Freezer Organization: For Those with Lots of Meat

Dairy farmers that we are, beef is an abundant blessing at our house that we too often take for granted. I honestly cannot remember the last time I bought beef in a grocery store...probably close to 8 years ago when we lived in North Carolina.

If you are like us and get your beef in quarters or halves, freezer organization can get a bit chaotic. I do not like digging through chunks of frozen meat up to my elbows to find a package of hamburger in the middle of winter. So I thought I'd show what works really well for our family!



1. Purchase a decent sized chest freezer...it has been the best food investment I think we've ever made. Buying meat in bulk will save your family money. If you have the space and farmers near by, I highly recommend it. We also are able to freeze large quantities of summer vegetables and fruits in season or when they go on sale.

2. Upon bringing your meat home, take out your previous supply of freezer meat. Using large bags as seen below (our meat packer supplies them), sort your meat into a few manageable categories. I go with

Hamburger
Roasts/Stew Meat/Soup Bones
Steaks

3. Place your previous meat in the top of your bags to use up first.




Hope this helps someone out there!:)

For more kitchen tips, check out a great site called Tammy's Recipes.

Rich Oat n' Raisin Cookies

1 C lard or butter
1 C sugar
1 C br sugar
2 eggs
3/4 tsp real vanilla
1 1/2 C flour
1 tsp bk soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
3 C rolled oats (can use quick)
1 1/4 C raisins



-Beat butter and sugars with mixer til well blended.
-Add eggs and vanilla and beat til blended.
-Combine dry ingreds (except oats).
-Add to wet ingreds and mix til almost blended.
-Add in oats and raisins and mix until just blended.
-Drop by Tb balls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
-Bake at 350 or 170C for ~8-10 min, til lightly golden/brown.
-Remove from sheet after a couple minutes to cool.

Y:4 dozen

Pepperoni Cheese Bread

1 batch of my favorite pizza dough

1 tablespoon instant yeast
1 cup water
2 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups flour

-Dissolve yeast in water and oil. Stir in sugar, salt, and flour.
-Mix until a ball forms. Knead in a little extra flour if dough seems overly sticky. Otherwise no real kneading needed (that was a tongue-twister to type!:))
-Cover and let rest in warm place while you get other ingredients out. (This does not need to rise more than a few minutes...it should raise just fine in the oven!)

1 pkg pepperoni slices (~3.5oz, use as much or as little as you like)
8 oz mozarella cheese shredded (freshly if possible)
butter
parmesan cheese (2 Tb)

-Roll dough out into large rectangle.
-Spread cheese out over dough, leaving approx 1 in space on ends (east/west), little space at top of bread (north), and ~ 1-2 inches space at bottom (south) of rectangle.
-Cover cheese with pepperoni slices.
-Roll dough from top (north) toward you, slowly, back and forth from one end (east) to the other (west).
-Tuck in east/west ends as you get to the bottom to seal off sides. Stop rolling when long seam is at the bottom of loaf and gently seal edges.
-Lift loaf with seam side down onto sprayed 11x15 pan.
-Bake at 375 until nicely browned approx 15-25 minutes.
-Remove from oven.
-Rub butter lightly over top of loaf. (I just use the end of a stick of butter.)
-Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
-Let rest approx 5 minutes before cutting.
-Serve with pizza sauce to dip!

Y: 3 servings (we were hungry!:))

Simple Bag Drying

 

-Wash plastic bags as you do dishes or...

-Open them up widely in the top rack of your dishwasher and press start. ;)

-Hang to dry on a mug rack!

-Store, and reuse, again and again!

In Guinea last year, the missionary family we were with washed their bags out each night in dishtubs outside and hung them to dry on little metal wands attached to the side of their house. Inspired, I decided to commit to washing out ours as well. I was frustrated with them not drying well though in our little rack in the sink. Then, we tried this little mug rack - voila! Works just dandy. Nice for drying bibs out, too. I just leave on the shelf above our washer, so it's not a big deal if they drip a lot.

Hope this helps somebody out there...:)

Check out Tammy's Recipes for great kitchen tips on Tuesdays!

Frozen Bananas & Banana Milkshakes

Oh the yummy possibilities with frozen bananas! I've been blessed to hit our grocery store twice in the last few months when bananas were on sale for 39c/lb...with a whole bunch of bunches on the reduced rack for 29c/lb! That adds up in a hurry with bananas! This time I purchased ~7 large bunches for around $4.50.

I used to just throw whole bananas in the freezer with peels on. My current, favorite way of preserving them is to peel, chunk, throw on a cookie sheet and flash freezer overnight. I first read about trying this on moneysavingmom. Next morning, just throw in a ziploc bag and they'll last a couple months in the freezer.

Here are great things to do with these yummy chunks-o-nana:
-Throw into smoothies - so sweet, we don't add sweetener to our smoothies anymore.
-Thaw and mash as baby food.
-Thaw and use in banana bread.
-Banana Milkshakes: Yumm-o! Our current favorite...




~8 Banana chunks (enough to fill your blender 1/2-2/3 full)
Milk (we use whole)
Vanilla extract (I don't use pure for this)



-Fill blender 1/2-2/3 full by loosely tossing in frozen banana chunks.
-Pour milk in 'til one inch below top of bananas.
-Blend until really thick and smooth. Add more milk if not creamy enough.
-Add vanilla and blend a bit longer.
-Drizzle with chocolate syrup if desired and enjoy!

Whole Wheat Waffles

A recipe with love for Valentine's Day...

5 1/4 C whole wheat flour (freshly ground or frozen if available)
3 Tb baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 C applesauce
1/2 C oil
5 eggs
1 tsp real vanilla
5 1/4 C milk

-Mix dry ingreds. in large bowl (16C+).
-Mix applesauce and oil in large bowl.. Stir in eggs until well blended.
-Add vanilla and milk to wet ingreds. and stir.
-Add wet ingreds to dry ingreds. Mix until blended well. Do not overmix.
-Heat waffle iron and spray. We use a hotel-style waffle iron we got from my parents. It is the type that you have to flip. We LOVE it. Highly recommended if you make a lot of waffles (which obviously we do - ha!).
-Add 2/3 C batter (for our size w.maker).
-Heat 'til nicely browned.
-Serve with maple syrup, fresh/frozen fruit, whipped cream, peanut butter...oh the possibilities!
-Allow extra waffles to cool, then freeze in a bag or tupperware for up to 3-4 months. I like to freeze in quarters rather than big round waffles.
-Thaw in toaster oven.

Y:~18 large round waffles (I honestly don't know! Have to count next time!)

Tuna Casserole from Scratch

3 Tb butter
3 Tb flour
2 C milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp season salt (i.e. Lawry's)
3 C. cooked elbow noodles
2 5-oz cans tuna in water, drained
1 C frozen peas
bread crumbs

-Melt butter in saucepan on medium heat. Sprinkle flour over and whisk together until well blended.
-Slowly pour in milk and add salts.
-Continue to cook on medium, stirring often at first and continually at end until mixture thickens and begins to bubble. Remove from heat.
-Taste...if it seems too bland, add in some more salt to taste. I like to start low on salt and then add to taste, so I don't end up with a salt lick by accident!:)
-Mix with noodles, peas and tuna in a greased, ovenproof bowl (2.5-3qt) or pan (8x10).
-Top with bread crumbs. Bake at 350 for ~25 minutes.

Y: 4 lg servings

I used to be very intimidated by making the idea of making white sauces by scratch. After being in Guinea, coming back and trying it a few times I look back and feel silly! It's very easy and very cheap! Do try it if you never have. No need to have cream of mush/chx soup on hand if you have a lil' bit of flour, butter, salt and milk!:) Spice it up as you like!

Baked Oatmeal

1/2 C oil
1/2 C brown sugar
3 eggs
1 Tb baking powder
1 tsp salt
6 C quick oats
3 C milk (may substitute with milk powder/water or water if unable to have dairy)
cinnamon/sugar

-Mix oil and br sugar.
-Mix eggs in until well blended.
-Sprinkle over bk powder and mix with fork or whisk until no lumps remain.
-Stir in oats, then milk until blended.
-Pour into buttered 9x13 pan.
-Sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar.
-Bake at 350 for ~30-35 minutes, til golden, lightly browned.
-Serve warm and top with fruit (canned peaches are sooo yummy) and yogurt (homemade plain is the way we roll) or milk, and sprinkle with a little bit more cinnamon/sugar, honey or maple syrup as desired.

Y: This would depend on your family appetite:)...it usually lasts our family of 3 three breakfasts. Cover and refrigerate between servings.

After much trial and error using three different starter baked oatmeal recipes, I'm sticking with this one. We love it. The base is from my friend Auntie J in Guinea. Interestingly, Africa is where we first had baked oatmeal. It is such a filling, fiber and protein-rich breakfast. I've seen many variations now of sugar/oil content. I appreciate leaving the sugar low. I prefer it less sweet and enjoy just sprinkling a little sugar on top if needed. Hope you enjoy!!

Aunt Kathie's Monster Cookies

Full Size Batch               1/4 Batch (Modified - less sugar)
1 lb butter, softened        (1/2 C)
4 C white sugar               (3/4 C)
5 C brown sugar (2 lb)    (3/4 C)
1 Tb vanilla                     (1 tsp)
1 dozen eggs                   (3 eggs)
8 tsp bk soda                   (2 tsp)
6 C (3lb)natural peanut butter (1 1/2 C) Smooth PB is our pick
~20 C quick oats             (5 C)
M&Ms, raisins, and Mini Semi-Sweet Chocolate chips:
1 lb each                          (1 C or handful each)  This is our favorite combo. If it looks skimpy, add a handful more of your favorite. The mini-chips stretch much further than big chips. Nestle makes good ones.

-Cream butter and sugars and vanilla in very large bowl (standard sized bowls will not work - split recipe in half if you don't have a massive bowl).
-Mix in eggs one at a time.
-Sprinkle in bk soda.
-Mix in peanut butter, then slowly add oats.
-Stir in the "bits," as they say in New Zealand.
-Add more oatmeal if recipe seems too gooey ( I think we added 1-2 more cups last time).
-Drop by tablespoons on cookie sheets and bake at 375 or 170C until golden brown for approx 7-9 min.




Yield: Approx 18-20 dozen / 4-5 dozen
These freeze super well and hardly need any thawing to enjoy out of the freezer.