Freezer Meals

Well I have been extremely productive the past 2 weeks, organizing, cleaning. I am now out of things to do so I decided to take my sister's advice and make some freezer meals. I was so excited to do this. 

I made:

Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas

Goulash

Wild Rice Chicken Casserole 

Spinach Lasagna 

Healthy Corn Muffins

& yummy homemade maple syrup 

Here are the recipes:

 Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas:

1/3 c. honey

¼ c. lime juice

1 tbls. Chili powder

½ tsp. garlic powder

1 pound chicken, cooked and shredded

8-10 flour tortillas

1 pound Monterey jack cheese, shredded

2 cans green enchilada sauce

1 can green chilies

¾ c. sour cream

Mix the honey, lime juice, spices, green chilies, sour cream, and chicken.

Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spary. Fill flour tortillas with chicken mixture. Pour enchilada sauce over the top and sprinkle with cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 min until brown and crispy on top.  

Source: I have actually taken 3 different recipes and combined them to create this one. 

Goulash 

1lb ground beef

1 can tomato soup

6 oz can tomato paste

2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni  (I used whole wheat noodles)

2 Tbsp Italian seasoning (more to taste)

1 can (15oz) corn, drained

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1-2 cups shredded cheese (depending on your “cheesiness” preference)

1. Brown Ground beef with onion powder and garlic powder.  Drain.

2. Cook noodles according to package, drain

3. In a large bowl, combine soup, tomato paste, Italian seasoning, noodles and ground beef.  Stir in corn.

4. Transfer to an ungreased 8X8 freezer baking dish and top with cheese.  I buy the foil pans.  Easy peasy and you wont be missing a pan while this meal is in the freezer waiting.

5. Cover with foil.  I like to use heavy duty foil and double wrap it to prevent freezer burn.  Label and freeze.

Cooking instructions: Thaw and bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes until heated through and melted cheese.

source: Joyful Momma's Kitchen

Chicken and Wild Rice

1 box wild rice with seasoning packet (4.3 oz)

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can water

6 boneless skinless chicken thighs, uncooked

1. Mix together rice with seasoning packet, both cans of soup, and water.  Stir in mushrooms. (don’t need to cook rice before just put it in.)

2. Pour in to 8X8 freezer dish, I use the foil pans.  Top with 6 chicken pieces and sprinkle with slivered almonds.

3. Double wrap in heavy duty foil, label and freeze.

Cooking Instruction: Thaw and bake uncovered at 350 for 1 hour until chicken juices run clear and rice is tender. 

source: Joyful Momma's Kitchen

HEALTHY CORN MUFFINS:

Take one can of white beans (do not drain) blend in blender to thick paste. This makes about 2 cups. You can freeze the rest for later use.

In a medium bowl mix together:

1 c. of pureed white beans

1 c. applesauce

1 c. honey

4 tbl. Oil

1 c. milk

2 eggs

In a larger mixing bowl whisk together:

2 c. whole wheat flour

1 ½ c. corn meal

1 tsp salt

2 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

Directions:

Pour liquid mixture into the dry mixture and stir gently to combine. Batter will be slightly lumpy. Spray muffin tins well and fill about 2/3 full. Bake at 375 for 15 min. 

Source: Janie Smith 

Homemade Maple Syrup

*Makes about 10 cups (2 1/2 quarts) of syrup

INGREDIENTS:

8 cups granulated sugar

1 cup packed light or dark brown sugar

1/2 cup honey

4 cups water

2 teaspoons pure maple extract

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

In a large 5-6 quart pot, combine the sugars, honey and water. Bring the mixture to a boil and reduce the heat to low so the mixture gently simmers. Cover the pot and simmer the mixture for 15 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and let it cool for 20 minutes before stirring in the maple and vanilla extracts. Let the syrup cool in the pot for another 40 minutes, or so, stirring occasionally, before filling jars/containers. Once the containers are filled, let them cool to room temperature uncovered.

Store covered in jars or other containers in the refrigerator. It will keep for up to 2 months in the refrigerator. 

Source: Melskitchencafe.com

Well your welcome, all of these are fabulous recipes! Great for nights that you are in a hurry or even if you are not in the mood to cook.

Side note:

I am so ready for our little guy to come! 

We even have the car seat and a bag packed for him and me in the car ready to go! I am seriously ready to meet him! We are hoping he will come tonight or sometime this weekend but who knows he might even make me wait to see him next week.

Cravings

I think it is cute when other women take pictures of the different stages of pregnancy but I must say I could care less to document myself right now. Although I am loving seeing my belly get big. Some days I like it more than others but today I was feeling extra proud of having this little man inside of me and so I snapped a shot. This is the first and will probably be the last (maybe one toward the end when I am like a giant balloon ready to pop). 

~So here I am at 5 1/2 months~

I have not bought any pregnancy pants yet..

Mostly because I don't think they are very cute and they are way expensive to only have for 4 months. All I want is dresses. I love dresses, if I could I would wear a pretty dress EVERYDAY. I hate jeans, I always have since I was little just ask my Dad and my sister (I would cry when ever they would put me in jeans, I just wanted to wear dresses all the time). I don't mind jeans in the winter but even then I prefer to be in a dress. So we will see, I am getting really big so I should probably just give in and get some.

 Anyone know where I can get some cute prego pants?

Cravings:

I have just been loving veggies like I have never loved before.

Especially broiled asparagus. 

Another craving:

homemade wheat bread with cheese and tomatoes! 

YUM! I have this like everyday for lunch.

Gosh I sure love food. If I don't eat for long periods of time well...I am not a happy individual. My doctor told me my blood pressure is really low and that is because I am either not drinking enough or eating enough but that just seems impossible, I EAT. So I better start gulping down more water. Which won't be hard to do I just hate having to go to the restroom every 20min. I was hoping that was just a myth of pregnancy.

Yeah.. Its not. 

A Slice of Natural

For any of you that are interested in eating healthier and saving money in the long run these 3 machines are very handy:

This little machine is the Norpro Flaker aka grain grinder...

the cost is around $60 dollars

I use these to grind wheat for mush aka oatmeal. Great way to start the day, we also add millet

to add more of a thick texture. Millet is also good for you. There are tons of different grains you can add in mush. Lots of the grains have a plentiful amount of protein in them, which is way better for you then the diet Protein shakes.

This is an automatic grain flaker. We use this to make oats. I was so sick of spending 5 bucks for a small box of oats when I could buy a bag of fresh oats and grind them for the same price but the amount of oats is triple the quantity of the Quaker oats store bought kind.

 and my favorite....the whisper mill.

This is what I use to grind fresh whole wheat flour for our bread. Very easy and very worth it! Store bought whole wheat flour is not obviously as fresh and a lot of the nutrients is lost from sitting on the store shelf for days.

These machine is a little more expensive..whisper mills run about $200.00 and I think they have even gone up a little. 

Some people think it is so much work and so much more money to eat healthy. Well in some cases it is true. But Tay and I decided we would rather spend a little more money to eat healthy and take care of the bodies we are so blessed to have. Health always comes back to bit people when they are older and then you end up spending so much money on medical bills which cost way more then buying healthy foods...just saying. 

I am not trying portray myself as these perfect healthy person..because I am not. I eat my fair share of cookies, brownies, pizza, etc. although it is all in moderation..as we have all heard before.

I was blessed to be raised by a Father that really taught each one of his kids how to take care of our bodies in a healthy manner. It took me 15 yrs to finally like mush!

 We had two options in Dad's home..eat it or go hungry.

 I am not nearly as good as he is but I want to one day ingrain in my little people how important it is to eat healthy.  

~Father's Day Joy~

Delightful Roast~

I got this meal idea from my friend, Kelsey~ she was kind enough to share the recipe with us:)













Ingredients:

Roast (I use a different size everytime, it just depends on how many people you are serving for)

1 bag carrots

1 bag of red patatos (chopped in half)

2 cans of mushroom soup

2 packages of onion soup mix

In a 9 x 13 dish, sprinkle a little bit of onion soup mix and then set the thawed roast in the middle, then place the patatos and carrots in around the roast. Pour mushroom soup and 1 cup of water over all of it and the rest of the onion soup mix.

Cover tightly with tin foil

Bake @ 350 for 4 hrs.

SSSSOOOo easy and so delish!

Serve with rolls and salad (or what ever your heart desires).




Blonde Brownies~

I got this recipe from my Awesome Dad! He is a really awesome cook! Although his version of these brownies are more healthy he uses bean flour and whole wheat flour. I pefer to go the all SWEET way:)

Seriously~ go make these, you won't regret it.

2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2/3 c. butter (1 cube & 1/3) - use some of the butter to greese the pan

Mix in large bowl till creamy

then add~

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 c. flour

1 tsp. baking powder

A quarter of a tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

Mix together

Pour into pan then sprinkle chocolate chips on top I also added butterscotch chips

Bake @ 350 for 25-30 min.

Livin it and Lovin it~

Behold...My project~

Our friends introduced us to this awesome game called "Aggravation" They bought it from some lovely Amish people for $45 dollars (online they are $50). I was truly obsessed with playing the game everyday. I didn't want to fork out $50 bucks so I took matters into my own hands and built one for myself.....it really was harder then I thought it would be and I am not as skilled as those Amish people but by the time I got done I only paid $18 dollars for the whole project!

Our late nights~

Tay gets home late and so at night we enjoy soaking up every minute together! I just can't get enough of him..thank goodness I have him for eternity!

Enjoying yummy sticky fingers (Winger's recipe..click here to get the fabulous recipe..taste JUST like Winger's but even BETTER and SOO easy to make!)

I was really excited about this recipe as you can tell..

Pool time with Makall and the most happy little girl, Hailey!:) (she is really making Tay and I baby hungry)

and..that is all for now..





I will try to be better at taking pictures. I have just been so BUSY with NOT having a job or going to school. Sometimes when Tay gets home I just have to complain how hard it is to lay out by the pool.



















Although in the mist of my busy life, I have learned how to cook some AWESOME meals to keep my man happy:) .....maybe., just maybe I will post some of the recipes!