Ok, so Kerry asked me if I had any good freezer meals. Well, I kind of do, but I kind of don’t. Shortly after Craig and I were married, my Mom gave me a cookbook called “Once A Month Cooking”. It was full of tons of great info and such, and I came to really love and rely on many of the recipes and methods the book offered. I should add that I do not consider myself to be any kind of freezing authority, but I do have a couple of favorite resources for those of you that might be interested in more freezer recipes and such. My two favorite and most often used cookbooks on freezer meals are:

“Once-a-Month Cooking” by Mimi Wilson and Mary Beth Lagerborg, and

“The Everything Meals For A Month Cookbook” by Linda Larsen.

These two books fit my needs and preferences as they tend to use ingredients that are easy to come by or already in my pantry, the recipes are familiar and similar to what I am already cooking these days, and best of all most of the recipes are very easy on the budget. I am all about cooking good, nutritious, and delicious food, and love finding recipes that are easy to lower the fat and calorie content as I saw fit to suit our needs. After loving these two books so much, several months ago I went ahead and purchased two more freezer cookbooks:

“Fix, Freeze, Feast” by Kati Neville and Lindsay Tkacsik and

 

“Don’t Panic-Dinner’s In The Freezer” by Susie Martinez, Vanda Howell and Bonnie Garcia.

While I like one or two recipes in each of the books, overall they were both not quite what I wanted and seemed to be better suited for someone that was not cooking for a crowd like I usually do, and most of the recipes weren’t as budget friendly as the other books I already had. It’s not that I don;t like “gourmet” stuff, but when you are trying to cook on a budget, and feeding a large number of people, especially boys with huge appetites, you tend to try and keep your cooking simple. Tasty, but simple.

Anyways, Here are a few of the things I tend to prep and freeze:

-I buy ground beef in large family packs, 6-7 lbs at a time, cook, drain the grease and divide the cooked beef into 2 1/2 cups per freezer baggie which equal 1 lb. of ground beef.

-I cook and cube chicken breasts, divide them into 2 or 3 cup portions, and toss them into freezer baggies.

-I make, shape and bake (on cookie sheets) mini meatballs with whatever meatball recipe I like, then divide the cooked meatballs into 2 or 3 cup portions and freeze in baggies.

-I make cookie dough, place tablespoons of dough onto a cookie sheet, freeze, then place the preformed cookie dough into freezer baggies.

-chop onions and portion into baggies to equal one onion per baggie.

-slice celery and portion into baggies to equal 3 or 4 stalks of celery

-slice or shred carrots, then portion into baggies in 1 to 3 cup amounts.

-make fruit salad and orange juice mixture and freeze in small plastic cups.

Having meat cooked and ready in my freezer makes meal prep go so much faster, and I get dinner on the table faster than I would have before. The cookie dough frozen and ready to bake is perfect for those times when all you want is a few cookies. This cookie dough trick is a favorite of mine to take to new moms, it’s always appreciated. And the celery, onions and carrots is my favorite since I always have the base veggies for almost every soup that I make on hand. Just know that by freezing these veggies, they will cook up soft, and they will not be as crisp tender as they would have been had you cooked them from fresh, but I like my veggies soft in my soups, so it works for my cooking. And the frozen fruit salad is nothing new, just crushed pineapple, sliced strawberries, bananas, fruit cocktail and some dark cherries mixed in with some orange juice, then frozen in the cups and in easy reach for a quick snack option for my kids. I know there is a lot of freezer stuff out there, and that my post isn’t full of any new and startling freezer info or anything, but I found that I had to sift through a lot of stuff to find what worked best for me and my family. Do you have any fun/amazing/cool freezer tips or recipes to share? I would seriously love to hear it!

Our computer died a sad, terrible, and agonizing death last week, so I am relegated to sneaking a minute on my teenage son’s laptop for a quick post. Craig is working on getting our new computer up and running, transfering whatever he can salvage from our deceased PC, and then make sure everything is working the way we want it to. All of this in between wrestling small children away from the huge and irresistable power button located right on the front of the tower, and at eye level for small, curious, and very naughty children.

The kids have the day off from school and are going stir crazy. To combat this, I dressed them in their warmest clothes and forced them outside to play in the fresh air. Yes, I am forcing them to have fun.

Craig is leaving within the hour to go snowboarding with several kidlets, meaning I will have some very unhappy little ones that wanted to go, even though they already had a turn last weekend.

I still have not had a chance to sit down and watch Brideshead Revisited. If I don’t watch it by tonight I am giving up and returning it to Red Box.

We are out of bread, again, so I am scrapping my plans to go in and visit family, and will instead be baking some more bread. I never thought the switch from storebought bread to only homemade would go this well. I seriously thought there would be some complaints, and instead they are devouring the bread almost as fast as I make it. I’m not complaining, but I am burning through the wheat, gluten, honey and flour like a crazy woman. Hence my thoughts on possibly buying my own bees. I mean have you seen the price of honey? Crazy expensive.

I have been cooking and prepping food in order to re-stock my freezer, and ended up making 560 mini meatballs Saturday night. I really know how to party.

Now if I could just prepare enough in advance to actually get dinner on the table before 7pm. My biggest challenge. It will get even uglier once daylight savings springs me forward one hour. Dinner @ 8 anyone? I have got to get more organized.

My sister and I hit Old Navy over the weekend for their big clearance sale and came away with major deals. Not paying more than $2.50 for anything is one way to make a girl happy. Having your total come to only $21 is another. Woo hoo!

Dylan just got a new job (yay!). He starts tomorrow.

And yes, I am totalling rejecting your soup Heidi.

You know how sometimes, somedays, you just feel overwhelmed. Well, I’m feeling it. I feel like there is so much I have to wade through and accomplish, too many things that need my attention, too many projects on my list, too many chores I need to get done, too many things I want to finish. It makes me want to bury my head under the covers and not come out. Ever. Yeah right. I’m too compulsive for that to happen.

I think I just need a day where I can run away, just for a little bit. A few simple hours. Gather my thoughts. Heck, even have a thought. I find it hard to think these days, my mind keeps racing ahead to the next job at hand. There is always something I should be doing, some task that I have to attend to, a child that desperately needs me for some reason or other, that has to have my immediate attention, now, right now, it has to be now! Did I mention right now?

Don’t get me wrong, I love my children, I love being a mom, and I love that I am at home with them. I truly love what I do. I just need a few hours once a week to recharge, to regroup and to refresh. I will be a better mommy for it, and they deserve that. My husband? He likes me best when I am nice and sane. He deserves that too. Now if I can just make myself actually let go, and leave. Or hide. Hiding counts for alone time doesn’t it? I think I feel some guilt coming on. Dangit. Darn guilt. I have got to get rid of that stuff, it ruins everything.

These days Finley is into everything.

Everything.

Twenty minutes before his nap he was on a roll….

I found him in his room. He had knocked the fan over,

 

and threw every blanket he could find onto the floor. And yes Holly, he really is jumping up and down on the blanket you so painstakingly knitted just for him. Ingrate.

Then over to the window to startle see the birds at the feeder. Not stealthy.

And then he decided to “help” me put the freshly folded towels away. And by “help” I mean throw them every which way. Thanks Finely. Stinker.

 Then he made a beeline for his sisters room where he began to pull clothes from her drawer, tossing them all over the floor. No apologies. Naughty.

 

Then over to the computer table, right for the keyboard. Even more naughty.

Then on to the kitchen where he pulls a chair over and goes right up and onto the counter. The naughty is off the charts.

 

He knows he is not supposed to be up here. Where is his mother?!!?

Down and over to the other side of the kitchen. Another chair and up he goes. Punk.

Maybe my little danger boy wanted to help me with the dishes?

 

No, he just wants a banana. Sorry, no bananas for little punks.

Gracen opened the fridge to get a drink and look who seized the opportunity. Yep, my little stinker punk of a monkey.

He’s made off with the lime juice.

 

And he’s back looking for more fun stuff to get into. Big trouble.

Rummaging through the vegetable crisper. At least he is making healthy snack choices.

Ah well, the naughty has to come to an end so I whisked him off to bed, it’s nap time.

 

He’s all smiles as he snuggles up with his tiger and favorite blanket.

That happy little face and cute smile erases all of those previous minutes of devious mischief.

How can I be mad at my sweet little boy?

I have 3 hours to think about that before he’s up again.

If I take a nap too I just might be ready for him this time.

I stopped buying bread from the store shortly after we moved into our new house, and we have instead been eating the bread that I make myself. We go through so much at a time that it seemed to me the sensible thing to do, to just make it myself. I have been researching a lot, and trying out many different recipes in order to get us here, and in my reading I came across many informative and helpful sites. I thought it might be helpful if I shared some of my new found flour info. These are from several different sites… 

-A 5-pound bag of flour contains about 17-1/2 cups.

-Flour that is properly stored will keep for 6 to 8 months.

-To maintain quality, flour must be kept cool and dry.

-Warm, damp conditions cake and pack flour and provide the right environment for insects to hatch in it. (ewww!)

-Freezing flour for 48 hours before it is stored will kill any weevil or insect eggs already in the flour.

-Do not store flour near soap powder, onions or other foods and products with strong odors. Flour should be packaged in a vapor-proof material, because it readily absorbs odors.

*a quick note*  I store my flour and my wheat in 5 gallon buckets with gamma lids.

  

I cannot tell you how much I love the gamma lid, they are so convenient, and easy to use.  And since I go through 25 lbs. of flour in about 3-4 weeks, I have not yet tried the freezer method for the weevils, but I may start just to make doubly sure there are no critters in my flour come warmer weather. Gross.

Flour is made up of carbohydrates (or starch), proteins, and in the case of whole-wheat flour, a bit of fat. Of these three nutrients, protein matters most to the baker. The proteins in wheat are called gluten-forming proteins, and the quantity and quality of these proteins determines how a flour will perform in the kitchen.

 

Unless you’re an avid bread or cake baker, an all-purpose flour is probably your best choice. It’s made with an average protein content to be versatile enough for everything from cakes to breads. In general, you may find that cakes made with all-purpose flour are a bit tougher and less delicate than those made with a softer pastry or cake flour. Likewise, breads made with all-purpose flour may be a bit softer and flatter than those made with bread flour. But overall, these differences should be slight for the casual baker

 

All-purpose flour  is a blend of hard and soft wheat; it may be bleached or unbleached.  It is usually translated as “plain flour.” All-purpose flour is one of the most commonly used and readily accessible flour in the United States.

 

Flour that is bleached naturally as it ages is labeled “unbleached,” while chemically treated flour is labeled “bleached.”

 

Bleached flour has less protein than unbleached.

-Bleached Flour is best for cake, pie crusts, cookies, quick breads, pancakes and waffles.

-Unbleached Flour is best for yeast breads, Danish pastry, puff pastry, strudel, Yorkshire pudding, éclairs, cream puffs and popovers.

-Bread flour is white flour made from hard, high-protein wheat. It has more gluten strength and protein content than all-purpose flour. It is unbleached and sometimes conditioned with ascorbic acid, which increases volume and creates better texture. This is the best choice for yeast products.

-Whole-wheat flour is made from the whole kernel of wheat and is higher in dietary fiber and overall nutrient content than white flours. It does not have as high a gluten level, so often it’s mixed with all-purpose or bread flour when making yeast breads. Whole wheat flour is equivalent to British whole meal flour.

-Cake flour is a fine-textured, soft-wheat flour with a high starch content. It has the lowest protein content of any wheat flour. It is chlorinated (a bleaching process which leaves the flour slightly acidic, sets a cake faster and distributes fat more evenly through the batter to improve texture. When you’re making baked goods with a high ratio of sugar to flour, this flour will be better able to hold its rise and will be less liable to collapse. This flour is excellent for baking fine-textured cakes with greater volume and is used in some quick breads, muffins and cookies. If you cannot find cake flour, substitute bleached all-purpose flour, but subtract 2 tablespoons of flour for each cup used in the recipe (if using volume measuring). (*a quick note*-I have used this method before with good results, but not amazing. I think I would have had far better results and a better cake had I used the cake flour. So that method does work, but if you really like to make cakes, you are better off using cake flour as suggested.)

-Pastry flour also is made with soft wheat and falls somewhere between all-purpose and cake flour in terms of protein content and baking properties. Use it for making biscuits, pie crusts, brownies, cookies and quick breads. Pastry flour makes a tender but crumbly pastry. Do not use it for yeast breads. Pastry flour (both whole-wheat and regular) is not readily available at supermarkets, but you can find it at specialty stores and online.

-Self-rising flour,  sometimes referred to as phosphated flour, is a low-protein flour with salt and leavening already added. It’s most often recommended for biscuits and some quick breads, but never for yeast breads. Exact formulas, including the type of baking powder used, vary by manufacturer. Recipes that call for self-rising flour do not call for the addition of salt or leavening agents.

(To make your own self-rising flour:  Using a dry measure, measure the desired amount of all-purpose flour into a container. For each cup of all-purpose flour, add 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Mix to combine.)

‘Ok, so I just wanted to add that I am not a flour authority, nor do I claim to know everything about flour, I am still learning something new everyday and these are just a few of the things I wanted to share. And in the interest of returning my sisters ear that I keep talking off when I start going on and on about flour, I thought I should get it all out of my system in one big post. Here you go Heidi, you can have your ear back now. So, there you have it. Some information on flour. Now go bake something! ‘

My sister-in-law brought a huge pan of her homemade cinnamon rolls on a family trip several years back, and I was hooked the second my teeth sank into their delicious goodness. I kept forgetting to get the recipe from her, so last month I finally called her to beg for it. And of course, Jeri being the sweet and amazing woman that she is (love you Jeri!) she happily shared her incredible cinnamon roll recipe with me. I kid you not, these are the BEST I have ever eaten….EVER! And quite simply the best recipe I have ever made, hands down. They are huge, pillowy soft, and so stinkin’ good! A small warning though…you will need a large mixer to handle the amount of dough, such as a ‘Magic Mill’/'Electrolux DLX or a ‘Bosch’. Or you could reject all of that new fangled electrical appliance stuff and just make these the old fashioned way and do it all by hand. Personally the kneading would do me in, but I speak from a carpal tunnel induced haze of pain and numbness, but you may not be cursed as I am these days. Darn numb fingers. Darn numb arms. Oh well, thank heavens for my mixer! Anyways, I doubt a ‘Kitchenaid’ could handle this amount of dough and I would hate to be the reason your motor burns out. I’m just trying to minimize any angry mixer backlash, that’s all.

And now, with all of that out of the way, here is the holy grail (for me anyways) of cinnamon roll recipes…

Jeri’s Giant Cinnamon Rolls

2 TBSP. yeast (I use SAF Instant)
4 1/2 cups hot water
2/3 cup honey
1/2 cup of unbleached bread flour
1 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
2 TBSP. salt (scant)
about 12 cups unbleached bread flour
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
2-3 TBSP. ground cinnamon

Mix yeast, water and honey and add the 1/2 cup flour to feed the yeast. Mix lightly and let it sit for a few minutes.
Then stir in the oil, eggs, and salt. Mix. Add flour a cup at a time, using somewhere around 12 cups, give or take, depending on the weather. You want a soft, slightly sticky dough that pulls away from the sides of the bowl, but not stiff. Then turm your mixer on and knead the dough. Knead for 10 minutes! The kneading is the key. Place dough into an oiled bowl, cover with a damp tea towl, and let rise for about 30 minutes. Divide the dough in half. Roll out into a long, rectangle. Spread 1/4 cup of the softened butter over top to within an inch of one long edge. Mix the sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle half of the mixture over top. Roll dough and pinch seam to close. Cut the roll into 12 slices and place 3 across and 4 down on one large greased cookie sheet. Repeat with the second piece of dough. Cover the pans and let rise until doubled. Bake @ 375* F till done. Check on them @ 20-25 minutes, as they are done when lightly browned. Let cool in pan. Heat cinnamon roll in the microwave for 10-15 seconds if you like to eat yours warm, or eat it as is. Frost rolls individually as you serve them with your favorite cream cheese or vanilla frosting. Enjoy! Makes 24 giant cinnamon rolls.

I store my rolls in the pan, covered in plastic wrap, on my counter. Just realize that they get eaten in a hurry at our house, so if you need a longer shelf life, these can be stored in ziploc bags and frozen if needed. If I left anything out or you have any questions about the method or something, anything, fire away I am happy to help. I just want to share this little piece of cinnamon roll heaven with you.

I found this recipe the other night, so I threw it together and gave it a whirl. Was it ever good! I should warn you however that there is nothing low fat about this dish by any means. In fact most of it ‘IS’ fat, pure and simple, but it’s oh so good. In fact you should probably make sure you have lots of people to share this dip with so you don’t become tempted to eat it all by yourself, thus saving yourself from certain doom . I will be keeping this recipe on hand for those special occasions when I can splurge a little on the fat and calories, because sometimes you just gotta. Just a thought…maybe add a 4 oz. can of diced green chilies for some extra zip?

Hot Artichoke Dip
2/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese
2/3 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 (14 oz.) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1-2 TBSP. diced pimentos
crusty baguette slices, tortilla chips, crisp veggies

Preheat oven to 325 *F. Lightly grease a medium baking dish. Blend together the cheese, mayonnaise and whipping cream. Stir in the artichokes and pimentos. Mix well, and transfer to your prepared baking dish. Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until lightly browned. Serve hot with the baguette slices, chips, or veggies to dip with.