Strawberry Baking Day

Yesterday morning I spent close to 3 hours utilizing all the wonderful strawberries we picked Monday afternoon. Well, not all of them, but half of them.

I love freezer cooking and knew that most of the items I made were headed to the freezer. Since baby girl #3 is coming our way in less than 4 months, freezer cooking is always on my mind. I want yummy breakfasts, dinners and desserts at the ready for the first few months after I have her. It'll make life much easier and more calm caring for 2 "big" girls and a newborn.

Here's the list of what I made yesterday:
4 loaves of strawberry bread
2 strawberry cobblers (one with cream cheese)
2 strawberry pies
2 dozen strawberry muffins

I still have about half of the strawberries we picked leftover. Later this week or this weekend, I plan on making 1-2 batches of jam, chocolate covered strawberries for the girls Kid's Day Out teachers and whatever else I feel like we'll need in the coming months.

What are some of your favorite recipes containing strawberries?

Breakfast Planning

With two little ones in the house meals get crazy quickly if I'm unprepared, especially breakfast time. I've been planning our breakfasts for the past few months but it's been too much trouble, to think of something different for everyday of the month. Ugh! I have a hard enough time thinking of dinners for us. My friend Rachel over at Intentionally Simple has started streamlining her menu's and I love the idea she has for breakfast. She also has two little ones and knows it gets wild, quick and being prepared is in her favor.

Rachel suggests planning a breakfast for everyday and repeating it each week. Hello, why didn't I think of this? I sat down last Sunday night and thought of all the foods I usually have on hand for breakfasts that are either made or can be prepared quickly. I came up with 10 things! I planned for all 7 days of the week plus had a few extras that can easily be replaced if one of my usuals isn't available. It's been so easy to take 5 minutes the night before and pull out what I need from the freezer for breakfast the next morning. Since I've taken the time to plan this menu breakfast isn't as hectic. It's all in the fridge, ready to be warmed up. For some reason breakfast time sneaks up on me. I'm busy getting the girls dressed and playing and before I know they're having a meltdown about being hungry. Our mornings have been easier ever since I created this menu.

Here's my weekly breakfast plan (it will stay this way until I decide otherwise):

Monday- eggs, bacon and toast

(I cook all the bacon on Sunday night and put it in labeled containers for which meal the bacon goes to, as some goes to dinners during the week)

Tuesday- blueberry pancakes (from the freezer) with maple syrup

Wednesday- cereal or oatmeal (I've just started making baked oatmeal, yum!)

Thursday- muffins and eggs (I always have muffins in the freezer. We like apple, blueberry and whatever else I feel like making)

Friday- cinnamon roll (from the freeze)

Saturday- banana bread (from the freezer) or cinnamon toast (Daddy's is the best!)

Sunday- peanut butter toast and bacon

Quick substitutes if my usual isn't available:

french toast

omelets

breakfast sandwiches (I usually have a whole wheat bun in the freezer, cheese, bacon and eggs in the fridge)

On Monday's, Thursday's and Sunday's I fix a heartier breakfast for us. Nyla goes to Kid's Day Out at my parents church on Monday's and Thursday's and I like for her to eat a good breakfast since they eat lunch a little later than we do around here. And Sunday's are usually long mornings for us. We get there early since Daniel is the audio/visual guy and teaches Sunday school on occasion and we're there chatting for awhile after service has ended. We need a breakfast that is going to stick with us until we get home. 

This menu is posted on our fridge so each night when I'm preparing for the morning I can look to see what I need to get out. Most of it heats up quick and is ready to go in under a minute. And sometimes I need that to keep my sanity!

Do you have a breakfast routine that makes your mornings easy?

 overnight caramel french toast

Freezer Cooking Results

I did it! I completed 3 days of freezer cooking for our family!

Here's the post and schedule I wrote up before I started. I had every intention of following that schedule but that didn't go as planned and that's okay. I completed all I wanted to complete and have a freezer FULL of food that will be happily eaten when the time comes. I will continue to cook most nights as usual and menu plan too. The freezer meals will be for the long days I sometimes have with the girls or if the menu plan for that night doesn't sound appealing. Hey, it happens and I'm flexible to that!

Below are links to the recipes that I've been working on this week. Yes, it's a lot but I did it over a 3-day period and it didn't happen all at once. I did it when I had some free time from caring for the girls and my other daily duties. If you feel like even this is daunting but want to try, double a meal one night when you cook and freeze the second meal for a later date. If you do this everyday for 5 days you'll get 5 meals without any extra work because you were already in the kitchen making a mess! This is a great way to build up your freezer stock without having to spend all day in the kitchen. So here goes!


Day 1:
2 whole chickens in the crock pot and homemade chicken broth
2 loaves of french bread (mostly in my bread machine, but baked in the oven)
16 french bread pizza's
1 pan of layered enchilada bake (This is a super easy recipe to double or triple!)
1 pan of poppyseed chicken (So is this one)
1 batch of oatmeal-peanut butter chocolate chip cookies (makes 7 dozen and I froze the dough balls in quart size bags with 12 in each to pull out and bake when needed)

Day 2: Baking Day
cinnamon rolls x4 (these are a NO rise roll so they're simple and they're by far the best we've had)
apple muffins x3
wheat-blueberry pancakes x2
I cut up bell peppers to use later in my cooking
Made two batches of homemade butternut squash baby food for Naomi

Yeah, day 2 won't happen again like this. It was WAY too much work and I had a hard time keeping a handle on the usual day's events. Instead I'll do the cinnamon rolls one day or even one week and do the apple muffins another time, etc. It was a crazy day and I didn't like having my oven running most of the day, especially since it stayed pretty warm outside which made it warm inside. I'll definitely do this different next time.

Day 3:
banana bread x3 (I cut 2 in half and froze the four halves and kept one whole)
8 grilled chicken rollers (4 breasts in 2 quart size bags; I bake these and they're just as good!)
4 chicken breasts in Wickers marinade (2 breasts in 2 quart size bags)
4 chicken breasts with homemade bbq sauce in one quart size bags)

And that's my list! Crazy right?! I had a fun time getting all these together but I'm whipped after being on my feet for three days straight! I probably won't be as adventurous next time. It's too much with 2 babies who need attention plus the housework I try and keep up with as well. I think I'll double and triple recipes when I cook some nights and if I need to re-stock with more foods then I'll do an extra and different meal while cooking dinner. It's easy to throw another meal together for another night especially when there's no cooking involved. Also, if you look back at my original schedule I didn't do a recipe I intended or I added something easier for another meal. I'm glad I did this and strayed from the schedule I originally had. It turned out to be easier for me to do something different.

I hope this helped you get better acquainted with freezer cooking and gives you confidence to try an extra meal here or there to put up for the busy nights we all have. Happy cooking!

Menu Plan Monday-April 30 & Freezer Cooking Plans

Happy Monday. I'm a little late getting this menu up but I have good reason. I'm taking on my first ever freezer cooking challenge! I'm not cooking 30 meals or anything, just doing what I can for the time I have. Top priority during the day is making sure the girls are cared for and the house stays in decent shape. And I certainly can't cook all day and do that. So, that means I'm cooking over about a 3 day period and it may be more depending on the needs of the girls and the house.

Yesterday I went shopping for all my groceries as well as quart size freezer bags and aluminum pans with lids. I have gallon size freezer bags and plenty of foil already so those weren't needed.

Because of my freezer cooking adventures I won't be posting my usual meal plan for the week. Instead, I'm posting what I'll be making this week as well as my schedule for when I'll be cooking these items. Plus we have leftovers we'll be eating this week. So here goes!

Breakfasts:
Cinnamon Rolls x4
Apple Muffins x3
Wheat-Blueberry Pancakes x2
Banana Bread x4

Dinners:
French Bread Pizzas
Grilled Chicken Roller
Parmesan Chicken Fingers
Poppyseed Chicken
Layered Enchilada Bake

Desserts:
Oatmeal-Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (recipe makes 7 dozen)


You'll notice I don't have any lunches to freeze. I haven't found any reason to at the moment as we always have leftovers since there's only 2 of us eating the dinners (picky toddler and all). And I'm usually eating lunch on the run anyways. No need for the freezer lunches for now, though I know I will eventually.
I also chose these particular breakfasts and dinners because I know they freeze great. I've made all of these meals before and frozen them. I wanted to choose something I knew would turn out great so I wouldn't get discouraged over my first ever freezer cooking experience.

Here's my schedule:

Sunday:
All grocery shopping at Aldi and Kroger
Sam's Club for plastic bags and aluminum pans

Monday:
Make sure dishwasher is empty, all dishes I need are clean and counters are clear
Cook 2 whole chickens in my 2 crock pots, cool and shred
Make 2 loaves of french bread
Make pizza sauce
Cook ground turkey

Tuesday:
Make sure dishwasher is empty, all dishes I need are clean and counters are clear
Put together french bread pizzas, flash freeze and wrap individually to bake later, label with cooking directions, put back in freezer
Put together grilled chicken rollers, quart size bag with marinade, label with cooking instructions, freeze
Cut up 4 pounds chicken and make parmesan chicken fingers, freeze in quart size bags in 1 pound portions, label with cooking instructions, freeze
Make layered enchilada bake, put in 2 aluminum pans, label with cooking instructions, freeze
Make poppyseed chicken, put in 2 aluminum pans, label with cooking instructions, freeze

Wednesday:
Make sure dishwasher is empty, all dishes I need are clean and counters are clear
Make all breakfast items, cool completely, freeze with labeled bags
Cut banana breads in half to pull out half at a time.

I wrap each breakfast item in the portion we eat them. This is 3 pancakes, 2 apple muffins and 1 cinnamon roll. I wrap these in plastic wrap and put them in a label gallon bag so they're easy to find in our refrigerator freezer. I may keep 1 banana bread whole and keep 1 cinnamon roll pan together so I can take them to church for breakfast or for a new mom.

Thursday:
Make Snickerdoodle Cake for small group tonight
Make Oatmeal-Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (make dough, scoop and freeze each dough ball; when frozen place in quart size bags, 6-12 in a bag to bake for get-togethers and for us)

Whew, after writing this is looks like A LOT. And it is. But these are meals I've made many times, frozen and they work. I chose easy recipes for me to begin my freezer cooking experiment. I keep calling it an experiment because I have no idea if this will really work for us or not.

Tips I've learned so far:
1. Keep the dishwasher empty and the counters clear. You see I've written that on each day because it's so important. I need all the space in my small kitchen.
2. Drink plenty of water and don't forget to eat! I've already been chugging the water today.
3. Wash dishes as you go. With a small kitchen and the need to use my utensils over again this is key. When I've got a couple free minutes between cooking and putting foods together I'll keep washing dishes as I'll need them over and over again through my cooking days.
4. Don't forget the end goal! This is a lot of food to make but I keep thinking of how much I won't have to cook down the road. A few days of being in the kitchen will make it worth it on crazy/busy nights where something will already be made for me to pull out of the freezer!
5. Have fun! I enjoy cooking but I need to remember to have fun with all this. It's daunting but I can do it!

Have you ever done any freezer cooking? What are your tips?