Here’s what I am finding to be a pattern, which is not really a pattern at all, but really a random “take it as it comes and try to keep your head above water” lifestyle:
Some days I have plenty of time to cook and be all kinds of “Little Miss Heavenly Homemaker”. And other days I am so completely busy with family/business/outdoor/appointment/tournament/travel/ministry/school/you-name-it responsibilities, that finding even a moment to breathe, much less put together a healthy meal, is much more than I am capable of. Those are the days you may as well call me “Little Miss Why Pray Tell Do These Children Think They Have to Eat Five Meals a Day and Where In The World Is My Other Shoe?” This is when having healthy meals already prepared in my freezer are a life saver.
(Side-Note: Being a “Heavenly Homemaker” is something I believe you and I always are, whether we’re grinding flour and making bread from scratch, or whether we’re chucking a store-bought snack toward the back of the mini-van to your kids on the way to an event. As long as our tasks are done with love and with God’s purposes in mind, I believe that sometimes we just have to splurge in an effort to stay sane. But because I love being home, and I love being productive in my kitchen preparing healthy foods, I do feel more “Heavenly Homemaker-y” when there isn’t raisin gunk stuck to my hard wood floor and when I have time to stop and smell the butter melting on the stovetop in preparation for baking.)
During the last few weeks, as I’ve grabbed some hours of time in the kitchen as I’ve found them available, trying to get as much done as possible to make up for the crazy days when I don’t have as much time to cook. I have taken some pictures of the food to share with you. As for the dirty dishes these cooking times have created, I have no pictures. You will just have to imagine those in your head. Imagine the worst, then double it, then drizzle some pickle juice and sour milk over them, and that’ll be just about right. :)
One particular day a few weeks ago, I had several hours to spend in the kitchen. I sort of forgot to stop once I got going. I made a triple batch of Whole Wheat Tortillas (recipe in our Totally Tortillas eBook), a double batch of Granola, four loaves of Honey Whole Wheat Bread, one batch of Chocolate Chip Cookies, and two Green Bean Casseroles (recipe in our Holiday Hospitality eBook). I added ground hamburger meat to the casseroles to make them a one dish meal.
After I made all the tortillas, I made three gallon sized bags full of Meat and Cheese Burritos. And then I passed out. Not really. But almost.
Several days later after I had recovered when I had an extra couple of hours, I made a double batch of Whole Wheat Calzones. We ate half of them on our way to a soccer tournament that weekend, and the others are still in the freezer for me to grab and serve on another busy day.
Last but not least, I wanted to show you a Pod Racer that I made with Legos. Just kidding. I really just made some pizza crusts for the freezer, and Malachi made the Pod Racer. But since they were both on the counter at the same time, I just took the picture of both. Be glad it was a Lego creation that happened to be on the counter in my kitchen at picture time and not a dirty sock or a dead bug that one of the boys brought in. Not that either of those would ever be found on my countertop…
I’m excited about these pizza crusts (using the dough recipe here), which I rolled thin and used for Grilled Pizza. I’ll share more about that experience soon. I’m super excited to have prepared crusts in the freezer for future grilling!
Made any extra food for your freezer recently? Had any dirty socks Lego creations on your counter recently?
Making tortillas can be somewhat tiring I think, super impressed by your triple batch!!!
Love your posts! Today I made some burritos for the freezer and several times had lego creations (none of which I made) on my counter. Yea for cooking ahead!
I need to do a big cook up! But it just seems to be too hot lately.
Thank you for your ppost today. I really do need to get in the kitchen one day and do some freezer cooking. I have three teenage boys and a one year old so I go through a lot of food here in this house. The one year old makes it hard to be in the kitchen for long periods of time. But having healthy food on hand for those days that I would rather sit outside and play with them all day and not be in the kitchen cooking would be great!!
Wow-wee! Did I EVER need to hear that! I had to laugh because you sounded just like me. It’s very nice to know that, yeah, it’s okay some days to swim in insanity. My kiddos are quite a bit smaller than yours too, so I am guessing I could just trade out “running to events” with wiping behinds. :) Anyhow, I have a really good friend that loves your blog, however she was feeling very intimidated by your super-ness and swore you off for a bit. I am going to send her this post so she can remind herself that you are are not super human, but just like her in many ways.
Thanks again! God Blessings!
ok so I know you are doing a pizza post soon BUT this friday we are having a princess party at church for about 20 little girls. They want to make mini pizzas and I am in charge of making the crust for them to top. Can u help me with specifics please? I need 20 mini pizzas. Can you tell me how much one batch of the dough will make – mini pizza’s? Also did you just roll them out and freeze them? But if I made them on Friday morning can I just store them in the fridge until that night? Please help :)
The dough recipe makes 18 small pizzas, although I would think you could certainly stretch that to 20 for your party. I would roll them to the thickness you want, and freeze them on cookie sheets in layers, with parchment paper separating the layers. Then just grab them out and bake.
They would also work if you made them Friday morning and put them in the fridge, but I’m not sure how you would keep then from sticking together. Freezing them helps that problem!
Our VBS is coming up in July and we will be staying at our church for the week because it’s too far to drive back and forth daily. So I’ve got to do some freezer cooking to have plenty to eat while we’re there.
Also, my boys have really been into their legos for the past week so I’ve had tons of lego creations on the kitchen counter! ;)
With 5 boys there are ALWAYS Legos on my counter!!!
LOL – my precious little angel has a tendency to fling his socks when he takes them off at the end of the day. Now that school is out he is sockless in his crocks. Thankfully I haven’t found one of THOSE on my kitchen counter yet. Yet.
I have never been a “freezer” cook or even had anyone model it for me. I would love to have healthy food on hand but I really don’t know how to get started. I make my menu plan for the week & due to my limited budget, I have just enough to get what I need for the week. Can you give me some pointers on getting started?
You may find it helpful (or overwhelming?!) to read through all of the posts I’ve categorized as “Make Ahead Meals” posts: https://www.heavenlyhomemakers.com/category/make-ahead-meals. Also, if you look through some of my “Feeding the Family” posts (https://www.heavenlyhomemakers.com/category/feeding-the-family) you’ll see more about how I purchase food for being able to cook like this. Hopefully that helps a little!
And since reading through all of those posts is probably overwhelming and you really just asked for a pointer to get you started, this is a post that I think may be more helpful: https://www.heavenlyhomemakers.com/cook-once-eat-twice-or-more-eat-healthy-save-time. If this was the only thing I could do to help myself get ahead in the kitchen, this would still be very, very helpful. :)
I haven’t managed to make any freezer food lately, but I really NEED too. My 2 little ones are going to stay with grandma for 3 nights over the 4th of July (Yay… first break for my husband and I in about 2 years!), and I promised I’d send along some quick and easy breakfast and lunch foods and snacks that they’re used too. My mom is a little intimidated by how I cook from scratch, and use whole foods to feed the children. I’m very thankful that she respects our choice and is willing to try to stick with it while they’re there. Of course it IS a visit to grandma’s, so I assured her she doesn’t have to do it “perfectly” and a few treats are to be expected. :)
What I DO have in my house is raisin gunk stuck on my hardwood floors! With and 18 month old and 4 1/2 year old, it can be found in abundance around here. I’ve also had a lego creation… or five on my counter at various times. :)
I have only recently stumbled upon your site and wanted to let you know how encouraging it has been. My family mirrors yours as we have 4 girls ages 7-15. I used to give women who are raising boys much more credit than myself, however since we are muddling through the pre-teen and teen years I have reclaimed a bit of credit for myself. I just wanted to thank you for taking the time to share your homemaking skills and inspiring me. Freezer meals are on the list. P.S. unfortunately girls leave socks, bugs and dirt on the counters too. ;) just no Legos.
I enjoy reading this post daily as well. I also have 4 girls ages 8 to almost 15
and the pre-teen and teen years are a close run with the boys. I am beginning to
think that there are different stages of the chaos. And girls can be just as
messy as the boys. Who knew!!
Lego men are usually my best cooking companions! They are quiet, and don’t require a lot of samples! Although they usually end up there because some little boy left him there while snagging a sample! Also, the bug box, with bugs both dead and alive, does occasionally end up there too. Only until I notice it! Pretty sure that there has even been a dirty sock up there. And rocks. And leaves, and sticks, and hot wheels!
I love to make big batches of food and freeze lots for later. Only me, so, doesn’t take as much as your family of 6. I am excited about the pizza recipe too. Love the w.w. crust idea and want to make a pizza as good as pizzarias do but healthier. Thanks for that recipe for sure!
Actually, this post just spurs me on to try my hand at more bulk cooking. I think it would really serve my family, esp. during our homeschool year.
WOW!!! I would have passed out after all that. I actually don’t think I could have done all that. I am much older than you. Whew!!!!
Our 22 yr old son is home for 2 months between college and getting married. Dirty socks can show up ANYWHERE with him home—-ewwww! Soon his wife can deal with it :)
I just browned 4 pounds of hamburger meat for the freezer. Not much but it does help to have it in there!