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.

The luck of being the lucky

I didn't want to post anything because I really enjoyed pulling up my blog and seeing the sweet post that Tay made. When I opened up my blog V-day morning after breakfast and saw he did that I started crying! He is such a sweetie! He made V-day so special, I am so grateful for his kindness to me. 

Here is our delish V-day meal-

the recipe:

-2 fresh squeezed oranges

-4 tbs. hoisin sauce

-2 tbs. oyster sauce (I forgot to add this and it still tasted amazing)

-2 tbs. sesame oil

-2 tbs. garlic chili pepper sauce

-1 tbs. cornstarch dissolved in 1/3 cup water

-4 individual thawed salmon portions

-20 shrimp

-1 pound broccoli or asparagus cut up

-3 tbs. canola oil

Directions:

1. Combine orange juice, hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil and chili pepper sauce in small bowl.

2. Add the cornstarch and water and set aside.

3. Heat half the oil in a large fry pan and add shrimp. Toss around in the hot oil until the shrimp turns opaque and slightly pink. Remove to plate. 

4. Add the salmon portions and brown on both sides on medium heat. Turn the heat down slightly and

 fry until opaque and flakes to the center. 

5. Add the rest of the oil to the pan and stir fry the broccoli/asparagus several minutes on medium high heat unil tender crisp. Add the salmon and shrimp back to the pan and add the sauce/cornstarch. Stir carefully until the sauce thickens.

6. Serve with rice. 

(don't buy the frozen kind of salmon or shrimp..fresh always taste best!)

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

Tay was so sweet and ordered fresh rose flower pedals...he spread them all over the bed and they were so beautiful...but the pedals stained our WHOLE bedspread! I don't know how to get the stains out! HELP..if you know any tricks to getting stains out please let me know! 

My grams made this quilt and so it means a lot to us. 

all in all we had a wonderful day!

 I hope to always make V-day a special day every year!

 

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.  

A little bit of wow here and there

wow I don't normal think I am awesome but I am feeling pretty awesome.

I didn't know what to make for dinner and I decided to make this yummy thing: that I half put together in my head and half spun off of another recipe that I have made before..

so easy I just did the following;

cook spiral noodles in boiling hot water with a tad of salt

cook meat with seasoning (I used beef, I think sausage would also taste deluxe)

then drain noodles when cooked..add noodles and meat

in a 9x13 pan and stir with 1 jar of spaghetti sauce

I topped it off with cheese and red pepper to give it a nice kick.

preheat oven to 350 and bake for 25min

serve with Caesar salad (thanks to my friend Kelsey I am now addicted to Caesar salads!)

okay I just love babies! I really want to just munch on a baby right now.

This cute little girl made me smile:)..I love her laugh and her cute little voice.
She is pretending to read..enjoy:)

The Smell of Pine

This is a random thought post:

I have always hated lipstick..

mostly because I felt as if I had just smeared cake all over my lips and just left it there. 

Well since about 3 weeks ago I rediscovered lipstick. 

I now wear it everyday.

Grace gave me these BEAUTIFUL flowers.

Made my day. She is hands down one of the most thoughtful people

I know! She is always sending me sweet cards and doing so much for us.

 LOVE YOU GRACE.

Tay gave me a hot chocolate maker last year.

This machine has been good to me this winter. 

Makes my soul feel warm and cozy inside..just like a "good friend"!:)

I made these scrumptious pumpkin muffins and they are so moist and delish! 

click here for the recipe

 This year we did our tree silver and blue...I like the combo:)

QUESTION..

So I would like to know your opinions..(for the few of you that look at my blog)

Gift cards have gotten the reputation of being thoughtless.

 I actually think they are AMAZING.

I love receiving gift cards and I think they are great if you know that person likes to go to a certain place to din out. I put a lot of thought when getting gifts and sometimes gift cards end up being the best way I can think to suite certain people and what they like to do. 

 Are you a gift carder giver or a gift card hater?

Tay and I were sitting at home and decided to tell each other everything we 

thought the other person is good at..

I went first..and told him everything I thought he was good at.

Then he went.

After he was done I said, "you forgot to say singing"

he paused..

"you mean that you like to sing"

haha it is so sad and so true..I sing all the time..in the car, shower, in the store, randomly in front of friends, I am just NOT a good singer but I love to sing:)

Most of our car rides consists of us singing and dancing.

 (luckily I am not singing in this one so it is much more pleasant)

Show-in the love~

~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!