My trip to the grocery store last week almost brought me to tears. An old friend caught my eye as I entered the store. The beautiful, glossy green pepper I look forward to every year was back. I knew that my weekend would revolve around roasting and enjoying these deliciously warm, smoky, and mildly hot Hatch chiles. If you’re new to Hatch green chile peppers then let me … [Read more...]
Freezer Friendly Taco Meat
For those coming over from the Costco Meal Plan #2 post, welcome! To make this recipe for 2 meals, use 2 lbs of the ground beef and 1- 15 oz can of diced tomatoes. Adjust onion and spices according to taste! There's a reason I don't blog recipes on the weekend. It's my "time off" from blogging. BUT, I don't take time off from cooking! Well, I do. Sorta. We … [Read more...]
How to Freeze Cookie Dough
Do you know the reason why you should freeze cookie dough?! Here I explain why you should freeze cookie dough and how to properly freeze cookie dough! I've shared a few of my tips for how to freeze cookie dough in the past, and I wanted to revisit it again as we move into the holiday baking season. I'm planning on doing a couple of "dough makes" in November, as … [Read more...]
Apple Pie Filling for the Freezer
So over Labor Day weekend, we picked almost 30 pounds of apples. There remain about 5 apples in the fridge, that we will snack on this week. But our surplus is not gone! Much of it is packed away nicely in the freezer. After making 3 big batches of slow cooker applesauce (2 of which are in the freezer, and the other long gone!), I also made 2 pies worth of filling for the … [Read more...]
No Sugar Strawberry Freezer Jam
When you accidentally come home with 17 lbs. of strawberries from a morning at the pick your own berry patch, you have to do something. And you have to do it fast. I started to can the strawberry jam, but quickly saw that if I continued on the canning path to use up all the strawberries that I'd be up all night. While I did can many jars of strawberry jam, I needed a … [Read more...]
How to Freeze Strawberries
Yesterday at the grocery store, I walked up to the berry section thinking I would just grab one box of strawberries and one box of blueberries. Each were on sale for $2. Woot! But as I looked down, I noticed a bunch of the strawberry boxes with 10/$10 stickers on them. I grabbed 6 boxes and knew that I'd spend some time yesterday afternoon getting some into … [Read more...]
How to Freeze Pizza Dough
Last weekend, I went on a frenzy in the kitchen. Batch cooking, cooking, bread making...so while I had the bread machine out, I decided to go ahead and run another dough cycle for pizza dough. I would then freeze the unbaked crusts in these little mini-deep dish pie plates...for when we need a quick dinner to the table. Plus, I recently bought some … [Read more...]
How to Freeze Meatloaf
Want to freeze that meatloaf, but you need your pan later in the week?! Or want to make double (or triple) batches on meatloaf night? Simply line the pan with foil and then add your meatloaf. Fold the foil around the meatloaf. And pop it into the freezer! After the meatloaf has frozen, take it out of the pan and place the foil-wrapped … [Read more...]
How to Cut and Freeze a Large Butternut Squash (Video)
Remember that giant butternut squash I bought at the farmer's market a month ago?! For just $3.50! Well, I finally got around to cutting it up...feel free to watch :) Steam-bake it. Then puree the flesh. Here are a few things you can do with the butternut squash puree. Make homemade baby food. Hide in the cheese sauce of homemade mac and cheese. … [Read more...]
How to Freeze Fresh Herbs
Learn How to Freeze Fresh Herbs and add a few New Recipes for Fresh Herbs to your Meal Plan! This week...FRESH HERBS! More specifically, how to freeze fresh herbs! Fresh herbs. I love cooking with fresh herbs. And I love the fact that I can cook with fresh frozen herbs that I grew in my own garden in the dead of winter. Once or twice throughout the … [Read more...]