Showing posts with label Freezer Cooking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Freezer Cooking. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Gluten Free Butterhorns {dinner rolls}


Inspired by Crystal's Butterhorn dinner rolls, I set out to create a gluten free version recently. After all, I make the regular ones for my husband all the time - don't I deserve some, too?!

This is actually a very simple recipe, especially because it involves making your bread machine do all the work. :)

In the end, I really didn't have to make any drastic changes to the original recipe. The full recipe is at the bottom of this post.


Add all of the ingredients to your bread machine pan, in the order listed. Set your machine on the dough and let it work its magic. In the first 10-15 minutes of mixing, I usually scrape down the sides of the pan to make sure everything is incorporated into the dough.


When your dough is finished, separate it into three equal parts.


Next, you will roll out one ball of dough. I suggest adding about one tablespoon of gluten free flour to each ball and kneading it before attempting to roll it out.

Cut each circle into eight triangular pieces. I use a pizza wheel for this.


Then roll each triangle, starting with the wider end. Place them on a cookie sheet for baking.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 11 minutes. I advise watching them carefully because oven temperatures certainly vary.

Gluten Free Butterhorns

Ingredients
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup salted butter, diced
  • 2 eggs
  • 4.5 cups gluten free flour (I use and recommend Better Batter.)
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 Tbsp. yeast
Directions
  1. Add all ingredients to bread machine pan, in order listed.
  2. Set dough cycle on bread machine and start.
  3. Separate dough into three equal parts.
  4. Add about a tablespoon of gluten free flour to each section of dough and knead.
  5. Roll out each section of dough and slice into eight equal triangles.
  6. Roll each triangle into a "crescent roll" and place on baking sheet.
  7. Bake at 375 degrees for about 11 minutes.
*These rolls freeze very well!

*Recipe adapted from Crystal at Money Saving Mom.

This recipe is linked at Allergy Free Wednesday.

Monday, February 20, 2012

February's DIY Project: Homemade English Muffins


My Do It Yourself experiment for February was Homemade English Muffins for my husband.

I have to tell you - these were not easy to make! However, keep reading, though - because they were definitely worth all the work!


I had some trouble getting the dough to the right consistency, but after adding a little more flour, it formed into very nice dough. It needed to rise for an hour, so I let it rise in my cooler with a microwaved hot pack in there.


After that, it was time to cut out the English muffins. I can assure you that my English muffins will not earn any awards for the best looking muffins! In fact, mine are downright ugly!


Thankfully, their ugliness did not affect the taste. After my husband ate one, I asked him how it was. His response? "These are good. They are better than store-bought!"

And that is what makes these worth the work! :) I will certainly be making these again for my husband in the future.

Next month: Homemade Gluten Free Pita Bread.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Grandma's Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies {gluten free}


Well, I am officially excited. I have recreated my grandma's Toffee Chocolate Chip cookies this year and made them gluten free! These cookies are seriously awesome. Just trust me.

Grandma's Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients
  • 1 cup butter (2 sticks), at room temperature
  • 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 package (3.4 oz.) vanilla or French vanilla pudding mix
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 2.5 cups gluten free flour blend (with xanthan gum) - *see note below
  • 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (regular or mini)
  • 1/2 package of toffee bits (from a 10 oz. pkg.)

Directions
  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Combine butter, sugars and vanilla in stand mixer.
  3. Beat in eggs.
  4. Beat in pudding mix, baking soda and baking powder.
  5. Add in flour and beat until thoroughly mixed.
  6. Stir in chocolate chips and toffee bits.
  7. Spoon onto cookie sheet. Place cookie sheet in freezer for 15 minutes.
  8. Bake for 11-12 minutes, just until they are browning around the edges.
  9. Cool on cooling racks and enjoy!

Notes
  • I used Better Batter gluten free flour blend. This blend contains xanthan gum. I cannot guarantee success with any other blend since I used Better Batter.
  • In my experience with gluten free cookie baking, freezing the dough makes a HUGE difference. Don't skip that step. Just don't ask me how I know that...

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Pizza Sloppy Joes


Both my husband and I like homemade Sloppy Joe sandwiches. I usually eat mine in a corn tortilla actually! I find that works better for me.

A few months ago, I stumbled upon this recipe for Pizza Sloppy Joes and was intrigued. We love pizza, so I figured we couldn't go wrong with this! I altered the recipe the first time I made it based on the ingredients I had on hand and we loved it! It's become part of our menu rotation.

Pizza Sloppy Joes

Ingredients
  • 3/4 - 1 lb. ground beef
  • small onion, chopped
  • 1 green pepper, chopped
  • 8-10 pieces of pepperoni, cut up
  • 8 oz. can of tomato sauce
  • 8 oz. of homemade pizza sauce (store-bought would work, too)
  • 2 tsp. Italian seasoning
  • 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Directions
  1. Cook the ground beef in a skillet on the stove with onion and green pepper. Drain when finished.
  2. Stir in tomato sauce, pizza sauce, pepperoni pieces and seasonings. Simmer for about 10 minutes.
  3. Stir in the shredded cheese. Simmer for several more minutes until cheese is melted.
  4. Serve on buns or in tortillas. Add shredded mozzarella cheese when serving if desired.
*You can keep this warm in the crockpot if needed. This also freezes well.

Chebe gluten free rolls are a great addition to this meal! Read my review of Chebe gluten free products here.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

This week's cooking experiments: pudding, apple butter, and a meringue failure!

As I said in my weekly goals this week, I wanted to try a few new things in the kitchen: homemade pudding, chocolate peanut butter banana smoothie, and making homemade apple butter. I also needed to blanche and freeze celery, plus I wanted to make another batch of crockpot applesauce.

My week was shortened due to a conference, but I still accomplished most of my list! Here's the rundown on my kitchen experiments this week:

Homemade Chocolate Pudding!
Oh. my. word. Homemade pudding is awesome! I can't believe I never tried this before! It was super easy to make...and I found myself saying "Wow" as I made it on the stove. So cool! I needed to use up my $0.99 gallon of milk, and this was a perfect way to do that.

I made both chocolate and vanilla, and both were delicious!


Since the homemade pudding left me with extra egg whites, I thought, "Gee, I'll try to make some meringue cookies. Those don't seem too hard..." Yeah. Let's just say that I think my meringue techniques need some help! My attempt was a complete and utter failure!

The mixture was way too runny to pipe out onto a cookie sheet, so I thought I'd put it in a cake pan and see what happened. It promptly hit the trash can after that failed!

The second time I made pudding, I froze the egg whites in ice cubes trays and then popped them into a freezer bag. Now I can use them for baking in the future!



On Monday, I also blanched and froze my free celery (I used these directions). The most complicated part was trying to get these little packages vacuum sealed because the celery was so juicy!


On Tuesday afternoon, I made a Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie for an afternoon snack. I thought it was just okay - not great, though. It was another good way to use up milk, though!

About halfway through the process

On Wednesday, I made homemade apple butter in the crockpot. Boy, did my house smell amazing all day! My grandma made amazing apple butter, so this really reminds me of her. :) I'm so looking forward to apple butter on my gluten free toast for breakfast in the mornings!

I didn't get around to the homemade crockpot applesauce, so I'll save that for next week sometime. I am really loving all the experimenting in the kitchen - now I need to figure out what next week's experiments are going to be!

What have you done in the kitchen this week?

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Freezer cooking on Tuesday: Seasoned Salt and Gluten Free Calzones


Well, seasoned salt doesn't belong in the freezer...but let's just ignore that little fact. :)

This week, two of my homemaking goals were to make gluten free calzones (for the freezer) and homemade seasoned salt.


The seasoned salt was very easy to put together. I altered this recipe slightly:
Ingredients:
  • 1/2 cup sea salt
  • 3 T. ground black pepper
  • 2 T. paprika
  • 1/2 T. onion powder
  • 1/2 T. garlic powder
Directions
Mix all spices together thoroughly. Store in a shaker jar or in an airtight container.


I also made gluten free pepperoni pizza calzones. Here's what I did:

1. Make this gluten free pizza dough recipe. She also has more tips in this post for working with the dough. I will warn you that this dough is very finicky and can be difficult to work with. Be sure to bring your friend Patience with you when you make calzones. :)


2. Once the dough is ready, separate it into five equal balls. Roll each ball out - you don't want them to be too thin. 1/4 in. thickness should work well. Add the toppings to your dough...I used two spoonfuls of pizza sauce, a small handful of mozzarella cheese, three cut-up pepperoni slices, and a sprinkle each of Italian seasoning and garlic salt.


3. Carefully fold your dough over to make a calzone. Pinch the sides as best you can. Move the calzone to a baking sheet (I'm almost ashamed to admit this, but I had to use two spatulas to do this...).

4. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. I plan on wrapping these individually and freezing them so I can pull them out for quick lunches.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Why I will never shred carrots by hand again

Finding this cupcake recipe started it all...

I had a brilliant idea this weekend. There was about one pound of carrots left in my fridge that weren't going to make it much longer. Not wanting to waste perfectly good food, I needed a plan. I didn't want more diced carrots, since I froze three and a half pound of carrots last month. I pinned this gluten free carrot cupcake recipe on Pinterest last night and had an "aha" moment.

I could shred my carrots and freeze them that way!

Uhhh...not so quick. Did you know it's hard nearly impossible to shred carrots by hand? Yeah. Shortly after I started shredding, it became readily apparent that this was not the brilliant idea I had envisioned. Nothing about this was easy.

After 30 minutes of shredding with my cheese grater (yes!), I was left with this:


I got about 3.5 cups of shredded carrots. And I had a lot of very oddly-shaped carrot sticks.! I also had orange hands and shredded fingernails. Awesome.

After all that, I can only hope that these make some awesome cupcakes!

(By the way, we ate the odd-shaped carrot sticks with dinner. And they taste just fine.)

This is what I need!

You can bet I won't be trying this again unless I have one of these or maybe one of these!

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Fall Baking: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip muffins

Fall is in the air - I spent a little time this weekend making Pumpkin Chocolate Muffins! I made both gluten free muffins and regular muffins. They are delicious!

Gluten Free Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
I used this recipe from Bob's Red Mill for my gluten-free muffins. They are very yummy! I followed the recipe very closely, except I omitted the raisins & nuts and added in about a half cup of chocolate chips instead.

Regular Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
I used Crystal's recipe for my husband's pumpkin chocolate chips muffins. I followed the recipe exactly, although I used only one and a half cups of sugar and about a half cup of chocolate chips. My husband gives them his stamp of approval (and he can be tough to please a tough critic!)!

Directions for freezing muffins: I usually freeze our muffins individually so we can eat them when we want.
  1. Lay the muffins in a single layer on a cookie sheet.
  2. Place the cookie sheet in the freezer and "flash freeze" muffins for about 2 hours.
  3. Put frozen muffins in a freezer bag.
  4. Pull muffins out of the freezer as needed! Warm up in microwave or toaster oven.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Posts you may have missed this week

In case you missed them, here's a few posts you may want to catch up on from this week:


You can sign up for a free sample of Prilosec OTC.


The $.75/1 Edge shave gel printable is still available to print.


You can also print a B1G1 free Del Monte Fruit Naturals coupon from Vocalpoint. These cups will be on sale with an ad coupon for $1 starting on Sunday at Kmart.


You can learn about how to freeze carrots when you read my post and follow my simple tutorial! (You can also get a peek at my jam-packed freezer!)


Here's an awesome deal: Get a Veggie Tales DVD for about $4 - including shipping!

And the store match-ups you may be interested in:
  • Dollar General Wow Savings
  • Burnstad's - valid through Monday (free carrots and .98 gallon of milk!)
  • Aldi (1 lb. carrots for $.49!)
  • Copps (You will want to check out their new "price capped" items!)
  • Festival (Grapes for $1.29/lb.)
  • Walgreens (starting Sunday 9/18)

Thursday, September 15, 2011

How to freeze carrots {my simple tutorial}


On Tuesday, I peeled, chopped, and blanched 3.5 pounds of carrots. Oh yes, it was fun! :)

I have gotten carrots for free recently at Walmart with $2/2 Earthbound Farms coupon (on Recycle Bank) and the $1/1 Earthbound Farm printable coupon (this one was printing again earlier this week). While we do eat carrots regularly, it's just the two of us now, so we'd never eat all of those carrots.

We only have a small over-the-door freezer in our two bedroom condo now, so understand that I do not have a lot of freezer space. By packing the freezer very strategically and creatively, I am able to freeze plenty of food for the two of us.


However, I do not recommend that you come over and try to find anything in my freezer. It's very likely that items will fall on your toes. We've had a few near misses. Leave the "search and find" missions to me!

Lest you think I am some sort of expert when it comes to freezing vegetables, let me assure you that I am not. I used these directions to help me freeze my carrots.

Here's a short tutorial about how I froze 3.5 pounds of carrots on Tuesday:


Step 1: Peel all of your carrots.


Step 2: Chop all of your carrots (I cut mine like coins). As the original directions state, you can cut them how you want, but keep in mind that you will need to adjust the times later for blanching if you do that.


A small, cute dog is not necessary when freezing carrots, but it helps. He is very good at picking up chomping down on the carrot pieces that you fling on the floor while you're furiously chopping carrots.


Step 3: Blanch your carrots. I did mine in two separate batches, so 1.75 pounds (approx.) each time. For diced carrots (like coins), you will blanch for only two minutes.

How to "blanch:" Once your water is at a rolling boil, add your carrots. Begin counting your time as soon as you put the carrots in. After the carrots are in the boiling water for two minutes, you will move to Step 4.


Step 4: Cool your carrots.

Drain your carrots out of the boiling water (I used a colander in the sink for this). Then put your carrots in a bowl of ice water. Leave your carrots in the cold water for the same amount of time that you blanched them (so in my case, my carrots were in the cold water for two minutes).


Step 5: Allow your carrots to dry before packing them up for the freezer. If they're dry, they won't be so likely to stick together in the freezer bag. After they have dried for 10-15 minutes, you can put them in freezer bags. If you have a vacuum sealing machine, you could use that, too.

*Word of warning about vacuum sealing the carrots: I tried this...and it backfired on me. Carrots are too juicy to freeze as is. It should work better if you "flash freeze" the carrots for a bit before vacuum sealing them.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Freezer Cooking over the weekend

We had a quiet weekend, so I took the opportunity to do some "freezer cooking" in small batches throughout the weekend. By Sunday night, I realized I had actually accomplished quite a bit!

Photo credit

On Saturday, I made one batch of Gluten-Free Strawberry Banana muffins (I will confess that I added chocolate chips to them, too!). This was a new recipe and they are so yummy! I froze them and will pull them out as needed (this is what I do with all of our muffins and breads).

Photo credit

I also made a batch of Gluten Free Chocolate Biscuits. This was an experiment, and I thought they turned out pretty good. I am looking forward to having these with ice cream and fresh strawberries! I was given a container of unsweetened cocoa and have been trying to come up with ways to use it!

Then, I tried to make marshmallow fudge - This was definitely not a success. It was a total experiment - and it failed. I will say that it tastes okay, but it didn't "set" at all, so it's like chocolate goo instead of fudge! I have come to the realization that I simply cannot make fudge. Period.

Photo credit

On Sunday evening, I put together three quart-size freezer bags of Homemade Frozen hash browns. I baked a bunch of potatoes and then shredded them into hash browns. This is so handy for those dinners when I need something fast.


Also on Sunday, I froze one pound of strawberries (that I got at Aldi for .99!). I flash-froze them on a cookie sheet, put them in a freezer bag, and then sprinkled sugar on them. They will be perfect to put over ice cream or in a smoothie!


I found a great website over the weekend, too, which is full of gluten free recipes: Gluten Free on a Shoestring. What I liked instantly about her website is the fact that she doesn't use any specialty, hard-to-find ingredients. Her recipes all contain ingredients that I usually have on hand, which is so nice. I have quite the list of recipes that I want to try this summer. :) I can't wait to break out my new Kitchen Aid Artisan stand mixer once we move!

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Freezer Cooking Day!

With an entire Saturday free to stay home {oh, how I love it!}, I decided today would be a great day for some freezer cooking. I usually do "small-scale" freezer cooking, and that works really well for our family (just the two of us now).

I got a great deal on boneless/skinless chicken breasts at Walmart yesterday, so I baked three chicken breasts and froze the other six for later meals (probably for grilling). I shredded the three chicken breasts and then froze the shredded chicken. I will use the shredded chicken for recipes like chicken tacos and chicken enchilada dip. This way, the hard part is already done! (This method is also helpful for those nights when you forget about tomorrow's dinner prep until....say...8 pm...!)



I also made up another batch of homemade pizza sauce. We are having pizza tonight and then I will freeze all the extra sauce. I haven't purchased pizza sauce for almost a year now - the homemade variety is so yummy!

Finally, I made a batch of homemade pizza dough in my bread machine. I won't be able to eat this kind, but that's ok! I divide the dough into four parts and freeze them individually. When my husband wants pizza, he can get one crust out and make his own. I did this awhile back and it worked really well.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Recipe: Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls


For all you gluten-free readers out there, raise your hand if you miss cinnamon rolls. Ah, yes, I thought there would be quite a few!

I have had a few store-bought cinnamon rolls since my diagnosis, but they are pricey and difficult to find around here. So, I have been searching for a recipe for gluten-free cinnamon rolls. I started with this recipe and have basically simplified it for you here.

As I am with all my baking, I was skeptical that these would be yummy. But, boy was I wrong! These are delicious cinnamon rolls! I froze mine in a freezer bag and have been pulling one out at a time for breakfast.

I would recommend using a stand mixer for this recipe. I only have a hand mixer and that really isn't strong enough. If you don't have a stand mixer, you might try your hands instead.

Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
  • Rolls
    • 2 Tbsp. butter.
    • 1/4 c. sugar.
    • 2/3 c. milk, at room temperature.
    • 1 packet yeast (about 1 Tbsp.).
    • 1 egg.
    • 1/4 c. canola oil.
    • 1/2 c. potato starch or potato flour.
    • 1 c. cornstarch.
    • 1/4 tsp. baking soda.
    • 2 1/2 tsp. xanthan gum.
    • 2 tsp. baking powder.
    • 1/2 tsp. salt.
    • 1 tsp. vanilla extract.
  • Filling
    • 1 c. brown sugar.
    • 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon.
  • Glaze
    • 3/4 c. powdered sugar.
    • Milk, to thicken.
Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Combine butter and sugar. Mix well.
  3. Add yeast to warm milk. Whisk well to fully dissolve. Allow mixture to sit for a few minutes.
  4. Add yeast mixture to butter and sugar mixture.
  5. Add all of the remaining ingredients and be sure to mix very well. The dough will be soft.
  6. Lay plastic wrap on counter. Place dough on plastic wrap and put another piece of plastic wrap on top of the dough.
  7. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough into a square.
  8. After removing the top layer of plastic wrap, sprinkle filling mixture over flat dough.
  9. Roll the dough into a cylinder. Roll carefully and keep the filling inside.
  10. Slice your cylinder into 9 sections. Place the cinnamon rolls into a lightly-greased 9" pie plate.
  11. Bake approximately 20 minutes, until the tops are lightly browned.
  12. Combine powdered sugar and milk for glaze. Add small amounts of milk a little bit at a time in order to achieve the consistency you want. Drizzle glaze over rolls before serving.
Enjoy a delicious gluten-free treat!

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Homemade Pizza Sauce

One of my "projects" in the fall was to make my own pizza sauce. I found a recipe from Jessica at Good Cheap Eats that tastes delicious and isn't too difficult to make.

After making it on Saturday, I have determined that it is no longer safe for me to start by heating the olive oil, like Jessica does. Every time I try that, I manage to create quite the mess in my kitchen! So, I've altered the recipe a bit, based on what works for me.

This freezes really well. I usually make an entire batch and then freeze it. I just thaw it when I'm ready to use it, and I've had no problem re-freezing it.

Homemade Pizza Sauce

Ingredients
  • 1/4 cup olive oil.
  • 2 teaspoons minced garlic (You could probably also throw in garlic powder and be fine.).
  • 28 oz. can diced (or crushed) tomatoes.
  • 1 T basil.
  • 1/2 tsp. oregano.
  • 1 tsp. salt.
  • 6 oz. can tomato paste.
Directions
  1. Heat olive oil and garlic together in sauce pan. Trust me when I tell you, don't heat it very much!
  2. Allow the oil to cool a bit before proceeding.
  3. Add tomatoes, basil, oregano and salt. Please be careful when you do this!
  4. Simmer for about 10 minutes.
  5. Blend in tomato paste. I have used my immersion blender with success.
  6. Cook for a few more minutes. Allow sauce to cool.
  7. This can be refrigerated or frozen.

Monday, January 31, 2011

Homemade Sloppy Joes {Gluten Free!}

One of my go-to freezer meals is sloppy joes. Since I started making homemade sloppy joe meat, we have found that we like it better than the canned stuff. (Imagine that!)

I work until about 5:15 Monday through Thursday nights right now, so it's really important that I have quick meals on the menu plan for those nights. Quite often, one of us (or both of us) has something at church after dinner, too. I usually make taco meat (with homemade seasoning!) and sloppy joe meat and then freeze (using our new Food Saver machine!). Then, I can thaw, heat in the crockpot (or on the stove), and have a simple meal ready in no time!

Here's my simple and frugal Sloppy Joe recipe:

Inredients:
  • 1 lb. ground beef.
  • 1/4 cup onion, chopped.
  • 1/2 cup ketchup.
  • 1/4 cup water.
  • about 1/4 cup bell pepper, chopped.
  • splash of lemon juice.
  • 1/2 T. brown sugar.
  • 3/4 tsp. salt.
  • 3/4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce.
  • splash of vinegar.
Directions:
  1. Brown ground beef and onion together.
  2. Add remaining ingredients.
  3. Simmer on low for 25-30 minutes. If you're planning to warm this in a crockpot, you can skip this step.
  4. Allow mixture to cool. Divide into appropriate portions and freeze.
  5. To serve: thaw and reheat.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Impromptu freezer cooking day!

My husband was gone for the morning and since I had the house to myself, I started cooking. And...I didn't stop for several hours! In the end, I had basically just done a 1/2 day of freezer cooking! My new Food Saver machine (one of our Christmas gifts) certainly got a workout, too!

Here's what I made:
  • 1 pound of homemade Sloppy Joes. I froze it in two 1/2 pound packages for quick, easy meals.
  • 2 pounds of taco meat with homemade taco seasoning. I will use a 1/2 pound for Tuesday's taco pasta. I froze the rest in 1/2 pound packages like the sloppy joe meat.
  • 1 batch of homemade pizza sauce. This will go in the freezer.
  • 1 batch of homemade gluten-free cinnamon rolls. I used this recipe (for the first time) and was pleasantly surprised at how yummy they are! (And for the record, these are actually much simpler than the recipe makes them sound!) I ate one, kept one out for Sunday morning, and am freezing the rest. They'll be great for quick breakfasts!
  • Made some breadcrumbs in my blender. I ran out of my stash in the freezer tonight, so it was time! I just put gluten free bread in my blender. I freeze it in a freezer bag and then use it as I need it. When I make anything using breadcrumbs (like breaded chicken or in a meatloaf), I only use GF breadcrumbs (never regular), so my husband has GF and doesn't mind!
It's so nice to be able to pull sloppy joe meat or taco meat out of the freezer on a weeknight, when dinner has to be quick. I never do large-scale freezer cooking, but I will do small batches like this when I have time (and when the mood strikes!).

Friday, October 29, 2010

Freezer Cooking: Part 3

I accomplished a lot during my four hours of freezer cooking on Thursday.

In Part 1 of my freezer cooking adventure, I boiled chicken (for chicken taco meat), made chicken broth, cooked up two pounds of taco meat and made a big batch of homemade pizza sauce.

In Part 2, I made Apple Cinnamon muffins and Homemade Peanut Butter cups.

So what does one's kitchen look like after all that cooking?

Doesn't this look like fun?!
Yeah, it makes quite the mess. But, if it makes things easier on busy weeknights, it's worth it! In all reality, it didn't take me that long to clean it up.

And what does my freezer look like?




It's full - but not filled to capacity! I could definitely fit more in here! It's all about organizing it the right way. I like to group certain things together (meats, breakfast items, bread products, cheese...) so it's easier to find what I need. It also makes it easier not to "lose" things in the freezer!

This was my first large-scale freezer cooking experience and I'm very pleased with what I did! I am going to work on our November menu plan this weekend and my freezer cooking will help with that.