Freezer Cooking

I've been a busy bee in my kitchen today. With the munchkin's school starting in just a little more than a week and my piano teaching term starting the following week, I'm feeling the pressure to get some food prepared and frozen to make our busy year a little easier.

I've set a goal for myself to make 28 freezer meals by mid-September. This will give me at least one meal prepared to throw in the crockpot, oven, or microwave for every full week of my piano teaching year from October forward. I also want to have several recipes of soup frozen in single serving packages to make them easy for hubby to grab and go for work lunches and several recipes of muffins for breakfast and school snacks.

Today, I've made a double batch of spaghetti sauce, enough to freeze one and have spaghetti for supper tonight. Since I have already frozen chicken pot pies, a bag of Chicken Cacciatore, and another of Honey Garlic Chicken, I've still got 24 meals to go. Sounds like a lot, but I have a plan.

In September, I'm going to host a Wildtree freezer meal workshop! They've developed a great little program for putting together freezer meals that are economical and healthy. You buy a packet of seasonings and oils, bring your meat and vegetables, and then at the workshop, we all assemble 10 meals in zip bags to freeze. I plan to use the seasonings I have left over to make another 10, meaning I will only need to make 4 more meals before the party, and I should have all of my 28 meals done with ease!

Here are the recipes I've used so far or know I will be using. (These are not the Wildtree recipes.) None of these are specifically written to be freezer recipes, but there's no reason they can't be. There's nothing in them that can't be frozen.

Chicken Cacciatore
Combine ingredients in a zip-bag and freeze. To cook, thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then follow recipe directions to cook in the crockpot. `

Honey Garlic Chicken
Same plan as above

Spaghetti sauce - no recipe, just browned ground beef and jarred sauce. Cook, cool, place in zip-lock and freeze. Thaw overnight in refrig, then warm in the microwave.

Chicken Pot Pies
These are frozen already cooked. Thaw overnight in refrigerator then warm up to eat.

Crockpot Peppercorn Steak

Ham and Cheese Sliders
I froze these to take on our beach trip, and they came out great. I assembled the sandwiches without the topping, then froze them in a single layer in zip bags. I put all of the sauce ingredients together in a small zip bag and froze that, too. Then, I just thawed the sandwiches, melted the sauce ingredients in the microwave, and followed the baking directions in the recipe. You'd never have known any of it was frozen. (BTW, I just used mayo on the sandwiches. Don't care for the Miracle Whip.)

Split Pea Soup With Ham

Broccoli Cheese Soup
I've read that cream-based soups can separate in the freezer. The trick seems to be to thaw it slowly (like overnight in the refrigerator, not quickly in the microwave), and then be prepared to use an immersion blender to blend it all back together. As long as it tastes good, I'm not sure I care much.

Pasta e fagioli
Purists will say that the pasta should be added later after thawing because it will become soft in the freezer. Again, I'm not that picky.

Pumpkin muffins

Blueberry Muffins

This is the recipe my mother uses. I've tried several recipes, but keep coming back to this.

2 eggs
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup sour cream
2 cups plain, all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup blueberries (I usually use a little more.)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Add the sour cream, then the eggs. (I do it this way because I usually melt the butter in the microwave. The sour cream cools it off before I add the eggs, and this keeps them from cooking in hot butter.)

Sift the dry ingredients together. Add the blueberries. Fold berry and flour mixture into egg mixture until just blended. Spoon batter into greased muffin tins.  Bake for 25 minutes or until lightly browned.

Makes 16-20 standard-sized muffins, depending on the size of your tins. If baking mini muffins, check them for done-ness after 13-14 minutes.

High Fiber Energy Muffins
These sound too healthy to be tasty, but I love them, and even the munchkin likes them.

1/2 cup plain, all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup wheat germ
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups bran flake and raisin cereal
1/3 cup chopped dates or raisins (optional)
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. low-fat milk
1 egg, slightly beaten
2/3 cup applesauce
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp. butter, melted

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Mix first 9 ingredients (through milk) together in a large bowl and let stand for 5 minutes. Combine egg, applesauce, brown sugar, and butter. Stir egg mixture into flour mixture just until moistened. Fill muffin tins until 2/3 full. Bake at 400 for 15-18 minutes.

More Scenes From Christmas

We spent Christmas eve and day in Florida at my husband's brother's house with them and with their parents. We always enjoy Christmas on the farm with our family and all of the animals. Our dog Bella considers it a Lowe dog family reunion! Some of these photos have already appeared here, and some are new.

Scenes from Christmas

It isn't Christmas 'til I decorate sugar cookies.

Santa brought a bulky gift early!

The reindeer are out.

Childhood flies away...

Pasta e Fagioli Soup (Pasta and Beans)

This has to be one of the best soups I've ever made. I made it over the weekend, and ate it 3 nights in a row. Then, I made it again today. It was that good. Today, I made a few changes to the original Rachael Ray recipe for convenience, fat reduction, and improved texture. Here's my version:

• 2 tablespoons (2 turns around the pan) extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 slices bacon, chopped
• 2 (4 to 6-inch) sprigs rosemary, left intact
• 1 (4 to 6-inch) sprig thyme with several sprigs on it, left intact
• 1 large fresh bay leaf or 2 dried bay leaves
• 1 medium onion
• 1 small carrot
• 1 rib celery
• 4 large cloves garlic
• Coarse salt and pepper
• 2 (15 ounce) cans cannellini beans or great northern beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can crushed or diced tomatoes, undrained
• 2 cups water
• 1 quart chicken stock, preferably the lower sodium variety
• 1 1/2 cups ditalini pasta
• Grated Parmigiano or  Romano, for the table 

Chop the bacon. Start browning the bacon in a skillet. While it cooks, chop the onion, carrot, and celery just enough to fit into the food processor.  Throw the garlic in there, too. Process until finely chopped. Heat the olive oil in a large pot, and then saute the vegetables from the food processor.  When the bacon is done, remove it from the skillet and add it to the pot along with the thyme, rosemary, and bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper. Go easy on the salt - there's already quite a bit in the other ingredients. Without bothering to wash out the food processor, put the tomatoes and 1 can of beans into the food processor and puree. Add that to the pot with the chicken stock, the other can of beans, and the 2 cups of water. Bring it to a boil. Add the pasta and cook 8-10 minutes until pasta is done. Remove the bay leaves and the thyme and rosemary sprigs. Some of the leaves will have separated from the stems. That's fine. Just remove the woody stems. Serve with some freshly grated Parmesan.

Try not to eat the whole pot at once.

Cookies!

Cookies! 

I used Alton Brown's sugar cookie recipe and the corn syrup icing recipe from Karen's Cookies. I had a lot more icing than I had cookies. I guess that means I need to make more cookies!

Menu Plan Monday

I haven't posted a menu plan for a while, and I've been in a bit of a cooking slump. We've had lots on the schedule, so I've settled for frozen things and old standbys. Today, though, my oven is humming. We have a small family of three, and we like to cook once and eat twice, so I'll just post the recipes I'm making this week.

French Dip Sandwiches with  Rachael Ray's Oil and Vinegar Slaw. We'll top the sandwiches with some mozarella cheese, red onions, and slices of the beautiful alma peppers I have growing in profusion on my porch.

Paprika chicken with egg noodles and steamed broccoli

Weight Watchers Butternut Squash Salad with pork chops

Pumpkin muffins to use that can of pumpkin that's been sitting in my pantry forever.

Visit Organizing Junkie for more menu plans!

Happy 9th Birthday, Munchkin!

Her actual birthday's still 19 days away, but thanks to other weekend commitments in the coming month, the party was today. It was a beautiful day for it, and we couldn't have asked for nicer girls. They were all so polite and well-behaved. One of them even said, "Wow, Mrs. Lowe, you did a lot of work for this party!"  I just love her! The pennant banner above was easy to make using scrapbook paper, an alphabet stencil, a marker, and some ribbon. I could have bought one, but this one's more special.

The munchkin opened her present from mama and daddy early after mama and Auntie finished decorating the cake. Since the theme of the party was "An Old-Fashioned Ice Cream Social," we had some fun with the cake.

My poor photography doesn't do the cake justice. It was adorable! Tasted good, too. Again, we could have bought one, but then I we wouldn't have had the satisfaction of seeing (and tasting) something we did ourselves. Besides, sis-in-law and enjoyed making it together. I thought it looked great on my vintage milk glass cake pedestal.

I found some cute ideas on the internet using Starbucks Frappucino bottles, and adapted them for our party. It was really tough to drink all of those Frappucinos. (Ahem.) The round portion of the bottle label was free to print from the website Eat Drink Chic, and you can edit the words yourself.  I attached them to the bottles with clear packing tape. I ordered the straws here:  Pink Polka Dot Drinking Straws.

Our party started with chalk on the front drive. As the girls arrived, I had them draw their dream ice cream sundae. We had some quite interesting and large pictures to enjoy!

Next, we enjoyed an ice cream cone relay. The girls divided into two teams which they named "Ice Cream" and "Sprinkles." They took turns balancing a styrofoam ball on a waffle cone while they ran down around an obstacle and came back. We played for the best two out of three, and the winners got to be first in line for the food.

The girls really enjoyed playing a version of Duck, Duck, Goose that we renamed Banana, Banana, Banana, Split.

The girls created their own ice cream sundaes. I used some of my vintage Lu-ray pastels to hold the toppings.

All of the topping labels were found at Eat Drink Chic.

Since I'm a complete ribbon junkie, it was easy to use ribbon I had to create this ribbon topiary for the table. (Click here for instructions.)

There might have been just a little too much sugar at this party...

Of course, presents were next!

I found a bunch of ice cream cone containers of bubbles, so I let the girls take them outside and go crazy with them after the presents.

I send the girls home with gift cards from a local ice cream shop. I put each one in a glassine envelope and used a little wooden ice cream spoon as a tag. The printable tags that say "Thanks for Coming" are from Eat Drink Chic.

Labor Day Weekend Accomplishments

I did it! I accomplished enough to feel like I'm not behind, and at the same time, I had a lovely, enjoyable holiday weekend. In addition to the usual laundry, grocery shopping, and playing for church, I got a couple of clutter spots cleaned up, did some shopping for myself, caught up on some work for my piano studio, and spent most of Monday blissfully crafting in preparation for the munchkin's 9th birthday party next weekend.

We're having an ice cream-themed party for just a few girls, and I'm having a great time planning all the little details. I've found lots of inspiration on the internet. Here are a few photos that have sparked ideas:

Amy Moss at Eat Drink Chic

One Charming Party

I did a practice run on this cake last weekend. It turned out great! I'm not so good at piping that pretty edging, but my sister-in-law is, and she's coming up from Florida. Woo-hoo!

Living Locurto

A Little Loveliness

Amy Atlas at Sweet Designs

Amy Atlas at Sweet Designs

Bakerella

I'm seeing beautiful tablescapes, lots of vintage-style elements, custom labels, grosgrain ribbon, pretty paper straws, and everywhere a pennant banner. I'm incorporating all of these elements into the munchkin's party. I can't wait to share the pictures!

Fourth of July Cupcakes

These cupcakes turned out just so darn cute I wanted to share!  It was probably a bit ambitious to make real buttercream for cupcakes that would be served at our family reunion on a 95+ degree day in Georgia. The icing will probably melt and slide right off. Even if it does, the cupcakes themselves are pretty special. There's a surprise inside!

Vanilla Three-Color Cupcakes
(Yields one dozen. Can be doubled.)

Ingredients

1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup milk
gel food coloring in red and blue


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin pan with paper liners.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine flour and baking powder, add to the creamed mixture alternately with the milk until batter is smooth. 
3. Divide batter equally into 3 bowls. Using gel food colors, tint 1/3 of the batter red and 1/3 blue.
4. You can layer the colors in any order you choose. Spoon a small amount of 1st colored batter in the cupcake liners and spread so that it covers the bottom. Spoon a small amount of the 2nd color on top, gently spreading it toward the edges. Finish with the third color. Cupcake liners should be filled about 2/3 to the top.
5. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Cupcakes are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 

Buttercream Icing


1 cup butter, softened
3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
red, white, and blue sprinkles (optional)

In a bowl combine butter, sugar and salt. Beat till blended.
Add the milk and vanilla and beat for an additional 3 to 5 minutes or until smooth and creamy.


Happy Fourth of July!

Shake Your Buttah!

Click on the youtube video below for the soundtrack to this post.


It was raining. We were bored. I was checking out blogs and the munchkin was watching TV. Suddenly, I shouted, "We've GOT to do this!"

I don't think the munchkin even looked up.

"Tell Daddy I'm going to the store, and I'll be back in a minute."

By the time she said, "Huh?" I was gone.

I came back soaking wet but carrying a prize - a pint of heavy cream. And, well...a few more things. I don't know about you, but I've never, ever been able to go to the grocery store and buy only one thing. But, I digress.

"Do you remember reading in Little House In The Big Woods about how the Ingalls family made butter? Well, we're about to make butter."

"COOL!"

I found the idea at Houseful of Nicholes. It looked easy, and it was! We decided to try two methods and compare the results. For the record, I used ultra-pasteurized heavy whipping cream from the grocery store - no special brand. We put about 1/3 of it into a plastic container with a tight sealing lid and a clean marble. I gave it to the munchkin and said, "Shake this 'til you can't hear the marble anymore." She shook it all over the house, and we sang "Shake, shake, shake...shake, shake, shake...shake your BUTTAH! Shake your BUTTAH!"  It wasn't long at all before we couldn't hear the marble anymore. We opened it up and looked inside. We had whipped cream.

"Is that butter?"

"Nope. Now, you have to shake it some more until the buttermilk separates."

So she shook it all over the house for another several minutes until we heard sloshing. When we opened the container, this is what we found.

In case you were wondering, the container's not dirty. It's stained from the soup hubby takes for his lunches. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

We drained the buttermilk off and shook a little more, and drained more buttermilk off. Then we rinsed all of the rest of the buttermilk off and marveled at the miracle of butter!

We put the rest of the cream into the stand mixer. My results were pretty much exactly like the Nicholes'. (Check out her great pictures.) I knew we had reached the goal when the mixer started slinging buttermilk all over the kitchen!

Mix in a little salt, and you're good to go!

Menu Plan Monday

We like to cook once, eat twice.


Sunday & Monday
Emeril's Tex-Mex Venison Chili - Being a classical musician doesn't prevent me from eating wild game. I'm a good Southern girl who has no qualms about eating Bambi!

Tuesday & Wednesday
Roasted chicken breasts with pasta, homemade pesto & roasted asparagus. Split, bone-in chicken breasts are on sale this week at Bi-Lo.

Thursday
Breakfast for supper. Eggs are a dollar for a dozen this week at Bi-Lo.

Friday & Saturday
Cubed steak, rice & gravy, green beans. Cubed steak is on sale at, guess where? Bi-Lo! Now you know where I did this week's shopping!

For more great menu ideas, visit orgjunkie.com!

First Solo Kitchen Flight: Making Brownies

We were drying out from a trip to the neighborhood pool when the munchkin said, "Let's make brownies!"

"Why don't you make them?"

"Can I?"

"I don't know. CAN you?"

Pour in the water.

Measure the oil.

You have to hold your mouth just right to crack the eggs.

Ooops! Fish out the shell.

 

Stir.

Shh...don't tell. The eggs never did get totally mixed in...

Pour it in the pan.

Spread.

Lick the spoon!

I'd show you the finished product, but they're all gone!

Menu Plan Monday

I'm looking forward to a relaxed week with enough time to do a little cooking experimentation. I'll be making good use of the blueberries we picked this weekend! I'm also planning to make some bread. Haven't done that in a while. We'll see how it turns out!

On the list for this week:

London Broil with roasted potatoes and carrots (London Broil is on sale at BiLo this week - buy one, get one)

Chicken leg quarters with rice and broccoli (Chicken leg qtrs are on sale this week at Kroger)

Grilled hamburgers with a new-to-me recipe for Greek Spinach-Pasta Salad

Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars

Milk and Honey Rye Bread - this is also a new recipe! We'll see how it turns out!

Visit orgjunkie for lots of other menu ideas.

Blueberry Picking

Today, we picked 2 gallons of fresh, organic blueberries from a U-pick farm near our home! At least, we had 2 gallons on top of the ones in our stomachs! This is a yearly tradition for us, and fortunately, hubby was able to be off work so he could come with us. The munchkin got a little over-heated about halfway through, but actually, it wasn't nearly as hot as it could have been here in Georgia. Oh well, we survived!

So, what do you do with 2 gallons of blueberries? Freeze them, of course!

Spread dry, unwashed blueberries in a single layer on a baking sheet and put 'em in the freezer for 3-4 hours. This is when I pick through to remove the little stems and bad ones. Once they're frozen, put them in freezer bags. You'll be able to remove just the amount you want from the bag and they won't all stick together. Rinse 'em in a colander, and they're good to go!

Bring on the blueberry recipes!