Monday, September 26, 2011
Lasagna!
Just pulled the lasagna that I made from freezer cooking day out of the freezer. I'm not exactly sure how long it will take to thaw, so depending on the time it takes, my family will either be having that tonight or tomorrow for dinner ;P. Here is the recipe that I made. It comes from "Once A Month Cooking" by Mimi Wilson and Mary Beth Lagerborg.
Dawn's Lasagna
26 oz jar pasta sauce
3/4 C water
32 oz Ricotta cheese
3 eggs
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2/3 C grated Parmesan cheese
16 oz shredded Mozzarella - divided
4 Tbsp finely chopped parsley
1 lb lasagna noodles
Prepare 13x9x2 inch casserole dish w cooking spray. Mix jar of pasta sauce with water. In another bowl mix Ricotta cheese, eggs, salt, pepper, Parmesan, 8 oz of Mozzarella and parsley.
Pour 1/3 pasta sauce in pan. Cover sauce w one layer of uncooked lasagna. Spread cheese mixture over lasagna, and finally w remaining pasta sauce, being careful to cover lasagna.
Cover w heavy foil. Store remaining 8 oz Mozzarella in a quart bag taped to the dish, label and freeze.
To sere, thaw lasagna and bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 45 min. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and bake for 10 minutes.
*I made another layer in my lasagna. There was soo much cheese and not enough noodles. I also added a half pound of hamburger meat to my sauce, lest my husband complain for lack of meat. This lasagna is HUGE! I think next time I will portion it in 2 pans instead of 1. I feel like the amount of cheese would go as far as 2 lasagnas and I had leftover noodles too!
Updates when we try it!
Dawn's Lasagna
26 oz jar pasta sauce
3/4 C water
32 oz Ricotta cheese
3 eggs
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2/3 C grated Parmesan cheese
16 oz shredded Mozzarella - divided
4 Tbsp finely chopped parsley
1 lb lasagna noodles
Prepare 13x9x2 inch casserole dish w cooking spray. Mix jar of pasta sauce with water. In another bowl mix Ricotta cheese, eggs, salt, pepper, Parmesan, 8 oz of Mozzarella and parsley.
Pour 1/3 pasta sauce in pan. Cover sauce w one layer of uncooked lasagna. Spread cheese mixture over lasagna, and finally w remaining pasta sauce, being careful to cover lasagna.
Cover w heavy foil. Store remaining 8 oz Mozzarella in a quart bag taped to the dish, label and freeze.
To sere, thaw lasagna and bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 45 min. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and bake for 10 minutes.
*I made another layer in my lasagna. There was soo much cheese and not enough noodles. I also added a half pound of hamburger meat to my sauce, lest my husband complain for lack of meat. This lasagna is HUGE! I think next time I will portion it in 2 pans instead of 1. I feel like the amount of cheese would go as far as 2 lasagnas and I had leftover noodles too!
Updates when we try it!
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Meatballs!
Tonight will be the first night that my family tastes one of the recipes that I made from my freezer cooking day. They are eating Spaghetti and Meatballs tonight. Here is the recipe for Meatballs taken from "Don't Panic, Dinner's in the Freezer" by Susie Martinez, Vanda Howell and Bonnie Garcia.
One really nice thing about this book is that they give you the conversions if you want to make more than one batch of the recipe! Math is not my strong point so to me this is fabulous!
Meatballs - single batch
1 1/2 lbs. ground meat - I used beef, but you could really use whatever you want!
1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
1/3 cup onion, chopped
1/4 cup milk
1 egg
1 Tbsp. parsley flakes
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Recipe yields: 20 medium meatballs - I started to make mine "medium" but they were still huge! So I made mine smaller and it made about 35-40! They're still good sized too!
Cooking day instructions: Combine all ingredients and mix together gently. Shape mixture into balls and arrange on jelly roll pan. Cover meatballs and flash freeze (put in freezer until frozen). Remove meatballs from pan and freeze using freezer bag method (place in bag and press all all air out, seal and label).
Serving day instructions: Thaw meatballs completly and place in a 350 degree oven for 30 min. (I did 24 min since mine were smaller and it was fine). Remove from pan and allow to cool or serve immediately.
You can use these with marinara sauce, bbq, cream sauce, really anything you want.
These were seriously so easy and quick to make! I will never buy meatballs from the store again!
They smelled incredible and the family ate them just fine minus my son who won't eat any meat other than chicken off the bone. This is such a cheap way to make a filling meal! Especially if you get the meat at a good price - cough cough - managers specials - cough. :) Pasta sauce, BBQ and pasta can be free or really cheap with coupons too!
Hope you enjoy!
More recipes from this book and others to come! It's a great book that I would think of purchasing if you're interested in freezer cooking! They also have a sequel that I have yet to purchase, but will most likely be purchasing soon!
One really nice thing about this book is that they give you the conversions if you want to make more than one batch of the recipe! Math is not my strong point so to me this is fabulous!
Meatballs - single batch
1 1/2 lbs. ground meat - I used beef, but you could really use whatever you want!
1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
1/3 cup onion, chopped
1/4 cup milk
1 egg
1 Tbsp. parsley flakes
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Recipe yields: 20 medium meatballs - I started to make mine "medium" but they were still huge! So I made mine smaller and it made about 35-40! They're still good sized too!
Cooking day instructions: Combine all ingredients and mix together gently. Shape mixture into balls and arrange on jelly roll pan. Cover meatballs and flash freeze (put in freezer until frozen). Remove meatballs from pan and freeze using freezer bag method (place in bag and press all all air out, seal and label).
Serving day instructions: Thaw meatballs completly and place in a 350 degree oven for 30 min. (I did 24 min since mine were smaller and it was fine). Remove from pan and allow to cool or serve immediately.
You can use these with marinara sauce, bbq, cream sauce, really anything you want.
These were seriously so easy and quick to make! I will never buy meatballs from the store again!
They smelled incredible and the family ate them just fine minus my son who won't eat any meat other than chicken off the bone. This is such a cheap way to make a filling meal! Especially if you get the meat at a good price - cough cough - managers specials - cough. :) Pasta sauce, BBQ and pasta can be free or really cheap with coupons too!
Hope you enjoy!
More recipes from this book and others to come! It's a great book that I would think of purchasing if you're interested in freezer cooking! They also have a sequel that I have yet to purchase, but will most likely be purchasing soon!
Possible Items for Kroger Next Week
Here are items that are currently on sale in the Southeast region for Kroger. As mentioned in earlier blogs, Kroger's sales begin in other parts of the country and come to our area later in the week. I like to plan ahead by looking at other regions ads because it gives me an idea of what to expect. Deals aren't always the same, but are usually pretty close! I just discovered this blog, and it is pretty good! I'll keep you updated on further finds!
http://faithfulprovisions.com/2011/09/23/kroger-deals-september-25-october-1/
http://faithfulprovisions.com/2011/09/23/kroger-deals-september-25-october-1/
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Freezer Cooking Update
As I mentioned in my first post of the day, I attempted Freezer Cooking today. Results? So far so good! I made everything on my list except Zucchini Bread which I will probably make tomorrow and take to work. I have 6 cups of shredded zucchini in my freezer that I want to get rid of. It was actually not that bad making all of those things! The only thing that I actually had to cook was some meat so the kitchen didn't get hot and sticky. It was mostly just assembling dishes, wrapping them and washing dishes. Surprisingly, my kitchen is clean at the moment since I cleaned as I went.
Here is what I found out today:
The lasagna didn't have meat in it, so I added some of my own lest the husband complain.
The manicotti stuffing didn't quite fit the amount of shells that it said it would, but I still got 6 out of it.
The mexican lasagna sauce was double the amount that I needed, so I froze some for next time.
I accidentally opened a can of chili beans instead of black beans... oops. Froze those too.
While cooking my chicken I accidentally made homemade chicken broth! Added bonus!
My freezers are stuffed to the max. Which is good.. but what if I find a good deal on something that is frozen? Bigger freezer for Christmas? ;P Overall I feel a great sense of accomplishment and am kind of in awe at the fact that I have so many dinners made! It's awesome! Whoo hoo!
The Vegetable Beef soup smells amazing and I can't wait to try it! Recipes to come!
Here is what I found out today:
The lasagna didn't have meat in it, so I added some of my own lest the husband complain.
The manicotti stuffing didn't quite fit the amount of shells that it said it would, but I still got 6 out of it.
The mexican lasagna sauce was double the amount that I needed, so I froze some for next time.
I accidentally opened a can of chili beans instead of black beans... oops. Froze those too.
While cooking my chicken I accidentally made homemade chicken broth! Added bonus!
My freezers are stuffed to the max. Which is good.. but what if I find a good deal on something that is frozen? Bigger freezer for Christmas? ;P Overall I feel a great sense of accomplishment and am kind of in awe at the fact that I have so many dinners made! It's awesome! Whoo hoo!
The Vegetable Beef soup smells amazing and I can't wait to try it! Recipes to come!
Kroger Today and a note on Schnucks!
Ok, so I mentioned that it's Thursday in my earlier post. So that means that I need to post what I got at the K- Roger today!
Produce:
Celery 1.49
Potato .63
Organic Granny Smith Apples 4.99
Meat:
Pot Roast - on managers special for 3.34
Pot Roast - on managers special for 3.07 - using these in Vegetable Beef soup for tonight :)
Box/Canned:
Quaker Barley - 2.39 - for soup
Egg Noodles - 3.99
2 - Cans green chiles - 1.05 ea
Vinegar - .98
Dairy:
Breakstone Sour Cream - 2.04 mega sale pricing
Kraft Singles - 1.99 mega sale pricing
Used .50/1Kraft Singles that was in a blinkie machine right in front of it, doubled to 1.00, so final price was .99
4 - Yoplait Gogurt - 1.99 mega sale pricing
Used 1.00/2 IP from pillsbury.com - 1.49 ea
Frozen:
9 - Birdseye Steamfresh Vegetables - .99 megasale pricing
Used .35/1 tearpad coupon, doubled to .70 = .29 each
1 - Sister Schuberts Rolls - 2.19 megasale pricing - to go w/soup
3 - Stouffers Single Serve Lasagnas - 2.28 megasale pricing
Used 1.00/3 catalina received last time I went to Kroger, = 1.95 ea.
Received another catalina for 1.00/5
2 - New York Garlic Ciabatta Bread - on closeout for 1.08
Double pack Disposable Roaster/Baker pans (for my lasagnas I'm making) - 2.69 megasale pricing
Total: 47.16 - saved 44% or 37.80 not including closeouts/managers specials. Not my best trip, but was getting things so I can use the items in my stockpile. Still not a bad trip though :)
A lot of frozen bread was on closeout at my store, and from what I can tell, the other Krogers in the area tend to do the same closeout items. Also storage bags were on closeout too for a decent price. Still a few bottles of closeout pricing on laundry detergent too. Check your store for these items.
I wanted to get some more Jamba Juice smoothies but my store was all out. Boo.
Getting close to crossing out everything on my list of items to stockpile. It's pretty exciting and rewarding!
Also wanted to mention that you can get Honey Nut Chex at Schnucks for .77 this week. They are on sale for 1.77 and if you have the .50/1 Chex Coupon from the last General Mills insert, then you can get them for that price. Schucks in our area doubles coupons too and anything over .55 doubles to 1.00! I'll keep you updated on other Schnucks deals that I find since some of you live close to that store ;)
Produce:
Celery 1.49
Potato .63
Organic Granny Smith Apples 4.99
Meat:
Pot Roast - on managers special for 3.34
Pot Roast - on managers special for 3.07 - using these in Vegetable Beef soup for tonight :)
Box/Canned:
Quaker Barley - 2.39 - for soup
Egg Noodles - 3.99
2 - Cans green chiles - 1.05 ea
Vinegar - .98
Dairy:
Breakstone Sour Cream - 2.04 mega sale pricing
Kraft Singles - 1.99 mega sale pricing
Used .50/1Kraft Singles that was in a blinkie machine right in front of it, doubled to 1.00, so final price was .99
4 - Yoplait Gogurt - 1.99 mega sale pricing
Used 1.00/2 IP from pillsbury.com - 1.49 ea
Frozen:
9 - Birdseye Steamfresh Vegetables - .99 megasale pricing
Used .35/1 tearpad coupon, doubled to .70 = .29 each
1 - Sister Schuberts Rolls - 2.19 megasale pricing - to go w/soup
3 - Stouffers Single Serve Lasagnas - 2.28 megasale pricing
Used 1.00/3 catalina received last time I went to Kroger, = 1.95 ea.
Received another catalina for 1.00/5
2 - New York Garlic Ciabatta Bread - on closeout for 1.08
Double pack Disposable Roaster/Baker pans (for my lasagnas I'm making) - 2.69 megasale pricing
Total: 47.16 - saved 44% or 37.80 not including closeouts/managers specials. Not my best trip, but was getting things so I can use the items in my stockpile. Still not a bad trip though :)
A lot of frozen bread was on closeout at my store, and from what I can tell, the other Krogers in the area tend to do the same closeout items. Also storage bags were on closeout too for a decent price. Still a few bottles of closeout pricing on laundry detergent too. Check your store for these items.
I wanted to get some more Jamba Juice smoothies but my store was all out. Boo.
Getting close to crossing out everything on my list of items to stockpile. It's pretty exciting and rewarding!
Also wanted to mention that you can get Honey Nut Chex at Schnucks for .77 this week. They are on sale for 1.77 and if you have the .50/1 Chex Coupon from the last General Mills insert, then you can get them for that price. Schucks in our area doubles coupons too and anything over .55 doubles to 1.00! I'll keep you updated on other Schnucks deals that I find since some of you live close to that store ;)
Freezer Cooking Day
Today is the day that I have decided to try freezer cooking! I went to Kroger this morning (it's Thursday ;)) and got anything that I didn't have in my stockpile, which wasn't much. I was proud :). This is what I am making today:
Lasagna
Mexican Lasagna
Meatballs
Chicken Tetrazzini
Vegetable Beef Soup
Enchiladas
and maybe Zucchini Bread if I have time.
So far, I am finished with chopping all of the vegetables and am just waiting for the meat to cook. I like this so far. Feels very structured and productive. I was reminded of how much I hate cooking when I'm tired last night. It's not so much the cooking but cleaning all of the pans/dishes afterwards. We'll see how this alleviates that. I'll keep adding to the post as I go and will give reviews of the recipes as we try them. :)
Lasagna
Mexican Lasagna
Meatballs
Chicken Tetrazzini
Vegetable Beef Soup
Enchiladas
and maybe Zucchini Bread if I have time.
So far, I am finished with chopping all of the vegetables and am just waiting for the meat to cook. I like this so far. Feels very structured and productive. I was reminded of how much I hate cooking when I'm tired last night. It's not so much the cooking but cleaning all of the pans/dishes afterwards. We'll see how this alleviates that. I'll keep adding to the post as I go and will give reviews of the recipes as we try them. :)
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