9 Super Easy Freezer Meals

     My neighbor approached me last week with the awesome idea of putting together some freezer meals.. I was stoked so I accepted. We sat down, traded a few recipes and came up with a shopping list and a plan. Well, when you have kids, life happens...her lil' guy got the pukies, then she did. So needless to say, we couldnt do them together. Although, I did manage to put them together by myself.
     I was kind of a "virgin" at freezer meals. I have never done mass food preparation before, but this was so easy! I only dirtied a handful of dirty dishes, most of which hardly counted as dishes (measuring spoons, mixing spoon, bowl, cutting board and knife). You mix everything in the bag (except for one recipe), seal it up, and thats it!
     I did all my grocery shopping last week, and brought home EVERYTHING for the recipes, plus re-stocked my pantry cause it was looking pretty pathetic, and purchased things for lunches, snacks and breakfast (expected to last roughly two weeks). I spent about $280 on all of that. Which I have to say is much better than I have done in the past. $280 every two weeks for a family of 6 is pretty darn good.
     Menu planning makes such a huge difference in how much money you spend on your groceries. I have learned though lots of trial and error (mostly error), and have come to the realization that regardless of the amount of work that goes into planning a menu, sticking to it, and shopping, it worth it because of the amount of money that you will save by doing it. Flying by the seat of your pants is costly....
     Wow, did I get off topic or what? Here I am rambling about all this (still important info) and you guys want the recipes for these meals. Now, there will be a link for the site on which I got these off of, but keep in mind I didnt make all those, I picked 6 from that list, and added 3 more from my neighbors list. I will tell you below specifically which ones I made, then give you the recipes for the other 3.Well here ya go!

Slow Cooker BBQ Cranberry Chicken
Slow Cooker Beef and Mushrooms  ( I did not use mushrooms cause I am the only one who likes them. Also I used beef broth cause the kids drank all the apple juice before I could make these. I added a little extra liquid than it called for because I did not use the canned mushrooms)

Slow Cooker Pineapple Glazed Ham
Slow Cooker Sweet and Tangy Meatballs
Slow Cooker Sweet Teriyaki Chicken
Slow Cooker Creamy Ranch Pork Chops and Potatoes
Now here are the 3 recipes I got from my neighbor:

Terriyaki Pork Chops
4 pork chops (We like bone-in)
Salt & pepper to taste
2 cloves of minced garlic, I used my garlic press
2 T brown sugar
1/4 C soy sauce
1/3 C chicken broth
Add all ingredients to a 1 gallon sized zipper bag. Seal and freeze. Defrost in fridge for 24 hours before cooking. Add contents in bag to crock pot and cook on high for 4-5 hours, or on low for 6-7 hours.

Orange Chicken
3-4 chicken breast
1/2 T salt
6oz frozen orange juice, thawed
3 T brown sugar
1 T balsamic vinegar
3 T ketchup
Add all ingredients to a 1 gallon sized zipper bag. Seal and freeze. Defrost in fridge for 24 hours before cooking. Add contents in bag to crock pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Garlic Honey Chicken
3-4 chicken breast
3 cloves of minced garlic, I used my garlic press
1/3 C soy sauce
2/3 C ketchup
1/4 C honey
Add all ingredients to a 1 gallon sized zipper bag. Seal and freeze. Defrost in fridge for 24 hours before cooking. Add contents in bag to crock pot and cook on high for 3-4 hours, or on low for 5-6 hours.

There you have it! I hope that you enjoy making these, cause I know I did! I felt very accomplished after I was done, and was looking at my stack of completed meals on my counter. It felt good.

Best Cinnamon Rolls Ever

I have tried many cinnamon roll recipes over the last year and a half since I first attempted to make them.  All them were pretty good...but this one was the best!  I think in part, it was the cream cheese frosting.  Or maybe it was because the dough was so much lighter and fluffier than the others I had made.  Either way, they were delicious!  So here is the recipe...I know that you will enjoy them as much as we did!

You can smell 'em right?  Well gear up, and get ready to make these deliciously fluffy rolls....

Ingredients:

For the dough:

4 large egg yolks, room temperature

1 large whole egg, room temperature

1/4 C sugar

6 T butter, melted

3/4 C milk, room temperature, or slightly heated in the microwave with 1/2 t white vinegar mixed in

4 C flour

1 1/4 t salt

1 package dry active yeast (or 2 1/4 t if you are using bulk)

Oil or cooking spray

Filling:

3/4 C packed brown sugar

1 T ground cinnamon

1 1/2 T butter, melted

Icing:

1/2 C softened cream cheese

3 T milk ( I used cream cause I ran out of milk)

1 1/2 C powdered sugar

Instructions:

1. For the dough: Beat together the egg yolks, whole egg, sugar, butter and milk

2. Add 2 cups of the flour along with the yeast and the salt.  Beat until moistened and combined

3. Add the remaining flour and mix for about 5 minutes.  You can use a stand mixer if you want, I just used a wooden spoon.

4. Once the dough easily pulls away form the sides of the bowl, turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 30 seconds.

5.  Very lightly oil a large bowl.  Form dough into a ball and roll around in the oil to completely coat it.  Loosely cover bowl and place in a warm place (on top of the fridge is a great place) to rise until doubled.  Anywhere between 1 1/2 -2 1/2 hours.

6.  Meanwhile, mix up the filling for the rolls in a small bowl, using the brown sugar and cinnamon.

7. Grease a 9 x 13" glass baking dish

10. Once dough has doubled in size, turn out onto a lightly floured surface, and gently shape into a rectangle, with the long side going away from you

11. Using a rolling pin, roll out dough into a 12 x 18" rectangle, making it about a 1/4" thick

12.  Take your melted butter (1 1/2 T) and spread onto your rolled out dough.  I just pour it on, and kinda rub around with my hand, leaving a 3/4" border around the edge.  Sprinkle with sugar mixture, and gently press into the dough

13. Starting with the longest edge nearest to you, start to roll up the dough, jelly roll style.  Pinch all seams closed

14. Using a serrated knife, cut log into 12 equal rolls.  Place cut sides down in baking dish and loosely cover

15.  You can stop now, and put your rolls into the fridge for the night, or continue baking.

•         To continue, put rolls in a warm place to double in size. About 1-2 hours
•         If refrigerating, remove rolls from fridge and place in a clod oven.  Fill a shallow bowl or pan 2/3 of the way full with boiling water.  place on the oven rack below the rolls.  Close oven door and let the rolls rise until they look slightly puffy; approximately 30 minutes.  Remove pan of rolls, and water from oven.

16. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F

17. Bake rolls on middle rack (uncovered) for about 30 minutes, or until golden brown on the top, and no longer gooey on the sides.  Remove from oven when done baking, and move baking dish to cooling rack.

18.  While the rolls are cooling, make the icing by beating cream cheese in a medium bowl until smooth and creamy. (you do not want lumps)

19.  Add milk to cream cheese, and beat until combined.  

20.  Add sugar a little at a time, and beat until light and creamy.  Taste just to be sure its good :)

spread over rolls while they are still hot, and enjoy!!!

Recipe adapted from Comfy in the Kitchen

Chicken Parmesan Soup

Well, I strayed a little bit from my menu plan this week.  Things were just all over the place last week because of Jackson being sick, and in and out of the hospital.  Thankfully he is fine now, and back his old self again.  Anyways, we got a little off the original plan, so i tied to get back on track this week.  Starting with Some Chicken Parmesan.  I had this on my original menu, but since I got my new Deep Covered Baker from Pampered chef yesterday, I just had to use it!  I also got this mini cookbook with my order, and it had this recipe in there.  It really was a soup recipe, but, since I'm the only one in my house who likes soup {grrr},  I had to make it thick enough to put over pasta.  So here is my version of the recipe:

Ingredients

2 cups of french bread, cut into 1/2" cubes

2 TBSP olive oil

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp basil

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp rosemary

1 1/2 C chicken stock/broth

2 TBSP tomato paste

2 1/2 C marinara sauce (I used Trader Joes)

1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained, with garlic and onions

2 1/2 cups cooked chicken breast, cubed

3 garlic cloves minced

1/4 C grated Parmesan cheese

3/4 C shredded mozzarella

Here we go!!!

Heat a large skillet on medium high heat.  Mix all your seasonings together in a small bowl.  Toss cut bread with oil, and half of the seasoning mixture.  Toss bread in skillet.  Move bread around frequently to avoid burning.  Cook until crisp and lightly browned.  About 3-5 minutes. Remove from pan, and set aside.

Stir stock, tomato paste, remaining seasoning mixture, marinara sauce, tomatoes, chicken and minced garlic into a large stock pot. (I used my deep covered baker) Bring just to boil, reduce heat and simmer about 10-15 minutes, or until piping hot.  Stir in Parmesan cheese. Top with half of the mozzarella and half of the croutons, top with remaining cheese.  

Cover and let stand 2-3 minutes until cheese is melted.  Serve over cooked pasta (or not) with remaining croutons.

ENJOY!

Now the original recipe called fro some tings that I didn't have, so I improvised.  Also, as I said, I wanted this thick enough to serve over pasta, so I added the tomato paste.  This recipe made quite a bit of food.  I mean, there are 6 of us, we all ate, plus had a huge portion of leftovers.  So if its just two of you, I might cut it in half, cause there is a lot, especially if you serve it over pasta it goes a little further.

Anyways, that's it for now, I have to finish getting ready to to go clean a few houses today {groan}, until next time....

This recipe adapted from The Pampered Chef's season's best recipe collection

First real menu plan! (week of January 13th-19th)

Okay, so I plan on starting a weekly menu plan on my blog.  Since I am being very diligent about following one, I figured I would share it with everyone!

Oh, and I got these super cute menu planning print outs here.

So here is next week menu plan.

For the week of January 13th-19th

Sunday 13th:  Crock pot veggie lasagna w/ bread and a salad

Monday 14th:  Avocado chicken w/ re-fried beans

Tuesday 15th:  Left over night!

Wednesday 16th:  Lazy cabbage roll casserole w/ a salad

Thursday 17th:  White chicken chili w/ chips

Friday 18th:  Left over night!

Saturday 19th:  Veggie pasta w/ creamy lemon sauce and homemade artisan bread

Let me just point this out...the bread recipe above is one of the best, and EASIEST breads you will probably ever make!

So there it is, next weeks menu plan.  I will post this weeks menu plan as well ( a little late I know), but for now, the kids are tearing up the house, so I should probably go and referee for a bit!  One more note,  I spent $247 at the grocery store, for 2 weeks worth of dinners, breakfast foods, and lunches.  (not quite two weeks worth of produce, but pretty close)  No coupons used.  I am looking forward to the menu next week, and I will be posting pics as well!  Enjoy, and happy cooking!