Heavenly Homemakers

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Easy Make-Ahead Meatloaf

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This recipe for Easy Make-Ahead Meatloaf is going to look incredibly similar to our Easy Meatballs recipe. That’s because it’s the same recipe. Shhhhh.

I grew up eating meatloaf every single week for eighteen years if I remember correctly. My mom made it with baked potatoes and probably green beans (because we didn’t eat a lot of veggie variety when I was growing up, hehe). This was one of my favorite meals. But just like I said in my Meatball post, Matt isn’t a huge fan of meatballs or meatloaf. So this recipe takes a backburner at our house.

I just got a fantastic deal on ground beef though, so I decided to go ahead and make a few meatloaves for the freezer. This is a great meat to serve kids and well, we have a lot of them!

How to make this meatloaf ahead of timeYum

Make this meatloaf and freeze it without the sauce. Then when you’re ready to bake it, thaw it, add the sauce, then bake. It freezes so well! I typically make mine in 9×13-inch dishes, but making it into an actual loaf – in a bread pan – works great. Fun fact: my mom always made ours in a casserole dish so I was a lot of many years old before I learned that meatloaf was supposed to look like a loaf.

If you don’t make your meatloaf ahead and freeze it, at the very least, I recommend making this quickly in the morning, refrigerating it, then baking it later at meal time. This makes dinner prep so fast and easy!

Easy Make-Ahead Meatloaf

Easy Make-Ahead Meatloaf
 
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Serves: 6-10 servings
Ingredients
  • 2-pounds ground beef
  • 3 Tablespoons minced onion
  • ½ teaspoons garlic powder
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt
  • ½ cup milk
  • 2 eggs
  • 4 Tablespoons rolled oats
  • Sauce for Meatloaf
  • ¾ cup ketchup
  • 2 Tablespoons minced onion
  • ¼ teaspoons garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
  • 2 Tablespoons brown sugar, molasses or honey
Instructions
  1. Mix first seven ingredients together thoroughly.
  2. Press the mixture into a 9x13 inch glass casserole dish or a 9-inch loaf pan.
  3. Stir sauce ingredients together in a small bowl, then spread over the meatloaf.
  4. Bake uncovered in at 350 degrees for one hour.

 

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Easy Way to Make Freezer Food (Without Trying)

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Here’s a look at an easy way to make freezer food!

During the days leading up to the fall season, I try to put some ready-made food into the freezer to help with the busiest of the busy days. The trick with this is that I can barely put a meal on the table as it is, much less work extra to get ahead. So here’s what I did!

Easy Way to Make Freezer Food (Without Trying!)

As I made meals and snacks in June and July, I made extra on purpose. Then, instead of eating leftovers in the days after we had originally eaten the meal, I immediately froze leftovers to pull out in August and September. Here are some examples of what I made:

Sloppy Joes

Our six littlest kids gobble up Sloppy Joes, which means that there’s no whining at meal-time when I make these! One summer lunch, I made a huge batch of sloppy joe meat, then froze the leftovers to use on a busy soccer night.

Lasagna

I made two huge lasagnas for a family reunion and had enough extra ingredients to make a 9×13 pan for our freezer.

Granola Bars

I made a quadruple batch of these bars and froze a bunch to use for quick breakfasts and snacks.

Hamburger Meat

I used my favorite method of cooking meat and cooked seven pounds of hamburger to use in any meal we need. (There’s a big list here of ideas for ways to use cooked hamburger meat.) I froze the cooked meat in baggies for the freezer.

Tator Tot Casserole

We had Tator Tot Casserole for dinner one night and I made a super large pan so that I could freeze a large portion of leftovers.

Breakfast Cookies

I made a batch of these breakfast cookies one morning and froze all the leftovers to use on a busy school morning.

In summary, I didn’t do any “freezer cooking” except for feeding my family regular meals and then freezing the leftovers for use another day. It’s the easiest way to fill the freezer without extra effort!

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73 Freezer Meal Ideas

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As we settle into a new school year, we thought it would be helpful to compile as many freezer meal ideas as we could!

No matter what your school year looks like this fall, having prepared food in our freezer for busy days never hurts!

Freezer Meal Ideas

49 Favorite Breakfast Freezer Foods

We’ll start by sharing great breakfast and snack food ideas that can be made ahead of time. Here are our favorites:

24 Main Dish Freezer Foods

My favorite freezer foods include meals that can be pulled out and baked without any additional prep. Here’s our big list:

What ways are you getting ready to stay ahead during the school year?

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Simple Omelet Muffins

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These Simple Omelet Muffins are super fun to make and eat for breakfast, brunch, lunch, or supper!

Not only do these Omelet Muffins work for any meal of the day, they are low in cost. You can make them ahead of time and rewarm them as needed. They freeze well. Annnnd…you can make them per everyone’s liking.

Add lots of meat. Add no meat at all. Throw in lots of veggies. Try a variety of cheeses. Have fun experimenting!

Some tasty add-in options are:

  • Chopped Ham
  • Bacon Bits (here’s how to make them yourself!)
  • Sausage Crumbles
  • Leftover Taco Meat
  • Shredded Chicken
  • Colby Jack Cheese
  • Mozzarella Cheese
  • Pepper Jack Cheese
  • Smoked Gouda Cheese
  • Blue Cheese
  • Diced Tomatoes
  • Diced Sweet Peppers
  • Diced Onion or Dried Minced Onion
  • Mushrooms
  • Sun Dried Tomatoes
  • Fresh Spinach
  • Broccoli
  • Black Beans
  • Sea Salt and Pepper to Taste

You really can enjoy a variety of mixtures using any of these add-in ideas or any others you can think of!

Simple Omelet MuffinsYum

Simple Omelet Muffins
 
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Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 10 eggs
  • 3 Tablespoons milk
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt (more or less to taste)
  • Any variety of chopped meat, diced veggies, and shredded cheeses you like.
Instructions
  1. Whisk together eggs, milk, and salt.
  2. Add in any fillings you like.
  3. Spray 12 muffin cups with oil.
  4. Scoop omelet mixture into prepared muffin cups.
  5. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until the muffins are set and golden brown.

 

If you make these ahead of time, rewarm them in the oven or toaster oven at 350 degrees for just a few minutes.

To freeze these Omelet Muffins: Bake them as directed and allow them to cool completely. Put them into a freezer bag and freeze them for up to a month. Thaw and reheat as needed.

I think these would be great to pack and take to work for lunch – a great change of pace from packing a sandwich!

Do you have any other great add-in ideas for these Omelet Muffins?

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Giant Breakfast Cookies For the Freezer

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It’s likely that many of you have been making my Giant Breakfast Cookies for years. It was one of my very first recipes I shared here. (Aww, sweet memories.)

Freezer Breakfast Cookies5

Yum

I used to always bake big batches of these cookies (or even a double batch) and freeze them to pull out as needed. This is great! But I like this new idea better.

See, with this idea we can have hot, fresh breakfast cookies whenever we want them. I think we can all agree that a hot, fresh breakfast cookie with a glass of milk or a cup of coffee is much, much better than a room temperature cookie with a glass of milk or a cup of coffee.

So this is what I do now:

Make Giant Breakfast Cookie Dough Balls for the Freezer

I mix up the Giant Breakfast Cookie recipe as normal. I scoop out cookie dough and freeze it on a cookie sheet like this:

Freezer Breakfast Cookies1

Once frozen, I transfer the cookie dough balls to a freezer bag.

Freezer Breakfast Cookies2

In the morning, I get out a few cookie dough balls to bake fresh.

Freezer Breakfast Cookies3

I put them into the oven (yep, from their frozen state) and bake them while the coffee brews.

Freezer Breakfast Cookies4

When the family wakes up, there are hot, fresh breakfast cookies ready to go with the rest of our breakfast!

These cookies are always the star of breakfast, but I usually only make enough for two per person so the fruit and protein can get the attention they need. :)

Here’s the recipe and freezing instructions:

Giant Breakfast Cookies (with frozen cookie dough ball instructions)

Giant Breakfast Cookies For the Freezer
 
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Serves: 20-24
Ingredients
  • 1 cup melted butter
  • ½ cup honey
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ cup buttermilk (the recipe will not be effected if you choose to leave this out)
  • 2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 2 cups rolled oats
  • ½ cup raisins or chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. Mix butter, honey, eggs, salt, cinnamon, baking soda, vanilla, and buttermilk.
  2. Stir in flour and oats.
  3. Fold in raisins or chocolate chips.
  4. Scoop heaping tablespoons of dough onto a cookie sheet.
  5. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
  6. TO FREEZE:
  7. Mix dough and scoop side-by-side onto a cookie sheet.
  8. Freeze dough balls, then transfer them to a freezer bag.
  9. Place desired amount of frozen cookie balls onto a baking sheet while oven pre-heats.
  10. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Breakfast Cookies for the FreezerEver tried freezing cookie dough balls before? I’ve been doing this with regular cookies for years. Why it took me this long to do this with Breakfast Cookies is just sorta silly.

More freezer recipes and ideas coming soon!

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49 Favorite Breakfast Freezer Foods

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Bunches and bunches of our favorite breakfast freezer foods…coming up!

49 Breakfast Freezer Foods

First, some of my favorite breakfast tips (that my family supports 100%):

Biscuits and Gravy Made EasyYum

You know how Biscuits and Gravy is one of those breakfasts you save for special occasions because it takes quite a bit of effort to prepare? What if you could follow these Freezer Biscuit instructions and have Turkey Sausage made ahead of time so you can quickly put together Sausage Gravy while your effortless biscuits are in the oven? Then you can have Biscuits and Gravy on the table within just a few minutes without breaking a sweat. My family loves it when I do this! (More details here.)

Biscuits and Gravy

Breakfast Casserole Made Easy

And Breakfast Casserole. That sounds intense right? Except that it’s not intense when you use this recipe and make it ahead of time.

cinnamon_muffins_with_casserole

Cinnamon Rolls Made Easy

How about Cinnamon Rolls? Well now those are for special occasions. Yes, because of the sugar. But not because of the work. Try these No-Knead Cinnamon Rolls that you can make ahead of time and freeze!

cinnamon_rolls

Muffins Made Easy

We’re all in love with the fact that we can mix up muffin batter and freeze it in muffin cups for easy fresh muffin baking! If you haven’t tried this yet, get all the details here. You will LOVE IT!

Freeze Your Muffin Batter 3

And now, from oatmeal cups to muffins to burritos, here are 49 great, real food recipes that can be made ahead of time and frozen.

49 Favorite Breakfast Freezer Foods

Time Saving Tip: These Ham and Egg Breakfast Bowls are tasty and wonderful, but they only save time if you make a bunch ahead and freeze them to warm up later. If you haven’t made them ahead and want ham and eggs for breakfast, I’d skip the cute bowl making step and just quickly scramble ham, eggs, and cheese together. :)

Easy Ham and Egg Breakfast Bowls

Did you see the 24 Favorite Main Dish Freezer Meals I shared last week?

Coming up during the next few days, I’ve got some great new freezer breakfast food tips!

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How to Make Homemade Chicken Patties for Sandwiches (Freezable!)

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You want to know one of my favorite convenience foods I miss the most since switching to real food? Processed chicken patties for chicken sandwiches. (Bet you never would have guessed that, since that’s what this post is about.)

chicken patties9

I grew up microwaving Schwan’s chicken patties and slapping them on white buns for a quick meal or snack after a sports practice. They were yummy and easy and while I couldn’t care less about many other processed convenience items (I gave up boxed pizza rolls several years ago and never looked back) – I do miss the taste and handiness of chicken patties.

So why it’s taken me this long to figure out a recipe that resembles the beloved frozen chicken patties, I do not know. But here I am, finally learning a way to make breaded chicken patties for sandwiches. The best news is that you can make these in bulk and freeze them for a fast, convenient, ready-made meal on a busy day.

Homemade Chicken Patties for SandwichesYum

How to Make Homemade Chicken Patties for Sandwiches (Freezable!)
 
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Serves: 15-20 patties
Ingredients
  • 3 pounds ground chicken
  • 4 teaspoons onion powder, divided
  • 3 teaspoons garlic powder, divided
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt, divided
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup milk
  • 3 cups whole grain flour (I used whole wheat, but if you need these to be gluten free, use your favorite flour choice)
  • Palm shortening or oil of choice
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl mix ground chicken, 2 teaspoons onion powder, 2 teaspoons garlic powder, and ½ teaspoon sea salt.
  2. Shape meat mixture into 15-20 patties (make them larger or smaller depending on your family's portion size needs)
  3. Beat eggs into a bowl.
  4. Pour milk into a separate bowl.
  5. In a third bowl, mix flour, 2 teaspoons onion powder, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, and ½ teaspoon sea salt.
  6. Heat palm shortening or oil on a griddle.
  7. Dip prepared meat patties in egg, then flour mixture, then milk, then flour mixture again.
  8. Place battered chicken patty into oil on the griddle.
  9. Repeat process with each chicken patty.
  10. Cook for 7-10 minutes on each side, mashing down lightly as needed.
  11. Serve right away, or cool and freeze for future use, then rewarm in a 350 degree oven until heated through.

Are you ready to see some ugly chicken patty pictures? This isn’t pretty, friends. Raw meat pressed into patties – well there’s a reason we call stuff like this “processed food.” But take great comfort in the fact that this is all made from real food and wholesome ingredients and ignore the fact that naked ground chicken pressed into a patty really just ain’t purty.

chicken patties2

See the patty breading process? First the egg.

chicken patties3

Then the flour.

chicken patties4

Then the milk.

chicken patties5

Then the flour again.

chicken patties6

Then comes the part where we fry the patties in oil.

chicken patties7

We watch in amazement as they turn into beautiful chicken patties we can’t wait to put on a bun or between two big leaves of lettuce.

chicken patties8
Sure, it’s thicker than the patties we grew up eating. We like it that way. That means there’s double the meat.

Homemade Chicken Patties for Sandwiches - Freezable

One of the biggest perks is that you can form your chicken patties into any size you need for your family. Have small children? Make small patties. Have teenage boys? Make the patties nice and big. Have some big eaters and small eaters? Make a variety.

The biggest win is that if you make a bunch, you’ll have yummy chicken patties ready to warm up for sandwiches on a day you don’t have time to cook!

Did you grow up eating and loving processed chicken sandwiches? 

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Stir-and-Pour Dinner Rolls ~ Freezer Edition

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stir and pour rolls 1Guess what? 

One of my darling readers, Vicki, experimented with the Stir-and-Pour Dinner Rolls to see if we could make them even more convenient by making them ahead and freezing the dough. I won’t keep you in suspense!!! —–>

Okay, maybe just for a little bit.

I’m wearing a new sweater today. I got it on sale, of course. I got it the same day I got all the butter on sale. That was a great day for sales, no doubt. I sure do love good sales. And butter.

So how about those dinner rolls? Does it work to make and freeze the dough, just like we make and freeze muffin batter? Vicki tried it. She reported back. Drum roll please…

It worked!! This is great news, and much more relevant than pointless talk about my new sweater. Although the sweater led me back to talking about butter; and butter and rolls go together. Therefore everything I’m writing today makes sense and is on topic.

You must be wondering, is there even a way to make this very easy recipe even more convenient? I mean, how can it get easier than the Stir-and-Pour Bread and Stir-and-Pour Dinner Rolls recipes? But actually, it does. It gets easier. Vicki proved it.

Make and Freeze Stir-and-Pour Dinner Rolls

1. Mix the ingredients as normal.
2. Scoop batter into muffin pans. I super love my new silicone baking cups. I use them alllll the time.
3. Freeze dough immediately.
4. Remove frozen dough from muffin cups and transfer them to a freezer bag. Store in the freezer for up to three months.
5. To bake: Place frozen dough into muffin cups. Cover with a cloth. Thaw on the countertop for 4-6 hours.
6. Bake as directed.

Vicki said that these taste just as good prepared this way as they do when prepared fresh. I mean, these are still fresh. They’re just frozen first before baking them. I love this time-saving tip!

This is especially helpful for days such as…I don’t know…Thanksgiving maybe? That day we’re putting forty-seven ~ give or take ~ other dishes on the table all at the same time? If there is a way to dirty up fewer dishes and execute fewer food preparation steps, by all means, let us do it!
Yum

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Stir-and-Pour Dinner Rolls ~ Freezer Edition
 
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Ingredients
  • 4 cups whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground hard white wheat)
  • 2 teaspoons active rise yeast
  • 2 Tablespoons sucanat or sugar or honey
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 egg (optional)
  • ¼ cup heavy cream (optional)
  • 2 cups warm water
Instructions
  1. Stir all ingredients together.
  2. Cover and allow it to sit for 30 minutes.
  3. Pour contents into buttered muffin tins or silicone muffin cups.
  4. Place filled muffin cups in freezer immediately.
  5. Once frozen, transfer frozen dough to freezer bags, storing for up to three months.
  6. To Bake:
  7. Place frozen dough back in prepared muffin cups.
  8. Cover and allow dough to thaw 4-6 hours on the counter-top.
  9. Bake in a 350° for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned.
  10. Serve right away.

Make and Freeze Stir-and-Pour Dinner Rolls

Vicki said she used the leftover rolls to make Stuffing Muffins. I did the exact same thing a few days ago!

Let’s hear it for another great make-ahead tip!

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It’s Not a Race But…7 Slow Cooker Meals in 30 Minutes!!!!

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If you don’t have the Eat Right Away: Slow Cooker Editions, I humbly suggest that you get them now. I am not even kidding when I tell you that I just spent only 30 minutes recently prepping 7 slow cooker chicken meals for my freezer.

The geek in me discovered that this averaged out to be 4.285714 minutes of work per meal. I don’t know how anything could be easier – except for the fact that now 7 different times, I can pull out a bag and dump it into my crock pot, then walk away and have a meal for my family 6-8 hours later. So yeah. That’s easier. I am loving this.

slow cooker chicken 1

Above is a picture of Malachi eating strawberries and a piece of carrot cake at the table while staring peacefully out the window. Love him. It is also a picture of some of the ingredients I grabbed out of my pantry, plus the freezer baggies I labeled so that I could be super efficient as I worked my way through the Eat Right Away: Slow Cooker Chicken Edition directions.

Apparently I thought the whole shebang was going to take so long that I wouldn’t possibly want to walk three extra steps to get out the olive oil in the midst of all the work. This undoubtedly saved me four seconds, giving me the edge on prepping so many meals in so little time. Rock on, olive oil. Thank you for being there when I needed you.

Just look at these beauties, will you? Seven freezer bags of chicken crock pot meals – made in less time than it takes to make a list of all the things it takes 30 minutes to do. For real.

slow cooker chicken 2

Next I work my way through the Crock Pot Beef Edition. Details to come.

Check out all the Eat Right Away Packets here. Save so much time and money! Love, love love. Want the carrot cake recipe? Trust me, you do. You can get that here.

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How to Make Frozen Hashbrown Patties

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Homemade Hashbrown Patties

I always get my best ideas from you, my adorable readers. A few weeks ago, Camilla left a comment on my Homemade Hashbrowns post asking, “How would I do this if I wanted to make frozen patties?” I left a reply, telling her what I would suggest, then I promptly hollered at my boys to start scrubbing potatoes. What a fantastic idea – to make hashbrowns ahead of time in the shape of patties so that all we have to do is pull them out and fry them up!

25 consumed Hashbrown Patties and 72 frozen Hashbrown Patties later, here I am to share all the fun details with you! This idea is a great one – plus it’s easier than you would think. Don’t you love it when delicious, healthy, and easy all make it into the same sentence?

How to Make Frozen Hashbrown PattiesYum

1. Scrub and bake as many potatoes as you like. We fill a big roasting pot with scrubbed potatoes, cover, and bake for about an hour and a half.
2. Allow the potatoes to cool. You can even refrigerate overnight if you like.
3. Shred the cooled baked potatoes as if grating cheese.
4. Use a large cookie scoop or spoon to scoop out nice portions of shredded potatoes. Put the scoops directly into hot oil to fry OR –
5. Place the scoops of shredded potatoes onto a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet.
6. Freeze the mounds of shredded potatoes on the cookie sheets. Transfer them to a freezer bag once frozen solid.
7. Store frozen hashbrown patties in the freezer in freezer bags until ready to cook and serve.
8. To cook frozen hashbrown patties, heat palm shortening or coconut oil in a skillet or on a griddle. Do not thaw hashbrown patties. Put patties into the hot oil and fry for about 2 minutes on each side or until golden brown and as crispy as you like. Salt and serve!

How to Make Frozen Hashbrown Patties

Do you love this idea?! Let’s hear it for another great freezer cooking idea to help us get ahead!

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