Freezer Meals for Busy Baseball Moms

 Like I said in my previous post, baseball season makes it really hard to plan meals when things are a moving target.  Once practices are done and they are only playing games, it should get a bit easier.  But until then, I really needed to up my meal planning game.  It took me from 11 am until 2 pm yesterday, but I was able to get several meal options in the freezer. 

The first thing I did was to make two 2 pound batches of venison taco meat.  My guys could eat tacos every day so this one was a no brainer.  I browned up the ground venison, added taco seasoning and once it was cooled, I divided it up between to freezer bags.

The next item up was to make hamburger patties to freeze individually.  The grocery store had ground beef and ground turkey on sale (not a fabulous sale but a sale nonetheless). So I bought 6 pounds of ground beef (80/20) and some lean ground turkey.  I managed to get 36 beef burger patties and 4 turkey burger patties (should have been 8 patties but one of my packages of turkey smelled TERRIBLE so I tossed it).  I froze the burgers on a sheet pan with a layer of wax paper between them.  Once frozen, I put them in freezer bags.

 

 Next up was two servings of  Slow Cooker Broccoli Beef and two servings of Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken

So all together, that should give me 12-14 meals that I can pull out and use in a hurry.

I also had some bananas going bad, so I decided to make some THM Chocolate Banana Muffins for the Hubby and the Little Guy to have for breakfast this week.

There are many great recipes on Pinterest for freezer cooking.  I happen to be partial to Jamerill Stewart at Large Family Table and even though my family isn't as large as hers, I can modify portion sizes to fit our family of five.

I wanted to make this Keto Meatball Recipe but ran out of meat and time.

I have made this Twice Baked Potato freezer side dish in the past and they are fantastic.  I hope to be able to make them again some time after the Easter holiday.  

Do you have any favorite freezer meal recipes that you use?  Leave a comment below and let me know.  I'm always looking for new ideas.

The Best of 2020: Recipe Addition

Of all the things 2020 gave us, we seemed to get a renewed interest in cooking, gardening, and apparently making sourdough bread.  While I didn't personally make sourdough bread, I did do a lot of cooking.  The following are some of my favorite NEW recipes from 2020.

1.  Mississippi Chicken by Plain Chicken
It's just got a good flavor and is so juicy.  

2.  Sticky, Sweet, and Spicy Meatballs from Our Happy Mess
I call these sriracha meatballs.  I use gluten free panko crumbs and skip the egg to make these allergy friendly for our family.  I like to serve them over brown rice with steamed broccoli on the side.
  
3.  Greek Turkey and Rice Skillet from Budget Bytes
This is a good "bulk" meal to feed my hungry men.  It can be done cost effective and fills up their bellies.  The olives and the feta give it great flavor.  

4.  Easy Taco Mac from Maebell's Simply Easy Recipes.
Another good bulk meal.  My people love all things "taco".  This more than fits the bill and again, can be done economically.  

5.  Triple Decker Club Sandwich from Oh Sweet Basil
I'm not sure why I don't think of sandwiches for dinner more often, but I don't.  I make these to everyone's taste.  One is allergic to mayo so I leave that off for him.  Two don't like avocados so I leave those off for them and give extra avocado to the child obsessed with them.  Sandwiches can be quick and are great in the summer when it's hot out and you don't feel like cooking.

6. Fast and Easy Pesto Lasagna from Food & Wine
I used a nut free jarred Pesto sauce, gluten free lasagna noodles, and skipped the egg.  Easy and allergy friendly.

7.  Smothered Philly Cheese Cube Steak from Melissa's  Southern Style Kitchen
We bought a quarter cow last year and it came with cube steaks.  I never used cube steaks before and didn't have a clue what to do with them.  This recipe was a real crowd pleaser.  I used gluten free buns for the child with food allergies.  Just be careful if you put buns under the broiler.  They go FAST and I incinerated the first batch.

Some Extras:

8.  Pressure Cooker Beans from A Mindfull Mom
I ALWAYS forget to soak the beans.  With this recipe, you don't have to.  

9.  Teriyaki Sauce from The Genuine Table
I have a hard time finding allergy friendly teriyaki sauce.  Now I can just make my own.

10.  Sweet and Spicy Asian Coleslaw
We did garden this year.  And I got several giant cabbage.  Two children refuse to eat cabbage and one of those children has the food allergies.  I made the recipe as is, but if he liked cabbage, I would have subbed the mayo with a vegan version.  

You can find photos of most of these over on The Prayer, Grace, and Tea Instagram

I would like to give a BIG THANK YOU to all the workers of Giant Eagle Curbside and Delivery, Instacart Pick Up and Delivery, and Walmart Store Pick Up for all their hard work keeping us in food this year.  I am so grateful to you for all your hard work when I either couldn't get into the store or didn't feel safe going into the store.  My son works in the meat department of Giant Eagle so I know exactly how hard you all worked and what you had to go through.  THANK YOU!

A Thankful Month

 I can't believe we are moving into mid-November.  I feel like Christmas is right around the corner (and I am SO trying not to stress about it...  I will not be stressed this Christmas.  I will be a bucket of  peace and calmness...).

This is also the month for Catholics to remember the ones that we've lost (All Souls Day is in the beginning of the month, but we can carry this through all month long).  We currently have a bowl on the kitchen counter with any prayer cards of friends and family that we have lost and a list of names for those we have lost but don't have cards for.  It's a reminder to keep praying for them and to keep praying for the Holy Souls in Purgatory.

I sat down this morning and wrote out my Thanksgiving menu and my grocery list.  I usually start cooking the Tuesday before (making the cranberries and the gluten free bread for the stuffing).  Pie, sweet potato casserole, and green bean casserole are done on Wednesday.  And I save the Brussels sprouts, mashed potatoes, and turkey for Thursday.  I feel less stressed doing this in steps and with a plan.  All of this needs to be free of wheat, rye, barley, oat, egg, peanut, and tree nut.  I've been doing it for so many years that it's not a problem, but when I first started out, things came out not so well but everyone was kind enough to not complain.  My biggest issue is usually the gluten free, egg free pie crust.  There was one year where it took me 3 hours to get the pie to a point that it would be edible.  And then I accidentally dropped it on the floor while taking it out of the oven.  It was a sad, sad day.  So I had to start all over again at 9 pm making a whole new pie.  Thankfully the movie Gone With The Wind was on that night to help get me through.

Christmas music started on Sirius XM November 1st.  While I have been thankful for that, it has taken my kids a few weeks to come around.  But they are into it now too.  I'm considering putting up one of our Christmas trees this week too.  I know it's a tad early, but I am SO READY!!  I've been watching Hallmark Christmas movies since they started also.  Being the only female in the house, I can honestly say that I truly am the only one thankful for the Hallmark Christmas movies.  But we have enough TV's in the house that it all works out fine.

Last week, I started to buy a few things for Christmas.  Just for the boys.  I have a list, but they change their minds on things so frequently, that I don't want to do too much yet.

I also bought a few new Christmas-y smelling candles last week.  I LOVE scented candles and I usually buy my candles from Yankee Candle, but this year I thought I had a gift card to Bath and Body Works (turned out it was for Bed, Bath and Beyond... I should learn to read better) so I went there and am going to try their 3 wick candles which I have not tried before.  They were on sale, so I hope I like them and that they have good "throw".

I still have to do the family Christmas card.  I usually make it on one of those "online photo sharing sites".  But I'm not sure exactly what I want to do yet.  I was thinking that if I put up the small tree, maybe I could gather the boys around it and take a photo and use that.  I usually use ones that we took throughout the year, but I feel like it's gotten old and maybe we need to mix it up a bit.  Whatever I'm going to do, I better figure it out soon because I usually send out the cards the first week of December.

So that's the current happenings in a nut shell.  I'm just trying to remember to be thankful for everything this month.  I hope it becomes more of habit and I will remember all the things to be thankful for EVERY month.

Links:

My Pinterest Thanksgiving Recipe Board

Bath and Body Works 3 wick candle page

Hallmark Countdown to Christmas 2018

My favorite turkey roaster from Granite Ware (Walmart link)  I have a small version of this that I use for roasting chicken too.  They are great and they clean up very well.

More about November and the month of the Holy Souls in Purgatory from CatholicCulture.org

(these are NOT affiliate links and I get no compensation for sharing them. I'm just sharing some things that I like)