Happy Saturday!

What have I been doing, you ask? Cleaning and organizing and cooking and I FINISHED WORKING OUTSIDE THE HOME!!!! Woohoo!! I'm a full-time stay at home mom now! This past week I accomplished a few things. I re-organized Elijah's room and vaccumed/cleaned. I re-organzed Riley's closet which meant FINALLY getting rid of the rickety dresser that she has had since she was a baby. (It came in a set with the crib and changing table, both of which have been long gone!) I still need to cleanout the rest of her room. Enjoy the photos of my week!

Elijah's nice clean room:

 

Riley's organized closet:

 

A sneek peek of our homeschooling space that is currently getting put together:

 

 



Oh Mr Laundry Room.. I WILL get you organized

Ah..... I have almost finished reorganizing our laundry room... The floor is clean, everything has a home... well, as long as you don't look at the counter or in the cabinets, but I'm getting there. The last time I posted, I was showing off my super unorganized laundry room, so now that most of it is finished, I will share it again.

Here is the area above the washer and dryer nicely organized:

 

Here is the cleaned up floor/moved freezer:

 

This is the organized shelves above the freezer:

 

Last, but not least, this is the laundry sorting area behind the door:

(Since our 6 year old is in charge of sorting the kids laundry, notice the color cheat sheets on the wall)

 

See! I can clean! Hahaha!

 

We also recently had a fun game of hide-a-kid. Fun times! Enjoy the pics!



 



 

 

 

 

 

 

Lets get organized.. organized!

Aye! So, it is becoming very apparent that we will be PCSing in just a few months and the time is definitely going by quickly. We have managed to sell a ton of kids' outgrown clothes and have given loads of stuff to charities. With work finishing up for me on THURSDAY I am starting to make my plans for deep cleaning the house and purging all the rest of the junk that is stashed everywhere. Today I started it off by cleaning out the pantry and tossing anything that is expired (a larger amount of stuff than I would have liked) and started cleaning out the laundry room. HOW ON EARTH DID WE GET SO MUCH JUNK!?! Anyway... Here's a pic of the cleaned out pantry.

And now for the not so finished part... the laundry room...

The washer/dryer are cleaned off and wiped down, and we went through and tossed/gave away all the nearly empty/empty/never gonna use supplies that were on the shelf. It just needs organizing now.

The rest of the room is still a ways from being finished though... I want to move the freezer under the shelves and clean everything else out of the floor, move the shop vac in and organize our tools on the counters/in the cabinets... Here are the before shots.. I will post after whenever I get it finished...

And yes, I have two set of mop buckets... one is my wonder mop (love for the bathroom type tile) and the other is my sponge mop (works great on the kitchen/dining room/hallway tiles since it has a scrubber attached). *sigh* So much work to be done.

 



Mini Omelets, Mini Gorilla Breads, and Pumpkin Bread



Breakfast... it has to be fast and easy around here!

 



During my investigations for freezer cooking I came upon a few ideas on breakfast/snack ideas. Mini Omelet Cups are SUPER easy to fix! Mini Gorilla Breads are a little more work and a whole lot of mess, but taste wonderful! Lastly, Pumpkin Bread is just in a class of its own. I know that fall is coming when the pumpkin bread starts finding its way into my kitchen!

Mini Omelet Cups:



I make two batches with different flavors, but the recipe below is for one batch:

 

You will need:

8 eggs

1/2 c. milk

things to add in (bacon bits, cheese, onion, green pepper, etc..)

 

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

Line a muffin tin with the FOIL AND PAPER liners

Mix eggs and milk together in a bowl. (It should look barely frothy)

Spoon egg mix into each liner evenly.

Sprinkle in whatever additions you want..

(I like bacon and cheese or onion and green pepper and cheese)

Bake for 25 minutes.

Cook completely then place in freezer bags labeled with today's date.

(These last about 2 weeks frozen)

To reheat... Remove FOIL liner and reheat in the microwave.

Remove paper liner and enjoy!

 

Mini Gorilla Breads:

Lets talk about YUMMY! These are like cinnamon rolls with a cream cheese filling!

 

You will need:

1 (8oz) block of cream cheese

1/2 c. granulated sugar

2 Tbs. ground cinnamon

1 stick butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 rolls of refrigerated biscuit dough (10/tube)

1 c. chopped nuts (I use pecans, but walnuts are okay too)

zest of 1 orange

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (LINE YOUR OVEN BOTTOM, these are MESSY)

Spray 15 muffin slots on muffin tins

Sprinkle a few nuts in the bottom of each muffin slot

Cut cream cheese into 30 equal pieces.. set aside

Melt brown sugar and butter in small sauce pan until well combined

Mix granulated sugar and cinnamon well

Dredge both side of 15 biscuits in cinnamon sugar, then place one piece of cream cheese in the middle of the biscuit and close it up inside the biscuit then place in a muffin slot

Sprinkle orange zest on top of each biscuit

Spoon the brown sugar/butter goo onto each biscuit

Repeat with the second set of 15 biscuits placing them on top of the first set

Add more orange zest

Add more brown sugar/butter goo

Top with more nuts

Bake for 18-22 minutes

 

*I choose to freeze half of them and refrigerate the other half... so to do that:

Once they are nice and cool, wrap them in sets of two (or one slot worth) with cling wrap.

When you're ready to reheat, unwrap a thawed bread and microwave for 1 minute.

 

Pumpkin Bread:

Yum... just yum, yum, yum!

 

This is the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook Recipe...

 

What you will need:

3 c. sugar

1 c. vegetable oil

4 eggs

3 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1 (15 oz) can pumpkin (not the pie filling stuff)

2/3 c. water

 

Direction:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease/flour whatever pans you are using (I used a mini loaf pan(8) and a 9x5x3 loaf pan).

In XL bowl beat the sugar and oil with an electric mixer on medium speed.

Add egg and beat well; set aside.

In another large bowl, mix flour baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Alternate between flour mix and water adding to the sugar/oil/egg mixture, mixing between each addition.

Beat in pumpkin.

Spoon into prepared baking pans.

Bake 55-60 minutes.

Cook on wire rack for 10 minutes.

Wrap and store any loaves overnight before slicing... the mini loaves should be good to eat now!

 

I love the mini loaves because the hubby can take one to work with him or I can grab one as a snack for the kids on the way out the door since I wrap them individually.

 

Enjoy the recipes!

 

Children's Grand Park



We headed out for a fun field trip last Friday to the Children's Grand Park up in Seoul. We try to get out of the house a few times a month and explore this crazy country called South Korea. They have lots of animals and some interesting man-made "sculptures" and a botanical garden. Enjoy the photo walk through...

 

 

Freezer Cooking Round 1

I have recently been investigating a lot of blogs that have freezer cooking on them. I think that this may very well be the best concept since sliced bread! I have a few different blogs that I have chosen to follow including: Ring Around the Rosies, 6 Cents, and The Test Kitchen of Melissa Fallis. From these three I put together a game plan and set of recipes that I wanted to try and jumped head first into freezer cooking! (WARNING! - Most people are SANE and only cook 5 different meals at a time... I am NOT sane... the Hubby would call me INsane (but I don't think I'm inside sane, do you? silly Hubby! haha) and I prepared 10 different meals for supper and a few other non-supper foods.)

Step 1: Pick your recipes

I chose Teriyaki Chicken, Sesame Chicken, Chicken with Honey Sauce, Salsa Chicken, Savory Chicken, Zucchini Stuffed Chicken Roll Ups, Sausage and Peppers, Lasagna, Easy Crockpot Beef Stew, Slow Cooked Beef Fajitas, Omelet Cups, Mini Gorilla Breads, and Pumpkin Bread. (See... completely NOT sane) (NOTE: I will be sharing the Omelet cups, Mini Gorilla Breads and Pumpkin Bread later)

Step 2: Make your grocery list

This is pretty easy to do... write down how much of each item you need then cross off the items that you already have in your pantry/fridge.

2 bags of baby carrots
1 large red onion
5 large white onions
3/4 c. zucchini
2 c. celery (chopped)
3 green bell peppers
2 red peppers
4 c. baby red potatoes (halved)
4 c. broccoli (you can get this later... it doesn't go in the freezer bag)
2 large cans of pineapple
8 garlic cloves (whole)
16 garlic cloves (minced)
10 oz dried Lima beans
1 box lasagna noodles
1 family size frozen corn
2 cans black beans
1 jar salsa (your favorite)
1 can tomato sauce
2 BIG cans of marinara sauce
4 (8oz) cans Rotel (mild)
2 (15oz) cans Italian diced tomatoes
2 (15oz) cans stewed tomatoes
1 large sausages (I got smoked sausage lite)
4 lbs. cubed Stewing Beef
2 lb beef round steak/roast
2 lbs ground beef (I get the leanest I can find)
4 FRESH chicken breast (you will slice these almost in half for stuffing)
12 FROZEN boneless-skinless chicken breasts
32 FROZEN boneless-skinless chicken tenders
1 1/2 c. Teriyaki sauce
3 c. Soy sauce
4 Tbs white wine
4 Tbs lemon juice
1 c. honey
1/2 c + 4 Tbs ketchup
4 Tbs vegetable oil
olive oil
4 tsp. quick cooking tapioca (this is with gelatin usually)
1 c. chicken broth
1 1/3 c. + 2 Tbs brown sugar (light or dark, doesn't matter)
2 Tbs Italian seasoning
1 packet taco seasoning
2 tsp. cilantro
2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground ginger
4 Tbs sesame seeds
1/4 c. shredded Parmesan cheese
3/4 c. panko bread crumbs
4 1/2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
2 tubs ricotta cheese
1 tub cottage cheese

(this was my list for everything except the omelet cups, gorilla bread and pumpkin bread (I had everything I needed to make these)

Step 3: Go SHOPPING and when you get home admire everything that you bought =)

Step 4: Label your freezer bags

You will need the following:

2 Bags labeled: Today's Date - Teriyaki Chicken - Add 1/4 c. Teriyaki Sauce and contents of bag to Crockpot. Cook on LOW 6-7 hours. Cut chicken up into bite size pieces when finished cooking and stir back into sauce in crockpot. Serve with Rice.

2 Bags labeled: Today's Date - Savory Chicken - Add contents to Crockpot. Cook on LOW 6-7 hours. Add 2 cups of broccoli during last 30 minutes.

2 Bags labeled: Today's Date - Easy Crockpot Beef Stew - Add 1 cup of water and contents of bag to Crockpot. Cook on LOW 4-6 hours. Serve as soup.

2 Bags labeled: Today's Date - Salsa Chicken - Add contents to Crockpot. Cook on LOW for 8 hours. Serve with cheese and rice or tortillas.

2 Bags labeled: Today's Date - Slow Cooked Steak Fajitas - Add contents to Crockpot. Cook on LOW 5-6 hours. Scoop out with slotted spoon onto tortillas. Garnish with sour cream, avocado, pico de gallo, shredded cheese, etc...

2 Bags labeled: Today's Date - Chicken with Honey Sauce - Add contents to Crockpot. Cook on LOW 6-8 hours or HIGH 3-4 hours. Serve over rice.

2 Bags labeled: Today's Date - Sesame Chicken - Add contents to Crockpot. Cook on LOW 6-8 hours or HIGH 3-4 hours. Serve over rice.

2 Bags labeled: Today's Date - Sausage and Peppers - Drizzle Olive oil in crockpot, add contents of bag. Cook on LOW 6 hours. Serve on bread with cheese on top or with hot noodles.

1 Bag labeled: Today's Date - Zucchini Stuffed Chicken Roll-Ups - Thaw over night. Place on oven pan, spray each chicken roll with cooking spray. Cook at 450 degrees for 30 minutes.

(Note: The lasagna will be frozen in a throw-away pan and labeled after it is wrapped in aluminum foil)

Step 3: Start Bagging everything up.. I do this one recipe at a time, but you can do whatever works best for you.

 

Teriyaki Chicken:

In each bag put:

3 frozen chicken breasts

1/2 bag of baby carrots

1/2 red onion cut into chunks

1 large can pineapple chunks (with juice)

2 whole garlic cloves

1/2 cup Teriyaki sauce

 

Close the bags, shake/mix them up, open each bag to get the air out and then seal them shut and put them in the freezer. 

 

Savory Chicken:

In each bag put:

3 frozen chicken breasts

1 can stewed tomatoes

2 Tbs. white wine

1/2 large onion (chopped)

2 garlic cloves(minced)

1/2 c. chicken broth

salt and pepper to taste

*you can add a bay leaf too but you have to remove it before you serve

(you will need 2 c. broccoli (I keep frozen separately) to stir in 30 min before finished cooking)

 

 Close the bags, shake/mix them up, open each bag to get the air out and then seal them shut and put them in the freezer.

 

Easy Crockpot Beef Stew:

In each bag put:

2 lb cubed stewing beef

2 cups baby red potatoes (cut in halves)

1 onion (chopped)

1 cup celery (chopped)

5oz dried Lima beans

2 tsp. quick cook tapioca

1/2 (15oz) can of tomato sauce

1 Tbs. brown sugar

1/2 bag of baby carrots

 

Get all of the air out and seal up each bag then freeze.

 

Salsa Chicken:

In each bag put:

8 frozen chicken tenders

1 (15oz) can black beans

1/2 bag of family sized frozen corn

1 can Rotel

1/2 jar salsa

1/2 packet taco seasoning

 

Get all of the air out and seal up each bag then freeze.

 

Slow Cooked Steak Fajitas:

In each bag put:

1 lb beef steak/roast cut into strips (against the grain)

1 can Rotel

1/2 large onion chopped

1/2 green pepper (in strips)

1/2 red pepper (in strips)

1 tsp cilantro

1 clove garlic (minced)

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin

salt and pepper to taste

(you can add diced jalapeno if you like spice)

 

Get all of the air out and seal up each bag then freeze.

 

Chicken with Honey Sauce:

In each bag put:

8 frozed chicken tenders

1/2 cup honey

1/4 c. soy sauce

1/16 cup onion (chopped)

1/8 cup ketchup

1 Tbs. vegetable oil

1 1/2 cloves garlic (minced)

(you can add a dash of red pepper flakes if you're feeling spicy)

 

 Close the bags, shake/mix them up, open each bag to get the air out and then seal them shut and put them in the freezer.

 

Sesame Chicken:

In each bag put:

8 frozen chicken tenders

1/2 c. soy sauce

1/3 c and 1/6 c brown sugar

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1 Tbs ketchup

1 Tbs sesame seeds (you can toast them... or not)

 

Close the bags, shake/mix them up, open each bag to get the air out and then seal them shut and put them in the freezer.

 

Sausage and Peppers:

In each bag put:

1 sausage (cut into 1/2 inch pieces)

1 green pepper (sliced)

1/2 red pepper (sliced)

1/2 onion (sliced)

2 cloves garlic (minced)

1 can Italian diced tomatoes

1 Tbs Italian seasoning

 

Close the bags, shake/mix them up, open each bag to get the air out and then seal them shut and put them in the freezer.

 

Zucchini Stuffed Chicken Roll Ups:

Take chicken and slice it in half through the middle until it is almost in two, set aside.

In a saute pan add 1 tsp of olive oil and heat on Med high heat.

Add 4 cloves of garlic (chopped) and cook until golden brown. 

Add 2/3 c. shredded zucchini and 1/4 c. shredded Parmesan cheese.

Cook for 4 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Once cool, add 1/2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese to zucchini and mix well.

Scoop evenly onto middle of each piece of chicken and roll up sitting seam side down.

In small bowl, mix 4 Tbs lemon juice and 1 Tbs olive oil.

In another bowl mix 3/4 c panko bread crumbs, 1 tsp oregano, 1 tsp basil, 1/2 tsp garlic powder.

Brush each piece of chicken with lemon juice mix then coat with bread crumb mix.

Set on sheet pan and flash freeze for an hour.

Transfer to labeled freezer bag.

 

OKAY! LAST ONE!

 

Lasagna:

Boil 18 lasagna noodles.

Brown 2 lbs of ground beef.

In large bowl, mix 2 tubs ricotta cheese, 1 tub cottage cheese,

dusting of garlic salt, dusting of onion powder.

Start with 2 pans.

Spoon a small amount of marinara sauce in the bottom and spread evenly.

Lay 3 lasagna noodles flat.

Add half of the ground beef then a thin layer of marinara sauce.

Lay 3 lasagna noodles flat.

Add half the cheese mixture and spread evenly.

Add a thin layer of sauce.

Lay 3 lasagna noodles flat.

Top noodles with a layer of sauce.

Sprinkle 2 cups of mozzarella cheese on top.

 

Cover with 2 layers of aluminum foil.

Write "Today's Date - Lasagna - Bake 375 1 hour"

Wrap with plastic wrap as desired... I fear freezer burn... so I use a ton)

 

WooHoo!!! Now there are 19 meals in your freezer! Yay!

 

 Now the hard part, decided which one to cook!