My Meal Plan for February

I was going to begin this post by telling you about our lovely, productive weekend. I've felt like I've been so business-y here lately and our weekend was turning out to be a really nice thing to share. Then yesterday happened. Not only am I not ready to talk about it, but I've not had the sleep (or coffee yet) to aid in the words putting into sentence doing. Also, I think that yesterday's events really don't belong in a post about making nummy food. Because then you won't wanna make the yummy food. Anyways, my weekend recap may come mid-week.

Ok. Here it is. My meal plan for this month. I will link to all meals so you can check out the individual recipes. In a few days be watching for my "this is how I made all of this in one day" post.

My approach to meal planning this month was to try more crockpot meals, only do real cooking once a week, and repeat meals for convenience. I'll list the side dishes that I planned as well. Those usually get made in the few minutes to hour before dinner time.

Freezer Meals for the Crockpot:
All my crockpot meals come from sixsistersstuff.com. They are new to us and so far we are liking most of them.


BBQ Spare ribs w/ baked potatoes and veggies x2

Maple Dijon Glazed Chicken w/ roasted potatoes and veggies x2

Cilantro Lime Chicken Burritos x2
This is a recipe we didn't mind but I like my crockpot chicken better.

Black Bean Taco Soup x2
This was delicious! I will definitely make this again!

Freezer Meals for the Oven/Stove:

Pizza x4

Stroganoff w/steamed broccoli x2

Italian Pie w/ veggies x2

Sausage Lasagna w/veggies x2



PW's Chicken Spaghetti w/ veggies x2
I don't make this exactly the same way PW does. I use 2-3 cooked chicken breast diced into bite sized pieces instead of a whole chicken, and veggie broth instead of chicken broth. Still good. Just saves a few steps.


Meals for My Cooking Night:
I love to cook so I reserved one night a week for making a meal. All the other nights I used the freezer meals. It worked out really well for me and I think I'll continue this for awhile.

Doro Wat & lentils w/Injera & kale x2
We are studying Africa this month in our homeschooling and so we decided to make some of our favorite food: Ethiopian! I used some recipes in a seasoning sampler my BFF gave me. If you are super interested in making Ethiopian food we can talk recipes some time. Let me know in the comments.

Orange Chicken x2
I LURV Orange Chicken but I can't get it anymore because of the soy thing. HH and Abiah are addicted too but rarely get to enjoy it out of respect for me. And maybe because I have forbidden that they taste the sweet/tangy nectar of orange chicken since I can't. Maybe. When I saw sixsistersstuff.com had a few recipes I decided to try them both to see if we should add it to our monthly meal plans for good. The guys were pretty excited. 

Our first time around we tried the orange chicken recipe from this post. Mine looked NOTHING like their picture. It had a strong ginger flavor but was strangely still very bland. I added salt, sweet chili sauce, more salt, and more sweet chili sauce and it just didn't get better. The kids loved it so they ate it. I won't use that recipe again.

The second time around we tried this recipe. When I first found the recipe I was super excited because I love orange chicken and this one sounded like it would be good. And then I read the comments. And I wasn't so sure anymore. So many people said they threw it in the trash! Ugh. Anyways, I decided to give it a try but give it a twist. I decided against using the crockpot and just made this one on the stove. It was super simple. The changes I made were: add seasoning salt, garlic, and ginger to the flour mixture and add grated orange peel to the sauce. It wasn't Panda Express good or our favorite  Chinese resturaunt good, but it was good. I'll make it again. We all loved it. And it only took about 1/2 and hour to make. Super easy, ya'll.

Pan Nachos x2

If you have any questions let me know. Enjoy!

WFMW: Freezer Meals: Rice

Last fall I joined my SIL and the gals from her church for their ladies retreat. We had a fantastic time of fellowship, worship, and the word. I took so much away from that weekend. This is one that I want to share with you. Freezing rice.

Deep. I know.

I'd never even thought about it. But it makes dinner prep so. much. easier!

It's as simple as making a huge batch of rice. Follow the directions on the package of whatever rice you prefer. When it's done cooking measure desired amounts into freezer storage containers or bags.

When it's time to use the rice defrost, heat up, and serve.

Making a big batch of rice on a slow day mid month will help you out so much on nights when you don't have time.

Sometimes I take slow days and do many pre-prep things: making beans, making rice, mixing up pie crust.

I'm linking up with We are THAT Family and WFMW.

Freezer Meals: Sausage Lasagna

Homemade spaghetti sauce is probably one of my favorite things to make. I don't know why exactly, but I love it. I also love that I can use the same recipe to make a delicious lasagna since HH gets tired of spaghetti. This recipe is easy to double.

To make the sauce I use:

One Pizza Sauce recipe

1 lb Italian Sausage

1 14 oz can of diced tomatoes

1 cup (ish) chopped mushrooms

1 cup (ish) shredded zucchini

1 cup (ish) sliced mini peppers

1 medium sized onion, diced

1-2 head of garlic, minced

Start by browning your meat. When it is cooked through add the onion and cook until the onion is clear. Add the other veggies and cook until the liquid is mostly evaporated. Add the Pizza Sauce.

To make a lasagna I use:

16 oz of ricotta cheese

1 bunch of onions, sliced

1 cup of shredded mozzarella

1 pkg of no bake lasagna noodles or 1 pkg of bow tie pasta

Mix the ricotta, green onions, and mozzarella together.

In a 9x13 pan layer sauce, noodles, and cheese mix. You want to end your layers with sauce on top. Cover with shredded mozzarella and bake at 375 for 50-60 minutes.

For the freezer I wrap each pan twice with saran wrap and then add a layer of foil to the top. You'll want to defrost for 24 hours before baking.

Enjoy!

Freezer Meals: Beef Stroganoff

I don't have any pictures of this recipe. It's easy and one that my kids LOVE.

You will need:
1 lb thinly sliced beef, cooked (I use 1/2 lb)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
10-15 mushrooms, sliced
12 oz can of cream of mushroom soup
1 cup of sour cream
2 Tbl ketchup
2 tsp Worcestershire
1/4 cup water
One box of pasta, cooked (I prefer bowtie or penne)
1 Tlb butter

After the meat is cooked add the onions, garlic, and mushrooms and cook until the onions and mushrooms are tender. In a separate bowl mix together the soup, sour cream, ketchup, Worcestershire, and water. When veggies are tender add sauce. Add one box of cooked pasta and the butter. Mix well and serve.

You can also make the sauce portion of this recipe and freeze it until you need it. Defrost for 24 hours. Heat it up and mix with the cooked pasta and butter.

We really enjoy this recipe. I think we have it a couple of times a month. Enjoy!

WFMW: Freezer Meals: Crockpot Liners

With all the crockpot meals I'm trying out this month I thought I'd do myself a favor and splurge on some crockpot liners. Friends, they are the best things ever!

You simply line your crockpot with one of the liner bags...

Dump in your crockpot meal... Cook it... Serve it.... Take out the left overs...

And grab the liner and toss it in the garbage.

I wash the lid off and put my crockpot way for the night. It's so easy. I love that an easy meal now has an easy clean up. You can find a box of these in the food prep isle of most grocery stores. Go get some. Now!

I'm linking up with WFMW at We Are THAT Family.

Freezer Meals: Italian Pie

This is another favorite recipe from my childhood. It's easy to make but takes a little more prep time since it is making a pie. It also freezes well before and after cooking. I usually double the recipe so I don't go through all the work twice.

For one pie you will need:
1 lb. Italian sausage, cooked (I used one lb for two pies and no one was the wiser)
6 eggs (I leave them out due to allergies and have no problem so they aren't a necessity)
2 packages (10oz) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 lb shredded mozzarella
2/3 cup ricotta or cottage cheese
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp garlic powder
two pie crusts
marinara sauce (I use my pizza sauce recipe)

First mix the sausage, eggs, spinach, cheeses, salt, and garlic together, blending well.

Roll out one pie crust to fit your pie plate.

Place the rolled out dough in the pie plate and fill with the topping.

Cover with a second rolled out pie crust.

When you are ready to eat them bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour. Let it sit for 10 minutes before serving. You can make 8-10 servings.

We like it with a spoon of warmed marinara or pizza sauce on the top.

If you want to freeze them first, wrap well in plastic wrap and a top layer of foil. 

Defrost for 24 hours before baking.

In the past, before we had kids, I would bake one of these up and freeze the individual pieces wrapped up in saran wrap for Nathan's lunch. It made an easy grab-n-go meal for the nights when we didn't have left overs for him to take.

Let me know if you try this one out. Enjoy!

Freezer Meals: Pie Crust

Rumor has it that my paternal grandma wasn't the greatest in the kitchen. Her mom, Old-old Grandma, was a fantastic cook, but for some reason Grandma Ann didn't inherit that skill. This recipe is one of the few things, I'm told, that she made well.

What is it about recipes from older generations that makes you feel closer to them? When I make pie crust I think of Dr. Pepper, Avon, and Grandma Ann's cackle. She had the best cackle.

This is the only pie crust I use. It's easy to make and freezes well. I don't know how long you are allowed to freeze it, but I will be honest and say I've used one that was in the freezer for at least a year. At least. Apparently I need to make pie more.

Grandma Ann's Pie Crust

You will need:

4 c. flour
1&1/2 tsp salt
1tablespoon sugar
1&3/4 c. Shortening or butter
1/2 c. Cold water
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 egg or egg substitute

Mix the first three ingredients together. Cut in butter or shortening (I no longer use shortnening #1 because it is made from soy and I'm allergic and #2 I read Skinny Chicks Eat Real Food and #3 Butter is better). Mix last three ingredients together in a separate bowl and add to flour mixture. Mix well.

Divide into 4 balls.

Wrap individually.

Do yourself a favor and label them and then freeze. Unless you need them right away, of course.

When I plan to use the dough I pull it out the night before and let it thaw. I'll be posting a dinner recipe in the next few weeks that will use this crust.

Do you have many recipes from older relatives? Does making them stir up fun memories?

Enjoy!

Survey Time!

I'm thinking about putting together a series of posts on my monthly meal plan with detailed posts about how I do once a month freezer meal prep. Are you guys interested in something like that or are you thinking, "There are 5 million posts like this all over the web already. Just post pictures of your chubby babies and stories of the funny things they say"?

Let me know your vote by leaving a comment below.

Freezer Meals: Pizza Sauce

I have a few recipes that I want to post of necessary ingredients for other recipes I plan to share with you. This is one of those.

I tend to cook using the "ish" method: little to no measuring. I did measure out the ingredients the last time I made sauce so you can have more to work with than "ish". You can adjust as you see fit.

Pizza Sauce

For a long time I bought Hunt's pizza sauce for homemade pizza. Then I realized how easy it was for me to make my own. I like the flavor and consistency much better.

You will need: tomato sauce (29 oz), Italian seasoning (1 tablespoon), garlic powder (1 teaspoon), and salt (dash).

Mix together. I separate this recipe into three containers and freeze. One container is enough sauce for 2 pizzas.

We have pizza almost weekly per HH's request. I use Pioneer Woman's Pizza Crust. I've found that I like the crust best baked on the lowest rack in the oven for 15 minutes instead of 10.

Enjoy!

Crockpot Recipe: Mexican Chicken

This recipe was given to me by the lovely Kiwigirl Cooking. I use it at least once a month and have shared it with almost everyone that I know. Almost.

I've tweaked the original recipe a bit so I'm going to give you the original recipe and then tell/show you what I do.

Mexican Chicken
Place:
4 frozen chicken breast or 8 frozen chicken tenders in the crockpot
Cover with 1 can of rinsed black beans and 1 can drained (or 1 cup frozen) corn
Dump 1 jar (about 2 cups) of favorite salsa on top (Mango and peach salsas are superb! HH doesn't like those kind so I stick to our usual (Kirkland Organic), so you'll have to make it with the fancy salsas so I can live vicariously through you. Thanks!)

Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.

At the last half hour of cooking add 1 cube of cream cheese. Shred or sliced chicken breast when fully cooked.

If you'd like, add 1 cup of cooked rice.

Serve over rice, over chips, on salad, or in a tortilla.

This recipe is delicious as is. I first decided to tweak the recipe because I wanted to freeze it and was unsure of how the cream cheese would hold up. So I omitted the cream cheese and we just top ours with shredded cheese.

Then I started to use less meat in most of my recipes to save money and because we don't need to eat as much meat as we were. I substitute with extra beans, beef it up with a few other ingredients and end up with enough for two meals instead of one. I don't know if I've really made this the same way more than once.

Here's what I did last time I made it:

2 frozen chicken breast
2 cans of black beans (drained)
1 cup of frozen corn
1 can of diced tomatoes (drained):

2 cups of salsa:

Cooked and shredded:

This time we had nachos:

The kids love this meal:

I usually make this up for dinner and freeze the left overs for another night.

I didn't add rice this time and I still had plenty for all 6 of us to eat, Nathan's lunch for work, and enough for another meal.

So far, everyone who has tried this recipe has loved it.

Crockpot Recipe: Cheesy Broccoli Soup

This last Thursday I had a morning full of school and kids with an afternoon full of appointments. My dinner plan for the night was Cheesy Broccoli soup (that I didn't have a recipe for) and bread. I forgot to start the bread on Wednesday and didn't think about my lack of dinner prep time until Thursday morning. I decided that bread was an easy fix since I was stopping at the store, but I needed to make a quick decision about the soup. I decided to take a chance on throwing a bunch of things in the crockpot, letting it cook all day, and figuring out what to do with it when I got home.

We got home at a quarter to five and the house already smelled like broccoli soup. I was relieved that "the cards fell in my favor" and got to work finishing dinner. It was delicious! And super easy, too. Try it!

You'll need:

5 medium potatoes (peeled and chopped)
2 carrots (peeled and chopped)
1 medium onion (chopped)
1 pound broccoli florets
(size doesn't matter since you will puree the soup)
32 oz veggie broth
4 cups water or until almost covering veggies

Place the ingredients in the crockpot and cook on low for 6 hours.

When down cooking, add 1 cube of cream cheese and 1 up of shredded cheddar. Let the cheeses melt a little and then puree the veggies and cheese together. I found that this to be a better way to incorporate the cream cheese.

Stir in 1 can of evaporated milk. Salt and pepper to taste and serve!

Bonus: This soup freezes well.

This recipe was an experiment and so I didn't think to take pictures. I'm sorry that I robbed you of my awesome photography skills. I'll work on that.

Freezer Meals...kinda: Pork Steaks in Mushroom Gravy

This is a favorite from childhood. You can use beef or elk steaks with this recipe also. We don't eat pork often, but this is one of my favorite recipes for it.

There's two ways of cooking this. The all day version and the hour-and-a-half version. First I'll give you the all day version.

You'll need: Pork steaks, seasoning salt, cream of mushroom soup (large can of Campbells or two of the cute boxed ones), three or four large sliced mushrooms (optional), and half a can of water.

Layer the steaks in the crockpot, seasoning each one liberally as you go. Top with sliced mushrooms.

In a separate bowl mix together soup and water and pour it over the meat. 

Cook on low for 6-8 hours. The meat should be so tender it falls off the bone. I shred the meat and serve it over rice (below) or mashed potatoes.

The package of meat I used had four large steaks and that will feed our family twice including HH taking some for lunch at work. You can freeze the leftovers or save them for later in the week when you need a leftovers night.

And here's the short cooking version. I don't have pictures for an aid, but I'm sure you'll get it.

First, you'll want to place the meat on a broiling pan and brown under the broiler for about 7 minutes on each side. Remove steaks to a 9x13 and top with mushrooms. Add juices from broiling pan to soup and water mixture and pour over steaks. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Enjoy! And let me know if you have any questions.

Freezer Meals: Refried Beans

I started making my own refried beans when I found I am allergic to soy. It's in everything, I tell you! I was intimidated at first but have found it to be rather easy. I have used a few different recipes but my favorite so far is one I use with my dutch oven.

I've also used this recipe in the crockpot, but it takes 6-8 hours for the beans to cook through. When using the crockpot I wait to add the salt until I mix the beans adding it slowing, tasting as I go, since some of the salt in the dutch oven recipe gets thrown out with the water.

What I like about this recipe is that there are no added flavors (besides salt). It's just beans. I can use this recipe as is or add taco seasoning to spice it up. I use this recipe for nachos, burritos, or just beans and cheese in a bowl.

Technically I don't "re-fry" the beans, but they are mashed up and have a similar (read: close enough) consistency to canned beans. I can't remember where I got the recipe...but it was somewhere online. It's so basic and simple though.

You need: pinto beans (2 &1/2 cups), salt (2 tsp), and water.

After rinsing and picking out any rocks, place beans and salt in pot and cover with water an inch or two above the beans.

Cover and place in an oven heated to 375 degrees. The recipe I wrote down said the beans only need to cook for 75 minutes to three hours, but I have found that it takes more like four to four and a half hours. Maybe it's because they have you add the salt before baking. I haven't researched or experimented to find out. Anyone know?

Check the beans every few hours to make sure there is still plenty of water. When the beans are tender all the way through pull the pot out and let it cool for a bit. Strain the beans and add them to your mixing bowl.

You can use what ever you have available for mixing. I've used both my Kitchen Aid (below) and my food processor. The Kitchen Aid leave the beans a bit more lumpy but they both get the job done. It may just come down to preference for you. While the beans are mixing I add fresh water until I get the consistency I want.

I made a double batch and was able to fill three 32 oz. freezer containers. 

I've used this recipe with kidney beans, white beans, and black beans adjusting the cook time as needed. If you want whole beans just drain and rinse the beans and store in freezer containers or ziplock baggies in desired measurements. I try to do this so I can stay away from canned beans but don't always have the time.

Let me know if you have any questions.

P.S. I don't take pictures to show off my photography skills. Because I don't have any. The pictures are just a visual aid.