Freezer cooking for the Holidays

Last year was the first time I intentionally made something ahead of time for all our holiday parties. I had gotten a great deal on frozen hash browns and cheese so I made up 8 pans of cheesy potatoes. I brought them to various parties as my "dish to pass" and also served them for Christmas dinner at our house which helped with dinner prep immensely! This year I made three different recipes including a brand new one. I had to make the cheesy potatoes again who doesn't love those? I also made a baked bean dish with lots of different hearty beans, and an apples and cheddar dish that the recipe promised could be served along side the meal or as a dessert. I figure I have all my bases covered depending on what I am asked to bring to a gathering. The main goal being simplifying and enjoying the holidays more!

If you are new to the idea of freezer cooking and wondering "why"....
1) Being able to pull something out of the freezer for a weeknight dinner when you have been going all day means you don't have to pick up a pizza or eat cereal for dinner!
2) Doing all the prep work at once means fewer messes to clean up. If you have to chop two onions whats the difference in chopping six?
3) Simplifying the Holidays by spending time with family and not in the kitchen is *priceless*.

Above: Cheesy Hashbrown mixture into gallon bags and flattened for easy storage in the freezer. Cheese topping is separate since you will pour your potatoes into your dish and top with the cheese. If you like you can put the topping into a larger bag with the mix. I personally keep all the "toppings" for various dishes in one spot in my freezer.

These Baked Beans are delicious and a hearty addition to any Holiday meal. I have never added the soy crumbles the recipe calls for, they don't seem to be missing it either!  Put theses into freezer bags or containers for the serving size you like. 

Apples and Cheddar recipe comes from my most used cookbook, "Fix Freeze Feast" So go buy it you won't regret it!
Again this recipe had a topping so I put that all into a separate bag. Can be used for a side dish or as a dessert.



I admit I was skeptical about these Butterhorn Rolls Crystal from "Money Saving Mom" (if you aren't already a subscriber to her emails please do!) promised you could freeze these uncooked then thaw and bake them later.... Let me tell you it worked! They taste ah.mazing! You can pull out just what you need instead of making an entire tube of crescent rolls which don't taste near as great as these! So again no slaving in the kitchen kneading bread the day of the party you can have fresh baked rolls with 2 mins of active prep time!

Favorite Things November 2013

Favorite Things Post #1 November 2013

One of my favorite bloggers Andrea Dekker does this, and I thought it was a neat way to give our favorite products some recognition! So here  goes ;)


#1 Felicity Slimming Cami 

I have been wearing these since day one with our second. He is now 13 months and the two I had from the start start are in as good of shape as the newer ones I've boughten recently. I do have one in white but for obvious reasons the black ones look newer longer. Maybe it's just me though I have problems keeping my whites from becoming dingy! These camis are great at giving you the slimming look, not being bulky and providing enough support to wear as a bra sometimes too! I love that when I pull up my shirt to nurse the cami still covers my stomach as well! So worth the $25 at target stores.

#2 Squooshi Sipn Combo pack

These were $18.99 for a pack of two of the reusable food pouches and two of the Sip'n caps. I went crazy with the canned applesauce this fall and my boys love those applesauce pouches so I figure this could save us oodles of moolah. :) What I love about these particular pouches: they open from the bottom so they are much easier to clean. They come with the normal hard plastic tops similar to the store bought pouches.  This particular set also came with two of the Sip'n caps with flow control (which basically means non-spill, your child has to suck on it in order for it to come out). My one year old immediately got the hang of it and that's saying a lot coming from a kiddo who refused to ever take a bottle and is just now getting okay with sippy cups. :) I love that I can control what goes into our pouches, and put less trash into the landfill too!

After using these 4.5oz. pouches I will go back and purchase the smaller 2.5oz packages.  The 1yr old couldn't finish the larger size pouch and once it gets to the bottom it's hard for him to realize how to "squeeze" the rest up. I actually end up rolling up the bottom and putting a clothes pin on it to hold it in place. :) My 3-year old has no problem with the 4.5oz size. Well worth the money spent!

#3 Cloth Wipes

Shameless plug here...:) I purchased about 12 of these when we first started cloth diapering N back in 2010 and we are still using those original 12 (along with about 30 more....).  I actually took over making these particular wipes for our local cloth diaper store a few months back. They are the perfect size to fold in half and fit into your regular wipes tub to use in place of throw-away wipes. Also great for bathtime and meal-time cleanups. My absolute fave use though is in place of tissues! My boys hardly ever get those red raw noses when we are using these super soft organic cotton sherpa wipes on them.  You know with kleenex your fingers tend to get wet after wiping a runny nose? (GROSS I know!) never happens with these babies! And obviously they are super cute! ;) Like I said our original dozen are still in great shape after 3 years of use! I sell them on my facebook page for $1 each. (The cloth diaper store marks them up to about $1.60 each).

#4 Thatsa Bowl

I have an older style pink Thatsa Bowl that I use All.the.time. I'm having a Tupperware show this month so that I can purchase the ThatsaMega Bowl! I quite obsessively frequently freezer cook and can foods and use my bowl almost every time. It's necessary when working with such large quantities of food. It also works great for making chex mix or any other snack mix and travels well due to the included lid. My bowl is so old it doesn't have the nifty handle they do now which I can see being a big help in carrying and storing the bowl. I admit I will have to buy a new thatsa bowl as well so they can match.... :)

#5 Pressure Canner I just purchased this a few months ago and have already used it numerous times! The thought of pressure canning used to be scary until a friend helped ease me into the idea.  I love this particular canner because you can also use it as a hot water bath and a pressure cooker. You can even stack your jars 2 high! It has a pressure regulator so no worries of it "blowing up" as my grandpa warned me of. ;) 

So far I have used it to can salsa, spaghetti sauce, applesauce (regular and strawberry), pinto and kidney beans, salsa verde, and grape juice! The instruction booklet that comes along with it is very helpful and includes all the recipes you need to get started. By purchasing through the amazon link provided you save 25% off the regular price as well! Score!

Great Wolf Lodge October 2013

This week (tue-thur) we were able to take a mini family vaca to Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City. And let me tell you it lived up to expectations and then some!

Took J sometime to warm up to the water but N jumped right in even going down the big slides with daddy!!

Cutie Patootie 

For the month of October they had nightly trick-or-treating around the lodge, and "spooky" bedtime stories. J was Charlie Brown and N was Linus.

Their costumes costed me less than $10 to make! Two shirts from Hobby Lobby at $3 a piece, a pair of white socks from Target and some yellow and black paint.

I purchased ahead of time the breakfast buffet at $9 per adult (children eat free). Since we were there during the week there wasn't enough people to have a buffet and they let us order off the menu. We ended up getting around $35 breakfasts each morning for only $18! So yummy and everyone in the restaurant was very accommodating to children.

Storytime occurs every night, during October they read "spooky" stories and encourage the kids to come in their costumes for a costume parade following. J was very intrigued by the pretty girls and sat down next to them all on his own :)

They have a bowling alley that is half the length of a normal alley with "one size" bowling balls at 5lbs. and a strict "no rental shoes" policy :) 

I was so excited for Nicholas to go bowling as he's always playing with his little tikes bowling set and loves to bowl on the wii with daddy. He had an absolute blast!

First time in an arcade! Boy my little man sure is growing up fast!

Every morning at 10am the kids get to "turn on" the waterpark by turning this wheel. Nicholas thought it was pretty cool! We missed it the first morning as we all slept in, but I set the alarm the next morning to be sure we didn't miss it!

I managed to break a toe while climbing up a rope ladder lol guess i'm getting old!

More trick-or-treating fun!

We ate a couple meals in the hotel room. I brought the crock pot and had taco soup ready and waiting for us after a morning in the waterpark. and yes I brought sheets from home to "slipcover" the couch and cover the table... lol everything else gets a clorox wipe down.... believe it or not i'm getting better though! 


Click to watch the video below! 

When I made our reservations I paid an extra $7.50 to have Wiley the wolf bring fresh cookies and milk at bedtime. Boy was N surprised to see Wiley at his door! This smile was priceless!!! (and the cookies were delicious!!)

Isn't he so handsome? :)

The effects of three fun days at the indoor waterpark!

We can't wait to go back to GWL I don't have a single complaint about our stay everything was perfect and we all had so much fun!

Big Decision

Our sweet boy made a very big decision on Thursday, October 10th 2013 at 3.5 years old.
Here's how it started.... I was in the kitchen canning grape juice and Nicholas was "reading" his bible story book from our home school supplies. When he got to the lesson on the crucifixion he noticed the photo depicting Jesus on the cross. His questions then were.... "momma why is he doing that?" "momma why does he have nails in him?" and, "momma is this a happy picture?". 
WOW this momma was not prepared to have this discussion quite yet.  Sure we have talked about Jesus' death at Easter time and quickly changed the subject to the fact that He rose again which is what we are celebrating.  How do I tell my little love that our beloved Jesus died? The way I pictured this conversation ending? With him in tears over Jesus' death. 

I quickly finished up what I had to at the stove and we grabbed our school book and a couple other of his children's Bibles. Went to his bedroom and read about the Crucifixion and Resurrection  in all of them. Afterwards I asked if he had any questions about what we just read..... oh boy did he! I explained the best I could to a 3.5 year old about why Jesus had to die to save us from our sins, and how this means we get to live in Heaven someday. There were some minor misunderstandings like "mommy will you go to the cross with me?".  But also the sweetest questions like "mommy will you be in heaven too?".  I told him that all he had to do was to ask Jesus into his heart and acknowledge that he died to save us from our sins.  Still not at this point thinking he was understanding much of what all this meant.. To my surprise he said he wanted to do that!!!!! I quickly called daddy at work and he came home so we could pray this together as a family. 

Our baby boy made a very grown up decision and this mommy is so proud of him. I can't begin to say how blessed I feel that I get to be home with our children so that I can teach him about these things and witness firsthand his little heart understanding and coming to know Jesus as his Lord and Savior. Also, that Daddy works right across the street so that he can come home quickly for something as important as this. Finally, thankful that we found (thanks to a friend) an awesome home school curriculum! 

Farm life

Little man takes picking his blueberries quite seriously... He will catch me if I accidentally pick a green one. Momma did you pick this? He will say as he throws it out!

Had to include one of him working with poppy in the barn too. 

Our little garden this year. Finally convinced Kyle I was serious about not having any sprays put on it, other than the couple times I was unable to cover with sheets before the crop duster came over the blueberries behind out house... Obviously had more weeds than normal without the help of the sprays but I don't really mind pulling them any way:)

Enjoying lunch at cranes after picking peaches. We picked just under 50lbs! I puréed and froze most into ice cube trays to pop out and store in ziploc bags for our smoothie obsession. The rest we ate or froze sliced up. Yummy!

Second trip of the year to cranes we picked apples this time. Again picked around 50lbs. Also took home a few of these gourds and a few squash which we enjoyed for supper.

No trip is complete without some cider donuts and fresh cider!

Cutie pies at the pie pantry;)

Prepping the acorn squash for supper 

We made three big batches of applesauce two of them being strawberry:)

Got a total of 24 jars of sauce and hope to do more we love applesauce around here and the best part not all the added sugar!

We went to DeLanges Redberry farm for a church young couples event that I set up... Yeah we just can't get enough of farms :) had fun at the pumpkin patch on an absolutely beautiful fall day. 

Wet home with 2 big and 2 small pumpkins( didn't go overboard knowing we would be back before long) we also picked raspberries which we ate some of and froze the rest for smoothies:) bought strawberries which went into our applesauce and apple cider!

We've also been back to cranes a third time but surprisingly no photos. At least one more time to cranes for more apples!  I just love fall! 

Hubby Turns 30!i!i!

Anyone who knows me knows how much I LOVE to plan and throw parties.... Hubby turned 30 yesterday and of course I had to throw him a party! It was meant to be a surprise party (because I knew if I told him we were having one he wouldn't allow it ;).  During berry season is not a good time for a birthday and I had actually worried he would be late to his own party, but alas he was done early... like 3pm on a Saturday early... Soooo instead of trying to keep the poor guy away from the house which he only spends a few (awake) hours a day at, I decided to let him in on the secret early... :)

A semi-related story before we get into the details of the party.... Anyone who knows our dog knows she has MAJOR food ISSUES! Like will eat anything and everything that could be eaten. She had multiple trips to the emergency vet an hour way.  Her list includes things like 2 packs of sugar free gum (xylitol is poisnous for a dog btw), too much of her own food causing her to be so bloated she was having labored breathing, gummi worms, nerds, chocolate chex mix the list goes on and on, and on and on..... Friday night she managed to get past the baby gate in the pantry in our basement, and kindly unzip the zipper on my Thirty-One cooler to get to some party supplies I had been hiding from kyle.  She consumed close to 1/2lb of salt water taffy wrappers and all and a 7oz bag of red vine licorice. She also managed to find a ring pop open that up and luckily eat just the candy not the wrapper and plastic ring part!! I was up at 12:30am calculating the dose of baby tylenol for her weight to help keep her comfortable...I have and am not afraid to give her hydrogen peroxide to induce vomiting but she was so bloated that I knew there could be risks involved with putting her tummy through that trauma and what she ate wasn't poisonous. She slept fine all night was very weak the next morning we didnt feed her and a few hours later she vomited up 7 times of bright red licorice colored whole pieces of salt water taffy! ugh!!! BUT she is THE MOST AMAZING and tolerable dog with our two boys so we have to take the quirks...

On to the fun stuff!!! I decided to go with a Vintage Baseball theme. We are big into baseball in this house and I knew he would love it!

        ::My awesome little sister made cupcakes for the party! Cherry Cola complete with cherry pie filling in the middle and a chocolate baseball on top. And the birthday boy's fave Red Velvet with fondant baseballs.

                              :: I made the Beer "cake" for him. A few people were sure I bought it made like that lol.

                  :: Like I said I had a bit too much fun planning this! I made the food signs and the "concessions" sign.

                             ::For dinner we had everything you would have a baseball game. Hot Dogs in paper holders(with all the fixins), chips and nacho cheese in the plastic divided containers, Cracker Jacks, Fresh popped popcorn.

                           :: I also made the score board and the team scores are his birthday!

 

                              :: Had to have CocaCola in glass bottles with the paper straws tied to them with twine :) My awesome brother-in-law made a VERY yummy Rum Punch which everyone loved so much he had to make a second batch!

                        ::Whats a baseball game without peanuts and sunflower seeds? Had to have the "baby ruth" candy bars as well :) (no that bucket was not full! I sat a cake pan in the top :)

                        :: everyone seemed to have a great time and we were *blessed* with the most perfect weather!

                  ::I put no children on the invites but our own don't count.... especially since the only people to ever watch my boys were all at the birthday party! :)

                                   ::Yup she had to be tied up because even after her late night candy binge last night she was still trying to get everyones food!

                            :: Me and the most amazing hubby in the world! (the party looked great which meant no time for me to do my hair! oh well....)

                     ::lil man enjoyed scooping popcorn for everyone!

                        ::The Tigers were on and my hubby has a table built into the deck for the t.v... it worked out perfectly to watch the game at our "baseball" party!

                            ::One of the best friends a gal could ask for. Isn't it awesome when you feel so secure you can always be completely honest with someone and know that you will not be judged? Again *Blessed*

                         ::His Tigers Tervis cup :)

Highlights: Again the weather was absolutely perfect!  Everything went off wihtout a hitch! SUPER *blessed* to have had the help of my momma and sisters with help cleaning and setting up for the party. And hubs wonderful grandma who took the boys for an hour long walk (they really needed it they had both been crank all day and baby boy hadn't napped well.... screamed when we put him in the jogger but was out before she hit the sidewalk!  Got to spend the evening with everyone we love! Since the party was at our house we didnt have to leave early to put the boys to bed nor did I have to have a sitter put them to bed...(never has someone other than me, hubs or one of our moms done bedtime and I love that) I just snuck away to do bedtime with lil man then a bit later snuck back in to put baby boy to bed!

Woke up Sunday morning feeling very lazy we decided to forgo church instead spending a relaxing morning together as a family. Picked up from the party got some laundry hung on the line (done with week three!). Then went to a friends house to swim for a few hours, and to my parents for an impromptu supper.  All three of my guys were in bed by 9pm tonite!