August 29th, 2010
Recipes, frugal eating on the go, large family shopping ideas, and freezer cooking kits all in one!
We’re learning to make the most of our Sam’s trips slowly. Last week Matt hit on the best thing ever. First of all, let me say if you have a membership to Sam’s you can not only get your diapers for much less you can drop into their cafe and get amazing deals on lunch or dinner. You can get a huge Nathan’s hot dog and drink for about $1.75 or a large slice of pizza and a drink for under $3. Y’all, for a family of 7 that is da bomb. Last week while ordering our after-church hot dogs Matt ordered a case of fully-cooked 16 inch pizza crusts. 20 of them. For, get this, $16. Wow. And we all know the hardest part of getting a homemade pizza right is the crust. No more. You ask for them at the food counter where you get your hot dogs, not in the frozen foods section in the back. They come in a big box. We set our box straight into the freezer and pull out however many we want to cook up at a time. While we were at Sam’s we bought a mega pack of mozzarella, pepperoni, and sauce (those are found in the regular food section of the store). When we got home (or in reality 4 days after they sat in the fridge waiting for me) I divided the huge packs of pepperoni and cheese into little freezer bags according to the amount we would need for each pizza. And because we like to experiment with all kinds of pizzas we also bought some pre-cooked grilled chicken chunks (you could save money by doing these yourself, we just didn’t this time), barbeque sauce, alfredo sauce, bacon, garlic, black olives, green olives, and fruit. We also want to try a chocolate chip cookie dough soon.
So far we’ve tried cheese sticks: frozen crust, melted butter spread all over, garlic (we love the huge pre-chopped garlic – we use it for everything) spread all over, and then cheese sprinkled on top. When you divide your cheese if you put it straight into the freezer it will stay loose and not melt down into a huge clump. Then when you want to make a pizza you can reach into the bag and put the frozen cheese you want onto the frozen crust – no thawing. We bake all of the pizzas at 400 degrees for about 10 or 15 minutes – just check for a melty golden cheese on top. Serve the cheese sticks with the pasta sauce you would normally use on the pizza.
Here are a couple we had yesterday.
The cheese pizza is the kids’ fall back favorite. I should’ve used more cheese. Oh well, they didn’t seem to mind this time. The other is a chicken, garlic, tomato, alfredo. Oh my, y’all. The only thing that would’ve made this one better is crumbled bacon. But we forgot to make it ahead of time. I think the pizza made it into our bellies just fine without it though. Chicken Alfredo Pizza: frozen crust, spread some chopped garlic on top, half a jar of alfredo sauce, a little salt, mozzarella, grilled chicken chunks, sliced fresh tomatoes, and a little more cheese just to hold the chicken and tomatoes on. 400 degrees for almost 15 minutes. Oh my.
August 4th, 2010
Here’s a recipe and another how-to on freezer cooking.
Once again, we ate it up before we got pictures. Doh!
When you go buy your big pack of ground beef and brown it up all at once, you’re also going to buy another big pack of ground beef. This one is for burgers. After you brown all that other ground beef and set it in the fridge to cool, then turn your attention to the burger prep.
Dump the whole bunch of raw ground beef into a big glass bowl (use a metal pot if you don’t have a bowl big enough). Mix in some burger seasoning mix – we’re currently using Emeril’s Bam! Burger Mix but we’re not partial. Mix it in really well. Lay out a long strip of wax paper on the counter. Then patty out the ground beef however large you want them. Lay them out lined up on the wax paper. Then start tearing off plastic wrap (I don’t have a great method for this, suggestions?) Currently I tear off the size I’ll need that will wrap one patty completely. I start setting them all around on the counter tops – not touching so they don’t wind up all wadded up together. I wrap each patty individually, stack them, and set aside. When they’re all wrapped I stack them into my freezer – you can put them into freezer gallon bags if you’d like and date them, but we eat them up so quickly that I skip this step most of the time.
Now, to the cooking part.
When you want them for a quick dinner, pull out however many you’ll eat at a meal, unwrap, set frozen into a large casserole dish not touching. Set your oven to broil. Set them under the broiler (with the shelf halfway down – you don’t want them right under the broiler) and set the timer for 10 minutes. When the timer goes off, squish ‘em flat and flip them. Set the timer again for 10 minutes. Squish, flip. Set timer again for 10 minutes or less – depending on doneness. You can tell they’re done when the juices run clear when you squish them. Keep squishin’, checkin’, and flippin’ until done. When they’re done add sliced or shredded cheese and set back in the oven until cheese is melted.
When serving this time we added precooked bacon you can buy in the store, tomatoes, lettuce, pickles, mustard, mayo, and buns (toasted or not – your preference!). We deep fried some Rally fries you can find in the freezer section (really good, by the way) and added shredded cheese to the top, sometimes we salt and sugar the fries instead of adding cheese – mmm!
Cook ahead meal and walk away, unattended burgers all in one!
July 16th, 2010
A tutorial on making them fluffy.
Because, though the old saying goes “Flat as a pancake” really you want them fluffy. I promise, you do.
I never thought there was an art to pancake making until I worked at the group home and then they taught me a thing or two.
Here are the how-to’s of successful pancake flipping and freezing (yes, freezing, if you’re going to all this trouble you might as well be done with pancakes for good long time, right?). With a couple creative ideas added just for fun!
Take a deep breath, get as many skillets or griddles as you own out, grab a huge bowl, and get ready to make the entire box at one time. Yes, you are. Yes, you can. The kids are playing Wii, watching a movie, doing SOMETHING, baby is sleeping, you can do this, I promise. Measure out the ingredients by the directions. Then keep measuring them out until the whole of the mix is there. Then just multiply your wet ingredients by how many times you measured the powder. For instance, if it calls for 2 cups dry mix and 1 cup milk, 2 eggs – then, if the whole box has 6 cups dry mix, you use 3 cups milk, 6 eggs – got it? Remind yourself you can do this!
For these I used Bisquick. They’re my favs (fluffier), but I usually buy the off-brand boxes to save money. The off-brand boxes usually just call for water, I add vanilla (just put a little in – a tablespoon for the whole box, maybe more? – I don’t measure) and an egg or two for good measure. The Bisquick actually does call for eggs. The main thing here is that whether you use off-brand, Bisquick, or a complete “from scratch” recipe you need to mix the dry ingredients in a bowl separately from the liquid ones. Beat the eggs well, add the milk and vanilla all in one bowl and then add to the dry ingredients.
You do this because with pancakes (and muffins and quick breads) you don’t want to over mix – it makes them tougher and less fluffy – you want fluffy, remember?
After you add the liquid ingredients to the dry mix stir just until moistened. This is important. Don’t over mix.
Now, spray with cooking spray (or when we don’t have it I just use a stick of margarine and rub it right on the griddle) heat your griddles on medium high (or about 375 for the electric griddle) at first. I usually lower that once I start cooking them, because I’m distracted by little people around me and I don’t want to burn them. During this time you’re letting your now blended mix set there. Untouched. Also important. By the time the griddles heat the batter should look a little different.
You know your griddles are ready when you drop a little drop of water on them and the water “dances” and disappears.
Pour your mix by spoonfuls (however big you want them, for the longest I made little bitty ones because my kids liked them, now we’re back to more “normal” sized ones) onto the griddle. And wait.
When they look like this:
with dry edges and bubbles in the middle, it’s time to flip them. You’re only going to flip them once. I spray my spatula before flipping.
When you wait until they are truly ready to flip, then you don’t have much gooey mess to contend with. Let brown on the second side (this takes much less time than the first side did) and remove from griddle.
This is the entire box of pancakes minus the 8 or 10 I served to the kiddos while finishing up the others. That’s the beauty of this freezer meal – you can hand out the goodies while still cooking. Keeps them busy, lets you finish the rest of the cook-ahead meal.
Yes, that’s a Waffle House plate. From my husband’s lawless college days. Let’s not talk about that, okay?
I cover loosely with plastic wrap and set in fridge. When they are fully cooled I label gallon freezer bags and put about 10 – 12 pancakes into one bag (that’s how many we eat at one meal – do what works for your family). When you want pancakes just pull them out of the bag, arrange on a plate, microwave for a minute at a time, rearranging and checking for warmth. Butter, syrup, serve!
Now, for the fun stuff!
Sometimes we serve Seussian pancakes (as in Dr. Seuss, get it?) When I do that I mix all the ingredients together and then break my don’t over mix rule. I separate the batter into smaller bowls and mix in food coloring – a different color for each bowl: pink, green, blue, purple, whatever! You can take the fun a step further and make polka dotty ones by swirling and dotting the batter when you drop it onto the griddle. My kids beg for these every time.
I saw on the Bisquick site that you can write your child’s name in pancake batter if you have an empty squeeze bottle. Put the batter in a bottle and draw out their name on the griddle. I haven’t try that yet, but I really want to now!
Okay, last time we talked about freezer cooking I talked you into just browning a bunch of ground beef all at once. How’d you do with that? Have you tried it yet? You mastered it, right?! Now you’re ready for step 2 – mix up a bunch of pancakes and try it once. See how it goes. I wanna know.
June 9th, 2010
Also known as “How I cook 3 meals a day for 7 people and not spend every waking minute in the kitchen.”
This is the salsa I made last cooking day that has lasted us nearly 2 weeks of snacking now. Yum!
I’ve been talking alot lately about food. I suddenly want to make up for all that time I spent not eating the instant frozen stuff my family ate during that very sick pregnancy. I want it all! Oh food, glorious food! And I’m just now getting back into the swing of juggling kiddos and cooking at the same time. I forgot how much I loved it. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not a fan of all those dishes, and work, and crying baby who gets sick of me at the stove. But I have to feed these sweet munchkins anyway, I don’t have a tremendous amount of money to do it, so I might as well make the best of it.
I’ve been following Life as Mom as she’s been freezer cooking this last weekend. I love what she does. Someday I’d love to grow up and be just like her. However for this season at least, I don’t do it quite the same. The concept is there, just implemented differently.
First of all, we either have less money than her, get paid on a different schedule (ours is every 2 weeks), or just don’t budget as well. Either way, the idea behind freezer cooking (or cooking ahead, as it’s also know) is to make your time in the kitchen work for you. Instead of dreading every meal, you can plan ahead, work hard when you actually have the time, and then coast for the rest of the days. My thought is: I have to cook and clean anyway I’d like it to be on my terms.
The Menu Planning
Every two weeks I go through my cabinets, fridge, and freezer. I make note of what I have. All those random half meals. Then I get pen and paper and list meals that I know of that we could make from what we have. I use one piece of notebook paper for this list. Next to that list of meal ideas I start a new column and list all the ingredients I don’t have to complete that meal. This becomes my grocery list later. If there is something like “Sirloin Tips thin cut steaks” in the freezer that I bought on sale once but have no idea what to do with it I go to Allrecipes.com go to their ingredients list and type in what I have. Then I look through their recipes until I find something that sounds feasible and add the needed ingredients to my grocery list. I do this until I have nearly 14 meals. Then I brainstorm a few breakfast and lunch ideas. Lunch (especially during the week when I’m homeschooling and time is slim) is usually nearly effortless (same with breakfast) or leftovers. Muffins, pumpkin bread, apple spice bread, pancakes, french toast, cereal, granola, fried bologna, fried weenies, sausage, bagels with butter, cheesy egg wraps, and egg casserole are all favorite breakfasts. Lunches that aren’t leftovers include hot dogs, pb&js, macaroni, summer sausage/cheese/crackers, carrots with ranch dressing. Think quick finger foods. I add these things to my list. Snacks are cheese, fruit, veggies, popcorn (pop it yourself on the stove – much more cost effective), bagels, frozen yogurt pops, apple sauce, again, think: easy. I again add any of these I want to my list. I check my basics: flour, sugar, butter, etc. to see if I have enough and add any to my list.
When that menu plan is complete, I rewrite my grocery list by where I know items are located in the store. I’m sure there’s a more time efficient way, but I don’t know it. I do this because when I shop for 2 weeks (the Big Shop as my friend calls it!) I almost always have all 5 kids with me alone. I need to streamline my time in the store.
You can also see one of my frugal menu plans here.
Getting Home From Shopping
I recruit the help of all 4 of my walking children and we get all the groceries in. Then, they go play while I take everything out of the grocery bags. I learned the hard way, don’t just look through the bags you’re more likely to miss something that needs to be refrigerated and you’ll kick yourself. I put all cold items away. I leave all the shelf items where they are (unless I have a toddler who will destroy all that is good and then I just set them out of reach until I can get to them. I set nearly all my meat in the fridge. Then I go about my day. The next day is cooking day – no way I could do both in one day. In that down time, I look over my menu and think about what I should put first on my list. I make the actual daily menu at this point. I take into account what I need to use before it will go bad. Anything with lettuce and tomatoes goes first on my list, all casseroles with canned ingredients gets bumped to the latter part of the 2 weeks. Then I decide, based on that what meat to freeze as is (roast sandwiches? roast goes in freezer), and which I will be mass cooking.
Cooking Day
I make a new list for the morning of the cooking day to know exactly what needs to be cooked. I mentally note what I can cook all at once – every one of my burners can be on at once and the stove running. I’ll have to rotate breads and potatoes or anything else that needs to be in the oven. I plan what I’ll fix for dinner that night so that I know what to have completely done for the evening. Then I get to cooking. The idea for me is less of “I’ll have whole meals ready in the freezer” and more of a “I can throw a dinner together in less than 30 minutes.” I boil and shred all my chicken. I chop all onions, shred all cheese, brown all ground beef. Most of the time I don’t have time in one day to cook everything for the 2 weeks. So, when I have a morning free later in the week and want pancakes or french toast I pull out both griddles and cook at least 3 meals worth at once. I’m already planning to cook, I’m already going to have clean up, I might as well make the most of it at once and get a free ride later. When I’m making cheesy egg wraps I make a bunch: roll them all up, cut them in half, and set them in the fridge, then on church morning (read: crazy rush hour) I can pull out the food, zap it, and set it on the table. The main idea on cooking day is to consider the most time consuming parts of your meals and do them all at once. That way you can just throw together a meal.
I live blogged what I did one shopping trip and how my cooking day looked. I’m warning you, it’s crazy, but worth it.
More Power To Ya!
You can do this. Even if you are not a stay at home mom. Really. Make your time work for you. It’s yours – own it! You can have “fast food” ready when you need it. I promise, it’s doable!
June 4th, 2010
Did you know you can freeze potatoes? You can!
I make a big batch of these, freeze them for later, and then eat them as snacks, sides, and send as lunches with Matt. Oh so yummy!
Gather your ingredients:
- 5 lbs large baking potatoes
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1 cup milk
- 3 ounces cream cheese
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
*and I like to add those Salad Toppins into mine for added flavor and crunch. I don’t measure this part, just shake some in until it looks right.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Wash and dry potatoes.
Spray potatoes with cooking spray or rub with olive oil and sprinkle outside of potatoes with garlic salt.
Pierce potatoes with fork several times, wrap in tin foil, and bake on cookie sheets for 1 – 1 1/2 hours or until potatoes “give” when gently squeezed.
While they are baking, in a large mixing bowl add butter, cream cheese, salt and pepper and mix well.
When potatoes are done, unwrap and cut potatoes in half lengthwise with a serrated knife.
With a large spoon scoop out the inside of potatoes leaving a layer of potato attached to the inside of the skin. This can be tricky. I insert spoon on one side, lift out, insert spoon on the other, and gently scoop.
Put scooped out potato in mixing bowl as you go and mix to combine with butter mixture, adding skim milk as needed to make potatoes the consistency of slightly stiff mashed potatoes.
It’s at this point that I mix in the Salad Toppins.
Holding the potato shells in the palm of your hand to support them, scoop and press potato mixture into each half of potato shell.
Return filled shell to cookie sheet.
Sprinkle cheese on top and pat it to make it stick to the potatoes.
Now you have a decision to make. Eat some now or save them all for later?
To eat now: return the ones you want to eat immediately to the oven and bake about 15-25 minutes until hot and melty.
To freeze for later: loosely lay plastic wrap over the tops and set the whole cookie sheet as is into the freezer.
When they are completely frozen, wrap each half in plastic wrap individually, place in gallon ziplocks (if you so desire) and return to freezer.
 Matt really wanted me to tell you they taste much better than they look here!
When you’re ready to eat one, remove from freezer, remove plastic wrap, place in microwave for 2 minutes. Ready to eat!
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