics, life in America and music in the 60’s and 70’s

You can always come home.

 We need each other. 

Don’t be afraid to be foolish. 

Real life is always better than online. 

A good friend loves at all times. Period.

Read everything written by  Madeleine L’Engle. 

Eating too much candy will be something your teeth make you regret in your forties.    

I’m more interested in your growth than your happiness.

When you hurt, I hurt worse.  

Embrace the seasons, especially Fall. Each new season is a new start.

If it makes you feel uncomfortable, don’t do it, wear it or say it.  

Drinks taste better in a mason jar. 

Interreligious marriage is much harder than you can ever imagine.

Bad haircuts grow out eventually.

Movies lie. Real romance isn’t found on a marble staircase, a far off place or on an incredible adventure. It  is falling asleep with your toes touching after doing the dishes and getting the kids to bed.

The painful truth is always easier than a messy lie.

Jesus loves you, this I know

There’s no such thing as perfect.

Nothing will make me love you less.

The mirror is not the boss of you.

You’re the most brave when you’re the most scared and keep going anyway.

You can get through anything with an ICE COLD COKE & A ROSARY!

You will always be my baby girl.

 There you go, 75 things I hope I taught my daughter before she left for college. Count them. Yes there are 75. Here is a link to the post that I got the idea from, hope she doesn't mind me putting my spin on it.

http://lisajobaker.com/2012/07/raising-a-girl-100-things-i-want-to-teach-my-daughter/ 

Leave a comment and let me know what you think of my list!