If you’re on FB, please click the like button above, thanks!
I don’t know what it was about the day I filmed this but we were all feeling a little silly. The studio just had humor in the air and as you watch this video you can see that I’m trying not to laugh! I have made a lot of fantastic recipes in this Quick Fix Supper series but I gotta tell ya, I’m a simple gal and these Sloppy Joes are one of my absolute favorites. They were SO GOOD.

Oh, about the wardrobe malfunction…

Towards the middle of the video, as I was talking and we were filming, I looked down and PLOP, one of my earrings fell right into the middle of the skillet! I remember saying something like “Oh! there’s my earring!” and then we cut so I could get it out and keep on rolling! I hope you enjoy this video as much as I enjoyed filming it.

Remember, just click the link at the bottom to get the recipe!

To get this Sloppy Joe recipe, click here. 

To view more of my Southern Living Quick Fix Videos,

visit my Quick Fix Suppers page on SouthernLiving.com! 

“He’s more turned around than a flyin’ squirrel in a tornado!”

Old Southern Saying submitted by Vicki. To submit your old Southern Saying, click here. 

This is the final post in my summer dessert series where I’ve been featuring cool and refreshing summer desserts that can be made ahead of time. I started it with my 6 Make Ahead Summer Cakes, then moved on to 6 Cool Summer Pies, and today I’m showcasing 5 quick and easy desserts than can be made ahead of time and stored in your freezer for no fuss entertaining at the drop of a hat.

Of course, if it is on SouthernPlate.com, you know it’s a favorite of mine so I hope you’ll enjoy all of these. Be sure and let me know which are your favorites in the comments section below and if you have time, I’d love it if you read my letter at the bottom of this post. I know you’re busy and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you taking a few minutes out of your day to spend with me.

Gratefully,

Christy

Almost No Sugar Ice Cream Grahamwiches

I dearly love these little wonders and they can be made at a fraction of the cost and calories of what you’d buy in the store. What’s even better is that they are absolutely delicious and super easy!

Frozen Cranberry Banana Salads

This was one of Granny Jordan’s signature recipes and I’ve never met a person who didn’t fall in instant love with them.

Ashley Mac’s Coconut Caramel Pie

Ashley Mac’s is a treasure located in Birmingham, Alabama. The owner shared her signature recipe for this delicious pie in a guest post on SouthernPlate.com!

Front Porch Salads

On those days where I’m really hot and need a special fruity treat, these really hit the mark. My mother loves them, too!

Mandarin Orange Pie

If you love the icing on my Mama’s Mandarin Orange Cake, you’re really gonna love his cool and fruity pie!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is just a sampling of some of the many shortcut and quick fix desserts on SouthernPlate.com. If there is something in particular you are looking for be sure and check out the index or type it into the search box in the top right hand corner.

To go directly to the dessert index, click here (scroll down a bit until you see Category: Dessert).

If you’re looking for some main course ideas that are easy on the budget, check out my 20 Recipes for Ground Beef post!

I hope you had a wonderful Fourth of July weekend. I’m getting ready for my son’s twelfth birthday party tomorrow. We’ll be having a slumber party so y’all say a quick prayer for me that my walls are still standing when I take them all home on Thursday. He has become quite the trekkie as of late. So much so that his cake, instead of saying “Happy Birthday” is going to say “Live Long And Prosper”. ~giggles~ Don’t you just love your kid’s personalities? Both of my kids have added such sparkle to my life!

There is another significant birthday this week as well. Three years ago this Friday, I started my first post on Southernplate.com. It sure has been a wild and wonderful ride and I never expected all of the blessings Southern Plate has brought into my life. What I am most grateful for is my Southern Plate Family, which wouldn’t be the same without you.

I’ll be around this week, but in and out as I get ready for Brady’s birthday and prep for a little business travel but I just wanted to take a moment and say thank you. Southern Plate would be nothing without you and the rest of the Southern Plate family. I hope you know how very dear you are to me.

Gratefully,

Christy

“If you can’t see the bright side of life, polish the dull side.”

Jyl Nipper on her Facebook.

(You can join me on my Facebook by clicking here)

A note about Facebook: Have you ever wanted to make a difference in the world? Well let me tell ya, Facebook is a fertile field just waiting to be planted! Being positive in your status updates has a ripple effect on everyone who reads them so go ahead, inspire someone! In the end, I bet you’ll feel pretty uplifted and encouraged yourself!

These little frozen gems come to us courtesy of Granny Jordan’s recipe box. She was known for her frozen salads and her personal favorite were the frozen Cranberry Banana Salads which she always kept on hand. As good as those are, I think these are my favorite though. They just taste so summery! If you’ve had about all you can take of dreary skies and cold days this is the taste that will perk you right up!

The great thing about it is that you can make up a batch and keep them in your freezer to have on hand anytime for last minute company or treats while sitting on the porch. I think you’ll enjoy the convenience of these and I know you’ll enjoy the fresh summer flavor!

Read the bottom of this post to find out why I named these Front Porch Fruit Salads

~Grins and gets really excited~

To make our Front Porch Salads, you’ll need: Greek Yogurt, Canned Apricots, Canned crushed Pineapple, Orange Juice concentrate, Frozen sweetened strawberries, ripe bananas, and a little bit of sugar.

Now let me tell ya something about this Greek yogurt pictured here. I’m not one for new fangled things. Although Greek yogurt isn’t new per-say, but it is for where I’m from. Anytime something new comes out, I like to wait it out a bit, give it say, fifty years or so and see if it is still around. If it is, then I know there is probably something to it and I might put it on my list of things to try.

However, my whole family somehow ended up being yogurt people. Both my kids, myself, and even my husband all have our favorite brands and flavors of yogurt.

A year or so ago we were on a family vacation and stopped in at a grocery store. I told everyone to pick out something as a treat and by the time we got up to the register I looked and there were four differen kinds of yogurt in our buggie! Up until then I had not realized how much we all loved it.

So after hearing about Greek yogurt over and over, I decided to forego my usual five decade waiting period and give it a go now. Boy howdee, is that stuff ever good. On it’s own, it is like a very thick sour cream. I like to eat it with a little bit of honey stirred in. In this salad, it creates the perfect blend of creaminess to really make it stand out all the more to me.

In it’s place, though, there are lots of things you can use. Regular yogurt, Sour cream, and even Whipped Topping will work just fine. You can also leave it out entirely because Granny Jordan’s original recipe didn’t have anything creamy in it, I just added this on my own. I know she wouldn’t have minded though.

Open up can of apricots and drain the juice into a measuring cup.

Do the same with the can of crushed pineapple.

Don’t worry about squeezing the juice out of the pineapple, whatever comes out on it’s own will be fine.

We need to dice our apricots so I just take a knife and run it through them several times while they are still in the can.

Your pineapple is already crushed so you’re good to go there.

Now take your reserved juice and sugar…

and put them together in a sauce pot.

Place that on medium heat and stir constantly until the sugar is completely dissolved.

Then set aside.

In a large bowl place your peeled bananas. Moosh them up really well with a fork.

Add pineapple, apricots, strawberries (juice and all), and orange juice concentrate.

Stir well.

Add in yogurt. Stir again.

Pour in the juice mixture from the sauce pan and stir again until it’s all mixed up really well.

Line a muffin tin with paper cups and fill each cup with salad mixture.

Freeze several hours, or until firm.

Pop out of the muffin tin, but leave in the papers, and place salads in gallon zipper seal bags and return to the freezer.

Serve frozen.

Makes about three dozen salads.

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Southern Plate Front Porch

Please note: this giveaway has ended.

We’d still love to have you on the Front Porch though!

This been a great week!

Yesterday was the official launch of the Southern Plate Front Porch, our official forum where folks can share recipes, ask questions, chat about anything from books to tv to grandkids to quilting. With the launch being yesterday, we already have almost two thousand members and nearly as many posts. It’s already become a great community and the past two days I have woke up with a sense of excitement to see how it has evolved next. I do hope you’ll go check it out and join. You can register at the top right of the screen and then once you get validated jump right on in!

To make it fun, I’m going to be giving away an exclusive (not for sale) Southern Plate Apron on the Southern Plate Front Porch Forum each Friday for the next four Fridays.

~Please note that this giveaway has ended~

This week’s Front Porch giveaway apron says “Southern Plate” in green on the front and will be given away tomorrow night on the forum. I will choose a post at random to win so come join in the conversation!

On the Front Porch I asked folks if they had a special quote or saying that they considered to be their “life verse”. Debi shared one that I had never heard or read before and it really struck me as being just the thing we need to hear at certain times in our lives, especially if we find ourselves in a rut or dealing with a problem on a repeated basis.

“You have circled this mountain long enough. Now turn north.”

~Deuteronomy 2:3. Wow Debi, that can be pretty profound at the right time. Thank you for sharing!

]]> http://www.southernplate.com/2011/04/front-porch-fruit-salads-giveaway.html/feed 312 http://www.southernplate.com/2009/10/meatballs-make-many-meals.html http://www.southernplate.com/2009/10/meatballs-make-many-meals.html#comments Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:24:36 +0000 Christy Jordan http://www.southernplate.com/?p=5856 Pin it

This past weekend I came across ground beef in five pound packages for $6.25. A few years back I would have considered that expensive but these days it is at least four dollars cheaper than what I normally pay. I did good, though, I only bought twenty pounds. I say that is good because last time I came home with about fifty. Of course, had I the money for more I would have surely gotten that much this go ’round, too! ~giggles~

Ground beef is a mainstay for the family on a budget and homemade meatballs bring you several new options for supper as well as a way to serve ground beef so those eating it don’t exactly think “ground beef again!”. Whats even better in my mind though is how this meatball recipe allows you to stretch your ground beef!

Homemade meatballs are easy to throw together and when made ahead of time and stored in the freezer, they provide a homemade convenience food with options that are only limited by your imagination.

At the end of this post, I have several recipes listed to use with these meatballs and more will be coming up on Southern Plate!

I start with five pounds of ground beef. This is going to make about a hundred meatballs but you can make many more by doubling my add ins or even adding more to your taste, I’ll put some ideas down at the bottom of this post.

Don’t worry about adding things into your meatballs, no one will ever be able to tell when they taste the finished product so your frugality will be our little secret!

To mix this up, you can use a spoon or potato masher if you like but when it comes to things like this, I use the greatest kitchen tool ever invented – my hands .

When it’s all mixed up, shape into meatballs. I love this little cookie scooper that I picked up at the grocery store eons ago. I paid a pretty good bit for it (about six dollars) but if you’re going to make meatballs of any quantity, it really pays for itself.

I make my meatballs about one inch round.

I line all of my baking sheets with aluminum foil and only use baking sheets with a little bit of a lip on them because there will be some grease that we need to pour off once the meatballs are done. Bake at 350 for about thirty minutes. You want them to be browned and no longer pink in the center.

It’s always a good idea to take one and break it in half to check for doneness the first time you try this so that you can get a good time down pat depending on your oven.

I ended up with right at 100 meatballs. Allow them to cool and then package them in quart sized freezer bags, according to how many your family will eat during any given meal. Remember, if you have company drop by you can always get out another bag. I packaged mine in groups of twelve since Katy doesn’t eat meatballs (she is going through that chicken only phase so typical of kids her age these days). Feel free to be more generous with your servings, of course.

Now for the recipes! Weeeeee!

Add this recipe to ZipList!

Make Ahead Meatballs

Ingredients

• 5 lbs ground beef
• 1-2 Cups Oats (or cooked rice)
• 2-5 eggs (I use two but you can use more!)
• 1 16oz Can Tomato Sauce (Can use up to 3 cups ketchup in its place)

Instructions

1. Combine all ingredients in large bowl and mix well with hands. Scoop out and form into meatballs approximately one inch thick. Place on foil lined baking sheets that have a lip on them. Bake in batches at 350 for about thirty minutes, storing raw meat covered in the refrigerator while you wait on each batch to bake. Test a meatball to make sure the center is no longer pink. Allow to cool and store in quart sized freezer bags. Use any of the following recipes or create your own!
2. Place frozen meatballs in pot and add one of the following sauces. Cook over medium heat until heated through and serve with rice, egg noodles, or other cooked pasta or grain.

Google Recipe View Microformatting by ZipList Recipe Plugin

1.2

Spaghetti: Store bought Marinara Sauce or my Super Easy Spaghetti Sauce

• Easy Stroganoff: 1 Can Cream Of Mushroom Soup, 1/2 C milk, salt and pepper (I love this over egg noodles)
• Salisbury Stroganoff: 1 Can Cream Of Mushroom Soup, 1/2 C Milk, 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce (I swear only food bloggers can spell Worcestershire off the top of their heads!)
• Meatball Soup – Recipe Coming Soon! This is one of my Mama’s favorites.
• Meatball Sub- Place heated meatballs in sub. Top with hot marinara sauce and sprinkle with Mozzarella (Great to make the day after Spaghetti and use leftover sauce)

I know you must have some great recipes to use frozen meatballs for, too. Tell me about them in the comments and please feel free to post your entire recipe if you like!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How Many Servings In A Southern Plate Recipe?

Someone asked me this past week how many people my recipes feed so I thought I’d talk a little about that and then add that question to my Frequently Asked Questions Page (soon as I find a minute).

My recipes feed a typical family of 4-6 people unless otherwise stated.

Of course, it’s difficult to give you an exact number because that is going to depend on what types of eaters you have in your home. Katy eats like a bird but Brady and Ricky eat like horses so it all evens out. We generally have enough left over from most meals for a lunch the next day (which usually ends up being mine). If we have more, I simply freeze the leftovers in individual servings to use as quick convenience lunches later. Having extra food does not mean that you are wasting food, it just means that you have a “freebie” meal sometime in the future.

If you are short on freezer space, it is definitely worth your effort to save up a little and keep your eyes peeled for a good scratch and dent deep freezer. I got my large chest deep freezer for right at $100 because the corner is banged up. It has been a great investment for our family and has saved us what we spent on it a hundred times over.

This is just a good starting point for ya. If you are cooking for two, it’s safe to always cut my recipes in half unless you like to cook extra and freeze, which I do very often.

I’d love to include exact servings and nutritional information on my recipes and posts but that would require an extra “me” and surplus money to make everything on here and measure it out ~laughs~. I’m just showing you Mama and Grandmama’s cooking and seasoning it with a little of my own to bring to you. Folks didn’t think about servings or carbs back in the day. If anyone were to ask one of my grandmothers how many servings a recipe made she’s likely answer, “Enough to feed everyone!”.

So short answer is, whenever I cook I am generally making enough to feed 4-6 people, unless otherwise stated.

On another note, I feel like I say this all the time but I also feel like I could never say it enough : Thank you. Y’all give me so much and each day is even brighter because I have such wonderful people who take time out of their lives to read my ramblings and share a few memories with me. I love how so many of y’all also take the time to comment, turning this into a real conversation and helping to make us more of a family than just some woman’s blog. I love to read your comments and cherish each and every one of them – as well as the folks who write them! Please feel free to chat with each other in comments as well. I know that I’ll often read a comment that really touches me and that must happen to you as well but sometimes folks worry that “conversing” in the comments on Southern Plate might be stepping on my toes. Well let me tell ya, I may have big feet but I keep my toes tucked in really well so y’all go on ahead and make yourself comfortable here! We’re all family and family is family is family. ~thinks that made sense to her~

One more thing, please know that when I sign off “gratefully”, I mean it with all of my heart.

Gratefully,

Christy

P.S. Going on very little sleep this week. I’ve worked on this post late into the night and then early morning. I hope (and think) there aren’t any errors but please forgive me if there are and I’ll correct them as soon as possible!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BOUNTIFUL BASKETS ARE  HERE!

For all of those who ordered Bountiful Baskets, we’ll be shipping them out by the end of this week (or as soon as the boxes come in to ship them out in!). I’ll be announcing the winner of the first Bountiful Basket shortly. Thank you!

These are just some of the Bountiful Baskets!

They all come with liners but they are not pictured.

Between Birth and Death there is a small interval called Life.

Take time to ENJOY it.

Submitted by Donna in SC. To submit your quote, please click here.

Lots of inspiration is shared and found on this quote page thanks to all of you!

Todays post is quick and easy to throw together and serves as a wonderful side dish but the versatility allows you to use leftovers to turn this into a main entree! The fun thing about it though is that you can make several ahead of time and freeze them to use in a jiffy at a later date. Reheating may then be done either in the oven or microwave, so this is a win win either way you look at it.

Back when we had people over for dinner on a regular basis, this was a go-to dish for me that I served just about every time. It was a great way to round out the meal without taking any additional prep time and they always got rave reviews. I don’t get to have folks over nearly as often these days, much to my dismay. With the kids getting older and having activities of their own amidst our every quickening schedules, our focus has turned to making sure we get to spend our quality time together as a family.

Things sure were different when I was little though! Its amazing but almost every memory I have of our dinner table growing up includes my mother, father, sister, brother, and at least one or two “extras”. No matter how tight our grocery budget or schedule was, Mama always found time and managed to feed more.

Usually it was a rookie police officer my dad was training, they were riding around in the patrol car so if Daddy was to come home for supper we couldn’t hardly not feed them as well. Sometimes it was a random uncle or bachelor friend of the family and as we got older our friends also clamored into the mix as they got to see that a full supper at our house wasn’t a special occasion but a daily event. There were two kids (well, they were teens at the time) who took to eating at our house and literally ate supper with us every single night for about two years. Mama and Daddy always said that if anything ever happened to them, they hoped someone would do the same for us.

Inviting folks over to dinner is one of those “oldie but goodie” practices that is, in my mind, the ultimate show of welcoming and graciousness towards your neighbors and friends. I’d love to hear from you why you do or don’t have folks over more often. Is it time constraints? Budget? Lack of time alone as a family?

But mostly, I’d love for you to answer a question my mother posed to me recently (because Mama and I sit and come up with the strangest things to talk about from time to time):

If you could have dinner with any living person,

who would it be and why?

I know y’all are going to have some great answers to this so I’m gonna hold off on my answer until I read a few of yours! I’ll post mine in the comments along with y’all. There are no limits here aside from it being a living person.

How bout some loaded ‘taters?

I’m going to show you the ingredients I use but the best stuffed potatoes are the ones made to your individual tastes.

I’ve seen folks add milk, tomatoes, leftover chicken or bbq (yum!), mayonnaise, ricotta cheese, fresh or dried herbs, etc.

The sky is the limit here.

For mine, I use: A few tablespoons of margarine, pre-cooked chopped bacon, green onions, cheddar cheese, and sour cream. I also use a little salt and pepper.

Bake your potatoes and cut them in half lengthwise like this.

*I bake my potatoes by starting them in the microwave on about five minutes, then transferring to a 450 degree oven for about an hour. Sometimes I rub them down with a little cooking oil and sprinkle some coarse sea salt on them before baking like my Great grandmother did. MMM-MM Good!

Scoop out the pulp but leave enough that the skin still has a bit of shape to it. You’ll see what I mean in the next photo.

See? Here are the hollowed out potatoes.

To your pulp, add the margarine, sour cream, salt, and pepper.

Mash up well with a potato masher or just a fork.

Add cheese, mash in.

Like this. Oh my that looks good already!

Add all other toppings.

Stir up well.

Resist urge to eat entire bowl as is.

Decide you want a little bit of garlic powder and add that too…

Whatever cranks yer tractor.

Spoon back into your shells.

Like so.

Now I’m going to take a few and sprinkle with cheddar cheese to bake right now for our supper.

The rest I’m placing in the freezer. My pan has a lid so I’m using that until they are frozen and then placing them in zipper seal bags. You don’t have to cover them for the initial freeze though.

Just place a pan in the freezer for about an hour and then place in zipper sealed bags and return to freezers.

This initial freezing outside of the bag is called “flash freezing” and will keep them from sticking to each other in the bags.

Enjoy!

Add this recipe to ZipList!

Loaded Potatoes

Ingredients

• 7 medium sized potatoes, washed
• 1/2 C Sour Cream
• 3 T margarine
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 1 1/2 C shredded cheddar cheese
• 8-10 slices bacon,cooked and chopped

Instructions

1. Bake potatoes and cut in half lengthwise. Scoop out pulp, leaving enough for the skin to retain it's shape. In bowl, combine scooped potatoes, butter, and sour cream. Mash together well. Add cheese, mash. Stir in all other ingredients. Spoon filling into potato shells.
2. To bake from frozen: Place on cookie sheet in 350 oven for half an hour, top with cheese and return to oven until melted.
3. To bake from room temp: Top with cheese and place in oven until heated through.
4. Can also be microwaved from frozen or room temp as well. I microwave my frozen ones for a minute and a half to two minutes.

Google Recipe View Microformatting by ZipList Recipe Plugin

1.2

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I will prepare and someday my chance will come.

~Abraham Lincoln. To submit your quote, click here.

If you’re wondering if I need or would like more quotes submitted, the answer is always “YES!!!”

]]> http://www.southernplate.com/2009/10/loaded-potatoes-make-em-and-freeze-em.html/feed 100 http://www.southernplate.com/2009/10/one-slow-cooker-recipe-2-different-meals-both-quick-and-easy.html http://www.southernplate.com/2009/10/one-slow-cooker-recipe-2-different-meals-both-quick-and-easy.html#comments Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:53:41 +0000 Christy Jordan http://www.southernplate.com/?p=5712 Pin it

A member of our Southern Plate Family asked me if I’d put more slow cooker meals on the website with fall coming up. When she posted this on the Southern Plate Family Facebook Page, my wheels started spinning. Who doesn’t love being able to put a meal on the table with a slow cooker?  With our Fall schedules in full swing this is the ultimate time saving way to eat well while saving both money and effort.

When we were teenagers, Mama started working outside the home and began relying on our slow cooker on a regular basis. She still managed to put hearty, kid pleasing meals on the table despite spending a fraction of the time at home. This was one of our standbys and its one of my very favorite “convenience” meals because there is virtually no work to be done to get it on the table once you shred your roast!

As with most slow cooker recipes, this one is versatile. Use a beef roast or pork roast, plain water or beef broth, it’ll still turn out great. You also have plenty of room to customize for your own tastes and still end up with two hearty meals and time on your hands.

To get started, you’ll need a roast. Any old roast will do, be it beef or pork.

I was “down in my back” as folks say and unable to go to the grocery store myself so I had my husband make this meal and do this tutorial. He’s in trouble now because he’s proven he can cook. Fortunately, I am the only one who enjoys cooking so he can stick to building space stations and I’ll stick to browning the beef.

I had my husband go to the grocery store and email me pictures of roasts so I could pick out the one I want. Wee bit obsessive? Of course I am! But I don’t just toss out $14 on meat randomly so I wanted to make sure it was a good one.

Normally I look for a good bit of marbling in my roast in order to ensure a good tender outcome but I wanted more lean meat for this so we got one with minimum marbling.

I am using a few beef bouillon cubes in the water for a little more flavor. You can use beef broth as well or just plain water, whatever you prefer.

Place your roast in the slow cooker.

This is an awesome new slow cooker I have, by Hamilton Beach of course! It’s programmable, which is nice, but the neatest thing in my book is that the lid has a rubber lip around it and locks into place for travel without spills.

I like to send things to my husband’s work and this lid is a life saver. Before we had this slow cooker, I always lined a cardboard box with a towel to place the slow cooker in and hoped for the best. He arrived at work with spills every time (bit of a NASCAR fan, that one). With the holidays coming up and us traveling all about with food, this baby is gonna get a lot of love from me!

Add your water.

And your bouillon cubes.

~blinks and looks at the photo~

Okay apparently Ricky saw fit to latch it down like you would for travel. I normally don’t do that at home but maybe he was afraid it was going to blast off or something. Anyway, you can see how it latches.

That groove in the top is for a spoon to stick into, which comes with it.

I cook mine on high all day.

Normally, anytime you are using a slow cooker (regardless of what you are cooking), times are as follows:

If cooking on High: done in 3-4 hours

If cooking on Low: done in 7-8 hours

But since I was cooking this in water only I wanted it to cook at a  higher temperature longer to be more tender. It is still slow cooking so this concept works. After seven or eight hours, take out your roast and shred it with two forks, like this. Discard liquid or reserve two cups to use in the next step.

This is the part that takes a little elbow grease and I didn’t mind one bit having someone else do it for a change. Ricky asked me later how he did and I said “You did SUCH a wonderful job that I’m going to let you shred the roast from here on out!”.

Take half of your roast and put it back in the slow cooker. Add about two cups of water (or reserved broth).

Place the other half in a zipper bag or sealed bowl and put in the refrigerator or freezer for our next meal.

Pour Taco seasoning in and give it a good stir.

Put the lid back on and keep slow cooker on just until heated through.

Fill tortillas with shredded meat and favorite taco toppings.

In our family that means cheese.

I prefer cheese, tomatoes, sour cream, onions, lettuce, etc…but the majority rules because I’m not going to buy that stuff just for me.

So…cheese.

EAT!

The last picture is always the most difficult to take and this was Ricky’s first shot at Food Photography.

I think it turned out pretty well.

Second Meal

The next day, take out the rest of your shredded meat and place in a sauce pot or a microwave safe bowl.

Pour a bottle of Barbecue sauce over it and heat through.

Serve on buns.

Wasn’t that easy?

Add this recipe to ZipList!

2 in 1 Meal: Beef Burritos and BBQ Sandwiches

Ingredients

• 1 Large Roast (4-5 pounds)
• 4 beef boullion cubes (optional)
• 1 packet taco seasoning
• 1 bottle BBQ sauce
• Flour tortillas and favorite toppings
• Hamburger buns

Instructions

1. Slow cook roast all day on high. Remove from slow cooker and shred with fork. Reserve half of meat for second meal. Pour out liquid in slow cooker and return othe half of meat to crock. Add in taco seasoning and two cups of water, stir. Return lid and cook until heated through. Serve on Tortillas.
2. The Next day (or meal), take remaining meat and add bottle of BBQ sauce. Heat through on stove top or in microwave. Serve on buns.

Google Recipe View Microformatting by ZipList Recipe Plugin

1.2

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

*Each of these meals fed our family of four with some to spare.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’ve been a little under the weather (in body, not spirit!) and am just now getting back up to par. Thank you all for your understanding as I work to get caught up. I really appreciate you taking the time to read Southern plate and hope you know that your comments mean the world to me!

Gratefully,

Christy

P.S. Dr Bailey of Bailey Chiropractic is my new best friend!

Learn From Yesterday,
Live for Today,
Hope For Tomorrow.

Submitted by Dawn. Submit your quote here.

I learned at a young age the value of the wisdom which can only be gleaned by those who have lived a lifetime before us. My parents taught me to listen and they drove the lessons of my grandparents home through repetition and life application. These are things I was fortunate enough to be taught by example and I’ll just bet you have already been taught them, too. Still, it never hurts to have a few of them written out plainly all in one place.

So today, as I bring you an easy method to freeze apples which my mother learned from her step mother, I’m also bringing you a little bit of wisdom directly from the folks who came before us with hopes that you’ll be kind enough to share some of your life’s lessons at the end of this post as well. ~clears her throat and steps up to the black board~

First off, a help with perspective:

Troubles are temporary. So is life.
Decide which one you want to focus on.
This is an extension of “This too, shall pass”, which is a blessing and a curse. Most folks think of it in terms of hard times: hang on, this too shall pass, but it also works for good times and moments of joy.

Holding your newborn babe? This too, shall pass.
Spending an afternoon with your mother? This too shall pass.

Live in the moment, Focus on what is important. Don’t let that time with your mother pass with you living in the hardships instead of the joy. That’s not to say don’t worry about paying your bills but don’t spend all of your time in the presence of your loved ones seeing only your bills instead of their faces before you.

If you can’t say something nice…
This is a big one that most folks learn around preschool, but it seems in our modern era that a great many have either forgotten it or decided to ignore it. In the age of the internet where people get all trumped on a power trip of anonymity, it is even worse. Before we are quick to think ill of another, and most especially before we are quick to speak ill of another, we need to put ourselves in their shoes and realize that they are a person just like us. It never hurts to think of how our words will affect their family either. Remember, the trues test of character is who we are when no one is looking.

Just because someone has money doesn’t mean they’re better than you. Just because someone doesn’t have money, doesn’t mean you’re better than them.

Good people come in all shapes, colors, and sizes. Don’t let the friend of your heart pass you by because you can’t see past one of these obstacles.

Wisdom doesn’t come automatically with age.
 This is a very important one to me that I am always striving for. When I was a girl, I thought everyone older than me was automatically wiser than me. That rug gets pulled out from under your feet pretty quick! I’ve found that the folks who seem to have the most wisdom and understanding are those who have valued and sought it throughout their lives, using each situation to try to become a better person or to have a better understanding of others.

More often than not, doing the right thing won’t be easy and no one will even know you did it.
Your reward for being a good person is being a good person. Be glad you can sleep at night and get over it. You may not have a parade thrown in your honor but personal pride counts for something. Hold your head high and know your Mama would be proud of the person you have become. Honor, Integrity, and your good name cannot be bought or sold. They must work for and careful cultivated through a lifetime.

At the end of the day, there is always something to be grateful for.
To me, no one was a better teacher of this than my great grandmother, Lela. Most folks who consider themselves to have hard lives by today’s standards would change their thinking pretty quick were they to live just half a day in Lela’s shoes during her younger years. A sharecropper with four children to feed and take care of and a husband whose primary talent was taking what little money they acquired and spending it for his own entertainment purposes. She and her children worked from sun up til sun down, sometimes going to bed hungry because there simply wasn’t any food. They’d come in from a long days work in the fields and the kids would fall asleep wherever they sat first. Lela would walk around with a bowl of water and an old rag and wash the dirt off their feet.

But you know what? Lela always felt she had a lot to be grateful for. All four of her children were healthy. They had a roof over their heads, and though it was meager, they had food. Lela was wise enough to see these things as blessings rather than focus on their predicament as a curse. As a result of her attitude, we are now on our fifth generation of positive thinkers in this family and every single one of them have been happier and more fulfilled by growing up learning from her teachings of gratitude.

This is where you come in. What life’s lessons have you been taught by your elders that have guided you to be the person you are today? I’d love to hear them and a little about the person who loved you enough to teach them to you. I’m always talking about my grandparents, now it’s your turn!

Eventually, I get around to the tutorial so here are the apples we’re gonna freeze today.

This method works for any type of apples. Today I am freezing Jonagold and Fuji. If you’re going to be freezing them for a pie later, you might want to cut up a few granny smith and include some in each bag.

You’ll need about a gallon of water. First though, pour about a cup of that warm into a large bowl. Add about 1/4 of a cup of salt.

Stir until salt is dissolved.

Add the remaining water. This water should be cold.

Now we’re gonna peel our apples and slice them up one at a time.

Cut them however you prefer.

I usually do sections.

Be sure and remove the core.

There we go!

As you cut them, place all of the slices in the salt water.

I left the skins on some of mine because I prefer my fried apples to have the skin on.

Push them down in the water a bit and make sure they all get submerged good at some point.

After they have soaked for a few minutes, drain them in a colander.

Then place in freezer bags and label.

Laying them out flat like this when you freeze them will keep them from sticking together and allow them to thaw quicker.

Here is a bag of apples a few days later, frozen and still beautiful thanks to the wisdom from the “old folks”!

You can take these apples directly from frozen and use them fried, in muffins, cakes, or pies!

No, they won’t have a salty taste!:)

Add this recipe to ZipList!

Freezing Apples

Ingredients

• Apples
• 1 Gallon water
• 1/4 C Salt
• Freezer Bags

Instructions

1. Place one cup warm water in a large bowl. Stir in salt until dissolved. Add remaining water cold. Peel and slice apples (can leave skin on them if desired). Place each slice in salt water as you go along. When done with all apples, stir water a bit to make sure all have been submerged. Drain in a colander. Place immediately in freezer bags, label, and freeze.

Google Recipe View Microformatting by ZipList Recipe Plugin

1.2

Some of my favorite Southern Plate apple recipes:

• Apple Dapple Cake
• Apple Skillet Cake
• Fried Apples
• Crock Pot Apple Butter
• Apple Flautas
• Apple Orchard Snack Cake

Live in the North Alabama area and looking for apples? Try Isom’s orchard in Athens, that is where these beauties came from!

“The wisest mind has something yet to learn.”

~George Santayana. To submit your quote, click here.

 

Please share a life lesson you were taught by your parents, grandparents, or just someone who came before you below. If you like, feel free to just use the space to brag on the good folks who raised you!

(Originally posted July 10, 2008. Please see letter at bottom)

Tea rooms in the south are a far cry from formalized locales where you sit up straight, sip hot tea, and nibble on a scone. In the south, our tea rooms have a relaxed and bright atmosphere. They are filled with smiling ladies gathered together for a special treat of girl time – away from kids, husbands and demands of home. Plates are filled with an assortment of salads: potato, vegetable, pea, macaroni, and chicken or ham usually served inside a fresh buttery croissant. Tea is still drank over ice, served in special stemmed “iced tea” glasses.

While the salads vary by tearoom, I have personally never been to one which did not serve a frozen cranberry salad such as this. Creamy, fruity, light tasting and just the right size when prepared in a little muffin paper, this is the quintessential tearoom must have and a very special treat to enjoy at home.

This recipe came from my husband’s grandmother, Granny Jordan. She was the embodiment of everything a southern lady should be. Practically anytime guests happened by, she was always prepared with a warm welcome and plenty of southern hospitality thanks to these little delights.

Once you make them, simply remove the muffin papers from your tins, pop them into Ziploc freezer bags and have an instant company worthy dessert or special treat for yourself anytime!

As always, the entire recipe is at the bottom of the page. You will need sour cream, sugar, whipped topping, crushed pineapple, two cans of whole berry cranberry sauce, and four bananas. I used light cool whip and light sour cream but you can use whichever type you like.

Drain pineapple well and put in large mixing bowl. Add sugar.

And whipped topping….

Add whole berry cranberry sauce and sour cream.

This is part two of my sister in law’s freezer and mega cooking class! Visit part one here.

Thank you for supporting Southern Plate by telling your friends to visit as well! Friend to friend is the best way to help Southern Plate grow!  Gratefully, Christy

Mega/Freezer Cooking Phase Three:

On this day, I made, Hashbrown Casserole Deluxe, Ham and Broccoli Quiche, Potato Soup, and Beef Burgundy Stew.  As before, clean the kitchen, gather all of your ingredients recruit some help and go!

I began with the Ham and Broccoli Quiche and the Hashbrown Casserole Deluxe.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Put you frozen broccoli in a pot, cover with water and bring to a boil.  I bought “cut broccoli” instead of the chopped because I wanted cut for the Hashbrown Casserole and chopped for the Quiche.  You can chop cut broccoli but you can cut chopped.  Plus it gives the kids something to do when they ask, “Mom, can I help?”

Christy’s note: Tina lost me with the whole cut/chopped broccoli thing. I think she knew I’d be putting this post up before my coffee and did it just to toy with me. ~rubs her eyes~

Then you farm out the eye-watering job of cutting up the onions.  My son loves to help and he has become a pretty good little chef.  So good in fact, that when he goes camping with his Boy Scout troop, they all ask if he is going to do the cooking.  Be sure to tell the person who is doing the cutting how you want the onions cut.  I like my onions cut in rings for the Burgundy Beef stew and diced for everything else.  I gave my son two bowls so he can keep them separate.

Then get someone to dice up the ham.  I divided up the ham and told my little helper to keep the two amounts separate and the rest of the ham I froze for later.

Drain the broccoli and divide it up in to the amounts you need.

Get your other helper to chop up the broccoli.

She likes using the chopper-thingie so I let her go to town with it.

Crack the eggs in another bowl.  Add the milk and sour cream and beat with the mixer.

The kids are good for doing that too, but alas, when all the “fun” stuff (using knives, cracking eggs, and using the mixer) is done, they magically disappear.

Oh well, it was good while it lasted.  Anyway, add the diced ham, a handful of the chopped onions, the cheese and 5 cups of the stuffing to the chopped broccoli.  Stir well.

(I took the picture before I add the onions so just pretend you see them in the picture.)

Add the egg mixture and stir well.

Spray two casserole dishes with cooking spray.  Using a measuring cup, divide the quiche between the two.

Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.  Then I moved on to the Hashbrown Casserole.

Put the diced ham, cut broccoli, onions and Hashbrown in a BIG bowl.  I am using the top to my cake pan.

In another bowl, add the 2 cans of cream of chicken soup, sour cream and cheese.  Mix well.

Add the soup mixture to the big bowl and stir really well.

Mark you plastic freezer bags before you fill them.

Use a measuring cup to divide it up between the three bags.  Seal, remove as much air as you can, flatten it out and stick it in the freezer.

Two down, two to go. Stop a minute, take a break, clean up a bit and then start again. This part took me about 1 hour to do.

Christy’s note:  This is my favorite method of freezing casseroles because it takes up so very little space! Once frozen, you can stack the bags up like bookends to save even more room in your freezer.

Note: Below Tina makes Potato Soup AND Beef Burgundy Stew at the same time. Please note that you are seeing photos of two dishes cooked simultaneously rather than simply one meal.

This is where my camera started giving me fits and I go distracted and screwed up a few things, so I apologize for not have a bunch of pictures for this part.  I divided up 1 package of bacon between a cast iron Dutch oven and a stew pot (to get Beef Burgundy Stew started and Potato Soup).

I also added the diced onion to the stew pot.  Then the phone rang.  After I got off the phone, I realized that I should have diced my bacon before I tossed it in the pots.  So remember, diced up the bacon first, then add it and don’t answer the phone.  It was just some telemarketer and I can’t stand those kinds of phone calls and I got distracted and messed up.  But anyway…

Get the bacon browned and onions tender and then remove from the pans and set aside.

Leave about 2 TBSP of bacon grease in each of the pans.

Toss your tenderloins in flour and add to the bacon grease in the Dutch oven.

Cook and stir tenderloins in hot bacon fat until brown.  Drain excess fat.

Add wine and just enough water to cover tenderloin.

Add can of tomatoes, bay leaf, garlic salt bouillon, thyme and pepper.  Stir well and heat to boiling.  Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes.  Then transfer to a 300-degree oven and bake for 1 hour.  If you don’t have a cast iron Dutch oven, lower the heat as low as it will go and simmer for 1 hour stirring frequently.

While that is baking / simmering, go back to the other pot.  Use a whisk to stir the flour and chicken bouillon into the grease.  S-l-o-w-l-y add the water to the flour-bouillon mixture and cook for about 2 minutes stirring constantly.  (This is where the camera started freaking out, so use your imagination. Sorry!) ~frowns~ Cook and stir until the mixture thickens.  Add potatoes, milk parsley, basil salt, garlic and pepper.  Simmer for 3 minutes stirring often.  Add the cheese and stir until the cheese is melted.  Divide up into two “Glad” bowls, label and freeze.  I did get the camera to do something but the color is not real great.

Now you can clean up a bit and sit down for a few minutes until the timer goes off.  Remove the Dutch oven from the oven and add the mushrooms, onions, and potatoes.  Stir well and return to the oven / simmer on low for another 2 hours.  Slow cooking makes the meat really tender.  This is especially important when you are using really lean cuts of meat, like deer.  Deer meat has just about no fat at all and the added tomatoes are a natural tenderizer.  Slow cooking also helps tenderize it.  Finish cleaning up and relax.  Dinner will be ready in 2 hours.  Divide up the stew between 2 “Glad” bowls, label and freeze.  There is still one more step to do.

Make a list or mark on the calendar what all you have in the freezer.  Mix it up so that you won’t have 3 Hashbrown casseroles and the 2 potato soups the last week of the month. That’s it.  You are done!!!  Open up that freezer door and look at all the food that is just waiting for you!

Pat yourself on the back because you just survived your first mega cook.

Bulk Cooking, Freezer Cooking, Mega Cooking, or what ever it is you call it is not really hard at all.

All it takes is some really good planning.  The work is in the planning.

If 1 month feels like it is too much, cut it to 2 weeks.  If that still looks like too much work, do only 1 week.

Once you feel more comfortable with it, you will see how much money you really can save and how much time and clean up it will save you.

All the recipes I used this month are listed below, but remember, you don’t have to use any of mine or any in a book.  Use the recipes you already know your family will eat. Believe me, you don’t want to try something new, make 4 meals from it only to find out you don’t like it and at the end of the month that is all that is left!

Recipes Tina used in this tutorial:

These WILL be emailed to my email subscribers in printer friendly format!

Chili – As Is

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 bell pepper chopped
• 2 cans diced tomatoes
• 2 cans seasoned black bean
• 1 12 oz can of tomato sauce
• 1 pkg chili seasoning
• Steamed rice (optional)

Brown ground beef.  Drain and rinse.  Add to crock-pot.  Add the rest of the ingredients stir well, cover and cook on low for 6 hours or 3 on high.  Serve over steamed rice.

Frozen directions:  Thaw completely in refrigerator and reheat in a saucepan on low until heated through.

Almost Homemade Spaghetti Sauce – As Is

Christy’s Super Easy Spaghetti Sauce tutorial can be seen here.

• 1 big jar of Prego Traditional Spaghetti sauce
• 1 5-oz can of tomato paste
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 bell pepper chopped
• 1 lb ground beef

Brown ground beef, Drain and rinse.  Add to crock-pot.  Add the rest of the ingredients stir well, cover and cook on low for 6 hours or 3 on high.  Serve over cooked spaghetti noodles.

Frozen directions:  Thaw completely in refrigerator and reheat in a saucepan on low until heated through.

Christy’s Chicken Stew – As Is

View tutorial here

• 1 chicken
• 2 lg onions, chopped
• 7 cups water
• 4c. canned tomatoes
• 6 med. potatoes, peeled and diced
• 3 T sugar
• 2 c. frozen or canned whole kernel corn
• 2 T butter
• 5 tsp salt
• 2 tsp pepper

Cook chicken until done in water. Remove chicken from broth and discard skin. Separate meat from bones and shred meat. Dip off as much fat from the broth as possible. Simmer potatoes in 1 cup of broth in covered saucepan until done, do not drain. Mash potatoes slightly, keeping them lumpy. Add corn, onions, tomatoes, sugar, salt, and pepper to broth. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Add potatoes and chicken and simmer slowly with lid off for at least 45 minutes. Right before serving, stir in butter and let it melt. Best if made a day ahead and reheated to serve.

Frozen directions:  Thaw completely in refrigerator and reheat in a saucepan on low until heated through.

Taco Pizza – As Is

View tutorial here

• 1 can refried beans
• 1 packet taco seasoning
• 1 1/2 C browned ground beef, drained well
• Cheddar cheese, shredded
• Taco chips
• 3/4 C salsa

1 prepared pizza crust (preferably deep dish)

In skillet or saucepan, combine ground beef, taco seasoning, refried beans, and salsa. Stir until heated through. Spread into pizza crust. Top with crunched taco chips. Top with a good bit of cheddar cheese. Bake at 350 until cheese is melted and crust is browned. Remove from oven

Top with favorite taco toppings!

Frozen direction – Thaw completely in refrigerator and bake as above.

Taco Casserole – Double this recipe

• 1 pkg (14-oz) Mac and cheese deluxe
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 pkg taco mix
• ¾ water
• ¾ cup sour cream
• 1 ½ c shredded cheese
• 1 c salsa

Preheat oven to 400-degrees.  Make noodles according package directions.  Brown ground beef.  Drain and rinse.  Add water and taco mix.  Simmer according to package directions.  Drain noodles.  Add cheese sauce and sour cream.  Mix well.  Layer in a grease casserole, ½ noodles, meat, 1 c cheese, rest of noodles, salsa.  Bake covered for 15 minutes remove cover add cheese and bake 5 minutes more

Frozen directions:  Thaw completely in refrigerator and bake at 350-degrees for 45 minutes adding cheese the last 5 minutes.  Or cook in microwave for 15 minutes, stir add cheese and cook for 2 minutes more.

Hashbrown Casserole Deluxe – As Is

• 2 lbs frozen Hashbrown potatoes
• 2 cans cream of chicken soup
• 12 oz diced ham
• 1 onion chopped
• 10-12 oz cut broccoli
• 1 c sour cream
• 5 cups cheese
• Salt
• Pepper

Mix hashbrowns, ham, onion, and broccoli together.  Mix soup, sour cream, salt, pepper, and 2 c cheese together.  Add soup mixture to hashbrown mixture and mix well.  Divide into 3 zip top bags.  Freeze.

Frozen direction: Thaw completely in refrigerator.  Pour into a greased casserole dish and bake at 350-degrees for 45 minutes adding cheese the last 5 minutes.

Ham and Broccoli Quiche – As Is

• 7 eggs
• 1 ¼ c milk
• 1 c sour cream
• Salt
• Pepper
• 12 oz chopped broccoli
• 5 c dried stuffing
• 11 oz diced ham
• 1 ½ c cheese
• 1 small onion chopped.

Mix ham, stuffing, cheese, and onion together.  Mix eggs, milk, and sour cream, salt and pepper together.  Add egg mixture to stuffing mixture and mix well.  Pour into greased casserole pan and bake at 375-degrees 30 minutes.  Freeze.

Frozen directions:  Thaw completely in refrigerator.  Bake at 350-degrees for 30 – 45 minutes adding cheese to the last 5 minutes.

Burgundy Beef Stew – As Is

• 6 slices bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces (don’t forget to do this like I did!)
• 2 lbs beef boneless chuck eye, rolled rump roast or bottom round roast, cut into 1-inch cubes
• ½ c all purpose flour
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 ½ c red wine
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 ¼ tsp salt
• 1 tsp instant beef bouillon
• ½ tsp dried thyme leaves
• ¼ tsp pepper
• 8 oz sliced mushrooms
• 4 onions sliced
• 2 cans sliced potatoes

Fry bacon in Dutch oven over medium heat until crisp; remove bacon and reserve 2 Tbsp grease.  Coat beef in flour; cook and stir beef in hot bacon grease until brown.  Drain excess fat from Dutch oven.  Add wine and enough water to cover beef.  Add tomatoes, garlic, bay leaf, salt, bouillon, thyme and pepper.  Heat to boiling and simmer covered for 30 minutes.  Move to 300-degree oven or continue to cook over lowest heat stirring frequently for 1 hour.  Add mushrooms, onions, and potatoes.  Stir well, cover, and return to oven or simmer covered for 2 hours on lowest heat, stirring occasionally.

Frozen directions:  Thaw completely in refrigerator and reheat in a saucepan on low until heated through.

Potato Soup – As Is

• 6 sliced of bacon, silvered
• 1 sm onion chopped
• 2/3 c all-purpose flour
• 6 c hot water
• 6 tsp instant chicken bouillon
• 2 lb frozen hashbrown potatoes, thawed
• 2 c milk
• 2 tsp dried parsley
• 2 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• ½ tsp pepper
• 1 c cheddar cheese
• 3 green onions

In a stew pot, cook bacon and onion until bacon is crisp.  Remove with slotted spoon and reserve 2 tbsp drippings.  Add flour and chicken bouillon to grease and stir with a whisk.  Slowly add hot water to flour whisking constantly.  Cook until mixture thickens, stirring constantly.  Add potatoes, milk, parsley, garlic, basil, salt and pepper.  Simmer for 5 minutes.  Add cheese and stir until melted.  Divide into “Glad” containers and freeze.  Chop green onion and freeze.

Frozen directions:  Thaw completely in refrigerator and reheat in a saucepan on low until heated through.  Top with green onions.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’m not done yet!

I’ll have more money saving tips and great recipes next week in addition to the release of my new ebook to help families learn to save on groceries, save time in the kitchen, and serve their families better meals!

This has been spring break all week and I’ve pretty much worked the entire time (my poor kids!) so now I am off to run some errands with them, get out and enjoy this sunshine I’ve been seeing through the windows, and then take my family to Nashville to spend the weekend with my cousin’s family and enjoy the zoo!

I hope you all have a wonderful Friday and a great weekend! Thank you so very much for taking time out of your busy lives to read Southern Plate!

Gratefully,

Christy

Friend me on Facebook!

Christy Jordan’s Profile | Create Your Badge

Today we have a very special guest blogger. I’ve known her for over ten years now and we have a LOT in common! She’s from Alabama, I’m from Alabama. My name is Christy Jordan, hers is Christina Jordan. She has a boy and a girl, I have a boy and a girl. Oh and she is also married to my husband’s twin, even if they were born seven years apart.

My sister in law has always been a good cook and today she has generously shared her expansive knowledge of freezer cooking with us! Tina teaches freezer cooking classes and a few weeks back when I was bemoaning not having time to work up a freezer cooking post, she volunteered. I’m going to bring this to you in two parts because it is SO long and full of WONDERFUL information (AND RECIPES!).

Thank you so much, Tina! I am soooooo bringing you baked goods next time we go to Georgia!

Gratefully, Christy

Hey Everybody! I’m Christy’s Sister In-Law, Tina. I started “bulk” cooking about 10 years ago.  I was a stay at home mom with two kids and was sick and tired of what was know in my house as “icky hour”.  Icky Hour was any time between 4 pm and 6 pm when I was trying to make dinner and waiting for my hubby to come home from work.  I took a continuing education class and not only did Icky Hour disappear, I also saved a ton of time and money.  Yes money!  In “these hard economic times” (I am so tired of hearing that phrase) every penny counts.  So, get you notebooks and pens ready, grab a cup of coffee and learn how you too can benefit from the wonderful world of MEGA COOKING! (Queue the 2001 music now)

What equipment will I need?

• Food Processor
• Crock Pot – DO NOT put frozen foods directly into crock.  It will crack it.  It’s O.K. to put frozen foods directly into a metal crock.

• 1 or 2 BIG pots
• Colander
• Big bowls or plastic cake plate cover (it’s the biggest bowl I have!)
• Big spoons
• Extra measuring cups and spoons
• Sharpie marker
• Large and small zip lock freezer bags
• Masking tape
• Aluminum foil

How do I plan to cook all this food?

This will change with what ever recipes you will be using.  For this month’s, I cooked my two Mexican dishes on one night, my chili, chicken stew and spaghetti sauce on one Saturday, and then did the rest on the following Saturday.  You want to group as many similar recipes together as possible.  Or you could do all chicken one day, then all pork, all sides and all desserts, etc.  The more you do it, the easier it will be to see what can be done together and what doesn’t work well together.

Use an assembly line.  Go ahead and chop up all veggies you will need, brown all ground beef, have spices out, and all other ingredients you will need.  Have all this stuff ready to go and where you can easily find it so you won’t spend all day looking for something.

How do I know how many meals I will need?

A – B – C + D + E = Number of meals you need to prepare.

A – How soon you want to cook again (in days)

B – How often do you eat out (in days)

C – Scratch cooking (in days)

D – How many times you will have company over to eat

E – How many meals you will give to others i.e.: Death in the family, new baby, hospital, etc.

Example:

30 (days) – 4 (times I eat out) – 4 (times I like to cook a meal from scratch) + 2 (company will be coming for dinner) + 1 (time Suzie Homemaker will have her baby) = 25 meal you need to make ahead.

What Can I Freeze?

Red Flags:

1. Grease – a lot is not good
2. Celery – can get mushy, but if you don’t mind mushy celery, then it is ok.
3. Mayo – No! No!  Salad dressing or plain yogurt
4. Potatoes – They get mealy after a while, but if you don’t mind mealy potatoes, then go for it.
5. Meats need to be covered in liquid

There is a really good book, Can I Freeze It?: How to Use the Most Versatile Appliance in Your Kitchen
.  I will also provide a complete bibliography at the end of books that I have found useful.  The best thing about freezer cooking is that you can USE THE RECIPES YOU ALREADY USE and it will come out just fine.

How do I do this?

1. Rewrite recipes  (by this, I mean figure out how many meals you can get out of the recipe you already use without having to double or triple it.  For example, my lasagna recipe will make a HUGE pan of lasagna.  When I made it, we would eat some of it for supper, my husband and I would take it the next day for lunch, the next day I would take some to lunch and then I would throw out the rest.  My lasagna recipe is easily divided into 2 or 3 meal exactly as it is.)
2. Look for red flags
3. Don’t be a slave to precision
4. Get family members involved (child labor is a must if they are old enough to handle it)
5. Make a list of all ingredients you will need, add them up, I.E. number of pounds of ground beef, number of onions, cups of cheese, etc…
6. Check pantry to see what you already have and mark it off your list
7. Go shopping
8. Start cooking
9. Clean as you go

*****STOP WHEN YOU GET TIRED*****

How do I store all this food?

• Double wrap in foil
• Flat in freezer bags
• Tupperware
• Label it and date it
• Keep a list of what you have
• Mix it up in the freezer so you won’t be almost to the end and you only have on thing left to eat.

Put things together, i.e.: Cheese with lasagna, extra toppings, etc.

So what did you do?

For this round, I want to cook again in 28 days.  I asked my kids what they wanted to eat.  One told me Fettuccini Alfredo and the other said cube steaks.  Those two are both scratch meals for me.  I plan to have them both twice. I also have a roast in the freezer so that will be one more scratch meal and I will make beef stew form the leftovers the next day.  That makes 1 more.

Formula so far:

28 (A) – 6 (C) =

I also know this month, I will have my son’s Blue and Gold banquet and we are going to my mom’s for dinner for night.

Formula so far:

28 (A) – 6 (C) – 2 (B) =

I don’t know anyone who will be having a baby and hope no one is going to pass away, so I I’m not going to make any extra.  I also have no time for company this month, so I am not going to make any more for company.

Formula end up as:

28 (A) – 6 (C) – 2 (B) + 0 (D) + 0 (E) = 20 meals to cook.

Now the fun begins.  Think about recipes you already make.  Can you make more than one meal from it as it is or does your family eat all of it in one sitting?  This is where you decide how much of each recipe you need.  For my mega cook, I am going to make:

• Chili
• Taco Casserole
• Spaghetti Sauce
• Christy’s (Brunswick) Chicken Stew
• Hashbrown Casserole Deluxe
• Christy’s Taco Pizza
• Ham and Broccoli Quiche
  Potato Soup
• Beef Burgundy Stew

When I go shopping I am also going to buy all the ingredients for the scratching cooking as well.  That’s nine different recipes plus four scratch recipes, for a total of 13 different meals for this month.  You want to keep some variety to the menu so everyone doesn’t get burned out.  The full menu, including sides will be:

• Chili served with steamed rice
• Taco Casserole with a side of steamed whole kernel corn
• Spaghetti with a tossed salad
• Chicken stew with lima beans (already in the pantry)
• Taco Pizza with a tossed salad
• Quiche with mix fruit cup
• Potato Soup with a tossed salad
• Beef Burgundy Stew with French bread
• Roast Beef with steamed rice, gravy and green beans
• Beef Stew with cornbread
• Fettuccini Alfredo with tossed salad.

Lettuce goes bad to quickly so I will but salad each week when I go and get milk and bread.  The rest of the sides, I have in the freezer, are canned from last summer, or I have to make from scratch.

Now to figure out how many of each recipe I need to make to get 20 meals.  This all depends on how your family eats.  My lasagna recipe use to make 3 meals, now that my kids are older, it will only make 2 meals.  This is how my recipes worked out:

• Chili - as is – 2 meals
• Taco Casserole – double it – 3 meals
• Spaghetti Sauce – as is – 3 meals
• Christy’s (Brunswick) Chicken Stew – as is – 2 meals (It’s really four, but I ate two of them last month)
• Hashbrown Casserole Deluxe – as is – 3 meals
• Potato Soup – as is – 2 meals
• Christy’s Taco Pizza - as is – 2 meals
• Ham and Broccoli Quiche – as is – 2 meals
• Beef Burgundy Stew – as is – 2 meals

That makes a total of 21 meals to make.  But I only need 20!!  What do I do with the other one?  Save it.  You can use it next month or cook it instead of making a scratch meal.

Now how to plan for the trip to the grocery store.  The ladies at 30daygourmet.com have a great grocery list inside their book.  If you are not use to shopping for ingredients on a large scale, I would recommend you use it.  I used to use it all the time when I first started, but now I just use a sheet of notebooks paper.  My grocery list looked like this:

Click on the Table for Full View

Check your pantry and see what you already have.  You may have a lot of it already.  My husband has a friend that had more deer meat than would fit in his freezer so he gave us about 75 pounds of it.  Needless to say, I don’t need to buy ground beef, tenderloins, cube steaks, or roast for quite a while.

Next you want to plan out how you are going to cook the meals.  The great thing about this is you can do it all in one very long weekend or you can break it up into evenings and one Saturday.  That is what I did.

Phase one:

Last weekend, I made my spaghetti sauce, chili and chicken stew.  I gathered all of those ingredients:

2 lbs ground beef (deer), chicken breasts, crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, corn, chicken, black beans, onions, bell pepper, big jar of Prego Spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce, tomato paste, beer, salt, sugar, pepper, butter, and chili mix.

I got my large crock-pot and my medium crock-pot out and plugged.  I dumped in the 2 cans of diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, beer, 2 cans of black beans, and chili mix in the medium cock pot.  I put the spaghetti sauce and tomato paste into the large crock-pot.  I turned both on low and put the lids on.  I put my chicken breasts in a big pot to cook.  Next I chopped up all the onions I would need; 1 for the chili, 1 for the spaghetti sauce, and 2 for the chicken stew.  I put one in each crock-pot and set the other two aside.  Next, I chopped up the bell peppers and put those in the crock-pots.  I then browned my 2 pounds of ground beef (deer), drained and then rinsed off the fat.  I divided that up into the two crock-pots.   I then focused my attention on the chicken stew.  Just follow Christy’s

directions for making it.  My family ate some of the chicken stew for dinner and I gave away 1 meal’s worth to a friend who just left the hospital.  That left 2 meals.  I divided up that into two of those “Glad” bowls, labeled them with what was in there, date made and directions for reheating.  Next, I divided up my chili into 1-quart jars and put those in the refrigerator.  I divided up the spaghettis sauce into 1-quart jar (that’s all I had left) and 5 pint jars.  I put those in the refrigerator too.  I put them in the refrigerator first to cool down and then I put them in the freezer.  Be sure to label the jars so you know what is in them.  I cleaned up the kitchen and was done for the day.  So for about 2 – 3 hours of work, I made 7 meals.

Phase two:

After supper one night last week, I decided to make my two Mexican recipes.  I made Taco Casserole and Christy’s Taco Pizza.  I cleaned up the mess from supper and then gathered all the ingredients I needed.

By the time I remembered to take a picture of the ingredients, I had already started browning my ground deer.  Sorry!  I put water on to boil in a big pot and then started browning my ground beef (deer).  I am sure you all know what browning beef boiling water looks like so I will save a few KB of space here.  Next I lined my glass baking dishes with foil.  I do this so that when they are frozen, I can take them out of the baking dish and either wrap them in foil or stick in a freezer bag.  I only do this on casseroles that are layered, like lasagna.

Add your noodles to the boiling water and cook according to package directions.  The ground Beef (deer) is still cooking.  When the noodles are done, drain them in a colander and put back in the pot.  Add cheese sauce and sour cream and mix well.

When the ground beef (deer) is done, drain well, and return to pan, add water and taco seasoning.

Follow package directions for cooking time and amount of water to add.  Get the pizza shells out and save that little plastic bag that come with them.  You will store one of the pizzas in it.  Open up the cans of refried beans and spread one on each shell. Set aside.

Now, clear off the counters and set up your assembly line.  I have the two pizzas, and the three foil lined baking dishes.  (Ignore the mess in my kitchen.  I am a very messy cook!)  I also have my macaroni, cheese, salsa, scale, and taco meat all ready to go.  I use the scale so I don’t add too much or too little cheese to the dishes.

First, divided up half of the mac & cheese between the three foil lined baking dishes.

Then divide up your ground beef (deer).  This is not an exact science but you will divide up about 1 pound between the two pizzas, and the other two pounds between the three casseroles.

I failed geometry, can’t you tell?

Then layer the three casseroles with 1 cup of cheese each and the rest of the mac & cheese.

Divide up the two jars of salsa between all 5 dishes.  Again, it is not an exact science.  Just eyeball it.

Cover the three casseroles with foil and put in the freezer.  Now for the fun part.  The taco pizzas are really flimsy and I can’t put them in the bag with our making a mess.  First off, don’t try to put them both in the bag.  I tried and they don’t fit.  Plus, if you try to do it before they are frozen it makes a really big mess. My husband suggested I freeze them first.  But I don’t have a whole bunch of room in the freezer.  Well, I rearranged all the stuff in there, stacked the pizzas on a cookie sheet between cooling racks and let them freeze over night.

(Again, I forgot to take the picture before I wrapped them up.)  In the morning, I was able to stick one in the little plastic bag and the other I wrapped in foil.  Then you measure out 1 cup of cheese for each pizza and casserole, mark the plastic bags, fill with cheese and put them in the freezer.  That way you will have the cheese there when you need it.  If you don’t mark the bags, you will wind up with something at the end of the month that will not have cheese to top it off.

Mark everything and you are done…for today.  This part took me about 1 hour to do.

Now you are ready to begin Phase Three.  The big day.  Remember to pace yourself and rest when you get tired.  This is not something that has to be done in one day.  If you feel like it is too much, cut it in half and do the rest the next day.

Are you ready???  Let’s get cooking.

Stay tuned for the next post to read the continuation of  how to freezer cook AND get all of these great recipes!

Friend me on Facebook!
Christy Jordan’s Profile | Create Your Badge

I re-wrote my “about” page if anyone wants to have a gander .

Tell me what you think! The top part is still the same but it has a new ending