Recipes for Latest Freezer Meal Batches

As you know I have been doing a lot of freezer meals lately. This is in preparation for baby #4, as well as to make my day-to-day life simpler during the school year so that I actually have time to play with my kids, help them with homework, etc. without the stress of dinner hanging over my head. Here are the various instructions, recipes, labels, etc. I used for this last batch.

These are the instructions/labels I put on the bags that go in the freezer. This way I know how to prepare the food I have in there when I am ready to use it:

Pretzels:

·       Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F

·       Lightly grease a baking sheet

·       Dip each pretzel into the soda wash.

·       Sprinkle with salt, let rest 10 mins

·       Bake for 9 to 10 minutes. Brush with butter while hot        

Soda wash:

·       Whisk together 1/2 cup warm water and 1 tbsp baking soda

·       Cook in microwave 1 min

Pork chops:

·       Thaw in fridge in marinade. (not more than 7 hours)

·       Remove chops from brine, pat dry.

·       Brush chops with oil, and cook 2-3 mins per side until browned

·       Bake at 350 for 20 mins or grill

Pot Roast Sliders:

·       Put roast and sauce mix (bag 1) in crockpot. Cook 8 hours.

·       Thaw bag 2 while roast is cooking

·       Shred or cut meat, serve on rolls with cheese and sauce from bag 2

Mongolian Beef:

·       Coat meat in corn starch, let sit 5 mins.

·       Heat 1 cup oil in skillet or wok, and then add coated meat. Cook until done to your likeness.

·       Remove meat from pan

·       Use 1 TBS oil, add bag one, stir fry 30 secs

·       Add bag 2. Heat until sugar melts, bring to boil. When starts to thicken, add meat in, let simmer until sauce thickens. Top with Bag 3.

Sweet and Sour Chicken:

·       Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

·       Coat chicken with cornstarch

·       Beat 2 eggs, dip chicken in eggs.

·       Heat 2 TBS oil in skillet and brown chicken (not cooked through).

·       Put chicken in 9 x 13 baking pan, pour sauce over.

·       Bake for 1 hour. Turn chicken half way through.

Fried Rice:

·       Heat 1 TBS oil in large skillet or wok

·       Add bag one, stir fry until tender, move to side of skillet

·       Scramble 2 eggs in same pan.

·       Add bag two and three (rice and soy sauce)

·       Stir fry until well heated

Lasagna Roll Ups:

·       Preheat oven to 375 degrees

·       Bake 30-35 minutes

·       Top with extra sauce and shredded mozzarella, let it melt (or return to oven to melt it)

Orange Chicken

·       Heat wok or large skillet add 1 Tb oil, cook dredged chicken

·       Remove chicken, set aside.

·       Add Bag 1- wok for one minute

·       Add Bag 2- Bring to boil

·       Add chicken back in.

·       Serve over rice

Pockets:

·       Preheat oven to 375, line baking sheet

·       Place pockets on tray, pierce top with fork.

·       Beat an egg with 1 TBS water, brush on each pocket pie

·       Bake 20-25 minutes

·       Let rest 5 minutes before serving

Bang Bang Chicken

·       Heat skillet with 1 TBS oil

·       Cook chicken, when almost done, add Bag 1.

·       Add Bag 2, Simmer for 5 minutes

·       Add Bag 3, cook until crisp tender

Egg rolls:

·       Heat oil in wok or skillet

·       Cook until light brown

·      Serve with dipping sauce 

 Meatballs: Thaw, heat, and use as desired

Here are the actual recipes:

Pretzels

For the Dough:

·      12.5 oz all purpose flour (2.5 cups)

·      1/2 tsp sea salt

·      1 tsp sugar

·      2.25 tsp instant quick rise yeast

·      1 cup warm water (110 degrees F)

Mix in mixer, put in Ziploc bag, let rise 30 mins

Cut into 8 pieces, roll into ropes and pretzels. (this is the point where you freeze them if not making them day of)

Dip in soda wash, top with salt, let stand 10 mins, bake at 450 for 10 mins

Soda Wash:

·      1/2 cup warm water

·      1 tbsp baking soda

Wisk together and microwave one minute, then dip pretzels

Pork chops

Ingredients
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup molasses
4 whole cloves
1 cup boiling water
7 cups cold water
4 (2 1/4 inch thick) center cut, bone-in pork chops

Directions
Combine salt, molasses, cloves, and boiling water in a large container. Stir until molasses and salt are dissolved; let cool to room temperature.
Pour cold water into molasses mixture; stir to combine.

Bang bang chicken

2 chicken breasts, cut into strips

Bag 1:
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 tsp. ginger root or bottled ginger
1 scallion, chopped into 1 inch pieces or 1 small onion, chopped
Bag 2:

3/4 cup water
6 tbsp. soy sauce
6 tbsp. peanut butter (creamy or chunky)
3 tbsp. red wine vinegar
Bag 3: 4 cups broccoli florets or florets and spears (if not using fresh the day of)

Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken

 

3-4 boneless chicken breasts

 

Bag 1:

salt + pepper

1 cup cornstarch

 

2 eggs, beaten (not frozen)

 

Sauce bag:

 

3/4 cup sugar

4 tbs ketchup

1/2 cup distilled white vinegar

1 tbs soy sauce

1 tsp garlic salt

Cream cheese pastry

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling out dough

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt                 

Mix all but flour and salt, then add in flour and salt until combined and holds together in ball. Turn into well floured surface, and divide. Refrigerate 30 minutes. Roll dough out, center to edges, turning frequently until 12 inches wide.  Cut circles. Fill with whatever fillings you want. Then crimp edges with fork

Roast sliders

Roast:

1 3-4 lb beef roast

Bag1:

·       1 cup water

·       1 cup salsa

·       1 envelope onion soup mix

·       1 envelope Italian dressing mix

·       1 envelope Au Jus mix

Bag 2:

·       ¼ c sour cream

·       2 Tbs chili sauce

·       2 tsp creamy horseradish sauce

Serve on rolls, with provolone, and creamy chipolte sauce

Meatballs

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. lean ground beef
• 1 egg
• 2 Tbsp. water
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup minced onion
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. pepper

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl combine egg, water, bread crumbs, onion, salt and pepper and combine. Add ground beef, broken into chunks, and mush with your hands to combine. Form into meatballs about 1" in diameter and place on a broiler pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes until meatballs are no longer pink in center. Cool and freeze, or when baked, use in your favorite recipe.

Mongolian Beef

Bag one:

½ teaspoon ginger, minced

1 tablespoon garlic, chopped

 

Bag two:

½ cup soy sauce

½ cup water

¾ cup dark brown sugar

 

1 lb flank steak

¼ cup cornstarch

 

Bag 3:

2 large green onions, chopped

Fried Rice                                                                                             

Bag 1:

1cup diced ham

1 cup frozen peas and carrots (thawed)

1 small onion, chopped

2 tsp minced garlic

2 eggs, slightly beaten

Bag 2:

cups cooked white rice (day old or leftover rice works best!)

3 tbs sesame oil

Bag 3: 1/4 cup soy sauce

Lasagna Roll up

1.     Cook lasagna

2.     Layer sauce (prego)

3.     Layer of cheese filling (one pint cottage cheese and one ricotta mixed together with garlic and a cup of paremsan)

4.     Layer of ground beef- Cook with garlic, onion powder, and salt pepper

5.     Roll them up, freeze on a cookie sheet with wax paper individually, then pop in a ziplock bag

Orange chicken

Chicken cubed and dredged in seasoned flour

Bag 2:

1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce

6 1/2 tablespoons orange juice

5 tablespoons sugar

1 orange, zest of

Bag 1: Stir fry mix:

1 teaspoon garlic, minced 1/2 teaspoon crushed hot red chili pepper 1/4 cup green onion, chopped 1 tablespoon rice wine

I know this is a long post, sorry I need to start doing it as links, but I am kinda lazy.

Also, I got some of the recipes from Pinterest and various other sources, of which I can't remember all, but I am not taking credit for them. I do adjust and make changes to most based on preference, but they are not my original recipes by any means. 

Pretzels

 

So I know my blog used to read like a travel blog, and now it is like a food blog, and I would apologize, but I just can't. This is my life. I LOVE food. And today I came upon another winner winner! Soft pretzels. We love them. My kids love going to "Waffle cone Wednesday" at the mall, when TCBY sells their waffle cone size frozen yogurts for $1. I always end up buying soft pretzels, and defeat the purpose of saving money on the frozen yogurt. I have bought the frozen ones before and made them at home, but they are just not as good. Well today I finally tried this recipe I have been sitting on. Derrick wanted to go out for donuts, but who has time/money/energy for that? Beside we went last week, and lately my definition of watching my figure has been "watching it expand". So, long story short, I attempted the overwhelming pretzel recipe. It scared me because there was like an entire page of written instructions for how to make them. Uhhhh such a disservice, as they were so EASY!  I like to cook, hate to bake, and never try anything with too many ingredients or too long of instructions, as I am a mom of three very active children, so let's be honest, it just doesn't happen. 

These were fast, they were easy, and yummy. Crispy crunchy outside, soft chewy inside. 

Here's the scoop on how to do it:

Stick this stuff in your mixer:

1 cup warm water

2.25 tsp instant quick rise yeast

2.5 c flour

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

I used the paddle for about 30 seconds, then switched over to the dough hook, and mixed for about 4 minutes, until the dough was one big ball and not sticky. 

Then stick the dough in a ziplock bag with some flour on it so it doesn't stick to the edges. 

Let rise 30 mins or so.

Then cut your dough into 8 pieces (makes only 8 pretzels, so you may want to double this recipe), and roll each piece into a "snake" as I called it with Derrick, but really just make a rope, then fold into a pretzel shape. Derrick really had fun with this part, which is nice because kids love to help cook, so why not let them roll out and shape their own pretzel?

Then in a bowl put the following:

1/2 cup warm water

1 TBS baking soda

Microwave for 1 min

Dip pretzels in the soda wash (this is what makes them brown and crispy), and place on greased baking sheet. sprinkle with the big chunky salt. 

At this point you want to preheat your oven to 450. Then let the pretzels sit 10 minutes before baking them. I just cleaned up my counter and got my toppings out during then ten minutes. 

Bake for 9-10 minutes.

Brush with melted butter, sprinkle with other toppings if you don't want salt! 

YUMMY!

We did the salt ones, and some cinnamon and sugar. They were delicious either way. Really, such an easy recipe, especially since it is all stuff I almost always have on hand (no butter, etc. required to make the dough). And fresh, hot, delicious pretzels are a great treat.

I am going to try freezing them at the rolled out stage, before the soda wash, and see if they bake up well from frozen, because I think it would be nice to be able to pull them out and make them on the fly for after school snacks, etc. I will post an update

Freezer meal marathon day

Wow, today was crazy. Brett and I have been wanting to cut back costs everywhere, and one of those areas is groceries. If we aren't careful, we spend WAY TOO MUCH $ on groceries. One of the things that has really helped us is doing feezer meals. I have been having tons of fun looking for yummy looking recipes that could potentially be freezer friendly. I have tried a variety of options: crockpot freezer meals (the kind you prepare to just throw in the crockpot), bake meals (the kind you pull out of the freezer then stick in the oven and bake), and bag meals (Where everything is cut and ready, but you still have to make it). We like the bag meals the best. They taste the best. Today, I got up, went grocery shopping, made what felt like a million meals, and cleaned up all of it. I started preparing about 11:30, and finished about 9:00 pm. Long day. But here is my success story:

All of these are 4-6 servings:

Orange chicken- I made 5 bag dinners of this because it is a family favorite.
Mongolian beef- I made 4 bag dinners of this.
Shredded beef sliders- I made 6 of these.
Fried rice- I made 6 of these.
Egg rolls- I made 2 of these.
Meatballs- I made 3 of these
Lasagna roll-ups- I made 3 of these.
Lasagna pockets- I made 2 of these
Ham and cheese pockets- I made 2 of these.
Pork chops (for 2, Brett hates pork chops)- 2 of these

35 total meals for 3-6 people - Some of which are going to my sister since she is having a baby soon.


Plus I made some for my uncle that I knew he would like: 1 bag of pork chops, 2 beef sliders, 1 orange chicken, 1 mongolian beef, 2 fried rice, 1 egg roll meal, 1 lasagna roll up, 1 lasagna pocket, 1 ham and cheese pocket, 1 chicken enchiladas, 1 teriyaki chicken,  1mini pizzas, 1 fajitas, 1 goulash, 6 beef and provolone sandwiches, 6 twice baked potatoes, 4 breakfast sandwiches.

About 20 total meals with servings for 2-3


I also half prepared a few others, but ran out of time and ingredients, and freezer bags (I couldn't believe it since I had over 60 quart size bags, and about the same in gallon) so I am finishing them up in the morning.
Bang bang chicken
Sweet and sour chicken
Pizza pockets
Broccoli ham alfredo
Beef and veggie pockets

After a super long day of preparing meals, cooking, cleaning, etc. Derrick was begging me for banana bread. Since I had several very ripe bananas, I figured, "Why not? I mean I have already been cooking all day, what is one more thing?" So I made a batch of banana bread. Yum!

It may have taken all day long, but this means I have dinner ready to go for a whole month. No thought, no shopping, no worries. Just add my fresh produce and I am good to go. I couldn't be more thrilled. Plus, my amazing husband brought me home some food, and ate what I made for dinner. So, I didn't even have to eat the food I had been looking at all day.

I will be posting the recipes, bag instructions, and reviews soon.

Baby girl update

I had a prenatal visit this morning, and an ultrasound to make sure that my placenta had moved because it was lying low, and we wanted to make sure I did not need a C-section. All is well, and it was really fun to get to see my beautiful baby girl! I am now to where I go in every 2 weeks instead of 4. I have no glucose problems, and everything went great. I am still measuring big, but that is no surprise! 

 

 

 

Her face!

Look at that beautiful face!

She put her hand up right before taking this pic, and it was fun to feel and see it at the same time!

Teacher Back to School Gifts

This is what I made as my back to school teacher gifts. I stole the idea from here... http://www.theletter4.com/2011/06/fathers-day.html

I used my Silhouette to create this. It is not perfect, but I had fun. 

Then I printed it, ran it through my sticker maker, and stuck it on dollar store jars, which I filled with Jelly Bellies! Yum! Cute! Fun! Not too expensive. 

Okay, so small adjustment. I opted to skip the dollar store jars. I made them, and put the stickers on, and they looked great, and the labels were the perfect size and everything, but once I bought the beans to fill them I was overwhelmed by how much the beans cost. It was like $35 in Jelly Beliies because of the jar size. So I figured I would try and find a lower cost option. I ran to Target, and found these cute buckets in their dollar section. They were about half the size of the jars, so that made it far more cost effective for me. I just filled cellophane treat bags, and tied them off with ribbon. The labels were smaller, and hard to read, so I printed out a bigger version to use as the card, had the kids write on it, laminated it, and stuck it in the back so the teachers could at least see the "flavors".

The kids will be taking them to school tomorrow! If I can keep them from eating the treats out of them! Enjoy!

My 28th Birthday

This year for my 28th birthday, Brett planned my party. I know...amazing right? My birthday fell on a Tuesday. He had to work that day, unfortunately, so wanted to spend the evening just us. So, he asked if I would want to do my party the night before. Now, my secret confession (not so secret actually) is that I totally love watching the Bachelor, Bachelorette, and Bachelor Pad on Monday nights. As do many of my friends. So, Brett thought I could do a girl's night type party, load up on food, watch my show, talk, gossip, do nails, whatever. He invited a couple of my friends, then asked if I would just take over and invite who I wanted. 

He took care of the food for the party. He originally planned to get Winger's but the girl he usually trades with bailed last minute, so he just did Harvest stuff, and let me tell you, it was sooo good. Here's a look at the spread (the only thing I got pics of because I was having too much fun chatting). 

We had fruit, veggies, chips, salsa, limeade, and more...

Spinach artichoke dip with pita chips and toasted bread

A cheese tray, various cheeses, fruits, and baguette

A yummy chocolate cake!

On my actual birthday I got the kids up and out the door to day camp. Lots of loves and hugs that morning, and birthday wishes from the munchkins. I dropped Derrick off at a good friend's (thank you Katie), and then I headed up to Salt Lake. I enjoyed some relaxation, some shopping, and met a great friend for lunch. It was a great morning. We talked and ate, then I headed back home to get the kids, and get ready for my date with Brett. I had a couple hours between when I got home and when Brett was going to take me out, so I read a book, took a little nap, and just played with the kids. Then got ready. We went out to dinner at China Isle. It is one of our favorites. We brought some food home for the kids, and the sitter. Then we decided to see a movie. After the movie (Bourne Legacy, I think, I was so tired I can't really remember it), we got Cold Stone. Haha it was yummy! Then home! It was a pretty pleasant day. Perfect for pregnant me, and low key!


Brett did not know what to get me this year, as I don't want clothes because I am prego, and just haven't been wanting anything of late besides an omelet pan, which his parents got me. However, he remembered me saying a few months back how much I would like a bigger grill. Ours works fine, but is small, so it is hard to entertain using it, and I LOVE TO ENTERTAIN. So this is what he got me! It was a great surprise! 

School Days

My how the summer goes fast. 

In some ways I am exceedingly grateful, in others a little sad. This is how the first day of school always goes for me. There is the trepidation and anxiety of not knowing if the people we entrust our children to will care for them with the love and consideration we would like. But there is also the joy of having a few hours peace, where we know our kids are off learning and socializing. I love that I can clean my house without messes turning up around every corner. I love that I don't have to referee arguments for a few hours, or even worry about making lunch. 

I do however stress, What if they don't have friends? What if they feel behind? What if they don't behave the way I have taught them? What if their teachers don't like them? What if they get bullied? Or worse, what if they are a bully? I try to tamp down these fears, and just have faith that my kids are resilient, so even if the first day of school stinks, they will manage. Then I trust in the Lord to watch over and protect them. 

 

We had a great morning, the kids were excited to get their new school clothes on, Dillan in particular was fairly picky about what he would wear this year. Apparently all the kids wear these graphic t's, and basketball shorts. No polos and chinos for him. Lexi was a little more flexible, she liked what I picked, and was just happy not to wear a uniform. The kids got a father's blessing, and we read scriptures, had a family prayer, told Dillan to watch out for sister, and then sent them on their way. 

When I picked the kids up, they were all smiles! I was so grateful! We started homework right after school, and I already got take home volunteer stuff to do (put all the book orders together for the end of the week). It was a great day. Productive all around.

Brett and I have established a great for us routine. He wakes up with the kids and has them get dressed. I set out their clothes, down to the underwear and socks the night before so that it is easy. Then he does Dillan's hair and wakes me up so I can do Lexi's. We then spend a few minutes as a family, the kids then brush their teeth, grab their backpacks, and we usher the kids out the door. Brett has been driving them, and I have been hanging out with Derrick. Dillan and Lex have opted to eat breakfast at school this week, which works for me. Less work, less mess, and they LOVE it.

I hope the rest of the school year goes as well as yesterday and this morning.

Dillan loves Batman!

He had to wake up so he could say bye! But boy was he sleepy

Happy smile! So excited for day #2

Out the door, Daddy driving!

Growing up so fast!