I’m hoping to spend an hour (or two) in the kitchen tomorrow…it’s been over a week and I miss cooking!
I continue to play catch-up from returning home from the Savvy Blogging Summit…I’ve got my inbox under control, the house is more or less clean, so now it’s time to get in the kitchen, do some experimenting and get some more food into the freezer for next week’s breakfasts and snacks.
I would love to be one step ahead of myself, as I start into next week!
The Batch Cooking Plan
- Make Sweet Potato Baby Food for Tyler
- Double Batch Sausage and Jalapeno Muffins or Bread (recipe coming next week)
- Double Batch of Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins and Pumpkin Nut Muffins
- Double Batch of Waffles and Pumpkin Pancakes
- Brown Chorizo Sausage and make breakfast tacos (Chorizo from farmer’s market stop on Thursday)
- Make Italian Herbs Pesto Sauce for freezer
- Take part in the 2010 version of Strawberry and Rhubarb Mania (Rhubarb from farmer’s market stop on Thursday)
(It seems that the Great Pumpkin Shortage of 2009 has turned into the Pumpkin Shortage of 2010! If you are wondering where I got the pumpkin, my mom bought some for us when she was here last month…she found some organic canned pumpkin at “the more expensive” grocery store in my area. Thanks Mom!)
I have found that having a few homemade healthy snacks and goodies in the freezer helps my week run so smoothly!!
Do you ever do any batch cooking?! Have any favorite freezable foods to share with us?! Links and recipes welcome!
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Ironically, my blog post today was about OAMC for the freezer. I’m going back to school in a few days (eep!) and cooking is one task I can do now to save time for study later.
http://kellis-smidgens-of-piffle.blogspot.com/2010/07/oamc-preparing-for-august.html
I still have a lot of needs to fill in the freezer (like lunches and breakfasts) but I’m getting there and hope to be done before school starts on the 28th.
~Kelli @ Smidgens
I need to get better at this. I have so many items that I should just use!!!
I love that you make your own baby food. It has been a long time but I used to freeze portions of food for the boys when they were babies too.
I just started stocking up on french bread on sale, then pre-making garlic bread, freezing it and it has turned out terrific. The white bread really has held up, but for some reason the wheat loaves didn’t hold up as well. I baked them at 350 degrees for about 10 min =)
Welcome back home! The jalapeño muffins sound fascinating. I can’t wait for the recipe.
I like to batch cook too, but usually it’s things like spaghetti sauce, chicken broth, and loaf bread.I like to save as much freezer space as I can and can the sauce and broth instead of freezing it.
Can’t wait for the jalapeno sausage muffin recipe! I hope it is dairy free or can be!
Hi,
I freeze a lot of things, but I’ve never tried freezing muffins for the kids’ breakfasts. This sounds like a fantastic idea! I just have a silly question though: which is the best way to thaw them?
Thanks!
@Jean, I usually pull them out the night before – they’re thawed in the fridge or on the counter by morning. In a pinch, I just microwave the frozen muffins. My microwave has a “defrost” setting with “muffin/roll” option. I think it essentially cooks at 30-50% power, for 75-90 seconds.
Most the recipes I use are copyrighted so I can not share them here. I love the Make-A-Mix cookbook which my mother used too. She raised five children so she had to learn how to cook on a budget that saved both time and money.
During late spring to early summer I do batch cooking before the summer heat hits. In the freezer I will cook up chicken and beef mixes. I use them to cook easy meals during summer. Truthfully we use more of the cooked chicken than the beef during summer. I also prepare the Dump Chicken recipes. Search for Dump Chicken recipe online and you’ll find it.
I just made a double batch of Stuffed Shells last week, and put 1 and 1/2 batches in the freezer. These freeze great, and all you need to do is pop them in the oven.
I use to batch cook all the time when my son was just a baby and I was home with him. Now that his 3 and I’m back to work I stop doing it. I forgot just how rewarding it was and how calming it is; I love to be in the kitchen of extended periods of time. I signing up for your RSS so I don’t miss out on any of your great ideas. Thanks!