Why does it always feel funny writing the phrase “cooking ahead…”? Have I just lived with boys for too long, or does it sound like I’m actually cooking-a-head? Yuck. I promise I’m not.
Yes, I know you were all concerned about that.
Now that we got all that cleared up, I’ll show you some pictures of the progress I’ve made over the past few days getting food made up to have on hand for this month. Like I mentioned here, we will have a lot of company this month. In an effort to ENJOY my company, I’ve got the majority of our main dishes and a few miscellaneous food items all made up and ready to pull out when needed. (More about hospitality and enjoying company in my new podcast Friday!)
You are all aware that my house has been run over by an apple truck, right? About the time I think I’m finished making applesauce and apple pie filling…more apples fall from the sky. My fingers are all brown in their crevices. It’s attractive. I went real nuts one day and made two pans of Mini Apple Pies, a big apple pie and some Apple Pie Pockets. Oh, these are SO well worth the effort!!
I made a triple batch of Sloppy Joe Meat as Sloppy Joes are a wonderful quick meal to feed company. As long as I remember to get the dish out of the freezer to thaw, of course.
Mmmm, fresh whole wheat tortillas. We ate half of these right off the skillet as tacos, then I put the rest in the fridge for a quick meal of quesadillas.
There is something VERY not cute about the following picture. Raw meat in a pot…not so appetizing. However, I’m showing it to you anyway because you NEED to know how wonderful it is to make up a huge batch of Turkey Sausage to have on hand for breakfast casseroles or sausage-egg scrambles, or especially now for these Pancake-Sausage Muffins. The thing is, making this Turkey Sausage is a little tedious because you have to get out about 40 herbs and spices (give or take). If I’m going to do it in the first place, I’d rather do a bunch…and all the work of emptying and reloading my spice cabinet is worth it.
There it is…all browned up. I did six pounds of Turkey Sausage, then froze it in ten different containers. TEN meals ALL ready to go. Oh yes, that was time well spent.
I used some of the cooked turkey sausage to make a double batch of Pancake-Sausage Muffins. I think we may be addicted to these little treasures. Only a few of them actually made it into the freezer…
I plan to serve several salads to my guests, so I made three jars of salad dressing: Italian, Ranch and Thousand Island. Can I have three cheers for easy, healthy dressings that don’t contain any HFCS!!! But hey…what happened to all the Italian?
Because having cookies on hand when you have company is a must…or simply because I wanted one…I made a batch of Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies.
I still have to finish putting together a lasagna. I have the meat browned, so all I have to do is layer it up and put it in the fridge. And I didn’t get Mudballs made like I had planned. I DID get a triple batch of BBQ Meatballs made, but the pictures turned out scary so I won’t post them.
Now, I need to go vacuum my ceilings and walls.
