From My Kitchen

4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Southwest Roll-ups (Day 10)

by Crystal on May 14, 2012

This recipe original came from my husband’s family — and it’s become one of our family’s longstanding favorites, too. It’s so simple to make, it freezes well, it uses inexpensive ingredients, and it’s filling, too.

Southwest Roll-ups

(makes 16 roll-ups)

2 cans refried beans (you can make your own Refried Beans with this recipe)
1/2 cup salsa
2-4 cups cooked chicken, chopped
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
16 tortillas (you can make your own Homemade Tortillas with this recipe)

Mix together beans, salsa, and chicken. Spread 1/16th of mixture onto one tortilla. Sprinkle with cheese. Fold sides in and roll up.

To freeze: Individually wrap roll-ups in waxed paper, paper towels, or freezer paper and then into an airtight freezer bag (if you are planning to warm them individually). Or, lay unwrapped roll-ups out on a cookie sheet and freeze for one hour. Then, transfer all roll-ups to an airtight freezer bag.

To serve: Heat an individually wrapped roll-up in the microwave for around two minutes, or until heated through. Or, thaw the bag of roll-ups on the countertop for a few hours or in the refrigerator for 8 hours. Bake in a 9×13-inch pan in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes, or until heated through. Sprinkle with more shredded cheese and serve with salsa.

Source: http://moneysavingmom.com/2012/05/4-weeks-to-fill-your-freezer-southwest-roll-ups-day-10.html
© Copyright 2012 Money Saving Mom®. All Rights Reserved.

Did you do any freezer cooking over the past two days? If so, I’d love to see the results of your efforts! Link up your blog posts below or tell us about your success in the comments.

{ 29 comments }

4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Week #3 Freezer-Friendly Dinners + Shopping List

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by Crystal on May 14, 2012

Are you ready for another week of filling your freezer? This week, we’re tackling dinners.

Here’s my plan for making Freezer-Friendly Dinners this week. Remember that you are more than welcome to substitute any or all of the recipes listed to make this what best fits with your budget and family’s preferences:

Freezer-Friendly Dinner Recipes

Tuesday — Double Recipe of Barbecued Meatballs
Wednesday — Double Recipe of Lasagna Casserole
Thursday — Double Recipe of Pizza Dough
Friday — Double Recipe of Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole
Monday – Double Recipe of Italian Chicken

Grocery List

(I rounded up on the amounts needed, just to be safe. You probably have many of these items already on hand. You’ll want to double-check that you have the correct amounts, though.)

5 pounds ground beef
5 cups flour
6 eggs
2 cups milk (I’m using milk instead of evaporated milk in the Barbecued Meatballs)
2 cups quick oats or old-fashioned oats
4 onions
2 cups ketchup
1 jar spaghetti sauce
2 15-oz. cans diced tomatoes
16 ounces of dry pasta (we prefer rotini pasta, but any kind will work)
2 bottles of Italian Dressing (or your favorite homemade Italian Dressing)
12 chicken breasts (boneless/skinless or bone-in — can also substitute two whole chickens, if you prefer)
Chicken (enough for 4 cups chopped chicken)
3 bags of frozen broccoli (or 8 cups fresh chopped broccoli florets)
4 cups cottage cheese or ricotta cheese (we prefer cottage cheese and it’s typically much cheaper — especially if you can find it marked down!)
16 oz. mozzarella cheese
16 oz. cheddar cheese
2 cans cream of chicken soup (or make your own cream soup)
2 cans cream of mushroom soup (or make your own cream soup)
Liquid Smoke, optional
5 cups uncooked brown rice (or white rice)

Staple Ingredients

Salt/Pepper
Chili Powder
Garlic Powder
Parsley
Yeast
Oil
Sugar

Freezer Storage Items Needed

Foil
Plastic Wrap
10-12 large ziptop freezer bags
2-4 glass or aluminum pans (to freeze Lasagna Casserole in, and Barbecued Meatballs, if you prefer.)
Something to label packages with (marker to write on bags, labels, and/or tape)

Source: http://moneysavingmom.com/2012/05/4-weeks-to-fill-your-freezer-week-3-freezer-friendly-dinners-shopping-list.html
© Copyright 2012 Money Saving Mom®. All Rights Reserved.

Click on the “Print This” tab at the top of the list to generate a printer-friendly list. (If you’re reading via email or a feed reader, you may need to click through to the post to print the list.)

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This week’s menu plan

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by Crystal on May 14, 2012

Ham & Cheese Pockets

Breakfasts

Granola bars
Berry Smoothies, Waffles from the Freezer
Oatmeal
Scrambled eggs, Cinnamon Roll Biscuits, fruit salad
Better for You Banana Bread, hard-boiled eggs, fruit
PB&J With Bananas, Strawberries, and Granola on Tortillas
Egg-in-hole, fruit

Lunches

Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches from the freezer
Cereal & Milk
Leftovers x 2
Cheese Quesadillas, carrots, fruit
Salad, Hard-boiled eggs, toast, fruit
Snack-y lunch

Snacks

Fruit/veggies
Popcorn
Chocolate Waffle Ice Cream Sandwiches

Dinners

Dinner with extended family x 2
Southwest roll-ups, steamed veggies, sliced oranges & apples
Homemade pizza, tossed salad, fruit salad
Dinner out
Ham & Cheese Pockets from the freezer, fruit salad, steamed veggies
Chicken, Broccoli, Rice Casserole, fruit salad, tossed salad, Better for You Banana Bread

What’s on your menu this week? Share details and/or your link to your menu plan in the comments.

{ 37 comments }

4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Ham & Cheese Pockets (Day 9)

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by Crystal on May 12, 2012

Today’s recipe is one that was one of our favorite law school recipes. I haven’t made it since the law school days and had all but forgotten about it until I saw Amy’s recipe for Ham & Cheese Pockets.

Since our budget was so tight when Jesse was in law school, I only made this recipe when I was able to find ham on some amazing closeout price. Every once in awhile, Dillon’s would have it marked down to $0.49 to $0.99 for the small packages of thin-sliced lunchmeat. I usually had a coupon to pair with this deal, so I rarely paid over $0.50 per package of lunchmeat. I could stretch one package to 5-6 Ham & Cheese Pockets and they were a special treat since we didn’t eat a lot of meat during that season of life.

At any rate, since we have more wiggle room in our grocery budget these days, I splurged on thick-cut ham this time around, and these turned out SO good. I can’t believe it’s been such a long time since I’ve made this recipe. It’s definitely something I want to make more often now that I remembered about it!

Freezer-Friendly Ham & Cheese Pockets

Dough:

3 cups flour
4 Tablespoons dry milk
3 1/2 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons yeast
1 cup warm water

Filling:

Sliced ham
Shredded or sliced cheese

To make dough in bread machine: Add ingredients in the bread machine in the order listed and run on the dough cycle. Check about halfway through to see if you need to add a little extra water or flour to make a soft dough.

To make dough by hand: Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in salt, sugar, and dry milk. Add flour and stir until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Dump dough onto a floured surface and knead for around 5 minutes, until a soft dough forms. Add a little more flour, if needed.

To make Ham & Cheese Pockets: Divide dough into 10-14 balls. Roll each ball into a rectangle. Put ham and cheese on half of the rectangle. Fold dough over and pinch sides to seal tightly.

Bake Pockets on a greased cookie sheet at 350-degrees for 15-18 minutes, until lightly browned.

To freeze: Let cool completely. Freeze in airtight ziptop freezer bags for up to 2-3 months.

To serve: Remove desired number of pizza pockets from the freezer and warm them individually in the microwave for about two minutes or until heated through. Or, warm on a cookie sheet in a 350-degrees oven for 20 minutes, or until heated through.

Source: http://moneysavingmom.com/2012/05/4-weeks-to-fill-your-freezer-ham-cheese-pockets-day-9.html
© Copyright 2012 Money Saving Mom®. All Rights Reserved.

Did you do any freezer cooking over the past two days? If so, I’d love to see the results of your efforts! Link up your blog posts below or tell us about your success in the comments.

{ 88 comments }

4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Homemade Pizza Pockets (Day 8)

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by Crystal on May 10, 2012

These Pizza Pockets, inspired by Amy’s Finer Things and Pocket Change Gourmet, turned out beautifully today!

I doubled our family’s favorite homemade pizza dough recipe for the dough.

Then I cut the dough into pieces.

And rolled those dough pieces into balls.

Next, I flattened the balls with the rolling pin.

When I turned my back someone was making some artistic designs on my rolled-out dough.

Then, I dolloped a little of the filling on.

Sprinkled the filling with cheese

And sealed up the edges with my fingertips.

Ready to go into the oven.

The end result — so yummy and delicious! And my whole family agreed with me that this recipe is a definite keeper.

Freezer-Friendly Pizza Pockets

Dough:

2 Tablespoons active dry yeast
2 cups warm water (105 to 115 degrees F.)
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
4 Tablespoons oil (I used olive oil.)
5 cups flour (I used unbleached, but I think half white, half whole-wheat would also work well.)

Filling:

1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 cup pasta sauce or pizza sauce
2-3 cups shredded cheese (I used mozzarella, but I think cheddar or a mixture of cheese would work well, too.)
Other optional filling ingredients: diced black olives, pepperoni, diced green pepper, and/or diced mushrooms

To make dough: Mix yeast into warm water until dissolved. Add sugar, salt, oil, and flour. Mix well and dump onto a floured surface and knead for 3-5 minutes.

To make filling (I browned this while mixing up the dough): Brown ground beef with onion (and green pepper, if desired). Drain. Add pasta sauce and mix together. Add other optional filling ingredients, if desired.

To make Pizza Pockets: Divide dough into 15-20 pieces. Roll pieces into balls. Flatten balls into circles with rolling pin. Dollop a few tablespoons of filling onto dough circle and sprinkle with cheese. Fold over and seal tightly.

Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 500 degrees for 10-15 minutes until browned.

To freeze: Cool completely and store in an airtight ziptop freezer bag for up to 2-3 months.

To serve: Remove desired number of pizza pockets from the freezer and warm them individually in the microwave for about two minutes or until heated throw. Or, warm on a cookie sheet in a 350-degrees oven for 20 minutes, or until heated through.

Recipe inspired by Amy’s Finer Things and Pocket Change Gourmet.

Source: http://moneysavingmom.com/2012/05/4-weeks-to-fill-your-freezer-homemade-pizza-pockets-day-8.html
© Copyright 2012 Money Saving Mom®. All Rights Reserved.

Did you do any freezer cooking today? If so, I’d love to see the results of your efforts! Link up your blog posts below or tell us about your success in the comments.

{ 92 comments }

4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches (Day 6)

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by Crystal on May 8, 2012

So, I’ve shared lots of really simple, no-brainer tips here over the years, but I think this might qualify as just about the most basic of ideas I’ve ever shared.

In fact, I doubt I even need to do a post about it, since I could probably just put a picture and say, “I made peanut butter & jelly sandwiches for the freezer today. The end.”

And that would about sum it up. But that would also probably be the most boring post I’ve ever written, too. So I’ll try to expand a bit on this basic of basic ideas, for those who would like a few more details.

I first happened upon the idea of freezing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches when Jesse was in law school and we were eating a LOT of PB&J. I usually packed one or two sandwiches in his lunch each day and since he often had to leave for school early in the morning, I’d try to have as much stuff prepped ahead of time so that I could just take 20 seconds to pull it all out and put it in the lunch pail.

While it doesn’t really take long to make PB&J, when your time is really crunched in the morning, it can help speed things up a little bit. Plus, I’ve also found it’s so nice to have sandwiches at the ready if you end up needing to leave to go somewhere unexpectedly and no one has eaten any lunch yet.

I listened to The Little Big Things today while making PB&J in an assembly-line fashion. {The audiobook has some good things in it, but the crass language is driving me batty! Honestly, that’s a “little big thing” to me!}

I ended up having to break out a new jar of jelly and peanut butter about halfway through. And Jesse got home about this time and he sat at the kitchen table and told me about his day while I finished up the sandwiches. Multi-tasking at its finest!

The end result: A big pile of sandwiches! I cut the sandwiches in halves, put them in individual baggies, and then put the baggies in large ziptop bags.

Freezer-Friendly Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches

Bread
Peanut Butter
Jelly

Make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

To freeze: Cut and put in baggies (if desired) and store in airtight freezer ziptop bags in the freezer for 4-6 weeks.

To thaw: Stick frozen sandwiches in sack lunches in the morning and they will be thawed by lunch time. Or, you can be weird like me and eat them straight from the freezer. You can also warm them in the oven or microwave if you like your sandwiches warmed.

Source: http://moneysavingmom.com/2012/05/4-weeks-to-fill-your-freezer-peanut-butter-jelly-sandwiches-day-6.html
© Copyright 2012 Money Saving Mom®. All Rights Reserved.

Did you do any freezer cooking today? If so, I’d love to see the results of your efforts! Link up your blog posts below or tell us about your success in the comments.

{ 108 comments }

Free printable menu planners

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by Crystal on May 8, 2012

Download free weekly and monthly printable menu planners.

You can also check out our free menu planning printables here.

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4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Homemade Baking Mix (Day 5)

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by Crystal on May 7, 2012

After a busy weekend, I seemed to take forever to get going this morning — even though I got up early.

I finally got the Homemade Baking Mix made tonight at 7:45 p.m.

{Notice anything wrong with this picture? Maybe that I somehow am a month behind?! I noticed that after I’d taken the picture! }

And tomorrow we move onto freezer-friendly lunches. I think those are going to be a bit more time-intensive to make, but they are going to be so nice to have in the freezer that it will be every bit worth it!

Homemade Baking Mix

10 cups flour
8 Tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cream of tartar (I didn’t have any of this so I just left it out. We’ll see if it works okay without it!)
1 1/4 cup powdered milk
1 Tablespoon salt
1/4 cup sugar or raw sugar
2 1/4 cup coconut oil or shortening

Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Cut in shortening or cold coconut oil until you have fine crumbs.

To freeze: Store in an airtight container or freezer bags in the freezer for up to two months.

To use: Use the Homemade Baking Mix straight from the freezer in place of Bisquick. Or, use this to make our family’s favorite Cinnamon Roll Biscuits. For other recipe ideas, check out a similar Homemade Baking Mix recipe from Kitchen Simplicity.

Homemade Cinnamon Roll Biscuits — you can whip these up in a matter of minutes using the Homemade Baking Mix!

Did you do any freezer cooking today? If so, I’d love to see the results of your efforts! Link up your blog posts below or tell us about your success in the comments.

{ 63 comments }

4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Week #2 Freezer-Friendly Lunch Recipes + Shopping List

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by Crystal on May 7, 2012

Are you ready for another week of filling your freezer? This week, we’re tackling lunches.

Here’s my plan for making Freezer-Friendly Lunches this week. Remember that you are more than welcome to change any or all of the recipes as it fits best with your budget and family’s preferences:

Freezer-Friendly Lunch Recipes

Tuesday — Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches {Yes, these freeze really well and it’s nice to have some on hand for when you need to fix a sack lunch really quickly.}
Wednesday — Brown Bag Burritos
Thursday — Pizza Pockets
Friday — Ham & Cheese Pockets
Monday – Southwest Rollups

Grocery List

(I rounded up on the amounts needed, just to be safe. You probably have many of these items already on hand. You’ll want to double-check that you have the correct amounts, though.)

3 pounds ground beef
Ham (you’ll need enough for 3 cups chopped ham)
Chicken (you’ll need 2-4 cups chopped cooked chicken)
4 cans refried beans (you can also make your own Refried Beans with this recipe)
2 cans enchilada sauce
1 jar pizza or pasta sauce
1/2 cup salsa
1-2 loaves of bread
1 jar of peanut butter
1 jar of jelly
36 flour tortillas (If you prefer, you can make your own Homemade Tortillas with this recipe)
1/3 cup minced or dried onion
12 cups flour (whole-wheat, white, and/or a mixture of both)
2 eggs
1/2 cup butter
16-oz. block of mozzarella cheese (or 3 cups pre-shredded)
2 16-oz. blocks of cheddar cheese (or 8 cups pre-shredded)

Staple Ingredients/Spices:

chili powder
garlic powder
salt
oregano
yeast
olive oil
Italian seasoning
sugar
milk
honey

Optional Ingredients (for Pizza Pockets)

Parmesan cheese, optional
1/2 onion, optional
1/2 green pepper, optional
1/2 c. sliced or chopped mushrooms, optional
4 oz. pepperoni, optional

Freezer Storage Items Needed

Foil
Paper Towels (for wrapping burritos)
Plastic Wrap
15 large ziptop freezer bags
Plastic sandwich baggies (for PB&J sandwiches, if you prefer to store them individually to pull out for separate lunches.)
Something to label packages with (marker to write on bags, labels, and/or tape)

Click on the “Print This” tab at the top of the list to generate a printer-friendly list. (If you’re reading via email or a feed reader, you may need to click through to the post to print the list.)

{ 73 comments }

This week’s menu

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by Crystal on May 7, 2012

Cinnamon Roll Biscuits

Breakfasts

Granola bars
Cereal
Strawberry Pineapple Smoothies, Oatmeal
Scrambled eggs, Cinnamon Roll Biscuits, fruit salad
Waffles, scrambled eggs, fruit
Egg-in-hole, fruit
Granola, yogurt, and berry parfaits

Lunches

Waffles, scrambled eggs, fruit
Snack-y lunch
Leftovers x 2
PB&J, carrot sticks, apples, granola bars
Salad, Hard-boiled eggs, toast, fruit
Beans and rice, veggies

Snacks

Fruit/veggies
Popcorn
Chocolate Waffle Ice Cream Sandwiches

Dinners

Build Your Own Haystacks
Homemade pizza, tossed salad, fruit salad
Dinner out
Steak, sweet potatoes, Easy Whole Wheat Bread, fruit salad, Pain Au Chocolat
Italian Chicken, mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli, fruit
Dinner with extended family x 2