After five days of being in bed with the flu, I was really, really itching to get up and do a little cooking yesterday. So I decided to go ahead with my planned Freezer Cooking in an Hour. I know, call me crazy. But I did. 🙂
Here’s the play-by-play:
5:30 p.m. — Lit some candles. Turned on Pandora and I’m ready to work. The kids are watching one of the old seasons of Get Smart that we checked out from the library (they are hooked on those right now!)
5:34 p.m. — I dumped the bag of frozen apples into the crockpot with the vanilla and started the Crockpot Apple Butter simmering. It took me a little longer than it should have because I had to wash the crockpot first!
5:37 p.m. — I pulled the bananas out of the freezer to thaw a little for the No-Flour Banana Muffins. Whenever I find bananas marked down, I always snatch some up and freeze them to use in baking. These ones had just been frozen earlier in the day… but never made it to a freezer bag like they usually do after they are frozen.
5:38 p.m. — I pulled the meat out of the freezer and ran it under cold water for a bit and then started cooking it on the stove.
5:40 p.m. — While the meat was cooking, I chopped up the onions and dumped them in the pot to cook, too.
5:45 p.m. — Time to start the muffins! This is a new-to-me recipe so I’m curious to see how it turns out. It takes a bit longer than I expect to blend everything up. I end up adding some extra bananas because the mixture seems too thick.
6:00 p.m. — I finally get the batter finished and in the pan. It’s a little harder to transfer batter from the Vita-Mix to a muffin pan than I expected!
6:05 p.m. — I’m working on chopping up the taco meat some more whenever Jesse walks in the door. He has a mischievous grin on his face and I can tell he’s up to something.
6:10 p.m. — I finally get Jesse to admit what his big grin is about… he’d sent off to have our wedding vows done in calligraphy to give to me for our anniversary and he’d brought the package home tonight.
I was beyond touched at his thoughtfulness! We have fun playing around with my new camera lens trying to get a perfect picture of the vows.
6:18 p.m. — I decide to forego making the Freezer Biscuits as I’m worn out from my efforts and my energy is fading quickly. I add the beans and tomatoes to the Taco Meat and clean up the kitchen while the muffins finish baking.
6:25 p.m. — The muffins come out of the oven. Beautiful — and delicious! And that’s that!
See more Freezer Cooking in an Hour sessions here.
Did you do any freezer cooking this week? If so, tell us about it!
I love it when you are doing this series Crystal! Hope you feel better soon..yucky ol flu 🙁 Will pray!
Blessings!
I’m catching up on reading your blog since we’ve been out of town sans internet for a few days. Loved this post and loved hearing that someone else enjoys watching Get Smart besides our family! Glad to hear you’re feeling better, too.
I was confused at first. I thought you were cooking items to put INTO the freezer, not taking things out and making. Makes total sense now and I love it. How long does it normally take you to thaw the meat when you take it right out like that?
Sorry just thought of another question. I have tried freezing banana’s but when I thaw them they are always mushy. What am I doing wrong. I leave them in the peel and whole. Is that the problem? Thanks
I really need to think of questions all at once. For those of you that make and freeze spagetti sauce, how does it do defrosted? Do you have the meat already in it? What do you freeze it in and how do you defrost? THanks
I don’t know if someone has suggested this for you yet or not, but I like to pour my blender mix for muffins/cupcakes in a pastry bag then it’s so much easier to get it into the cupcake pans without the mess!
Great idea!
Hi Crystal! I have a question for you…I heard a long time ago that you should not re-freeze meat (any type) that had been frozen. I have no idea where I heard this, or what the reasoning is, but it has discouraged me from doing make-ahead meals with meat, because I almost always have to freeze it when I buy it! Have you heard of this??
I am a teacher who always get anxious about returning to work after the holidays. I want to feel that I have accomplished something during break to make my life easier. This sense of accomplishment was met by my freezer cooking during the break. I made 6 batches of spaghetti sauce (by using 3 crockpots I bought at garage sales for $5 – $10 each). From this, I made two lasagnas and had eight family servings for spaghetti. I also made and froze: 8 pork and bean lunches, 8 chops suey lunches, 2 chicken noodle soup dinners, and 2 beef stew dinners. The cooking idea caught on… my husband made a big pot of chili which froze into 4 dinner servings. I went back to work with a great sense of calm and eagerness to see my students again. I only started freezing after I found your site last year so thanks again for helping me to make my life easier. Bless you.
Tricia,
That all sounds amazing. One day if I ever get organized enough I want to be able to do that. Good job.
Thanks so much Danielle! One step at a time. I started last year by just freezing spaghetti sauce. I then would try to freeze two meals… and so on. You CAN do it Danielle!
Yes, actually. Made a turkey (free from my husband’s employer) and froze the leftovers. Made ham and potato soup last night and about to put it in the freezer too.
I had a 5lb pack of ground beef i had gotten marked half price at aldi. I thawed it out, cooked it all, and then split it between two pots, and turned half into spaghetti sauce (froze two meals of that) and the other half into chili. We had one night of frito pies, one night of chili dogs, and then I froze one more meal of that.
I’m excited about trying the apple butter recipe. It’s so good homemade. :). I had a question about the crockpot you have in the pictures. Does the outside/the sleeve get warm or hot? I need to get a new one that doesn’t get hot. We have a small kitchen and I don’t want any little fingers getting burned.
Thanks.
It gets warm and the top definitely gets hot
is there a link on how to get started i want to try and to do this to see if it helps on time and money
Here you go: https://moneysavingmom.com/2012/05/a-beginners-guide-to-freezer-cooking.html
yeah!!!!!!!!! first time being able to comment on this kind of post! Sunday i did do a freezer cooking..uh..session! shredded meat (3lbs) in crockpot, 4 pans of salsa chicken & yellow rice, 4 servings of Northern Bean soup.. -i made so much of one thing due to going to a freezer meal swap..(came home with 2 loafs of homemade bread, lasagna, mexican casserole, 2 things of chili!) SOO much fun!
I enjoyed all the pics! Great job!
For my freezer cooking I did up a batch of chicken pot pie filling for the freezer. It is a recipe I made up and it turned out well. I made it dairy free too. My family really likes chicken pot pie but I find it a little time consuming to make most days. Now that I have the filling made in the freezer all I have to do is thaw and put it in a crust or top with biscuits and bake. I know I will be making this again.
Shelly, that sounds delicious – would you mind sharing your recipe? Thank you!
Melissa, I’m not Shelly, but we love chicken pot pie around here. I too made up a recipe that we love. Well, it’s more of a method. My husband and 5 year old son even made up a chicken pot pie song that they sing when I make it. 🙂
I saute 3-5 cloves of chopped garlic and one choppen onion in oil, in a medium pot. I add 2-3 stalks of chopped celery, about one pound of sliced carrots (6-7), and about 5-6 diced potatoes. Then I pour in enough chicken broth to just cover the veggies. I simmer over medium low heat until the veggies are tender, about 20 minutes. I add 2 cups of cooked, chopped chicken, then season with salt and pepper to taste. I thicken the mixture with flour, corn starch or arrowroot powder dissolved in water to my desired thickness. If I have leftover gravy from a roast chicken, I stir that in too. I then pour it into an 8×11 glass baking dish, and cover it with a crust. I don’t do a bottom crust. My favorite crust is a yogurt dough found on the Heavenly Homemakers website. Slit the dough in a few spots, and bake it at 350 for about 30-40 minutes until the crust is golden brown.
It’s a really easy method, and the amounts of veggies can be varied depending on your family size. This feeds my family of 4 (2yo and 5yo boys), with enough left for my husband’s lunch the next day, and maybe a little more.
Impressive! I’ve got a touch of the nasty flu that’s going around (just that dry cough and headache) and it’s all I can do to make dinner – let alone freezer cooking! Good for you!
Even after being sick, Crystal, your energy is still inspiring. And the wedding vows are beautiful!!! Thanks for sharing!
You’re so kind! Thank you for taking the time to comment!
Crystal…you didn’t add chocolate to the banana muffins? 😉
I would *like* to do some freezer cooking. However, our four children are swimmers (two competitively) and we have to be at the pool 5 days/week, from 5:30pm-7:45pm. We homeschool 9a-3:30pm. I’d like to do more crockpot cooking to help with our time constraints each day, but our diet is about 90% plant-based and we can’t seem to find enough variety in the results from vegetarian crockpot cooking.
Could you carve out an hour on the weekends?
We are in a similar situation with the plant-based diet and finding crockpot recipes. We do vegetarian chili and variation of rice and beans using Mexican and Indian recipes. If anyone has any ideas, would love to read them.
I’ve been working on freezer cooking – not exactly crockpot cooking – with vegan recipes this week in preparation for surgery. I haven’t previously frozen some of these things, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they work out. Once a month mom has a vegetarian menu that helped me get some ideas for my menu. My list includes:
veggie fajita mix
mock tuna salad
sweet potato soup
quinoa casserole
split pea soup
homemade curry sauce
millet and squash curried casserole
cuban black beans, rice and sweet potatoes
curried lentil soup
cheeseless sauce (for mac and cheese[less])
vegetarian chili
I’ve had really good results with freezeing cheeseless cheese sauce (made with streamed veggies, cashews, etc.). Is the mock tuna salad made with tofu?
Excellent to know that my cheeseless sauce will likely be okay. The mock tuna I made is from chickpeas.
Where did you find the jar for storing oatmeal?
Thank you.
Farhana
I found a very similar jar at walmart!
hey sweet friend – Momma can’t get sick…it can’t happen. 🙂
Anyhow, I added my Crock Pot Taco Meat recipe and ideas for cooking ground beef in bulk over at 10 Minute Dinners. It’s now my favorite way to do taco meat and I cook up about 5 pounds at a time and just LOVE IT! It’s perfect for our Power Cooking Sessions. 🙂
I pinned the freezer biscuit recipe it looks interesting. Glad to hear you are feeling better.
As always Crystal, you’re amazing! I planned to make blueberry muffins and chicken in the crockpot for taco’s, enchilada’s and BBQ chicken sandwitches.
My morning started with gusto- got the chicken in the crockpot and pulled out the kitchenaid to start the muffins. Decided to double the muffin mix and as I started into the muffins I got doubled over with Cramps!!!! It was bad, really bad but I had already started the mixing process so I had to continue. It LITERALLY took me from 9:30am to 5pm to finish the double batch of muffins!!!! Everytime I stood up I’d get sick!
Unfortunately, it was the night my hubby was coming home at 6pm so i had to figure out dinner for the kiddos.
And I had some issues with the muffin tins so half way through I had to switch to different pans which meant more dirty dishes!! Uggh!
But my wonderful husband got home and took over and bathed all three kids and got them to bed and cleaned up my kitchen mess for me!!! It took him an hour to clean up the dishes. he came upstairs and said his feet hurt and now knew why my feet hurt all the time!
I’m hoping today will be easier and I can finish preparing the meals for the meat now that it’s all cooked.
That was so sweet of Jesse! Happy Anniversary!
I made these muffins yesterday after seeing them listed on your meal plan. I followed the recipe but used stevia. Stevia powder should be under a teaspoon but is listed as 2 Tablespoons. Not very good. Will try them again today with correct amount of stevia. The look yummy!!
Stevia powder conversions – 1 cup sugar = 1 teaspoon powder
Did they turn out? I’ve never tried cooking or baking with stevia before. My sister uses it a lot, though.
You got a lot done, especially for just getting over being sick!
This week I made a bunch of salsa and processed pumpkin to freeze. Here in this part of Asia it is pumpkin season and the tomatoes never really go out of season because our sunny time is in the winter.
Oh, I’d love for it to be pumpkin season again!
Hi Crystal,
You are amazing! I would love to have the recipe for the no-flour banana muffins. Also, I pray that you will fully recover from having the flu and regain your strength.
It’s linked in the post.
There is a definite difference in these photos! You are doing so great with your new camera! What kind of lens did you get? A 50mm prime?
He got me a pancake lens for Christmas. I’m definitely going to have fun with it!
It’s this one: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=870179&is=REG&A=details&Q=
How precious what Jesse did for your anniversary!! I’m not sure from the picture–is it framed? It’s really beautiful!!!
We got it framed yesterday!
I love this series! Very inspiring! I just have a small suggestion/request. You used to list all of the links at the end as a summary. It was very easy to find the links that way. Could you start doing that again? Thanks a bunch for your blog! I follow it daily.
If I remember, I will next week. 🙂
I’m excited to try that muffin recipe- tomorrow morning!! I have bananas that I need to use beofe they go bad in a day or two 🙂
Thanks
I’ve never heard of having your wedding vows sent away to be done in Calligraphy! My husband’s and mine are on sheets of scrap paper in a folder with other wedding stuff. How did he find that company, or would you mind sharing who he used? I might do this for my husband for our next anniversary! 🙂
He said he just googled it until he found someone that looked reputable!
My friend Sarah Kate does this and her work is beautiful. Thought I’d share the link in case you were interested. 🙂 http://www.etsy.com/listing/110114753/calligraphy-vows-made-to-order
What lens did you get?
It’s this one: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=870179&is=REG&A=details&Q=
Love it!
In regards to freezing banana’s, how do you use them? Do you just grind them up frozen for whatever recipe you are making, like banana bread as an example?
If you are going to use them in banana bread or in a banana cream pie, freeze them whole in their skins. Let them defrost in their skin as well. It will look gross, but taste fantastic! If you are going to use them in a smoothie, you can cut them and put them on a sheet to freeze, then transfer to a sealed bag or a container.
I unpeel the frozen bananas and then mash them, just like you would mash potatoes. The mashed banana works great in banana muffins and bread.
I peel them and break them into a few pieces. I’ll blend up frozen chunks in a smoothie (or into banana “ice cream”), or thaw them to use in banana bread.
I tried freezing them in their skins once, and I couldn’t get them peeled after that! Maybe if I had waited for them to thaw all the way… but I’m not patient enough for that. 🙂
i freeze my whole in the peel..(just place in freeze) and then put on counter for like 10 mins and they are ready to be used however!
I made some choclate muffins yesterday that were flour- less. I was very skeptical! I used my ninja to chop the oats and the other ingredients and I had to sub a couple ingredients…like sour cream for the yogurt and butter for the applesauce. I have never seen such thin batter! I mean really thin! But they turned out wonderful! I used raw sugar as the sweetener and my, hard to get to like anything healthy, husband loved them!
Here’s the recipe…http://healthyisalwaysbetter.tumblr.com/post/6583755120/lessthan300kcal-triple-chocolate-chunk-muffin
Oh and any muffins I ever make never get to the freezer! With 5 boys they barely get cooled before they’re all gone!
Glad you’re feeling better!
Oh yay! I’m so glad the recipe turned out for you, even with the substitutions!
That is such a thoughtful gift from Jesse. My husband is like that also, he gets so anxious to give me my gift. This past year I had my birthday gift two weeks in advance. lol
I made sme chicken and rice burritos, freezer french toast, freezer breakfast burritos, and some sandwiches to put in the freezer. I also put individual servings of grapes, bananas, carrots, broccoli, hummus, and salad in the fridge so that my daughter can grab what she wants easily. Tomorrow I’m planning on making 8 roast beef sandwiches for the hubby to put in the freezer and then a huge batch of hummus for the veggies and also making bbq pork for dinner, and I’m making two instead of one so I can freeze the rest.
For your freezer french toast – do you just make it like regular french toast and then freeze it? take it out when you want it and heat it up? or is there a special recipe you would like to share:-) Thanks!
I would like to know that too. My kids love those processed french toast sticks but I don’t buy them very often. I never thought about making my own. But I’ve frozen homemade waffles and pancakes successfully … I can’t imagine that would be very different.
not sure how she does it ..but i have made them like normal and then cut into sticks then flash freeze them .. they heat great and my kids love them!
Freezing it is very easy! I make regular french toast, cool it, and then place it in plastic freezer bags in the freezer. Then I just pull out what I need and rewarm it either in the microwave or in the toaster. Much, much cheaper and more healthy than the store-bought version!
Do you have a recipe for your chicken and rice burritos? And your roast beef sandwiches? My husband prefers, ok is really picky about, having a hot lunch at work, and aside from pizza rolls and taquitos, I can’t really find anything else to satisfy him. Maybe the burritos or roast beef will. Thanks!
Marianne, this seems obvious, and maybe you’ve thought of it and it doesn’t work for you. My husband has a hot lunch almost everyday, and I always pack dinner leftovers. I bought a variety of smaller pyrex bowls and casseroles with lids to use for his lunch. I purposefully make enough of our dinner to have enough left for his lunch the next day. I’ve literally sent him just about everything, and his co-workers are always envious. 🙂 I’ve sent paninis; roast beef and veggies; spaghetti; chili and cornbread; chicken pot pie; tacos; steak salad; homemade soup and salad or bread; roast chicken with mashed potatoes, gravy and vegetable; homemade pizza; salmon fillet and rice; and on and on and on. Usually an entire lunch will fit into one of the casserole dishes. I just portion it in there, similar to a frozen dinner, only it’s not divided. I mostly cook from scratch, so this saves us a lot of money, and I just pack his lunch as I’m cleaning up after dinner.
WTG Crystal. See I would have just said FORGET IT with being sick that long. Good for you. It was like a treat for me to sit down and read your post. Good for you. 🙂 I did really well. I cooked up 2 BIG pumpkins, matched socks, and I am not working on 15 minute in each room tidy. THEN I can read. I am so wanting to finish up A Woman’s Place. I LOVE the story!
Way to go!
Did you finish the book yet? I’ve been looking forward to this weekend so I can have some extra time to read and finish it!
No, not yet. Like you.. hoping I can finish it this weekend. 🙂
Wow, that’s a lot of work for someone who just recovered from the flu. I wanted to get some freezer cooking done today, but it was at the bottom of my checklist and I just didn’t quite get to it. I did put blackberry muffins in the freezer earlier this week, though.
Yum, Blackberry Muffins!
Made sweet potato pancakes for dinner, a double batch. The other half is going in the freezer for another dinner (or maybe an actual breakfast!).
Oh! Do you have a link to your recipe?
I do, is there an email I should send it to? It might be a bit drawn out for the comment section
How did the apple butter turn out?
with the frozen apples I mean!
Really, really well. I was so happy!