I’m gonna just admit to you that I bit off more than I could chew this week (so pardon me while I type with my mouth full).
This was not a good week for me to try to make extra food. This would have been a good week for me to HAVE extra food in my freezer ready to pull out and warm up quickly. But what did I do? I cooked extra food. In the midst of running around like a funky chicken taking my kids to soccer and musical practices…putting the final touches on all of our LTC projects…preparing for a short trip…working on costumes…going on a field trip…sorting through spring/summer clothing…and doing school work.
WHAT was I thinking?
I think I was thinking that having extra food on hand in the coming weeks will be very handy, and I’m right…it will be very handy. But I’m whipped.
I am NOT whining. No ma’am. I’m just saying that maybe next time I should make a better judgment call on when I should do extra cooking.
And also, I’m letting you know that every single room of my house looks like a bomb went off. There were apparently separate bombs for every room and some bombs were larger than others and had a flying clothing effect.
Ah, but at least I have lots of prepared food in my freezer now, eh?
Here’s a run down of the week:
Sunday night I started a pan of beans to soak and mixed up a double batch of tortillas to soak overnight.
Monday morning before schooltime, I started cooking beans and rolling out tortillas. I put together the Bean and Cheese Burritos and got them into the freezer by noon. I then mixed up a double batch of dough for Homemade Pizza Pockets and Beefy Enchilada Bake to soak. I also made a batch of Homemade Ice Cream for the Ice Cream Experiment. That was it for Monday.
Tuesday was the biggest cooking day as the only extra thing we had going on was one soccer practice.
I got five pounds of meat cooking before breakfast. Once I got the kids started on their math and other individual work, I mixed up a double batch of Corn Dog Muffins and got those into the oven.
The meat was then finished browning, so I stirred up three pounds of Sloppy Joes and put them into jars for the freezer. The remaining two pounds of hamburger helped make up two big pans of Beefy Enchilada Bake.
I then set about putting together Homemade Pizza Pockets and Mini Apple Pies. I had to take a break somewhere in there and feed us all lunch. Everyone was disappointed that we weren’t having pizza pockets and apple pie for lunch. (Ah, but what they didn’t know what that I had secretly stuck a big apple pie in the oven for later!)
Here’s a look at a very adorable five year old, along with the finished
Beefy Enchilada Bakes, Homemade Pizza Pockets, Corn Dog Muffins and Sloppy Joes.
And here’s a closer-up picture of the food…but without the five year old..
so this picture may not be as fun to look at.
Finally, I got the Mini Apple Pies finished and put into the freezer.
Those will make a wonderful breakfast some morning soon!
I finished Tuesday off by mixing up a double batch of Giant Breakfast Cookies to soak for the next day.
Wednesday I spent the morning baking Giant Breakfast Cookies. While each round of cookies was in the oven baking, I’d go tackle some homework help or spring clothes sorting.
I took some time to shake up some Ranch Dressing Mix, Italian Dressing Mixand Taco Seasoning Mix. I LOVE having these mixes ready for when I need to make dressing or dip or tacos or…all the other things I use making these mixes.
And there you go. I didn’t quite finish everything on my list, but that’s okay! I think we will be using many of these convenience foods next week while we CLEAN UP the war zone that is our house.
Has anyone seen my broom?
You do stay busy! Probably keeps you out of trouble, huh? :)
Impressive! My freezer cooking so far consists of cooked chicken and ground beef and maybe some breakfast burritos..lol. LOVE your recipes by the way and will be trying out a bunch soon.
I’m jealous! ;) I’m assuming you have a deep freeze. Maybe one day I’ll have one and can cook up a storm like that! It would be so nice to have some of that fresh yummy food to pull out of the freezer!
I do have two deep freezes….thankfully!
Man are you tired because I am tired just from reading that I think I need to go makea snack now! Very awesome though and I can’t wait till I get to have a big freezer one day to do this! Way to go momma on getting so much done! Amber
Thanks for posting the recipe for the Ranch Dressing Mix!!
I can’t wait to try making my own refried beans. I’ve been cheating and using canned :(
Thanks for the inspiration!
Thank you for all the wonderful ideas!
My last freezer cooking day sounds like yours – I shouldn’t have done it because life was too crazy. It did help throughout the month to have food ready though. Those mini apple pies look delicious by the way!
Wow, you have been a busy girl. And your food looks amazing! I want some of those little pies right now :)
I have been trying to reduce my dependency on seasoning packets. I have been doing fairly well with the exception of onion mix. Do you have a homemade mix that you have used to replace dried onion mix?
I don’t, but I’ll add it to my list of things to work on!
You are such a cupcake (this is what I call my own daughters with great affection because they are so scrumpscious). I am just looking at all that beautiful food and wanting to eat some of it. Will you come to my house and cook for me? I used to do once a month cooking, but never so completely from scratch. I think I have lost my energy for such ambition these days, but I am tempted never the less to try making one of these once a week maybe?I love the idea of the homemade tortillas. Do you hand roll them or do you have a tortilla press? I am truly inspired by your “whole foods”, and am working up a great hunger for more of it. I actually came over to your sight to see if you have a “Hot Cross Bun” recipe. You have obviously been far too busy to make hot cross buns. :) Happy Easter to you and your family.
Pioneer Woman has a yummy looking Hot Cross Buns recipe!
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/04/hot-cross-buns/
I some questions… (sorry if they are lame but I just have to know!lol)
about your sloppy joes…you freeze the jars? They must no break but I always assumed they did!
about your casserole…You freeze it right in the dish? Do you have several of those dishes?
about the hotdog muffins…I have boys right around the ages of yours, how many would they eat in one setting? I am just trying to figure out how many I would have to make to have more than one or two meals.
about your bake…is it cooked, frozen then cooked again?
Thanks so much for all the help you have given me!! Love your site!
Shorty
Yes, you can freeze food in jars…just be SURE that they are only 3/4 full or when the food freezes and expands inside, they will break!
I do freeze my casseroles right in the dish. I have several 9×13 sized dishes, so I find that the easiest.
My boys eat 2-4 corn dog muffins each…which means that sometimes I get to eat something ELSE for lunch if they eat the entire batch before I get there!
My enchilada bake is not cooked before it is baked.
Great questions!
Oh DUH…”My enchilada bake is not cooked before it is baked”?????? Let’s try that again. It is not cooked before it is FROZEN. Sorry about that!
All I can say is wow. I’m going to attempt a freezer cooking day next weekend. While I can’t cook as much as you did, (I only have a small top freezer in my fridge) I think I can at least get two weeks worth of meals into it. I’ll be using several of your recipes.
Wow! You have some great recipes. Thanks for sharing.
I’m printing out these recipes and wondering have you ever used your dry Italian mix for veggie dip? Just curious!
I haven’t but I think that would be delicious!!!
A random note: the last time I made breakfast cookies, I totally left the honey out. Oops! I can adapt ;) I dip them in honey when I eat them. Hee hee!
You did a GREAT job! I wish I could cook like that! Must admit the pic with your son was the best! Im biased cuz my little boy is five years old, too! He was born March 4th 2005!
I have the same question…can you freeze in mason jars?
Yes, just be sure that the jars are only 3/4 full so that when the food freezes and expands, it won’t break the jar!
Whew! I need to rest ;)
(Making my own dough for the pizza pockets and the apple pies would take me the whole morning…can I be you when I grow up?) :)