Freezer Cooking... A Few Favorites

For years I've done a little freezer cooking here and there.  Never with a set schedule each month like some, but if the mood struck or there was a really good sale on something then I would make up a few dishes.  I have always tried to keep the freezer well-stocked with meat and stuff though so that I wasn't buying it every time I needed it, it's just the meals that were a little more sporadic.  I have however made up some freezer meals before each of my babies were born.  In fact, before Ashlynn was born my hubby finally caved and got me a freezer for the garage.  I knew I was going to need it to stock up before she came since I was barely managing to get dinner done with two kids and my sanity intact.  Of course, in the two years that we've had it, it has come in very handy and the hubby has commented many times that it was one of the best purchases we've made.  That makes me very happy... he doesn't usually say that about things I beg and plead for. :)  Anyways, this baby was no different.  I knew that I needed to stock up that freezer before he arrived.  Life is crazy with four kiddos four and under and from about 4:00 to 7:00 is what I like to call the bewitching hours around here, so needless to say dinners that have been prepared ahead of time and are homemade make me happy.  So here are a few of my favorites to keep stockpiled.

Meatloaf
Baked Ziti - My family loves loves loves this recipe from Christy at The Girl Who Ate Everything.
Stuffed Shells
Pasta Sauce - This is a favorite of mine from Katie at The Cutting Back Kitchen.
Taco Meat
Sloppy Joes
Enchiladas
Chili
Ham and Cheese Quiche
Chicken Cordon Bleu - I really like to use provolone cheese in place of the swiss cheese.
Marinara Sauce - This is my new favorite marinara sauce from Cooking Classy
French Toast - Great for breakfast

It seems like there is more, but these are a few of our favorites.  I also like to freeze muffins and sweet breads for snacks and we always have bags of frozen fruit and yogurt for smoothies.

These are just a few of the ways that I manage to make meal times a little less chaotic and more healthy around here.  Since I prefer to cook from scratch you will never find store bought frozen dinners in my freezer, so having a home-cooked meal in the freezer helps me to not resort to fast food on the nights that I just can't manage to get dinner ready in time.  If you want me to share any of my recipes, feel free to leave a comment.

Going Private...

Okay friends, it's time for me to make some changes.  I really like having an open blog for anyone to read (err, when I'm actually posting, which I fully intend to get into the habit of doing again), but unfortunately there are people out there that can ruin the fun.  Fortunately, I haven't come across that, but I really don't want to find out that pictures of my kids are being used for anything other than my blog or to decorate their grandparents walls.  So do I just set my blog to private?  Or do I set up two blogs... a family blog and a whatever I feel like posting blog for just anyone to read?  I really like connecting with people that I don't know through my blog, but again I use my blog as a family journal and don't really want some creepy guy looking at my cute kids.  So what's a girl to do?  Any suggestions?  I'm fairly sure that I'm going private in some way, so if you want an invite to this fantastically neglected blog, please just shoot me an email @ shanade@gmail.com.  Thanks.

Summer Dreaming

This has been one of the coldest winters we've ever had here.  There were several weeks where the high hovered around 10 degrees.  Needless to say, we are very excited for summer.  In order to beat the winter blues and keep my sanity while being locked inside with four kiddos who all really really want to go outside, I've been pinning and planning and scheming of our yard and garden.  I'm really excited to start working in our yard this year.  Last year we focused on getting things like the weeds and current plants trimmed and under control, so this year we get to plant the pretty things with color.  Yay!  Here's what I've got so far...

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Our garden is on the south side of our house similar to this.  I love this layout!  The brick walkway, white arbor, white picket fence, places to sit, etc... love it all.

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I really like how the garden veggies are incorporated into the flower beds.  I think I'm going to do this with some of the shade loving veggies such as lettuce and spinach.

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Great use of space.

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Love the bean poles and the marigolds.

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Such a clean look.

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I need at least one of these strawberry towers, but probably two.  They are awesome!  I've read that you can fit up to 90 strawberry plants in one... Perfect for our family.  That should leave plenty for the kiddos to munch on and me to make jam with.

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Pretty.

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I love the herringbone brick pattern.

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Great pallet walkway.  Perfect for the north side of our yard between the driveway and back gate.

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Love the black-eyed-susans.  We definitely need some pops of yellow in the backyard.

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Love the colors.  We could do this in the front yard planters.  We also really want some California poppies.

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Pretty, but I don't think the hubs will let me plant roses.

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These are the raised beds that I want.  Our raised beds really need replaced, but that will probably be next years project.

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Totally need an a-frame trellis like this for our cukes and zukes.

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What an awesome raspberry patch.  We really need to give some support to our raspberries.

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We really really want to add a fire pit to our backyard.  This is perfect.  What a great way to end or start a summer weekend.

Christmas 2012: Part 3

Christmas morning has finally arrived... let the fun begin.

 Have you ever seen a kid so excited about a toothbrush?

 New tradition: we fill the bottom of their stockings with lil cuties.  They love them and eat them faster than I can buy them and it's less space for me to fill with little tchotchkes that they don't need.

 Present of the year: a pink unicorn from Santa... Pure Joy

And... it's over.

Christmas 2012: Part 2

Did the Elf on the Shelf visit your family this year?  He made his first appearance at our home this year and the kids loved him.  They were slightly leary the first couple of days.  They weren't so sure they liked this elf hanging around... "kinda creepy" were there words.  But after a few days, they loved him and Mister the Elf became part of the family.  We sure had some good times.  Here are a few of his antics.

What the kids don't know is that next year Mister is coming back with a friend.

Christmas 2012: Part 1

I do realize that it has been a month since Christmas, but with nonstop sickness this didn't get blogged about sooner. Plus I'm having issues with my computer and pictures... the problem being that I have too many pictures for my computer and thus can't really upload anymore until I get this worked out.  Also, I really have so many things I need to blog about, that it's kind of overwhelming to me.  So try to bare with me while I catch up on several updates and photo dump for grandparents.

 For Christmas I got a new camera, but of course there was no way I was waiting a month to play with it, so we had a few photo shoots in December as I was learning my new camera.

Bwahahaha... I love Evan's expression... I can only imagine what he is thinking

 This picture makes me laugh... he sort of has this Elvis thing going on with his lip.