Freezer Meals........

I tried my hands at freezer cooking.....I am absolutely in love!!!!!! I didn't take any pictures I was too busy cooking but I wanted to write down the steps I did for my memory......I read the book Don't Panic Dinner is in the Freezer.  It has TONS of great tips and recipes.


Step 1:

Write down every recipe you make and ones you want to make.  I found it easier to make a 30 day calendar.  I then narrowed down the recipes I wanted to try.  Everything I read said to choose a few recipes no more than 4.  I went for 3 recipes....I chose recipes with all chicken.  Chicken was on sale at Stater Brothers and it seemed like easiest way to go!! I wrote the recipes out and made a plan of attack.  I chose: Chicken Cattactiore, Creamy Salsa Chicken, Terryaki Chicken, I also planned to cook 4 pounds of chicken to have on hand.  I did a dozen breakfast burritos and I bought 2 loaves of bread for pb and J sandwiches!!


Step 2: create your shopping list.  I surveyed my kitchen and took inventory of what I had and what I needed.  Even down to the spices!!!!! I kept everything to 1 store.  I had 2 kids in tow and only about three hours start to finish to get this done.  In the future I will plan better and shop a few stores to keep the cost down!

Step 4: Label....I labeled all my bags with what I was going to put in them and simple instructions. I chose most of mine to be crock pot recipes.....we are gone 4 nights a week with sports so I don't have time to start it in my oven.

Step 5: CHOP.....first I chopped all the veggies for the recipes. Then I cut up my chicken.  I bought whole breasts so I trimmed them down and divided them onto paper plates by the pound.  Once I had everything chopped I started to assemble.

Now here are the recipes I used.....most of these are from blogs, friends and pinterest adapted to suit our families needs.

Teriyaki Chicken:

1c. Soy Sauce
1c. sugar
1tsp. Garlic Salt
1/2 of onion chopped
1pound boneless skinless chicken breasts

Place chicken in freezer bag add all ingredients seal making sure all the air gets out then freeze
When time to eat remove from freezer 24 hours before or defrost in hot water. Place in the crockpot on low for 6-8 hours or high 3-4 hours
*I cook almost everything on high because I forget to throw it in.
I serve this over Brown rice and I use the stir fry mix from costco and saute those up to go with the  chicken


Chicken Cacciatore:
1lb. Chicken breasts
1 Zucchini chopped
1 green pepper sliced
1 onion sliced
1 26oz jar chunky spaghetti sauce or homemade

Place all the ingredients in bag seal and freeze
Pull out 24 hours before or defrost in hot water cook on low 6-8 hours or on high 3-4

I serve this over noodles

Creamy Salsa Chicken:

1lb. Chicken breasts
1 16oz jar salsa
1 160z cream of chicken

throw in a bag mix with hands and place in the freezer. Defrost for 24 hours cook on low or high

I make my own cream of chicken soup and my own salsa.  I have done it with jars or cambells it still tastes great.

serve in tortillas with any toppings or great for taco salad as well

Chicken....I like to have shredded chicken and sliced chicken for quick meals and for salads this recipe is so yummy and tastes delicious.

Preheat oven to 350 line a pan with foil take 4-5 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts and rub with season salt. Line on a jelly roll pan.  In a bowl mix 1/4 Cup Olive Oil, 2 tsp garlic and the juice from 3 lemons.  Once mixed pour over chicken bake for 20-30 minutes or until the juices run clear.

I then took half of the chicken and placed it in my kitchen aid with the paddle attachment and on low speed shredded the chicken.  Then I sliced the remaining. I placed them in 1 quart ziplocs so I can pull them out when needed.

Breakfast Burritos:
12 eggs
12 burrito size tortillas
1/2c milk
1 onion diced
1 bell pepper diced
grated cheese
salt and pepper to taste

*in a bowl combine egg and milk whisk together.  scramble eggs.  While eggs are scrambling eggs warm tortillas in microwave so they fold easier with out tearing.  Don't do them on the stove they will get too crispy and hard when freezing.  After eggs are finished add onion and bell pepper.  Spoon in tortillas and top with cheese. Fold like a burrito and wrap in foil.  Place burritos on a cookie sheet. Once frozen you can put in a gallon ziploc to take up less space.  When ready to serve place in oven with the foil on for 10-15 minutes at 350 or until heated through.
You can microwave just remove foil.  You can add sausage, ham or bacon to these and the freeze great I didn't this round but might in the future.

Uncrustable Pb and J:

Easy easy I made two loaves of bread into sandwiches....I use the cut and seal from pampered chef (you can freeze them as is or cut in half.) Freeze in individual bags and pull them out as needed they take about 20 minutes to defrost.  Do not microwave they do not taste good.  I use more peanut butter and jelly then I would normally just because then they don't taste dried out.


All and All I made 9 meals 4 pounds of chicken for other meals, 24 sandwiches and 12 breakfast burritos. I spent 84 dollars at the store.  And I have enough for 12 more egg burritos.

Be sure to email me your recipes or questions.   altrapp@gmail.com

Next week I plan on making some recipes with ground beef or turkey and pancakes and waffles!! Cant wait!!!

April and May

April and May kept us busy busy. Noah was playing flag football.  He had such a fun time and his team won the championships!!! 

We had a great team. One of the kids on the team's Dad is a pilot....he flies Drew Brees back and forth to New Orleans, he set it up so Drew came to our football team party.  It was so cool. He was really nice and the boys definitely thought it was very neat!!!

Besides football Noah started cubscouts. He is loving getting to go and enjoys doing stuff every week!!

Jeff and Noah got to go to a dodger game! They went with another father and son in our ward. They had a fabulous time and the dodgers even played an awesome game!

Great to be 8

If you follow me on about the million other social media outlets you have already seen these pictures....

Noah was baptized May 4th, 2013 It was a very special day filled with our closest family and friends. Jeff baptized him and confirmed him a member of the church. Noah was so nervous about the entire process. It was so cute to see him and his mannerisms through out the day. Noah is such a good kid with a good heart. We couldn't be more proud of him and the example he is setting for his 4 younger brothers!!

 As if the day wasn't special enough we also decided to bless Nash. It was very emotional for me being my last baby and my first baby sharing these special days. I love that they will always have this day together.

 Noah loves both his Grandma's so much. He asked them to speak at the baptism. It was so special to hear the sweet messages they had prepared just for him!!

 We were so lucky to have so many wonderful friends and family be here to share this special day with our family. And shortly after this I was done from the bronchitis I had been suffering with for the week!!

That one time.....

I have neglected this blog for far too long.  The boys were having fun looking through old posts the other day and it reminded me of what I LOVED about blogging. I LOVE that they have an online journal of their lives. So I am committed to making a comeback.

I feel like I am in need of a few come backs but blogging seems like the easier of the options.  This summer has been a whirlwind and we are FINALLY in the home stretch.  It has been a rough summer.....5 kids is truly kicking my butt! Today I got a taste of what is to come through the form of 2 kids at home!! The older three boys were all gone at summer camp. Let me tell you it is going to be GOOD!! I am giddy with excitement!! So look out for a comeback friends......It is going to be EPIC. That is if anyone even reads this thing!!!

The death of the Disney Passes

The saddest day ever.... Our Disney passes expired. I knew this day was coming. Just after we bought our passes they raised the prices HUGE jump!! So we were fortunate enough to spend two days there the week our passes expired. We met Jeff's family one day and friends and cousins the second day. We had an awesome day except when the day ended I might have cried on my way out!! Until next time Disneyland!!

Easter

I love the holidays. I love a theme I love giving my kids fun little things and I love to go all out. I don't like the after a holiday let down. And that is kind of what Easter was :( after a long week of camping it was a little crazy. The boys decides to wake us up at 5:30 when I went down stairs they had already opened there baskets and hunted all the eggs. I was pretty much devastated and that didn't help the mood of the day. Unfortunately once I am in a bad mood I can't get out of it. So it was a hard day. I really need to work harder in not having such high expectations :)