Well, only because Jessie asked me for some tips--trust me, I'm NO pro here! I know there are a few things you shouldn't freeze--egg dishes for one...ok, so I can only think of that one.
I think most casseroles are freezable. I have a friend who lines her pans with aluminum foil and makes the casserole, usually you pre-bake or par-bake, and then cool it, put the pan in the freezer and then pull out the aluminum foiled dish and bag in a big ziplock. That's what she does, but she has a huge freezer-- I don't. So, right now I have in case of emergency, a pot pie and a dish of lasagna. I used the taco meat I had for the dish I brought to church last Sunday.
I've heard of freezing rice so that you always have it on hand. Some people take all their leftover vegetables and dump them in a community bag in the freezer, then when full, make vegetable soup.
just make sure to
always label, date and use
freezer bags...
I also went to Sam's club and bought a huge thing of spaghetti sauce for $3.88, browned some meat and mushrooms, added to the sauce in those plastic ziplock tubs (I love those things!) and froze up spaghetti sauce- enough for 3 large containers!
Ooooh, my
meatball recipe is spectacular! And I have a bunch of recipes to go with it...The idea of typing all this is rather intimidating right now!
1 cup unseasoned bread crums
3/4 cup Romano or Parmesan
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup beef broth (you'll actually need more broth because the pan gets coated with it too)
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
3 eggs, beaten
2 T. dried oregano
1 T. minced garlic
1 T kosher salt
1 T ground pepper
2 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (I skip these...my delicate stomach can't handle them)
pinch nutmeg
Stir together everything but the meat
Then add 2 lbs ground chuck
Mix up with a fork...
Make into balls, I make little ones, medium ones and MEGA ones
Put them on the pan, cover bottom of pan with more broth...
Bake at 450 degrees about 25 min. for medium size ones
You can save the broth and use it in your own spaghetti sauce--which I have a recipe for too! I got this recipe from a free book a magazine sent to me years ago...and I've used it ever since!
Meatball subs are easy...
Take some hoagie rolls and gut them, put mozz. cheese in them, some meatballs, cover with spaghetti sauce and bake 450 until heated through.
Easy Roast beef in the Slow Cooker---Take some bbq sauce, dump half the bottle in, put in a roast, pour in the rest of the sauce and cook on low 6-8 hours, depending on the size of the roast...
Or a
different roast---put in some baby carrots, potatoes, a whole onion--but peel it--some garlic (I put in 8 cloves, but I LOVE garlic!) cook for 8-10 hours on low or I prefer to add a 1/2 cup of water and cook it on high for 7-8 hours--never fails to fall apart that way!)
Easy meatballs in the slowcooker--
2 can Cream of mushroom
2 pkgs cream cheese
can of mushrooms 4oz sliced
1 cup milk
2-3 lbs meatballs
mix sauce well, add meatballs and sauce, cover and cook for 4-5 hours on low, serve over noodles
My dad always made
pork roast (I prefer dark meat) where he put the roast in the slowcooker with a couple cans of saurkraut and cooked it on low for 8 hours--again, I like high for 6 hours--it comes out almost sweet...well, at least
sweet
er! We eat it with a good bread and a salad.
Ok, that's enough for now! I love to talk homeschool and cooking! LOVE to cook! Oh, Jessie, I could go on and on...I would suppose I talk about cooking as much as I talk about God!
Speaking of that, I offered a woman a tract today and I thought she was going to bite me or something! And the other day on the freeway, an immature person was showing me their limited knowledge of sign language through the window. People don't like me bumper sticker that say "Real Christians know that homosexuality and abortion are sin". Yep, that's the one they don't like. I'm just stating a fact, not picking on anyone personally. I'm a sinner too, ya know, I just don't do that one...geesh...
Alright, gotta go.. My timers been going off for the whole last paragraph!
