I'm almost done. I have 4 meals to do. I've had fun, and I've learned a lot. Like, a 12 lb ham doesn't stretch as far as I'd like it to. :( Oh, well. I was hoping to get 8 meals out of the ham and I got 7. Four of those are smaller, so there will be no leftovers for hubby to take to lunch.

I stored all of my meals in ziplock bags. I wasn't sure how to store the casseroles. I wanted to buy those tin-foil-disposable-baking-pan thingies. But, they were too expensive. When I do this the month before the baby gets here, I will probably buy about 10 of those to make it easier for hubby. So, I ended up using bags for the casseroles too. I just layered the ingredients in, layed them flat, and froze them. They won't be pretty, but who cares. I can't be a perfectionist and actually get this done, ya know!

Here's my stocked freezer. Woohoo. You don't need a big freezer to do this. By using ziplock bags, you can easily store 20 meals or so in the freezer portion of a fridge. We had a regular fridge-top freezer at our other house and it worked fine. In my side by side fridge/freezer, I could easily store 30 meals in ziplock bags. I just wouldn't have room for too many extras. I'd still have some room, but not too much.

Momofsix asked how I did OAMC (Once A Month Cooking) with kids around. I laughed as I read the comment. I didn't really manage it that well. Honestly, its probably easier to do without the kids. But here's what I did:

Yesterday started with a trip to the store. We went to three stores, and that got crazy at the last store. Then when we got home, I put the babies to bed, the older two in front of a movie, and the boston butt into the oven to cook all day.  While the kids napped, I chopped veggies and made a plan for the afternoon.

 When it came time to cook dinner, I picked the easiest dish (red beans and sausage) and made it in triple. That wasn't too much harder than making one. When hubby got home, I asked him to take the kids outside while I processed the boston butt and waited on dinner to finish cooking. We had a late dinner and the kids were good and tired, so there was none of the usual bedtime hassles. :)

After the babies were tucked in, the older boys played Mario with dad and I browned six pounds of venison. Once it was browned, I added a cafeteria-sized can of crushed tomatoes for spaghetti sauce. While it was simmering we read a missionary story and did our devotions.

Once the big boys were in bed, I started on another five pounds of meat for chili. It didn't take long to get it together and let it simmer while hubby and I watched Office reruns on the internet. The hardest part was processing the boston butt. It took forever and my hands were cramping from holding the knife for so long.

Today, it didn't go so well. I peeled and sliced 15 lbs of potatoes, and then proceeded to overcook them. I ended up with dinner tonight and two other dishes for the freezer. I lost some due to the overcooking, so I was pretty bummed. We did a good cleaning of the kitchen this evening, and tomorrow I'll spend about 3 hours working on 6-8 meals (depending how much they stretch). I'll either do it during naps or after the kids go to bed.

There is no doubt that spaghetti, chili, and the red beans & sausage are incredibly easy and quickly come together. If you like those dishes, start there and make several. Casseroles are much harder, as I learned today.

Yesterday, I put 14 meals into the freezer. What a feeling! I finished the spaghetti sauce, red beans and sausage, BBQ pork, and chili. Today I'm working on all the white sauce recipes.

Broccoli Ham Bake: I'm using homemade stuffing mix. You can see a great video with instructions here.

Ham and Potato Casserole

Hamburger Potato Casserole: I'm using white sauce in place of the canned cream soup. The recipe is below.

Cream of Soup substitute:

·         1 tablespoon butter

·         3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

·         1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth

·         1/2 cup low-fat or fat free milk

·         salt and pepper to tast

Melt butter in pan. Stir in flour until blended. Slowly add milk and broth. Stir constantly until thickened.

I'm spending the next few days cooking several meals to stock my freezer. Here's my general plan. Later, I'll try to post recipes and a more detailed plan.

• Hamburger potato casserole (2 meals)
• Ham & potato casserole (2 meals)
• Broccoli ham bake (4 meals) 
• Poppy seed chicken (4 meals)
• Chili (4 meals)
• Spaghetti sauce w/ meat (4 meals)
• Bbq pork chops (4 meals)
• Red beans & sausage (3 meals)

Here's a funblog that has lots of recipes for making stuff out of lentils and rice. There's other neat posts, too.

     I have wonderful memories of Thanksgiving and Christmas during my childhood.  Mom and Dad always began cooking early, so my sister and I woke up to smell of turkey and the sound of our parents singing Christmas carols.  This year we'll be going to my parents for Thanksgiving, and I know it will be a fun time.  My mom will do the "big" cooking, but I thought I'd share a few of the recipes that I will be making this year: pumpkin cookies, light sweet potato casserole, bacon-tomato cups w/homemade whole-wheat crescent rolls, & whole-wheat dinner rolls.

Pumpkin Cookies

Cookies

·         1 cup shortening

·         1 cup sugar

·         1 cup pumpkin

·         1 egg

·         2 cups flour

·         1 tsp baking soda

·         1 tsp cinnamon

·         1 tsp salt

1. Cream shortening and sugar, then add pumpkin and mix together.
2. Add egg and mix
3. Add dry ingredients and mix
4. Spoon on to cookie sheet (line sheet with tin foil and grease the foil)
5. Bake 375 degrees for about 10 minutes

Frosting

·         ¾ tsp vanilla

·         3 tbsp. butter

·         4 tsp milk

·         ½ cup brown sugar

·         1 cup powdered sugar

1. Cook butter, milk and brown sugar on low until dissolved, then take off stove
2. After mixture cools, add powdered sugar and vanilla
3. Pour over cookies

Light Sweet Potato Casserole (from AllRecipes.com)

·  3 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks *(I will probably bake my sweet potatoes)

·  1/3 cup fat-free milk

·  1/4 cup egg substitute

·  2 tablespoons brown sugar

·  1/2 teaspoon salt

·  1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

·  1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1.       Place sweet potatoes in a large saucepan or Dutch oven; cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and cook for 25-30 minutes or until tender. Drain. *

2.       In a large mixing bowl, beat the sweet potatoes, milk, egg substitute, brown sugar, salt and vanilla until smooth. Transfer to a 1-1/2-qt. baking dish coated with nonstick cooking spray. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until heated through.

Bacon-Tomato Cups (from AllRecipes.com)

• 8 slices bacon
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 3 ounces shredded Swiss cheese
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 (16 ounce) can refrigerated buttermilk biscuit dough OR  homemade whole-wheat crescent dough

1.       Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease a mini muffin pan.

2.       In a skillet over medium heat, cook bacon until evenly brown. Drain on paper towels. Crumble bacon into a medium mixing bowl, and mix with tomato, onion, Swiss cheese, mayonnaise and basil.

3.       Separate biscuits into halves horizontally. Place each half into cups of the prepared mini muffin pan. Fill each biscuit half with the bacon mixture.

4.       Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven , or until golden brown.

Homemade Whole-Wheat Crescent Dough (for bread machine)

•  1 egg, slightly beaten, plus enough water to equal 1 1/3 cups
• 1 cup butter or margarine softened (I use butter)
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 4 - 5 cups fresh ground soft white flour (as much needed to make a good dough)
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine

1.       Measure carefully, placing all ingredients except 2 tablespoons melted margarine or butter in bread machine.  Start with 4 cups of flour, and add more if needed to make a good dough ball- not too sticky, not too dry.

2.       Select DOUGH cycle on bread machine. Let it run.

3.       Remove dough from pan, using lightly greased hands.  Place dough in greased bowl, and turn greased side up.  Cover and let rise in warm place about 30 minutes or until double.

4.       Grease cookie sheet.  Punch down dough.  Roll dough into 20 -inch circle on lightly greased surface (I don't flour my surfaces when I'm using fresh-ground whole-wheat, the bran & fiber from the flour on the surface add a 'crunch' to the final product that I don't like.)  Brush with some of the melted butter.  Cut into 20 wedges.  Roll up each wedge, beginning at rounded edge.  Place rolls, point sides down, on cookie sheet and curve slightly.  Cover and let rise in warm place 20 to 30 minutes until almost double. 

5.       Heat oven to 357.  Brush rolls with remaining melted butter.  Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown.

***If you are using the dough with the Bacon-Tomato cups, then follow the directions, except that you need to cut each of the 20 wedges from Step 4 into two equal pieces.  Form each piece of dough into a mini-muffin tin, and let rise for 15-20 minutes.  Then fill with mixture from bacon-tomato recipe.

 Whole-Wheat Dinner Rolls

• 3/4 cup + 1 tbsp milk
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 1/4 cup - 2 cups fresh ground flour (use as much needed to form good dough ball)
• 2 tbsp packed brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 tsp instant yeast
• margarine or butter, melted

1.       Measure carefully, placing all ingredients except margarine in bread machine pan.  Use enough flour to make a good dough ball, not too sticky, not too dry.

2.       Select DOUGH cycle on bread machine.  Let it run.

3.       Remove dough from pan, using lightly greased hands.  Knead 5 minutes on lightly greased surface.  Cover and let rest 10 minutes.

4.       Grease large cookie sheet.  Divide dough into 12 equal parts.  Shape each piece into a ball.  Place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet.  Brush with margarine or butter.  Cover and let rise in a warm place for 30 to 40 minutes or until double.

5.       Heat oven to 375.  Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Its Monday again!  (Okay, I'm writing this on Sunday evening...but I bet you're reading it on Monday!) Here's this week's menu.  I'd like to keep it pretty much the same each week.  Then I have a much easier time planning.  I figure that I can try new dishes on Sundays, but that the rest of the week should be fairly routine.  The only thing that would change is that in the winter months, we would have some sort of soup rather than sandwiches on Wednesday.

Monday

Breakfast - sausage, eggs & cheese (maybe biscuits if I wake earlier enough to make)

Lunch - noodles w/ chicken, tomatoes, garlic & lemon juice, salad

Dinner - crockpot chicken & potatoes, green beans, garlic bread

Tuesday

Breakfast - Crockpot oatmeal & cinnamon toast

Lunch - Baked potato w/ brocolli & cheese

Dinner - Soft beef tacos w/ rice & beans

Wednesday

Breakfast - Eggs & toast

Lunch - Bean & Cheese quesadillas

Dinner - Chicken salad sandwicheson whole wheat bun, chips & fruit salad

Thursday

Breakfast - Crockpot oatmeal & cinnamon toast

Lunch - Leftover chicken salad sandwiches on toast

Dinner - Baked ziti, garlic bread, salad

Friday

Breakfast - Omelettes w/ veggies & cheese

Lunch - Leftover Baked ziti

Dinner - Homemade pizza, salad

Saturday

Breakfast - Pancakes & bacon

Lunch - Hot dogs w/ chili & chips

Dinner - Hamburgers, fries & BBQ beans

I love this recipe!  Its so easy and so yummy, that you will not use boxed pudding again.  I haven't done a cost analysis, but I'm pretty certain that its much cheaper than a box mix.

Easy Homemade Chocolate Pudding

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup cocoa

3 Tbsp. cornstarch

2 cups milk

2 tsp. vanilla (or mint, Hazelnut, coffee flavor)

2 Tbsp. butter (optional)

1. In a microwave-safe bowl, whisk together the sugar, cocoa and cornstarch. Whisk in milk a little at a time so the mixture does not have any dry lumps.

2. Place in the microwave, and cook for 3 minutes on high. Stir, then cook at 1 minute intervals, stirring between cooking times for 2 to 4 minutes, or until shiny and thick. Stir in vanilla and butter.

3. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding to prevent a skin from forming, and chill in the refrigerator. Serve cold.

Ha.  That title was just to sucker you in!  No, actually I went to the local wharehouse club store.  I went slowly through the aisles trying to see what I was overlooking on a regular basis.  That's when I saw the huge cafeteria size cans.  There was tomato sauce for $1.70 and even chocolate pudding. 

Now I am trying to figure out how I can use these items.  The tomato sauce is easy.  Spend a day and make several batches of spaghetti sauce for the freezer.  Even better, cook the noodles, add some cheese and make several batches of baked ziti for the freezer.

Now, the pudding.  Hmm...I'm pretty sure we could eat that much pudding in two days.  We have two adults and four kids (only three who eat).  Plus I love pudding! 

I'll be researching bulk cooking, OAMC (Once A Month Cooking) and other ways to make my life easier.  When I come up with a plan I'll let you know.  Meanwhile, I'll try to add some links to the sidebar.

Its Saturday and hubby was gone all morning replacing the brake pads on our Expedition.  He and his brother worked on that for a couple of hours, and saved us a couple hundred bucks!  Woo-hoo.  I'm pretty blessed to have a husband who isn't afraid to try and do things on his own.  He is very confident and self-suficent.  He does our taxes, and we always get a good return.  He fixed our refrigerator and saved us the price of having a service person come look at it.  I am very thankful for him.

He is gone again this afternoon at a youth rally.  I miss him, and I miss his help.  I'm pretty tired and lonely.  Hanging out with the two little ones all day can get pretty boring...don't I sound ungrateful!   I know this tiring period will be over soon.  The baby will be sleeping through the night by the time he's 10-12 weeks old.  So, I just need to go with the flow.

This is a great recipe for a Thanksgiving or Christmas breakfast.  My family will be enjoying it Thanksgiving morning. 

1 tube pork sausage

6 cups cubed bread

10 eggs

3 cups milk

2 cups cheese

salt & pepper

spices to taste

Preheat the oven to 375.  Brown the sausage and pat dry on paper towels.  Mix the milk, eggs, pepper, salt & spices.  Spread the cubed bread onto a greased 9x13 baking dish.  Sprinkle the sausage on top of the bread.  Sprinkle half of the cheese onto the sausage.  Pour the egg mixture over the bread and sausage.  Sprinkle remaining cheese on top.  Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until brown on top and stiff in the middle.  You may need to tent with aluminium foil, if the top is browning too quickly.

Apple Filling:

4 apples, peeled and diced

1 stick butter or 1 cup margarine

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup sugar

1-2 tbsp flour (depending on desired thickness)

1 tsp cinnamon

Put everything in a saucepan over low heat.  Stir when sugar and butter are melted.  Heat until apples are tender, stirring frequently.  Be careful not to burn the filling.

Streusel Topping

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup flour

1/4 cup cold butter or margarine

1/2 cup oats

(You can use 1/2 cup chopped nuts in your streusel, just subtract 1/4 cup flour)

Stir until crumbly. 

To Assemble:

Preheat oven to 375.  Grease 9-inch baking dish.  Pour filling into dish.  Sprinkle streusel topping over fillng.  Bake until brown and bubbly, about 30-45 minutes.