Freezer-Friendly

4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Freezer-Friendly Pizza Dough (Day 13)

by Crystal on May 18, 2012

This pizza crust recipe has been my go-to recipe for years. It’s so easy to make — and it’s really hard to ruin. In fact, I’ve made it dozens upon dozens of times and I don’t think I’ve ever messed it up.

That’s saying a lot coming from someone like me, who can even ruin simple recipes like Reese’s Peanut Butter Bars.

Last year, I experimented with freezing the pizza dough — to make it even quicker to pull off Homemade Pizza for dinner. While I still think fresh is best, the frozen dough is almost as good — and it’s a whole lot less expensive than ordering pizza for dinner.

Freezer-Friendly Homemade Pizza Dough

2 cups warm water (105 to 115 degrees F.)
2 Tablespoons active dry yeast
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
4 Tablespoons oil (vegetable, Canola, or olive oil)
5 cups flour (can use all whole-wheat, half white/half whole-wheat, or all white)

Pour the warm water into a bowl and sprinkle the yeast over it. Stir to dissolve.

Add the remaining ingredients and mix.

Dump onto a floured surface and knead dough for two to five minutes until smooth and no longer sticky.

To freeze: Cut lump of dough in half and place each half in an airtight freezer bag. Freeze for up to 4-6 weeks.

To bake: Place frozen dough in a greased bowl and thaw at room temperature for at least 3-4 hours. Roll out and shape onto a greased pizza pan.

Add pizza toppings of your choice. Bake at 500 degrees for around 10 minutes (until the crust looks crispy and lightly browned).

If you don’t want to mess with freezing the dough, take the kneaded dough and roll out and shape onto a greased pizza pan. Add pizza toppings and bake as directed above.

Source: http://moneysavingmom.com/2012/05/4-weeks-to-fill-your-freezer-freezer-friendly-pizza-dough-day-13.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.

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4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Barbecued Meatballs (Day 11)

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by Crystal on May 15, 2012

My great grandmother passed along a love of barbecue meatballs to our family — and it’s a recipe we’ve made over and over again. We love to serve these with twice baked potatoes, homemade rolls, and tossed salad.

And even if you’re not a fan of most freezer meals, I bet this one would work for your family since you freeze it uncooked. No one will likely know that you pulled this out of the freezer to serve for dinner.

Freezer-Friendly Barbecued Meatballs

Meatballs:

2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups milk
2 cups oats (quick-cooking or old fashioned — can also substitute bread crumbs)
1 onion, chopped
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 pounds raw ground beef (since you’ll be freezing this recipe uncooked, you’ll want to make sure the meat is fresh, not frozen)

Barbecue Sauce:

2 cups ketchup
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped onion (optional)
1 teaspoon Liquid Smoke (optional)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Combine all meatball ingredients and mix well. Shape into one-inch balls and lay on a cookie sheet.

To freeze: Freeze uncooked meatballs on a cookie sheet for one hour. Remove from cookie sheet and transfer to airtight ziptop freezer bags.

To serve: Thaw meatballs overnight (or for 8 hours) in the refrigerator. Put in a greased baking dish and bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes. Drain.

While meatballs are cooking, combine Barbecue Sauce ingredients together in a saucepan on the stove. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for two minutes, stirring frequently.

Pour Barbecue Sauce over meatballs and bake for 10-20 minutes longer, or until done.

Recipe adapted from Taste of Home.

Source: http://moneysavingmom.com/2012/05/4-weeks-to-fill-your-freezer-barbecued-meatballs-day-11.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.

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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.

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Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Waffle Recipe

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by Crystal on February 15, 2012

When I found this Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Waffle recipe on Passionate Homemaking, I knew I had to try it.

To my surprise, they turned out beautifully! They were a little lighter and crispier than typical waffles, but they were delicious and definitely a winner gluten-free, dairy-free recipe.

Of course, in typical fashion, I had to tweak the original recipe. So here’s what I came up with:

Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Waffles

3 cups homemade rice milk
1 cup brown rice
2 cups gluten-free oats (you could also use millet or brown rice)
4 Tablespoons coconut oil, melted
4 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

In a Vita-Mix (or other powerful blender), combine rice milk, grains, coconut oil, eggs, and vanilla. Blend on high for two minutes until the grain is completely ground and blended.

Add baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Turn on blender again and mix until blended. Oil or butter the waffle iron and cook waffles for 2-4 minutes each, until done.

Makes around 10-12 waffles.

Recipe adapted from Passionate Homemaking

Source: http://moneysavingmom.com/2012/02/gluten-free-dairy-free-waffle-recipe.html
© Copyright 2012 Money Saving Mom®. All Rights Reserved.

Coming tomorrow: My homemade rice milk making experience.

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Homemade Go-Gurts

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by Crystal on October 25, 2011

Update: The recipe for Homemade Yogurt in the Crockpot is here.

Guest post by Angie

My kids barely know what a Go-Gurt is, but since I’ve been making yogurt by the crockpot full, I thought making homemade yogurt tubes would be a fun way to eat it up as well as travel with.

First, I made a batch of yogurt in my crockpot (I add in 3/4 cup powdered milk to the initial milk to improve the consistency). Milk in my area is about $3/gallon and I usually use a half-gallon, so between the milk and the two other ingredients I used (3/4 cup powdered milk and ½ cup yogurt), I estimate it costs me about $2 for a half gallon of yogurt.

I divided it into four different bowls and added one of the following to each bowl:

* Strawberry jam (1/2 cup) and sugar (1/4 cup)
* Chocolate pudding mix (1 small box)
* Vanilla pudding mix (1 small box)
* Lime juice (1/4 cup) and sugar (1/4 cup)

(Two of the flavors)

Then, I put ½ cup of the flavored yogurt in a SNACK-size baggie and squeezed out the air. I folded it over and secured it with tape. After laying them down flat on a cookie sheet (shown is a mini bar pan), I put them in the freezer.

When they were frozen, I cut off the end with some scissors and my kids (and I) did a happy dance.

I made 22 “go-gurts” from the batch of yogurt and they came out to be about $.09/piece.

You can also make homemade popsicles with these ingredients, but in the baggies, they were basically spill-proof and easy to travel with—which is what I was hoping for!

Angie is a homeschooling mom of four, a lover of the Lord, coffee, books (including Quickbooks), and all things frugal and DIY.

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Strawberry Oatmeal Smoothie Recipe

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by Crystal on September 15, 2011

We made Strawberry Oatmeal Smoothies for breakfast a few days ago and they were a hit.

I didn’t think they were as yummy as the Pick-Me-Up Smoothies, but the children gobbled them down. (By the way, I’ve found that if I let the children actively participate in helping cut and prepare fruits and vegetables, they are so much more excited about eating them!)

The oatmeal gave it a bit more of a heavy consistency, but I was surprised how little you actually noticed it.

Kaitlynn wanted to pour her own.

Strawberry Oatmeal Smoothie Recipe

1 cup ice
1/2 cup frozen strawberries
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 frozen banana
1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1 tablespoon sweetener (we used agave nectar, but you could use honey or sugar)
1 cup milk (we used rice milk, but I think regular milk would make it creamier)

Measure ice and strawberries and pour into the bottom of the blender. Add the remaining ingredients on top. Blend until completely smooth. Serve immediately or freeze in small containers for later use. Serves 2-4.

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart

Source: http://moneysavingmom.com/2011/09/strawberry-oatmeal-smoothie-recipe.html
© Copyright 2012 Money Saving Mom®. All Rights Reserved.

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Do-It-Yourself Experiment #6: Homemade Strawberry Freezer Jam

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by Crystal on July 22, 2011

I made Strawberry Freezer Jam earlier this week as part of my 2011 Do-It-Yourself Experiments. And of all the projects I’ve done so far, I’m pretty sure this was my favorite.

I used the $0.99 strawberries at Aldi, as well as a bag of sugar from Aldi and pectin at the grocery store. I briefly considered using raw sugar, but since this is my first try at anything like this, I figured I better play it safe. So I bought white sugar — something I’ve not done in months!

Make and Takes recommends using a food processor to puree the strawberries, but I used the Vita-Mix instead. It worked well, except that the Vita-Mix does such a good job of puree-ing that my jam turned out really, really smooth.

The whole thing was so simple to make! I cannot believe I’ve waited this long to make freezer jam. And our entire family loved the end result.

The recipe is definitely not low sugar, though, so I’d love to find a good freezer jam recipe that was a little healthier (anyone have one?). We’ve already used it on peanut butter sandwiches, served it on pancakes, and — dare I admit it? — eaten it plain.

All in all, making Strawberry Freezer Jam was every bit a successful experiment and I’m completely confident we will be making this again. If I’m able to find a source for inexpensive pectin, this would also be more cost-effective than buying jam at the store. Plus, it so yummy and fresh — and fun to make, too!

Have you tried any new do-it-yourself experiments recently? If so, I’d love to hear about them in the comments.

In case you missed it, here’s the list of the 12 Do-It-Yourself Projects I Plan to Try in 2011:

January: Make From-Scratch Chai Tea

February: Make Homemade Dishwashing Detergent

March: Make Homemade Hamburger Buns

April: Make Homemade Laundry Soap

May: Make Appliqued Flower Tee

June: Make Homemade Hummus

July: Make Strawberry Freezer Jam

August: Make Homemade Soap

September: Sew a Rag Quilt

October: Make Homemade Apple Butter

November: Make Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

December: Make Homemade Marshmallows

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Freezer-Friendly Baked Oatmeal Recipe

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by Crystal on June 14, 2011

So many of you requested more specific directions on how I froze the Baked Oatmeal recipe that I made for my Freezer-Cooking-In-An-Hour session last week that I figured it might be good to share the adapted recipe. But I wanted to make sure it turned out okay after being frozen, thawed and then baked.

We tested it this week and, as I suspected, it worked beautifully to freeze. It was so, so easy to pull out, thaw overnight and bake. And my husband and children raved about it all during breakfast. I almost felt guilty that it was so simple to pull off.

It was definitely a hit — and something I’ll be including more often in our regular breakfast line up now that I’ve found a way to make it ahead and freeze it!

Freezer-Friendly Baked Oatmeal

1/3 cup butter, melted
2 large eggs
3/4 cup raw sugar (or brown sugar)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons milk
3 cups oats (regular or quick oats)

Beat eggs, sugar and butter together. Mix in baking powder, vanilla, cinnamon and salt.

Stir in milk and oats. Pour into a greased 9×13 foil pan or baking dish and cover well. (Can use a Ziploc freezer bag, if freezing). Freeze.

To serve: Thaw overnight in the refrigerator. In the morning, bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes, until set in the middle. Serve warm with milk. (We like to sprinkle sugar on top before pouring the milk on.)

If you want to serve it without freezing it first, let it sit in the refrigerator overnight and then bake it at 350 degrees for 35-45minutes in the morning.

Serves 6-8.

Adapted from Food.com

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Homemade Baking Mix Recipe

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by Crystal on June 9, 2011

Doreen emailed me her baking mix recipe almost a year ago and I’ve had it in my file ever since to try. I finally got around to making it during my Freezer Cooking In an Hour session this week.

It was so simple to whip up and I’m excited to see how it works. I’ll be posting four different recipes using this mix in the next few weeks as I try them. In the mean time, here’s the baking mix recipe:

Homemade Baking Mix

10 cups flour (I used freshly-ground whole-wheat. Doreen suggested doing half white and half whole-wheat.)
8 Tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 1/4 cup powdered milk
1 Tablespoon salt
1/4 cup sugar or turbinado
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. Store in a tightly covered container in a cool place (if you use freshly-ground flour, store in the freezer). Use in place of Bisquick.

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Whole-Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Bread Recipe

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by Crystal on June 2, 2011

I’m sure you’ve probably figured out by now that we’re chocoholics around here. It seems almost every other recipe I post has chocolate as one of the main ingredients in it.

So it only was natural for me to modify our family’s favorite banana bread recipe to add chocolate. Because everything’s better with chocolate.

The result was scrumptious! This recipe is great for a quick and easy breakfast, snack or to stick in a brown bag lunch.

Whole-Wheat Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Makes 1 loaf

2 cups whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup oil
1 cup raw sugar
2 eggs, beaten
3-4 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 Tablespoons milk
1/2 cup to 1 cup chocolate chips or chunks (I used chunks, since that’s what I had on hand.)