Freezer Filling Frenzy/Crazy Ladies

Wow. Sometimes I go a little overboard. This time it worked out in my favor (in the long run), but let me tell you this was exhausting! My dear friend Amy wanted to do some freezer cooking to stock up for a busy summer month - we talked about just swapping recipe ideas, but then decided we would ship our kids off with our husbands and cook for a day together. 15 hours and lots of craziness later, my freezer is plum full. 
Before I get to the recipe list, let me just say this day was so much fun. Here is what NOT to do when you are going in to a massive day of cooking. Do NOT start compiling recipes at 11:30pm the night before. Do NOT grocery shop at 12:30am that morning. Be smarter than I was (don't procrastinate?!). Wear shoes! I would even suggest being ridiculous and bringing a second pair to change into - trick your feet! Check/re-check/triple check your recipes to your grocery list and then to the supplies purchased before starting. (Avoid running raggedly to the store the day of). Make an oven 'schedule' right away - we sat with the oven empty for several hours at the beginning while we were prepping non-baking things. Be wise owls folks! Have candy on hand. And chocolate milk - this produces better results. Have someone available to run you caffeine at 9pm. Also, next time we are planning to use a church kitchen AND our husbands to make the process SOMUCH faster. Plus we can trick them into washing the dishes by telling them "its a cool machine".. LOVE. Oh my goodness we had such a crazy fun day. A few curse words. Its okay.


Here is the rundown. Note that I put everything into 4 person meal sizes (8x8 pans or gallon ziplocks) - and one 8x8 pan would feed us dinner and then Steve and/or I lunch the next day. Except the baked mac- this makes two overwhelmed 8x8s, because I never remember to buy two bigger pans for it. So when I thaw it, I dump my 8x8 into a deep dish 9x13 and that is full. By splitting a meal into 2 8x8 pans, even a larger family could stretch any recipe by simply adding a side to a meal - but we typically still have leftovers even when splitting. SO many of these recipes make way more than what they say on the original post. I have noted by each item how many 8x8 pans it made. The burritos are an amazing example - the recipe says it makes 8, but it made 16. The enchilada casserole recipe was supposed to make one - I doubled the recipe and ended up with 3.


Dinners
1. *new* Summer time Beef Tips (recipe makes two meals)
2. Sour cream noodle bake (recipe makes 2 meals)
3. Baked Mac-n-Cheese (recipe makes 2 9x13 - so 4 meals for us)
4. Burritos (recipe makes 5 meals - I gave one to Amy, thats a lot of burritos)
5. Dump Chicken (made 2 bags): Pkg chicken tenders in gallon bag with half a bottle of your favorite dressing - marinate overnight then freeze.
6. Teriyaki Chicken (recipe makes 2 meals)
7. Pizza Dough (two large pizzas)
8. Best Burgers (I made 6 burgers with this recipe)

Bacon Crusted Pork -Photo from Vanessa Druckman

9. Bacon Crusted Pork Tenderloin (OHMYGOODNESSYUM. recipe makes 2 meals)

Spicy BBQ Stuffed Chicken - Photo onceamonthmom.com

10. BBQ stuffed chicken (8 giant chicken thighs stuffed - at least 2 meals): I made half with pepperjack (per recipe) and half with swiss for the kids.
11. Enchilada casserole (recipe makes 3 meals)
12. Garlic Bread (made 6 - 3 loaves halved)


Lunch-ish items
1. Mini meatloaf cups (recipe made 24 cupcake-sized meatloaves)
2. Pizza rolls (made 16): Pepperoni and Mozzarella rolled in crescent roll and baked - dip in pizza sauce.
3. Ham/cheese rolls (made 16): deli ham with slice of swiss rolled in Pillsbury crescent roll and baked. 
4. Tacos in a Sleeping Bag (recipe is ridiculous. Made 16 and had ton of meat left over -and started with less than a pound): Ground beef with dry taco seasoning (don't add water), with cheddar in a crescent roll and baked.
5. Corn Dog muffins. (made 24): I add 1tbls brown sugar and a little extra milk per batch - sweeter and keeps them from drying out.


Breakfast
1. Breakfast cookies (I quadruple the original recipe because we gobble these. I ended up with 4 plump gallon bags): You know me, I would not ruin these with cranberries. I add a bit of cinnamon to the recipe and then sprinkle with a tiny bit of cinnamon/sugar before baking.
2. Baked oatmeal (I doubled this, and baked shallow muffins in a tin so I could skip cutting/dishing them out of a 9x9 pan - genius. This way they are already portion-sized! One batch made 18 discs instead of the 9 bars you would maybe be able to cut out! Ooh, And I do NOT use fruit. I mix in a small amt of mini chocolate chips to the batter instead)
3. French toast sticks (The recipe easily uses up a loaf of Texas Toast Bread - which is huge - I made another half recipe to make more). For some reason the original recipe isn't available on their blog anymore - this is the toddler version which sneaks in some squash puree - puke. The original uses 12 eggs, 2c milk, 1/2c sugar and 1/2c melted butter. I add way more cinnamon just because that's the kind of people we are.
4. Idaho Sunrise (recipe made 24 cups, and PS I use way more bacon.)


Snacks
1. Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Banana Bread (made 3 loaves and 22 muffins - I only had 3 loaf pans! Make this. It's incredible). No nuts. Just delete that part of the recipe folks.
2. Pumpkin Muffins (made 120+)
3. *new* Energy Bites (Made a double batch): I change this recipe a bit. I detest coconut, and I never buy flaxseed. I used 2c of old fashioned oats, 2c of these same oats pulsed like mad in my food processor- it provides filling, but with different texture, then I use a cup with mostly wheat germ and 2Tbls or so of cocoa (round up!). And then of course the PB, Honey and mini chocolate chips. They are chocolately and YUM. My kids call them chocolate balls and think they are a cookie. Little do they know they are healthy little things - I could use dark cocoa to make it even healthier, but I don't like it, so I won't. I will freeze half of these…I hope...
4. *new* Crock Pot Greek Yogurt. A new wild hair. A couple months ago we made our own frozen yogurt cups with plain yogurt and frozen fruit and thought we could make these portable yogurts even cheaper by making our own yogurt. So I finally tried it. Its still in the crockpot bed under some bath towels (NO JOKE). But I am pretty pumped to try it out.


And I brought my camera.. And we didn't take a single picture. Boo. SO 20 hours or so (I finished some baking today), less than $300 - my family will eat stress-free for more than a month. I posted an inventory on the dry erase on my fridge so we can track when we take an item out and see what is left. I also noted thaw times and side items (hello husband!). I am pretty confident that this stock will last well into July and that cost includes sides like rice, potatoes, steam fresh veggies and refilling my staples like flour/sugar/butter, etc. The only thing we will need to buy is milk at some point. I LOVE it. Even better? My husband tried to get my kids a "treat" the night I was off cooking and bought pizza rolls - my kids didn't like them and Josiah said "mom, can't we have the ones you make? They are WAY better!". Score.

Can you even believe it?! (also, OAMC part 3)

Yes, well, I finally have a working laptop again (it hasn't worked properly since September and actually died in October - so much for that Mac theory!)… BUT praise the Lord and pass the ammunition folks because I am just on overload now. I don't know what I would have done without a smartphone! Can you imagine life before constant access? (Sad, isn't it, how dependent we are? hmm…)

Before I lose my mind since January is almost over and my freezer is starting to clear out already, I wanted to update with another foodie post (I'll get to the grand holiday stuff later - it's tardy already anyway). Mostly, I just want to share with you a couple of new recipes that rocked my socks off. Yep, rocked 'em right off. Shall I start with my absolute favorite? I suppose then you have no reason to work to the end? ;) I'll do it anyway, and you can just trust that they are all good. Okay, so here was my list for January - followed by links/photos of the new additions that were important enough to earn a highlight on homework night.

1. Breakfast cookies (duh)
2. Frozen fruit cups (I know its winter, but my kids think its dessert, and its just fruit!)
3. marinated dump chicken (2 bags!)
4. Meatloaf/meatballs (2 pans of meatloaf, 4 bags of meatballs)
5. Meaty Manicotti (2 - 8x8) (NEW!)
6. Lasagna (2- 8x8) (NEW!)
7. Three cheese baked mac (downgrading from the spicy mac due to a complaining 5 year old!)
8. Yogurt (NEW!)
9. Granola Bars (NEW!)
10. Idaho Sunrise (NEW!)
11. Breakfast Bagels
12. Garlic bread
13. Cheese Scones (NEW!)
14. Chinese pot roast
15. Italian pot roast
16. Waffles - have yet to get a batch to the freezer.. Need to make them at night instead (duh)

Idaho Sunrise

Okay - first, the Idaho Sunrise. My new favorite I think. I love quick, easy, good-for-you breakfast, and I think this is fairly good for you? You make a nest of hashbrowns (with a little cheese mixed in), bake it a bit, then crack and egg in, top with parsley, a little bacon and cheese. I don't like whole eggs, so I scrambled them and then poured them into the 'nests', but same idea. I flash froze them, then put them in a gallon sized bag. I was nervous about reheating these in the microwave. I waited SOIMPATIENTLY for the toaster oven on the first morning. NOT a quick route at all. But WHOA was it worth it! The girls started asking for bites too. Even my picky bird, E! So then I put one in the microwave and did a nervous dance not wanting to ruin one of these precious treats. And it tasted just fine! YAY! So in 1:30, you have an amazingly fresh tasting breakfast, and its easy and filling and YUM. One seems to be enough, but I tend to want more. Uh oh… These are going to be a staple for sure. Plus they require so little bacon it works well with the bagel sandwiches. TRY these. It would also be a great breakfast/brunch item served fresh if you are having company over. Use a dark pan - you want these to get brown on the bottom or they fall apart when you try to get them out.

Manicotti (We put sauce on top too)

 Manicotti - and lasagna.. we LOVE pasta. We actually tested out the Wal-Mart brand "oven-ready" lasagna noodles and the recipe right off the box, which we had never tried before - and put it to the freezer test right off the bat. It works, if you thaw it overnight. It actually wasn't bad, even with Steve making it - I tend to flavor things a bit more than he does :) Nice job! I like the Target box recipe better - they add more cheeses, but I think we could toss in more variety and it wouldn't matter.
The Manicotti was, again, a recipe we had never tried. It needed a little more spice, but it froze well.

This inspired my yogurt..

This pinterest find was actually for smoothie packets, but it got me thinking about gogurt… We buy gogurt all the time for Josiah's cold lunch - to freeze and then you stick it in the lunch box and it thaws in time for lunch… And just in general I guess, I always hate that he begs for the cartoon kind and I always am having to explain why I don't want to buy that kind for him - we get the "natural" kind - but even so, its not very natural I suppose (just a bit more?).. So why not make our own! Now, on www.onceamonthmom.com, they have a post showing how they make their yogurt into gogurt tubes. I am not about to attempt that (yet). And I haven't yet tried making my own yogurt, though after this we did talk about doing just that. But we bought some good-for-you yogurt and some flash-frozen fruit and we dumped it all in the processor. Then I stuck it in portion-sized gladware cups and froze them. So he has gogurt cups now, but he LOVES the taste, and I love that its REAL. So we'll work on the packaging (I'll put a sticker on it or something). 

I made my Cheese Scones heart shaped, but these are okay :)

Ah yes, cheese scones. These turned out yummy. Its more like a biscuit because its savory and cheese-ish, but it makes a nice snack or side item for my kiddos (or I will steal one too). And I wasn't being an over achiever in making hearts, it was the smallest cut-out I had!

Well, hot dog...

(a working title…)

This blog post has been stirring in my heart for months, rolling in the back of my mind as I debated whether or not I wanted to cross THAT line. I'm a line crosser, as you know, but I try to step carefully whenever possible. Boldly only when I have to. When I started my latest grad school endeavor and thesis writing was being discussed the idea hit me like a smack in the face. And as I sat across the table from a dear friend sharing our passion for good food and our hearts for this discussion, I had to wonder why I had waited so long to share my heart about this with those around me but I was jumping in wholeheartedly for a team of professors and conference attendees (fingers crossed!). I have several theories about that, but we'll save that for later.. For now, I just feel like I need to share my heart on the issue.

Motherhood has become a competition. And I hate it. Lets just throw that out on the table. Hang with me here. Today more than ever, we are blasted with society's expectations of what it means to be a "good" mother. News media, advertising, blogs, commercials, magazines, tweets, and Facebook. All day long, we as mothers are bombarded with other people tellings us how to perform our role. Whether or not we should breastfeed our child (and if so, how long we should continue to breastfeed). Should we use cloth diaper or disposables. Whether or not you should homeschool. Whether or not you should practice babywearing. Only feed your child organic, scratch-cooked foods. Which language you should teach your child. Whether or not you should make your own cleaning products. Whether or not to spank your children. The list goes on and on. Every single aspect of your role (my role) as a mom is thrown at you by all of these sources of media (and our friends!) - and what is the result?

The result is that -like it or not- this is hurting moms all around us. A mom shouldn't be made to feel like they are any better or worse of a mother if they choose to put their baby in disposable diapers or if they choose cloth. A mom shouldn't be looked down on because they send their child to public school, or they send their child to private school or if they choose homeschool. If I serve organic foods only half of the time, I shouldn't be made to feel like I am poisoning my kids, or that I am any less of a mother than someone that serves only organic, local produce. If I choose not to spank my children and I have solid Biblical reasoning for that, I should not be told I am wrong because you have found verses to support your choice.

NO mother should be frowned upon for their choice about feeding their child. I feel like I should say that ten million times. Some mothers have no choice - some mothers cannot make any/enough milk and cannot breastfeed. Some mothers make the choice for formula for other reasons. But it is their choice. Research that I am looking at right now has shown that this one single issue has led new moms to serious depression, loss of joy, feelings of guilt, etc. - all because they feel shamed by the fact that they either were not able to do what they were told by society was expected of them in terms of infant feeding, or shamed by the fact that they chose formula. It makes me so sad that as women we are making other women feel that way - when as new moms they should be at the height of their joy! Just because something is the right choice for you and your child, does not mean it is the only choice or the right choice for the lady next to you. (phew..)

I think what is so tricky about these issues for us as women is that we are so incredibly passionate about them because, well, we are passionate about everything, but because we are so passionate about our kids. When we get on to these topics we dive in so eagerly. But what we don't realize is that we tend to come off as though we are pushing our agenda instead of simply sharing our ideas. I recently read a great post by my friend Vanessa who wrote about her decision to homeschool, and I was just so proud of how she framed that discussion. She came right out and said she was so hesitant for these very reasons - and this is really what got my wheels spinning! 

Let me tread very carefully here, but please hear me out: I feel like as Christian women, we can tend to be that much more passionate about our beliefs and child rearing or homemaking practices - and without even realizing we are doing so, we tend to be trying to one-up those around us (posting amazing facebook statuses!), or at the very least rather than "humble ourselves", we try to make it known that our practices are clearly the superior ones. I have never felt more judged than I have in the small, fishbowl town I recently moved back to. For wanting to work outside the home, for not homeschooling, for not breastfeeding, etc. I feel like at times we can hold our religious beliefs as an air of superiority, when in truth we are all heiresses in the same right. 

And rather than trying to convert one another to a different team, what we should be doing is supporting one another no matter what. Unless something wild and whacky is going on, it really is going to be okay if you and I and Jane down the street all make different choices about what kind of kindergarten we send our kids to. Instead of competing with one another, lets be honest with each other. The fact is, this is a tough job! If we could get down and real with each other and truly come alongside one another in prayer and do life together - wow. Doesn't that sound so much better? It kind of sounds like a beach...