Series

4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough (Day 16)

by Crystal on May 23, 2012

If you’re not a fan of most freezer meals, can I encourage you to try making cookie dough and freezing it? I can almost guarantee you won’t be able to tell a difference between frozen cookie dough and fresh cookie dough.

It makes it so easy to make a batch of fresh-baked cookies when you have drop-in guests or need to bring a dessert or snack to some event at the last minute. It’s also very handy for those times when you get a late-night craving for chocolate. Oh wait, I may be the only person who has that happen to them. Ahem.

My sister concocted this recipe many years ago and it’s long been our favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. It definitely wouldn’t win the prize for being a low-calorie cookie, but it’s a delicious and hearty cookie recipe.

Freezer-Friendly Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup shortening or butter (softened)
1/3 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup brown sugar (or raw sugar)
3/4 cup sugar (or raw sugar)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (you can also use white flour or half whole-wheat/half white)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups oats (rolled or quick oats)
1 12-oz. package chocolate chips

Cream together first six ingredients. Add flour, baking soda, salt, and oats. Mix well. Stir in chocolate chips. Roll into 1-1 1/2-inch balls.

To freeze: Place cookie balls on a cookie sheet and freeze for one to two hours. Remove from cookie sheet and place in an airtight freezer bag.

To bake: Pull out the desired amount of balls and place on a greased cookie sheet for 30-45 minutes to thaw. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes or until done.

Makes approximately 40 cookies.

Source: http://moneysavingmom.com/2012/05/4-weeks-to-fill-your-freezer-chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-day-16.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.

{ 50 comments }

4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Italian Chicken (Day 15)

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by Crystal on May 22, 2012

This is one of our go-to meals. It is so, so easy and delicious.

You could skip the freezing part altogether and just make it the day of, but some times it’s nice to pull a bag out of the freezer, dump it into a pan or crock pot and dinner is done.

It’s a great summer recipe because you can grill it or cook it in the crock pot and not heat up your kitchen at all. We love it served over rice or sliced and served on a big salad.

While I was making the Italian Chicken on one end of the table, the above picture is what was happening at the other end of the kitchen table. Seeing my husband so intently working with Silas on his preschool and Silas just soaking it up melts my heart.

{My husband has been doing one or two of each of the children’s homeschooling subjects with them each evening after he comes home from work. It was his idea — and the children love it!}

{I think one of the reasons they enjoy it is because Daddy’s homeschooling often involves snacks, too. }

Freezer-Friendly Italian Chicken

One bottle of your favorite Italian salad dressing*
6 frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts

To freeze: Put frozen chicken breasts in a freezer bag. Pour the Italian dressing over the chicken. Squeeze the air out of the bag and seal it up. Freeze.

To thaw and bake:

Quick Method: Pull frozen chicken out of the freezer and run the freezer bag under cold water to thaw slightly. Pour all the contents of the bag into a 9×13-inch baking dish. Cook at 350 degrees for 45 to 60 minutes.
Longer Marinating Method: Pull frozen chicken out of the freezer, stick the bag in a bowl and let it thaw in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. Pour all the contents of the bag into a 9×13-inch baking dish. Cook at 350 degrees for 45 to 60 minutes or grill until done.
Crock Pot Method: Pull frozen chicken out of the freezer and run the freezer bag under hot water to thaw slightly. Pour all the contents of the bag into the crock pot and cook on high for 4-6 hours, until thoroughly cooked through.

This is delicious served over rice with steamed vegetables on the side. Serves 4-6.

*Want to change things up a bit? You can also use barbecue sauce or any other favorite salad dressing. Let us know if your family has a favorite variation of this recipe!

Source: http://moneysavingmom.com/2012/05/4-weeks-to-fill-your-freezer-italian-chicken-day-15.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.

{ 46 comments }

4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Week #4 Freezer-Friendly Snacks & Desserts + Shopping List

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by Crystal on May 21, 2012

Can you believe we’ve made it to the last week of freezer cooking? My freezer is getting so stocked and it has been wonderful.

With Memorial Day weekend coming up, I’m spacing out the recipes a bit more this week to give everyone a little bit more time to play along (should you so choose) and to also give myself the flexibility to not blog much on Monday.

My apologies in advance that all but one of these recipes has chocolate in it. What can I say? “Dessert” and “snack” is pretty much synonymous with “chocolate” at our house. And no day is complete without at at least a little bit of chocolate!

Here’s this week’s list of Snack and Dessert Recipes I’ll be making to stick in the freezer along with a grocery list (let me know if you see any mistakes on amounts needed):

Freezer-Friendly Snack and Dessert Recipes

Wednesday — One batch of Whole-Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Thursday — Double batch of Easy Morning Glory Muffins {I’ll share my “health-i-fied” version of this recipe on Thursday.}
Friday — Double batch of No Bake Energy Bites
Tuesday — One batch of Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
Wednesday – Double batch of Chocolate Banana Bread

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.)

16 eggs
8 cups sugar (or raw sugar)
3/4 cup brown sugar (or raw sugar)
6 cups rolled oats
1 1/3 cups peanut butter (or other nut butter)
1 (16 oz.) can pureed pumpkin
3 1/2 cups oil
12 cups flour
3 packages chocolate chips
2/3 cup honey
3 cup coconut flakes (For No Bake Energy Bites or Easy Morning Glory Muffins — could substitute something else if your family doesn’t like coconut.)
1 cup flaxseed (For No Bake Energy Bites — could substitute wheat germ or something for this.)
4 cups shredded carrots
1 cup raisins
6 bananas
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
2 apples
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
4 sticks butter

Staple Ingredients:

Vanilla
Salt
Baking Soda
Baking Powder
Cinnamon

Freezer Storage Items Needed

Foil
Plastic Wrap
8-12 large ziptop freezer bags
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-4-freezer-friendly-snacks-desserts-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.)

{ 21 comments }

4 Weeks to a More Organized Home Printable Checklist and Daily Email Reminders

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by Crystal on May 21, 2012

So many of you followed along with the 4 Weeks to a More Organized Home series begged me if I could put together a printable checklist. Well, thanks to the wonderful Joy from FiveJs.com we not only have a free printable checklist available, but we did one better than that: you can also sign up to receive the challenges via email!

Download the Free 4 Weeks to a More Organized Printable Checklist — This checklist includes all of the daily challenges as half pages so you can print, cut in half, and use one per weekday. There is also a short list at the end if you just want to print a list of the main assignments for each day.

Sign up for the Free 20 Days to a More Organized Home Email List — Sign up here and confirm your subscription via the link in your email inbox. You’ll receive one email each day with the daily challenges. The emails will begin the day after you subscribe and you’ll receive one challenge per day for 20 days.

Want to go straight to the blog posts or want to see my results from each day’s challenge? Here are links to each post in the series (and yes, Day 15 is missing — I was out of town with no internet access. But Day 15 is on the printable checklist and daily email challenges!):

{ 20 comments }

4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Lasagna Casserole (Day 12)

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by Crystal on May 16, 2012

As I’ve shared before, Lasagna Casserole is a staple recipe at our house. I love it because it is so versatile and because most of the ingredients go on great sales a few times per year.

I use whatever pasta, cheese, tomatoes, and pasta sauce I have gotten recently with coupons and sales, so it always turns out a little bit differently. But it’s always good!

I doubled the recipe and added in Parmesan cheese to the cottage cheese mixture this time since I had a little bit left in the freezer to use up from the Amazon deal last fall.

I left out the meat in the casseroles today because we’ve gotten so used to having this casserole without meat in it that no one notices it’s meatless.

I had both cheddar and mozzarella cheese on hand, so I just used both. If you use cheddar it gives it a bit of a different flair than traditional lasagna — and we think it’s yummy that way, too. {You may or may not agree. We can have weird and quirky tastes sometimes!}

See what I said about this recipe being versatile? You could probably sneak some extra steamed and chopped veggies into the pasta sauce, too, if you wanted to.

Freezer-Friendly Lasagna Casserole

1 pound ground beef or sausage
1 onion, chopped (optional)
8 ounces of uncooked noodles (we like spiral or rotini noodles best)
1/3 to 1/2 jar spaghetti sauce
1 15-oz. can diced tomatoes
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups cottage cheese or ricotta cheese (we prefer cottage cheese and it’s typically much cheaper — especially if you can find it marked down!)
8 oz. mozzarella cheese, grated
1/2 teaspoon parsley (chopped fresh or dried)
salt/pepper

Brown ground beef and onion until cooked. While the meat is cooking, boil the noodles according to package directions.

Mix spaghetti sauce with diced tomatoes and browned ground beef. Set 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese aside to sprinkle on the top. Combine the rest of the mozzarella cheese, cottage cheese, beaten eggs, parsley and salt and pepper.

Layer a third of the meat sauce, then the noodles and then the cheese mixture in a 9 x 13-inch pan. Repeat two more times. Sprinkle with cheese.

To freeze: Cover well with foil and freeze for up to a month.

To serve: Thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 45 minutes (until bubbly). Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Serves 6.

Source: http://moneysavingmom.com/2012/05/4-weeks-to-fill-your-freezer-lasagna-casserole-day-12.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.

{ 66 comments }

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.

{ 52 comments }

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

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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)

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.)

{ 38 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.

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.

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.