Freezer Meal Recipe Round Up!

Nesting is a funny, funny thing. You see, I’m a “nester” by nature.

Add to that the urge to purge, reorganize, and clean everything that comes with the third trimester of pregnancy, and things get a little crazy around here. So I’ve been busy doing the following:

 

 

• Washing, drying, ironing, and starching all of my linens (this is atypical, I assure you… well at least the ironing and starching bit)
• Cleaning everything down to the cleaning supplies themselves
• Reorganizing and labeling my medicine cabinet, cleaning closet, coat and linen closet
• Totally redoing Ben’s room (not planned and more on that later…)
• Setting up the nursery (duh)
• purging, purging, and more purging
• some light yard work (totally digging up my entire front yard to create new flower beds and borders. more on that later too…)
• and lastly, or at least most recently, stocking up on freezer meals for when the baby comes or I’m too big and uncomfortable to feel like cooking.

 

I’ve been compiling freezer meal recipes for awhile on Pinterest, especially those that I can thaw and put right into the slow cooker, and let me tell you, there are so many great resources out there!

However, Chris doesn’t eat carbs or dairy on his current diet. That combined with my aversion to processed to foods, and there wasn’t too  much to choose from.

Luckily, I did stumble upon some great choices. And I’m here to share the wealth with you now.

All in all, I spent under $300 for over 40, yes 40 (!!!) meals. considering that most of my ingredients were local and organic, I think I did pretty well. FYI, I’ve included some of my tips for buying organic on a budget below.

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Some great tips on making freezer meals can be found over at Life’s Little Moments.

I love her organization. Click here to read up on her process.

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Most of the meals I made came from Loving My Nest.

She has three rounds of recipe round ups, and they were all super helpful, but with Chris’ diet the third was definitely the best for us. TONS of protein+bean+veg meals which is basically what we eat on a daily basis around here. I especially loved that there were a lot of options where I could add a little cheese or serve with tortillas, or the like for Ben and myself while keeping it all carb and dairy free for Chris. She also includes shopping lists which are super helpful if you’re making exactly what she made.

Here are the meals I made from her recipe collection:

• Bean Stew
• Meat Stew (I used beef)
• Sausage and Bean Supper
• Pork and Veggies
• Chicken Tortilla Soup
• Chicken Taco Soup
• Creamy Farmhouse Chicken and Garden Soup (I omitted the milk here)
• Bacon Wrapped Chicken with Rosemary
• Sloppy Tamale Pie (made without the cornbread for Chris)
• Enchilada Wraps (minus the wrap part for Chris)
• Chunky Chili With Veggies (I used some of our venison here)
• Jambalaya with Cauliflower “Rice” (if you have a food processor, the cauliflower “rice” is totally worth it)
• Chicken Curry with Cabbage and Peppers
• Stuffed Bell Peppers (again with cauliflower “rice”)
• Beef Stew
• Pumpkin and Butternut Stew
• Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie (Chris won’t eat the sweet potatoes, but it sounded so yummy I couldn’t help myself)

*most of these I made multiples, some of the recipes are also already for multiple meals

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For Ben and Me, I also am a huge fan of these smoothie packs from Momables.

I honestly don’t mind making smoothies every morning, but since so much fruit is in season right now, it was a great time to portion these out. Buying my fruits and vegetables at this time of year was definitely how I did so well saving some money in the organic produce department (more on that below).

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And honorable mentions go to:

These meals by Six Sisters’ Stuff- I’ve heard they’re good and SUPER easy. I only opted for the recipes above because it was much easier to adapt them to our diets.

These meals from Kojo Designs- also looked super tasty, so I may just do these on my next stock up.

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So there you have it! Hope that helps some of y’all out. You can find even more over on my Pinterest board “Freezer Meals”.

Tips for Eating Organic on a Budget

I should most certainly mention that my kitchen is not entirely local and organic, but thanks to these tid bits, I’ve been able to work organic substitutes into our budget pretty easily. :)

• Buy in season! This is obvious, but really! Eating seasonally will not only help you save a lot of money, but it just tastes better! That tomato you buy in the winter has to travel a long way from a warmer clime. You’re paying for that travel. You also pay in the taste department because it has to be picked before it’s ripe.
• Consider “putting up” produce while it’s in season (see above). Even if you’re not into canning and dehydrating and all of that, think about simple methods of putting up like freezing. Example, blueberries are stinkin’ expensive when they’re coming to you from a different locale, but they are SUPER cheap when they are coming from local farms. They are also SUPER easy to freeze and pack in baggies.
• Look for sales (duh). Organic does go on sale, just not as often as conventional foods. Hint: the sale is almost always at the height of that item’s local growing season. Also think sale for canned goods. Bonus: if you’re local to Pittsburgh, Giant Eagle’s “Market Pantry” organic canned goods go on sale ALL THE TIME, so I stock up on those when they are and usually get them for the same price or cheaper than even the off brand conventionals.
• Shop Direct. I have nothing against Whole Foods, but generally speaking, I simply can’t afford to buy there. I’ve mentioned plenty of times that local farmers markets are where it’s at. Buddy up to your local organic farmer! Chances are, it’s cheaper than buying from the super store, not to mention it’s coming to  you straight from the ground. I’ve found that it also saves me a lot of money to buy bulk produce from the farmer. Don’t be afraid to ask for a deal! The nice thing about farmers markets is that they usually have control over their prices whereas the cashier at the grocer does not.
• Eat your yard. Grow your own! I generally do, but don’t have space to grow every thing since I live in the city… which brings me to my next tip…
• Consider a CSA. Usually you pay up front for a share, and if you can’t grow your own, this is the next best thing! A cute little box of farm fresh goodness!
• Buy in bulk. I alluded to this above. A couple suggestions here… talk to your local butcher about buying a side or a quarter of beef. Then do the math. Chances are, as long as you have room to store it, it’s going to be cheaper than buying the same weight in specific cuts from the grocer. I also buy in bulk from the warehouse. We have a membership to Costco, and they have a ton of organic options that are the Kirkland brand, often cheaper than the name brand equivalent. This is how I save on a lot of organic dry goods as well as canned and frozen items.
• Spend on the important stuff. Save your money where you can so you can afford to splurge on things are more expensive. For example, organic milk and eggs are pretty much always going to be more expensive than conventional. However, I can afford those by spending smart on everything else.

 

Alright friends! Lengthy, but I hope worth it! I’m off to put my feet up and eat some chocolate.

Engagement Gift- Family Recipe Album

I love my family.

And recently, one of my favorite people in the world,

who also happens to be my cuz,

said yes to a young man who asked for her hand.

After admiring the scrapbook/album/family recipe book that my mom made for me before my wedding

(I'll have to share that one later... literally 3 HUGE volumes and crazy detail),

I decided to get her started on some family recipe pages of her own.

Mine are much shorter

and MUCH less detailed than my mom's,

but I like the way they turned out nonetheless.

Each page has one of our favorite family recipes,

a family picture

 some old, some newer,

and I tried to include a tidbit about the recipe or the family with each page.

Congratulations, Amy!

And Erik, if you ever read this, you should know that I've begun to pray for you through the intercession of Saint Bartholomew, the patron saint of cheese(makers).

MAY YOU BE HEALED!

I Saw, I Pinned, I Conquered.

We just got back yesterday from camping

(Happy Birthday, Kristen!).

 

so maybe it wasn't hardcore wipingwithaleaf kind of camping,

maybe it was little more of tailgating in the woods

but it was the most enjoyable of experiences.

 

Photo Credit

So enjoyable, in fact, that I took zero pictures.

 

But I thought I would share some of the camping gems that I found on Pinterest which really worked out for us...

 

Dip in a Can

 

This was a massive success and oh so simple.

 

Click here for the details.

 

I did change my ingredients a bit, using cheese, rotel, and black beans,

but you could put anything you wanted in here.

 

 

 

 

Photo Credit

 

 

Blueberry Coffeecake

 

I was actually more than a little skeptical about this one, and to be fair, our coffeecake did not look like this,

but it did "bake" and it did taste good.

 

I didn't use clothespins either, opting to just wrap the whole things with foil to secure it, and that worked really well.

 

All in all, blueberry muffin mix and some tins... well worth it.

 

Photo Credit

 

 

 

 

 

Firestarters

 

These may been the biggest success.

As in, I will never camp without them again.

 

Egg carton, dryer lint, wax.

 

Upsides: Easy to make, you can just cut off a couple to start your fire, they work even better than the lint and wax paper variety, they're light weight, so they are an easy and worthy addition to your pack.

 

Downsides: none. They work that well.

 

Photo Credit

Sage Bug Repellent

 

Okay, I'm going to be perfectly honest here...

 

 I dried out a TON of sage from my garden (it grows like a weed, after all) and put it into the fire...

 

but I have no earthly idea if it kept any bugs away.

I mean, I have no (as in ZERO) bug bites!

But who even knows???

Perhaps there were no bugs?

It was pretty darn cold out.

 

I'm going to give this one the benefit of the doubt and just say it works. :)

 

 

 

 

Photo Credit

Breakfast Burritos

 

These were also aaaaahhhh mazing.

This recipe is for freezer-friendly breakfast burritos to reheat in the wave,

but they are awesome for camping.

 

I made them ahead of time (adding some diced tomato and black beans to this recipe)

and instead of wrapping them in plastic, I wrapped mine directly in foil.

 

I stuck them in the freezer in bags, and they were mostly thawed out by the next morning when we toasted them up over the campfire.

 

I imagine since they were toasted over a campfire out in the wilderness, they were that much better.

 

 

 So there you have it!
I hope you enjoy!

And for all you pinterested pinners, please please please: let's give credit where it is due and pin from the original website. Each item has at least one link to the original. Thanks!

Fried Green Tomatoes

Yes I love the movie.

Yes I love the food.

 

At this time of year, when so many tomatoes are coming in, it's nice to find recipes using green tomatoes, and this is one of my (and everyone's) favorites.

I don't make them frequently because they're not exactly health food (surprise!),

but they are a much appreciated treat when I do make them.

 

A lot of recipes use cornmeal. Mine doesn't.

Other than that, I have to say it's pretty straight forward.

I like to use tomatoes that are still green (obv), but are just starting to turn (they're not so tart that way).

 

Slice them about 1/2 inch thick.

You want them thicker for frying.

This recipe is for about 3 medium tomatoes.

 

Let them sit on a paper towel for a bit so some of moisture comes out.

They'll be easier to bread that way.

 

Then, dip them in a flour dredge:

about 1/2 cup flour, salt, pepper, and a heaping teaspoon of Old Bay Seasoning.

Shake off extra.

 

Dip in milk mixture:

about 1/2 cup buttermilk, 1 beaten egg, more salt, pepper, and Old Bay.

 

Dip in breadcrumbs:

This is where most southerners would have some cornmeal.

I just use panko bread crumbs. They fry the best.

 

Then fry in oil for about 3-5 minutes on each side until each side is golden brown and your tomatoes are just beginning to soften, but not turn mushy.

Do this in batches so your oil stays hot.

 

Then place on a paper towel to cool a bit. Hit them with salt right out of the oil.

 

Serve them with tobasco (our choice), remoulade, on a sandwich, in a quesadilla (yes I have dont this. so good), plain, whatever... they would taste good on a tire.

 

My favorite: use as them at the "T" on a BLT and add sliced avacado and a fried egg.

YOU'RE WELCOME.

I Like Bread and Butter

Here's the thing about cucumbers:

you plant them,

you watch them grow,

and then overnight you have 10 million.

Luckily, we love cucumbers (even especially Ben).

We eat about 5 varieties of cucumber salads,

put them in regular green salads,

eat them plain with hummus,

etc etc etc.

And if and when we still have a ton extra, I make pickles.

Lots of different kinds, and one of our faves is this recipe for bread and butter pickles.

Great for snacking, putting out for company, and throwing on a "sammich".

Bread and Butter Pickles:

For a batch of about 4 pint-sized Mason jars:

about 9 cups cucumbers, sliced

2 Tablespoons kosher salt

1 large onion (like a Vidalia if you can get one)

1 1/2 cups white vinegar

3/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon celery seeds

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

a healthy pinch or a couple shakes of tumeric

Clean, trim, and slice thinnly your cucumbers and add to a large bowl.

Sprinkle the salt over them and give them a toss. cover them lightly with a cloth and put them in the refrigerator for a couple hours.

They'll lose a lot of their excess water.

Rinse them off in a colander, place them back in your bowl, and add your onion. Toss so everything is evenly disributed.

In a medium pan, add the rest of your ingredients and bring to a bowl.

Meanwhile, put your cucumber-onion mixture into your sterilized mason jars using a funnel so you're sure not to touch the rim.

In a small saucepan bring a couple inches of water to a simmer (not boil) and place your lids in the water to activate the seal.

Pour your brine over the cucumbers (again using a funnel), leaving a 1/4 inch of headspace.

wipe down your rims if there is any spillage.

Note: Be careful with the brine! Tumeric can stain, so you may want to wear an apron.

Place lids on the jars being careful not to touch the under side, and place ring over the top.

Screw on lightly.

Process in a waterbath for 30 minutes.

Done! The longer they sit, the better they taste, but I'd say (as with the pickled peppers) wait at least a week for some good flavor to develop.

Cukes!

My cucumbers have been coming in more and more as the days go on.

There is not quite enough to make a big batch of pickles yet,

but there are too many for just salads and snacking,

so I've been making a lot of cucumber salad,

one of our favorite summertime sides.

My husband is on a low carb/dairy free diet right now, though,

so I've had to adjust my recipes.

I had one with a dressing similar to green goddess (dairy)

and one vinegar based (with sugar).

So here is our compromise:

4 Cucumbers, peeled and sliced thinly

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar (some sugar, yes, but much less that my other recipe)

1 green onion, finely chopped

a couple sprigs of fresh parsley, chopped

a pinch of salt

freshly cracked black pepper

Mix, let set for a bit (the cukes will release a lot of their water in this time), and enjoy.

Simple, cheap, and my kid (who has been particularly picky lately) LOVES it to boot!

Win, win, win.

Stocking up on Stock

Every couple of months or so

(more in the fall and less in the spring),

I devote a day to replenishing my supply of homemade chicken stock.

Because I cook mostly everyday,

we go through a lot of stock.

Let me mention also, that storebought stock really does pale in comparison to homemade.

I'm really not a homemade snob.
I swear.
I've been known to use some storebought items in lieu of homemade on many occasions.
And I do use storebought stock when I'm really in a pinch,
but I'm telling you:
make the exact same recipe with homemade stock vs. storebought
and people will be asking you what you put in it
because it has so much more flavor.

Last week I made a huge batch and froze it in portions.

It was really nice to be able to use all ingredients that either came from my garden or the farmers market.

I use two hens

a few carrots cut up,

an onion cut in half,

a head of garlic cut in half,

a couple ribs of celery cut up,

a generous handful of parsley,

some dill,

lots of thyme,

a palm full of whole peppercorns,

some salt.

Cover with water and simmer for 4 hours.

The smell is so nice.

Once it's done, I strain all the bits out of it

(that's why I don't bother with peeling or whathaveyou)

Then I let it sit overnight,

then skim off the fat.

Portion and freeze.

I really think this stock has about 100x the flavor of the canned variety.

Not to mention, you know from where all of your ingredients come.

Peas on Earth

My first peas have been picked and shelled!

And my goodness are they delicious!

I love peas. LOVE PEAS.

I'm keeping my shells for a chilled pea pod soup recipe that I found.
I'll share, but I have to try it out first.
For now, I just put my shells in a freezer safe container since they'll go south pretty quickly.

Aren't these cute, though?

I believe it to be a true crime that most people these days have not tried fresh peas.

They are so sweet and have the best texture, not mushy at all.

Give peas a chance!

Okay, enough with the puns. For now.

I thought I would share with you all one of my favorite go to recipes for peas.

I was able to use not only my own homegrown peas for this but also a lot of my basil which is growing with a vengeance!





Homemade Pesto with Fresh Peas and Orrechiette



In a food processor or mortar and pestle, mix about 1 C lightly packed basil leaves (a good handful) with 1 clove of garlic roughly chopped and 2 tablespoons of lightly toasted pine nuts and a healthy pinch of salt.

Pulse until mixture makes a thick paste.
Gradually drizzle in olive oil until the paste loosens (about 1/4 C olive oil). Set aside.

In a pot of boiling water, cook pasta of your choice until just before al dente. I like orrechiette with peas because they get caught in the pocket of the pasta. Put in a cup or so of shelled peas. Cook for a few minutes more until pasta is al dente and peas are just lightly cooked so they maintain a firm texture.
Place in a bowl and mix with your pesto mixture and about 1/2 C of Pecorino Romano cheese. Add another drizzle of olive oil if your pasta needs to loosen up.

Top with some chopped tomato and some more cheese if you like, and serve with crusty bread.
This is the BEST easy early summertime dish!
Enjoy!

Red, White, and Blue Pie

I had a crazy weekend.

We were busy all around, but it was a lot of fun.










Family and friends were around, so we ended up throwing an impromptu get together at our house.

Since it was Memorial Day yesterday,

I thought I would make what I call "Red, White, and Blue Pie."

It's pretty tasty and simple to make.

Plus, it uses fruits that are in season right now (rhubarb, strawberries, and blackberries),

so even if you don't grow them yourself,

you should be able to find them at your local farmers market or grocery store.

Red, White, and Blue Pie

Ingredients

For the Pie:

One 9" pie crust, uncooked

about 7 cups of rhubarb, strawberries, and blackberries (I like about equal parts of all three, but I use whatever I have), cleaned and cut up

Note: I dice my rhubarb into about 1/2"pieces and my strawberries to bite sized pieces. The blackberries I leave whole.

1/2 C of brown sugar

1/2 C of white sugar

1/2 C of AP flour

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

a healthy pinch of salt

For the crumb topping:

1 stick (1/2 C) of butter, chilled and cut into 1/2" cubes

3/4 C of brown sugar

3/4 C of AP flour

3/4 C of oats (not instant)

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

a healthy pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a bowl, gently mix your fruit with all of the filling ingredients. Be careful not to break up your fruit too much.

Place rolled out pie crust in pie dish and fill with fruit mixture.

Bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.

In the meantime, mix all of the crumb topping ingredients except for the butter in a medium bowl.

Cut in your butter with a pastry cutter (or a fork if you don't have one).

After the pie has baked for the first 20 minutes, top with your crumb mixture and place back in the oven.

Knock the oven temperature down to 325 degrees and bake for another hour, or until the filling thickens.

By the way, I put a foil lined cookie sheet underneath the pie plate, so I don't have a sticky mess in the oven.

Done and done.

And so good.

Raised Bed Garden 2012



Pinatas are fun

I hope everyone had a super weekend.

Mine began with a get together for cinco de mayo.

At which I drank these margaritas.

But only for adults, apparently.

ridiculous... ridiculously awesome.

And since I was feeling super festive,

I brought a pinata.

Adults drinking Mexican beer and hitting stuff?

Fun!

On Sunday, Chris and I wound up some more prep work for the 2012 Veg Garden.

It was getting down to the wire before I had to start getting things in the ground,

and the weather was mighty fine.

As many of you know,

we live in the city, and our yard is decently-sized for such city,

but still, every square inch counts.

Our side yard which gets the most sun is now home to a HUGE (for our lot)

raised bed.

I'm hoping to get as much bang for my buck (or veg for my space) as possible this year,

and having a nice neat raised bed seems like just the ticket.

This was really affordable for us, too.

We just used 2x4's for the sides

and leftover 4x4's that we had lying around for the corners.

I chopped the 4x4's down to one foot lengths using my mitre saw,

so there's a solid 4" in the ground, and then screwed the 2x4's to the outside.

I cut a couple 2x4's in half to 4 foot lengths for the sides.

This puppy isn't going anywhere.

All together, this thing goes about the whole length of our house.

The most costly part of the project was filling the thing with dirt.

I used a mixture of topsoil, compost from my handy dandy composter for additional nutrients, peet moss to hold some moisture, and organically fertilized garden soil.

Soil differs tremendously based on where you live, so check your soil and talk to your local garden/dirt guru about what you should add to your space.

And as always, for veg and other edibles, stay away from anything that is chemically treated.

Y'all don't want to eat that stuff.

In other news, I'm growing my potatoes in a laundry basket this year,

and they've just started to come alive.

As they grow, I'll cover them with more soil,

encouraging the roots to grow beneath.

My cucumbers and squash are starting to germinate, too.

All very exciting!

For me anyway. :)

Coming up next: attaching my pole bean trellis at the back.

I opted for pole beans instead of bush beans this year,

so they'll be growing more vertically at the back of the bed

and taking up less space in the garden.

I'll have the details for that up in a few days (ish).