Shepherd's Pie

It's Monday again so time for another freezer recipe. I was a little wary of freezing mashed potatoes but it turned out just fine. This recipe was also more time consuming to put together as I had to make the mashed potatoes (all 10 pounds) and cook the ground turkey (4 lbs) ahead of time. Still it was really nice to just layer the finished product in a pan when I was ready to cook it.

Shepherd's Pie

1 lb ground turkey or beef

1/2 cup onion, chopped

1 clove, minced

1 16-ounce bag frozen mixed vegetables, thawed

1 5-ounce can tomato sauce

1 tbl Worcestershire sauce

Mashed Potatoes

Cheddar Cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2 In a 12-inch skilled over med-high heat, cook the beef, onion and garlic until meat is browned and onion is tender. Drain. Transfer the mixture to a 3-quart round casserole.

3. Add veggies, tomato sauce and Worcestershire sauce to meat mixture in dish.

4 Top with mashed potatoes and shredded cheese and bake for 30 minutes.

To freeze: Cook meat mixture and allow to cool. Also make your mashed potatoes. Remember you'll need to double or triple your ingredients. I made 4 freezer meals.

When potatoes are cool put into gallon sized freezer bags and seal.

When meat in cool put into gallon sized freezer bags and then add the rest of the ingredients, seal, and mix around by squeezing the bag.

Then put the potato bag and veggie bag into one gallon sized freezer bag together, seal, and label.

There you go: Dinner to go in a bag. This did take a while to thaw to be sure to put this dish in the fridge the evening before you plan to cook it.

Harvest Rice

Last night I had the honor of going to a little dinner organized by my multi-talented sister-in-law and some of her multi-talented friends. I do have to say it is slightly intimidating to cook for people who cook really well and are so talented. We ate awesome food and are now exchanging recipes. We were to find a recipe that went along with a harvest theme and bring our dish to share. It was a lot of fun. Next month we are going to still do the cooking club and incorporate a book club theme too. I'm am so excited to finally belong to a cooking club/book club - only 2 of my favorite things. This is going to be fun.

I found my recipe on Allrecipes - love that website. I did adapt it a little to mine own taste but who doesn't do that. Enjoy!

Harvest Rice

1/2 cup slivered almonds
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup uncooked brown rice
1/2 cup uncooked wild rice mix
3 tablespoons butter
1 onion finely chopped
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 cup dried cranberries
2/3 cup fresh sliced mushrooms
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS
1. Place almonds on an ungreased baking sheet. Toast at 350 degrees F for 5 to 8 minutes.

2. Mix broth, brown rice, and wild rice in a medium saucepan, and bring to boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 45 minutes, until rice is tender and broth is absorbed.
3. In medium skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add onions and brown sugar. Saute until butter is absorbed and onions are translucent and soft. Reduce heat, and cook onions for another 20 minutes, until they are caramelized.
4. Stir cranberries and mushrooms into the skillet. Cover, and cook 10 minutes or until berries start to swell. Stir in almonds, then fold the mixture into the cooked rice. Salt and pepper to taste.

Butterscotch Oatmeal Cookies

Another great cookie recipe. I found this recipe off the back a Hershey's bag of butterscotch chips. It's quickly becoming a family favorite. The other day we all sat around a bowl of cookie dough and just ate it (It wasn't completely full). So much for being a good mom but hey, it's that good.

Butterscotch Oatmeal Cookies

3/4 cup buter or margarine softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

3 cups oats

1 3/4 cups butterscotch chips

1. Heat oven to 375 F.

2. Beat butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar in large bowl until well blended. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until well blended. Stir in oats and butterscotch chips; mix well.

3. Drop by heaping teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. Enjoy!

Freezer Burritos

Remember this recipe for Easy Mexican Rice Burritos. Shawn needed some healthy lunches to take to work. When we were first married I used to buy him those frozen bean burritos from the store but these days I just make my own frozen burritos. Just make the Easy Mexican Rice recipe and substitue brown rice to be extra healthy. Put a heaping spoonful or two in a whole wheat tortilla wrap (again extra healthy) and top with some cheese. Then roll up.

I put each burrito in a sandwich bag and then all the burritos in a gallon freezer bag. That way they don't get freezer burn and you can decide if you want one or two. Also, there is no need to defrost as you can just pop them in the microwave just like the ones you buy at the store.

This recipe made 18 burritos and cost me practically nothing as I already have all the ingredients in my food storage. I just had to buy the tortillas. By the way, even if you don't have all the ingredients on hand this is still a super cheap meal to make and as you can see it makes a lot.

Veggie and Barley stew

I made this stew about a week ago. I doubled the recipe and then divided it up into gallon-size freezer bags. I ended up with enough for 6 dinners. I also made cornbread muffins and divided those up into quart-size freezer bags. I love the idea of freezer meals. There is no waste and it saves so much time throughout the rest of the week. As an added bonus, this meal is super healthy and you can really experiement with all kinds of veggies. Gotta love that.

Veggie and Barley Stew

3/4 cup chopped celery

3/4 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped carrots

1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained

3 cups tomato-vegetable juice

3 cups water

1 potato, peeled and cubed

1 (15 oz) peas, frozen or canned

1 (15 oz) can, whole kernel corn, drained

2 (15 oz) cans garbanzo beans, drained

1/2 cup barley

1 tbl soy sauce

1/2 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp dill weed

1. In large pot over high heat combine all ingredients.

2. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes, or until veggies and barley are tender.

This is the recipe I doubled and froze.

When I was ready for stew I tossed the frozen soup in the crock pot and turned it on high for 2 hours and left the muffins out to thaw while my family watched conference. By lunchtime we had a warm filling stew with our cornbread muffins. Yummy!

Yep, my blog died.

Hey for the two of you that read my blog, I'm sorry I let it die. I've come up with an idea to resurrect it though. It is something I'm excited about and here's a little preview:

My goal is to write each Monday about freezer meals. Yes, I know it's been done before and over and over again but these freezer meals have my own special little twist to them to make the whole idea of freezer meals a little more approachable.
P.S. it's healthy too. Who would've thought.
So stay tuned.

Flower Cupcakes and Princess cake

It's birthday week in my house right now. My girls and I made these to share with family the day before Clara's birthday. I found the idea on Kraftfoods.com. These are super easy to do. Just cut a marshmallow with kitchen scissors into four equal pieces and set in a flower shape on your frosted cupcakes, then sprinkle for some glitter. Girls love glitter! The girls loved making these but beware, it was very very messy.

Then on Clara's birthday, which was today, we made a princess cake. I found this idea on Familyfun.com. Clara picked out the cake mix, frosting and the barbie. Let me tell you, she is a pink lover! I'm actually not sure why I'm posting this. I had a much prettier picture in my head then how it actually turned out. I guess cake decorating isn't really my area of expertise but you should have seen the excited that Clara showed when she saw this cake. It was a hit!